I just got an Xbox 360 for the first time...

[Ziggy]

I got my T8 screwdriver in the mail today, so I was finally able to open the wireless 360 controller that came with the console. Yep, there was some leakage on the PCB. I cleaned it all up (which was a good excuse to clean all the grime out that accumulates in all the crevasses) and now it appears to be working OK. Although the rubber on both thumbsticks have seen better days. I think I might replace them.

Does anyone know of a good thumbstick cap replacement? I see a million of them on eBay and Amazon. I'm just wondering if they're hit or miss, if the quality varies between them. Or can I just grab any one?

Man, the 360 sure does run hot. If you hold your hand over the fan exhaust, it's really toasty. I have no idea how well kept this thing was. I might pop it open to give it a cleaning, mainly to make sure there isn't a tremendous amount of dust on the fan.




edit: Some pics for fun...

When I first opened the shipping box for the 360, this is what I saw...



OK, off to a good start. But that air pillow was the only packaging. Here's what I saw after removing it...



I was pretty upset, but I also found it hilarious that someone thought it was a good idea to put a loose disc in a box like this.

As I said already, the controller wouldn't power on when I first got it. Not even with fresh batteries. I found some corrosion in the battery pack...



And when I finally was able to get the controller open today, yep, there was more corrosion inside...



But it seems to be working perfectly fine now. Aside from the chewed up thumbsticks. But those are cheap and easy to replace.

[Anapan]

The last set of thumbstick replacements I ordered were from ebay user gagadaijin
Outside the controller it was easy to see they were made differently from the originals, but once installed I was very happy with them. They looked and felt the same as originals. Can't tell which of my 360 controllers I refurbished now a few years later.

[Ziggy]

So I had ordered another wireless 360 controller off eBay. It came in yesterday. This one looked very clean, like it was only lightly used. I was testing it out yesterday and there's an intermittent issue with the left stick. Often when you push the stick left, when you return it to center it'll be slightly drifting left. But if you push it right and return to center, the drift is gone. So it's not a real drift problem, as in a problem with the resistance of the pot. Being that it only seems to stick, I'm hoping it just needs a cleaning and it'll be alright.

The other controller, the one with the battery corrosion, is mostly working OK. Those sticks seem fine. I did have an issue twice though that the controller shut off (with fresh batteries). I might just have to clean it some more.

The last set of thumbstick replacements I ordered were from ebay user gagadaijin
Outside the controller it was easy to see they were made differently from the originals, but once installed I was very happy with them. They looked and felt the same as originals. Can't tell which of my 360 controllers I refurbished now a few years later.

Thanks! I'm going to look them up right now. I don't even care so much if they look or feel exactly like the originals. I care that they feel nice to use and don't break down prematurely.

edit: It seems gagadaijin no longer sells such items.

[Ziggy]

So that second controller I bought, the one with the stick issues, I couldn't fix it so I ended up contacting the seller. The seller was extremely nice about it, and let me exchange it for another controller he was selling. I got the new controller in, and it works great!

Now I'm having an issue signing into Live, although apparently a lot of people are currently having an issue signing into Live on their 360 (and some people on One as well). If you Google "xbox 360 80151103 reddit" you'll see that there's TONS of people that are not currently able to sign into Live on their 360. Apparently Microsoft knows about the issue, and they may or may not be working to resolve it. Some people speculate that Microsoft might not care too much about a console that's 10 years dead.

Hopefully it gets fixed though. Remember when One was announced, the 360 was the so-called "offline" console? Well, that's not really true. I was in the middle of playing Hot Pursuit, and although the online features have long been dead, apparently you can't access your save data if you're not signed into Live. I got pretty far in the game, but now that I'm not signed into Live I cannot access my save game data. So maybe the vast majority of games can be played offline, but some cannot.

I should also point out that I had to download an update to play some oXbox games, which I had to be signed into Live to do. So as things currently stand, if Live goes down for 360 it will break a number of things.

[Jagosaurus]

Okay, so reportedly the 360 is back online per reddit. Saw a couple post yesterday.

Also, as far as I know all games let you pick your save location (cloud or local HDD). Was nice for me when jumping back & forth from 360 & XB1 in different rooms... not so great if 360 online or down.

[Ziggy]

OK, so I tried it a few days ago when you posted that but still couldn't sign in. Then I tried it again last night and it finally downloaded my profile and I was able to sign in too.

Here's a good tip: You can use a standard USB keyboard on the 360 to type in you email and password. It isn't so horrible to use the gameplay to input both if you only have to do it once. But try doing it 100 times, it gets old real fast.

[Jagosaurus]

Happy to hear you're back on!

I really enjoy the achievements. Adds replay value and gets me to explore more, also fun to look back on what you've played over the years. I'd recommend setting up a True Achievements profile and syncing it with your XBL profile. You can still scroll through achievements per game w/o a login, but it obviously won't track your progress.

Think I've said this on another thread... but IMO, big missed opportunity to add achievements into OGX backwards compatible games, even if simple such as completing levels, certain high scores, etc. PS did it with a good chunk (not all) of their older library. Would have been fun to go back through OGX BC games with cheevos, esp on XB1/XBS-S|X and all the quality of life improvements.

[Gucci]

Been out of it for awhile but I’m back in limited capacity.

The Xbox 360 is up there as my favorite home console to date, and by extension, so is the One.
I haven’t read everything here but i wanted to throw some information out there for you that could be useful.

Most of the games you buy digitally on the 360 are transferable to the One and Series in the future so if you are not opposed to buying digital, at least of you buy it now, you have it as part of a starting library for the next two consoles in the future (under normal circumstances).

Sonic games are huge on the Xbox family of consoles. You have access to Sonic 1-3, CD, Knuckles, the two Adventure games (the enhanced GC versions are via DLC), and Generations. If you like strategy games, XCOM Enemy Within is an option. Sticking with strategy games, the two Toy Soldiers games are RTS games that resemble the old school table top games where the first game is modeled after WWII (i think) and the second is Cold War era.

Microsoft did this Summer of Arcade thing during the console’s hay day with digital games: ‘Splosion Man is an oddball take on a platformer where jumping and attacking are relegated to you actually exploding. The sequel Ms. ‘Splosion Man is good too. Shadow Complex came out of that program too. It’s a great take on the Metroidvania formula in 2.5D. Trials HD is another one where it’Ll test your precision with those triggers. Get the sequel Evolutions too.

All three Geometry Wars games are excellent with the last one being my favorite for the sheer variety. If you have a hard time finding a physical copy of the Orange Box, get the digital version of the first Portal. It has extra content not available on the Orange Box. Portal 2 is another recommendation. Ninja Gaiden Black on the oXbox is available with the second game an easy recommendation. Stay away from the third entry. It is not great.

The physical versions of Ikaruga is quite expensive. Thankfully the digital version is not. All three games of the Dead Space series are recommended even though the last entry is the weakest one where they went too hard on the action and left horror behind. There’s Dead Space Ignition which is a puzzle game set between DS 1 and 2 and there’s a six episode short that you can download for free where it covers the events before DS 1 (you should find this under trailers for the first game in the marketplace).

That’s all i got for now. I can write another two posts this long but I don’t wanna get carried away.