This is Why You NEVER Ignore Bad Capacitors!

[S_S]

Originally Posted by stj

it's not a design fault - supercaps do that.

you can just leave it out on a 1.0 - 1.5 series board.
on a 1.6 board you need "something" or it wont start, so i fit a low impedence 220uf cap.

I read that the capacitor fails prematurely because it's undersized or the circuit isn't built correctly.

(original XBox)

If it's just a case of these capacitors having a lifespan limit then Microsoft should have warned buyers in the manual in a prominent location or, better yet, should have figured out another way to keep time — like a battery.

[stj]

supercaps have a life rated in charge/discharge cycles,
m$ should have fucking known from the datasheets that they wouldnt last a year!!

more importantly, they should have not bothered with an RTC,
it's a games rig - it does not need to know the date or time.
hell, only the m$ dashboard that nobody even uses anymore even uses that data!!

[eccerr0r]

how many charge/discharge cycles should a EDLC sustain? That doesn't sound right, if it only can take 1000 cycles or so, that's no better than a rechargeable battery?

They probably have the RTC for DRM/key exchange or something for encryption. Maybe use it to seed the network prior to network time becoming available... Just speculating...

[Stefan Payne]

If it's the first XBox with the 733MHz Intel CPU and the nForce shitset, than probably because it's a PC in console format.
And not that much custom stuff compared to modern consoles...

Modern consoles are totally custom, specified by the console seller....

[gryffinwings]

These images are making me really consider not putting off replacing caps that are going bad in my computer, here are some Nichicon 3300uF 6.3v 105 H0139 HM series capacitors on my Asus A7V266-E motherboard that are in need of replacement. Definitely looking at putting in some polymer caps in there.

[Behemot]

Gonna have to try polymers, it may or may not work. But 39th week of 2001 is among the years of bad HN, HM caps so nothing surprising there.

[PeteS in CA]

Originally Posted by Behemot

Gonna have to try polymers, it may or may not work. But 39th week of 2001 is among the years of bad HN, HM caps so nothing surprising there.

Not contradicting, but a 17 year life isn't exactly awful.

[Behemot]

Yep, likely just a light use most of the time.

[Stefan Payne]

Originally Posted by gryffinwings

These images are making me really consider not putting off replacing caps that are going bad in my computer, here are some Nichicon 3300uF 6.3v 105 H0139 HM series capacitors on my Asus A7V266-E motherboard that are in need of replacement. Definitely looking at putting in some polymer caps in there.

1) the Pics don't work (no more?)
2) In that case you could eventually try ramming in 12,5mm 16V/3300µF Panasonic FM. Those have similar or the same value than the Nichicon. Problem: they are way bigger. And the only caps, to my knowledge, that are widely available and can be used as replacement of Nippon Chemicon KZG and similar...

Though it needs some creativity as the caps are 25% bigger...