Xbox 360 Slim - Won't Turn off - It Goes Crazy

Xbox 360 Slim 250Gb Model

Possibly irrelevant backstory: Previous owner said the system would not output video or something. When I received it and plugged it in, it fired right up and worked. Eventually it shut itself off and the power supply was in Red mode. It looked like someone tried, very poorly I might add, to take the PSU apart before. I got it open and it had a pile of filth blocking the PSU fan. Cleaned that out and the fan didn't seem to want to work. Ghetto swapped a different fan in and that worked. Once I fixed the PSU, I took apart the system for cleaning. I did not loosen the x-clamp screws or do anything with that because that wasn't the issue. Regardless, the system was disgusting inside. Current guess is like weed smoke tar or whatever.

The Important Stuff: Reassembled and hooked the system up. Everything was fine. The only small issue was occasionally the capacitive eject button wouldn't work. You could still open and close the tray via the system dashboard though. And eventually the eject button would work again. It did this even before I took it apart.

I then shut the system off for the night and went to bed. Roughly 8 hours later I was woken up by the (annoying) beeping sound from the 360 Slim and the disc tray opening and closing itself and it turning itself on and off.

And that's the current state of it. I just tried a new PSU and it is still doing it. As soon as you plug the power in, the system is on and going. The only way to turn it off is to remove the power. There doesn't seem to be any particular pattern to the behavior. As you can see in the video, sometimes it's less crazy and other times it's bat shit crazy. You can let it sit there powered on and it'll do nothing for 30 mins or whatever and then randomly you'll hear a beep or the disc tray will open or close etc.

I do not see anything wrong on the faceplate ribbon cable. I assume if I had damaged it during the disassembly/reassembly process, this issue would have presented itself immediately after hooking it back up. I thought maybe the eject capacitive section had something on it, which was why the system would turn on etc, pulled that part of the ribbon cable off and cleaned it and it still does it.

Research on the net in general seems to suggest the ribbon cable or something but I'm not so sure. Sometimes I swear it's picking up weird interference or something, like when I went to upload this video to the computer from the camera, when I hit the power button on the camera the Xbox beeped and tray opened. Or I think one time I turned the TV on and it went crazy.

In the video when I first fire it up, it's only has the power cord plugged in. Part way through the video I then hook up the Component cable to the system and it seems to act even more crazy.

Just curious if someone has a better idea before I just go buy another faceplate. I'd rather buy a faceplate then just a ribbon cable as at least I'll have one around for testing purposes.

[video=youtube_share;ywmUSd4IS-M]http://youtu.be/ywmUSd4IS-M[/video]

As a refresher, lets run down what we do know for a fact: [Last Updated July 4th 2014]

1. The system exhibits similar, yet slightly different behavior with two different RF Modules. They are two different part #s.

2. The system does not exhibit any weird behavior when no RF Module is plugged in.

3. With either RF Module, if the system is left sitting powered on with no controller attached, every 8 minutes 44 seconds the system will send a signal to open/close the disc tray.

4. Using the "A" button to confirm settings under the "Remote Control" menu and the "Clock" > "Date And Time" / "Time Zone" / "Daylight Savings Time" options except for "Time Format" (12 hour/24 hour) will cause the disc tray to open/close or go crazy.

4. Wireless controllers will sync and function with either RF Module.

5. The system is able to read and play games with or without either RF Module installed. But it will still eject the tray on it's own, seemingly 8 mins 44 secs after putting the game in, thus exiting the game.

 

Remove the face plate completely, power up console by using xbox guide button and see if it works OK.

 

Hmm yea don't know why I didn't think of trying that.

So I did and it's still doing it. Nothing changed.

Unhooked ribbon cable. Plugged power in and it turned on. Turned system off via controller and it started to turn off and then turned back on and drive kept popping in and out.

 

Then its not the faceplate.

 

Dammit.

I was hoping you were going to have some super helpful like "Well then its not the faceplate, it's X part"

*crying*

 

Could be the board it plugs into, but thats also the wireless controller receiver.

