Xbox Clock Capacitor Removal

Hi I recently got a Xbox dvt4 dev kit and I am to understand that the clock capacitor goes bad and can leak on to the board And cause damage.

I also read that with older Xboxs made before 1.6 (2004 and back) you can remove the capacitor and not have to worry after that.

So my question is: Can I remove the clock capacitor in my dvt4 (production date 2002) without replacing it?

 

Yep, you can if you want. Microsoft even did it internally at times

 

replacing it is no big deal though. i bought an equivalent part by Panasonic (best caps IMO) for about a dollar and replaced mine.

 

I also read it didn't need to be de soldered and it could be removed by breking the connections. Is this true? And if so what does this capacitor look like?

 

Not sure where it would be on a DVT-4 but I can confirm you don't need to desolder it.
I simply snapped it off of my retails.

Just be careful not to break anything D:

 

Thats if the caps are even on this Xbox. I never opened to find out.

 

Okay. Thanks for the info guys. I will open it tonight when I get home. One more question: Since this is a dvt4 when the clock is set it boots to the xdk launcher. But when the clock needs to be set it takes me to the retail dash.

When plugged in will the system keep the clock info long enough for me to set the clock, turn it off, and then back on to get to the xdk launcher?

 

As long as there is power to the unit even if its plugged in and off it will retain the clock info.

 

Thanks. I actually just finished removing the clock capacitor. It has an almost identical motherboard compared to a retail one. So I just broke the connections to the capacitor, closed everything up, and everything works great

Thanks again guys for all the helpful comments.

 

Will removing a clock cap cause any issues with a modded dash since it would technically try to boot to the MS dash to set the clock?

 

Don't know. If you are able to use the normal dash and "set" the time then you could reboot and it will save the set time as long as it is plugged in.

 

Yes & no.

It depends on how the system is modded.

Softmod - the ernie font sets the time & also NKPatcher sets the time on load.
Bios - if the bios supports it it can just bypass the check.


Some info:
NDURE softmod (latest softmods) use the XODash & the font hack to load NKPatcher, so on load it loads xboxdash.xbe (xodash.xbe renamed) & that loads the fonts that set the time & patches some things & then loads NKPatcher.

Basically what I'm saying is, if you're running one of the latest softmods or bios, you're fine & shouldn't run into any issues.

 

Thanks for the info. It ended up working out just fine. And my system is not modded. It's a dev kit. So it just shows me a list of executables every time I turn it on.

EDIT: Never mind didn't notice that comment wasn't for me lol

 

Thanks for the info guys. I've got the Mech Assault Ndure softmod from back in like '05. Should be fine since it's Ndure... I hope lol.

 

If the Xbox is conected to the internet it will keep the correct time.
Not sure if it changes for daylight savings though? I will let you know tomorrow
I remove the clock caps from all my xboxes, except the v1.6's

 

FTFY
The system just needs power to keep track of time.

 

Yeah I've never de-soldered the cap of the board, I just squeezed a pair of snips underneath the cap and cut the legs. Be careful with just breaking off, I had tried that once and managed to rupture the cap - electrolytic fluid went all over the motherboard!

 

I wouldn't recommend that though.

 

Its not like the capacitor did a good job at keeping time beforehand.

 

Late in the conversation, I know; but here is a shot Borman of my DVT4 prior to the cap removal for archiving purposes. DVT4 do have them.