Fixing Shorted Xbox 360 fan header

[IsaacG]

While working on my phat xbox 360, I accidental shorted the fan header. I heard a pop, then I immediately turned it off. I tested it again a little while later with the fan plugged into the 3 pin header, and it didn't move at all. There is not physical damage on the underside of the header, and no apparent damage on top either. I don't need to have the header for the fan, I can always remove it and solder the fans to the contacts. Do you think the header is fried or something more important?

[Lord Mirdalan]

4 minutes ago, IsaacG said:

While working on my phat xbox 360, I accidental shorted the fan header. I heard a pop, then I immediately turned it off. I tested it again a little while later with the fan plugged into the 3 pin header, and it didn't move at all. There is not physical damage on the underside of the header, and no apparent damage on top either. I don't need to have the header for the fan, I can always remove it and solder the fans to the contacts. Do you think the header is fried or something more important?

But does the xbox work?

[iamdarkyoshi]

Something must have gone up in smoke, look for small black components with a hole in the top.

 

Which board revision? My two consoles are Jasper and Trinity.

 

If you're unable to find any, you may need to wire the fans to a voltage rail inside but they'll run at a set speed.

[IsaacG]

I was able to boot the xbox, but it is on my workbench right now, so I will try to see if it posts tomorrow morning. My xbox is falcon, so it doesn't have the extra fan header like the xenons, but according to an archived post i found there might still be a way to wire it up without the header. I would still like to save that header if I can though, because the directions are really vague, and don't have any pictures.

[IsaacG]

I just tried booting it now and was able to get to the loading animation, then a warning popped up about ventilation and I turned it back off. there were no error messages or lights going off except for the middle one, but that was because I didn't have the dvd drive plugged in. The console itself seems fine. I looked under the fan header, and there was this little hole. I got rid of my other 360, and I couldn't find any pictures of it specifically online, so I don't know if it was there before. My Xbox also has the contacts in the second picture so I was wondering If I might be able to wire up the stock fan, and an stock cpu cooler to them in parallel.

[IsaacG]

20 hours ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Something must have gone up in smoke, look for small black components with a hole in the top.

 

Which board revision? My two consoles are Jasper and Trinity.

 

If you're unable to find any, you may need to wire the fans to a voltage rail inside but they'll run at a set speed.

Would there be any negative consequences if I wire fans up to the dvd drive power cable (I play pretty much offline only.)

[iamdarkyoshi]

25 minutes ago, IsaacG said:

Would there be any negative consequences if I wire fans up to the dvd drive power cable (I play pretty much offline only.)

Just noise

 

The console would probably last longer since it'll be well cooled

[IsaacG]

56 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Just noise

 

The console would probably last longer since it'll be well cooled

If I am unable to repair the header, would I be able to run the stock fan and an intel cpu fan all off that disk drive power cable at 12v? I know this is a little repetitive, but I don't have a hard drive and play all my games via the disk drive and a usb stick, so I need to make sure I don't fry the thing or I have to buy a new xbox.

[iamdarkyoshi]

On 9/8/2019 at 8:55 PM, IsaacG said:

If I am unable to repair the header, would I be able to run the stock fan and an intel cpu fan all off that disk drive power cable at 12v? I know this is a little repetitive, but I don't have a hard drive and play all my games via the disk drive and a usb stick, so I need to make sure I don't fry the thing or I have to buy a new xbox.

Yeah, just source 12V off the disk drive header, it'll be able to power the fans you want to power

 

I would suggest trying to get the original fans working though, and get the ductwork in place to move air through the heatsinks horizontally. 

 

I believe the middle pin is ground and the two outer pins are the fan positives, but don't quote me on that

[IsaacG]

32 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Yeah, just source 12V off the disk drive header, it'll be able to power the fans you want to power

 

I would suggest trying to get the original fans working though, and get the ductwork in place to move air through the heatsinks horizontally. 

 

I believe the middle pin is ground and the two outer pins are the fan positives, but don't quote me on that

I found the pinouts online and I am able to run all the fans off of the dvd drive as of right now. I haven't had a chance to try running a dvd in there, but I will update it when I do. I will also post a picture when I finish.

[IsaacG]

On 9/9/2019 at 9:39 PM, iamdarkyoshi said:

Yeah, just source 12V off the disk drive header, it'll be able to power the fans you want to power

 

I would suggest trying to get the original fans working though, and get the ductwork in place to move air through the heatsinks horizontally. 

 

I believe the middle pin is ground and the two outer pins are the fan positives, but don't quote me on that

Just finished. I need to do some more extensive testing to make sure the fan I added doesn't clip anything inside the case during long periods, but I managed to keep the original aesthetic.