If you have a proper wired pad (not wireless with plug and charge) it might work with that disconnected for testing.

 

Nice. Great idea. I always just assume a system won't work unless all these electronics are plugged in.

I do in fact have a couple wired 360 controllers.

And SUCCESS! It fires up without the RF board. And the system does not go crazy.

Nothing appears to be physically wrong on the RF board as far as I can tell.

I assume I can't plug an old fat 360 RF board into this without maybe messing something up.

Thanks for help so far btw haha

Also, I guess this might explain the interference that was seemingly happening? Old RF board has different plug on it so can't test that.

 

replacements are like $12 on ebay

 

Yeap already ordered one.

Thanks for the help.

 

With and Without RF Module Demonstration

Well crap. Replacement RF Board just arrived and the system is still doing it. This is a crappy week so far.

Edit: It does seem to be doing the same thing but kind of different maaaybe? The disc drive is opening/closing repeatedly very fast. Much faster than the other RF Board. But then it's also working better in other ways.. sometimes? This is so infuriating.

Edit2: Took some video with and without the new module and no faceplate etc As you can see the system works fine with no module. I took the system apart again and looked around for any odd looking stuff or loose cable and I got nothing.

Edit3: Looks almost like there are power fluctuations or surges or something. You can see when I try to turn it off the CPU fan almost looks like it starts to slow down and then start and then slow down more then start then slow down to a stop. And this is a new power supply btw. Also notice there are no beeps when the RF Module is not used. I don't see any sort of speaker thing on the RF Module itself.

 

Remote Menu Interference?

Can't post two videos in the same post apparently so had to make a new one.

Another thing that seems odd, and I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence, but while the drive is doing the crazy open and closing, if I go into the settings and then "Remote Control" settings and select back and forth between the "Both Remotes" and "Xbox 360 Media Remote" options, it will affect the disc tray. Sometimes it'll beep when I select one and stop freaking out and close or sometimes it won't or sometimes even when I just select the "Remote Control" it will beep for no reason. I tried using the remotes I have for my TV, Cable Box, and Speakers facing it or near it while it was on and nothing. I tried disconnecting the power from my wireless router to see if that was interfering and it still did it. The IR sensor isn't on the RF Module either I don't think, assuming it is the little weird black ball thing on the Motherboard behind the RF Module.

 

no hardware issue here bud, your console is just haunted.

all jokes aside, this is quite odd, i'm no expert in slims, so i cant help to much here, but what happens if you power the console on via the eject button? any odd occurrences there? perhaps try variations of no RF board using eject as power, to no AV using eject as power, ya know?

i wouldnt go as far as to say there is a CPU issue here because i know that wouldn't be the thing you want to hear, but keep in mind, the RF board is just a motherboard on it own, it does nothing without the CPU, and since you swapped it out, its DEFINITELY not the RF board :/

i once had an issue with an old xenon where my console would power its self off, and even power its self on when i plugged a wired controller into the usb port, i went as far as removing everysingle electronic connected to the console to narrow down a short, so i unplugged the dvd drive, the rf board, i removed the heat sink and replaced it tighter, nothing helped, but a simple towel trick fixed this, does this mean YOUR xbox has a CPU problem, no. but eh, ...... could be right? o.0 do NOT under any means resort to reflowing the CPU via towels, as it will cause even more problems in the long run.

 

The eject and power buttons are capacitive on the faceplate. The ribbon cable for those plugs into the RF Module so I can't test them without the RF Module. Even so, it behaved this same way with the faceplate connected. It doesn't seem to matter how you turn it on or off, it just freaks out. Usually people who have this sort of issue it seems to end up being a faulty faceplate ribbon cable or RF Module.

The only time it doesn't freak out is without the RF Module connected. Maybe some one-in-a-million chance that the RF Module I bought is actually not perfectly functioning like the seller said and just so happens to have the exact same problem as my old board? That would seem insane.

And the fact that the system plays games and connects to the net etc all perfectly fine leads me to believe it isn't anything to do with some damaged CPU or other chip. The fact that it didn't do this when I first got it. Wireless controller connects to both RF Modules fine, but pressing the Sync button will make the system freak out.

My best guesses at this point

1. There is something messed up with the eject or power toggle circuit somewhere between the RF Module and the Motherboard or something. And since changing the module didn't affect it, it must be somewhere on the motherboard side of the circuit.

2. Or that the RF Module is picking up some kind of insane signal/frequency or whatever from something around here, that possibly wasn't here that first day I got it and worked on it, which is telling the thing to constantly cycle the drive to open and close. And when you hit the eject button the system turns itself on I believe.

 

ah see, no expert here :/

that would be insane, but you never know with online sellers....

my only suggestion at this point seems obvious, but may be worth a shot? try relocating your slim to another location of your house if possible the slims to my knowledge have increased resistance to interruptions with them having a newer, thicker cage, but it could be something massively fucking with your console, perhaps a wireless printer? and old CRT television? anything that emits alot of static electricity in that case

I cant seem to get any wifi reception on my Jtag's wireless receiver while having my PC play a video, it just doesn't work worth shit. my room isn't all that big either so that's an issue on its own i guess..

 

I've tried it in the hallway outside my room because some people have said it was their outlet causing the issue or something else crazy. It still did it but perhaps I'll go farther next time. Find an outlet on a different circuit of the house I guess.

I also can't help and think its the signal interference issue because sometimes it will do absolutely nothing. You can have it powered on or off, sitting there not touching it or doing anything with it.. and suddenly it will beep out of no where. Sometimes it will turn on and sometimes not.

Sometimes you'll do something near it and it will beep. Like in the video showing the Remote Menu crazyness you see me move the phone/camera in at the board and as soon as I do it stops freaking out. Which is then why I went and ran the phone past the front of the system after it happened. I said earlier in the thread that after this first started happening and I recorded that first video, I turned on the video camera and as soon as I hit the power button on the camcorder, the system on the other side of the room beeped and closed the tray.

Just crazy ass crap. It sucks because I'm not sure how or what I could even test with my junky multimeter. The RF Module doesn't have much testable looking stuff on it and I can't get to the connector that goes into the Motherboard while its running. There also doesn't appear to be much around the plug on the Motherboard side.

 

Extremely odd man, I cant even think of any reason besides the devil choose your console to fuck with.. honestly. XD

poke around with the multimeter where ever you CAN, you never know. You might just find an odd bridge/short. but those chances are sorta slim to nothing, as there are hundreds of leads in the console. could be ANY :/ but since the console actually preforms correctly software wise, and you don't see any screen flickering, sit back and relax because its not a CPU issue indeed but finding the cause of this will take a while like most things do it seems,since there is no real way to run a full diagnosis on retail machines.. even XDK's for that matter. if i can figure any theories out, ill PM you! feel free to PM me for anything also

 

Thanks for the assistance and company. It's just nice to have someone to talk to/bounce ideas off of when you've been staring at this thing for 12 hours now ha ha.. ha..



*sobbing*

 

Totally understand man, my XDK red ringed a while ago from a cold solder joint on a ram chip, i nearly broke into tears at the sight of it, what would you do if you found out your VERY expensive console is broken yet you don't have ANY tools to fix it ? but with good company/support from the many great members here we got it sorted out i'd hate to see a perfectly clean slim like this get tossed into the trash or simply forgotten because of an issue we just aren't sniffing out haha xD

 

Maybe this might be of help.
http://team-xecuter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85107

 

Oddly enough, I came across that thread last night while doing more searching.

Not sure how it would help me though.

Edit: Something I did notice while poking around last night was this top left pin on the RF Module. The voltage on it seemed to be constantly fluctuating between 0.1 up to 0.6 volts. The pin to the right of it would go from 0 to 3.3 volts (maybe it was 2.5v, I can't remember) when I opened and closed the disc drive.

Perhaps someone else has a functioning 360 Slim they can check the voltage on this top left pin?