XBOX Console and Controller Connection Issues
I am a recently new member in the league of XBOX owners having purchased one just over the holidays. It’s not been a tough uptake of the technology — they are, after all, made for kids — but one thing I have found frustrating is the lack of clear and concise direction on various issues I’ve had to troubleshoot.
There is a forum, but I’ve found most answers there are from 9 year old trolls who just learned how to spell their favorite curse words and are bent on calling everyone “Captain Asstastic” and suggesting that people stick various things in various places where the sun invariably does not shine. This culture is, to say the least, not my cup of tea.
Recently — in the last two weeks or so — my wireless controller has refused to stay connected to my XBOX 360 Elite and despite my best efforts I was unable to pinpoint either a cause or solution to this odd behavior. I was no longer able to start my console using the controller. If my controller powered off while away from the console I would struggle to get them to sync again. At times it take as many as 10 attempts, pushing both the sync button on the controller and on the console, before I could regain any control over the XBOX again.
Google searches found lots of people with the same struggle but yielded no advice to rectify the situation — at least not without wading through pages of bashing, insults and ill written diatribes against those who dare ask for help in a forum.
Today, at my wits end with the situation, I decided to just start pulling things out of their sockets to see if anything would trigger a happy ending. I removed and reinstalled the hard drive, I pulled of the wifi unit, I disconnected the av cables…
And then I disconnected the power cord from the wall… viola! After plugging the unit back in my wireless controller and console were friends again with full control restored.
Hopefully this helps anyone who is suffering from the same trouble I was.
Building a Micro Server – Part 1
You might recall a number of months back [I was working on repurposing an old iMac][a_100209211734] into a web server. I was doing this more because it could be done and not because I had to. Truth is I have two other servers which have more then enough head room to take on the additional, and somewhat minor load of web serving duties. But it was the challenge — or complete and utter geek indulgence — that drove me to waste spend my time making something of the old iMac G3.
However, the footprint of an iMac G3 (both physically and environmentally) is not ideal. You can’t rack mount an iMac G3, or stick it on a shelf or hide it under a desk… So I promptly ditched the idea and trumped it up as good bit of fun and some R&D.
But the bug for a smaller server had been planted… I was really liking the idea of a mini server that I could stow away under my desk (and not in a sound proof closet). Not just a web server, but a little *everything* server.
I had initially toyed with the idea of buying a Mac Mini for this but thought my wife would likely kill me for buying a new Mac as an experimental toy server while she continues to work from a PowerMac G4 (that happens to be dying a slow death). So I set about seeing what it would take to build my own micro server with all new parts that would approximate the Mac mini. Could it be done for less?
This is what I found (no affiliation):
* [1u micro server chassis][a_100209224857] – $79.99
* [mini server motherboard][a_100209225129] – $109.99
* [2.2GHz Dual-Core CPU][a_100209225613] – $51.99
* [1u 4 pin CPU fan][a_100209230228] – $47.00
* [2GB DDR2 SDRAM][a_100209225754] – $56.99
* [160GB HDD][a_100209230613] (optional as I had a few laying around) – $51.99
The total, if you include the hard drive, is $397.95 ($345.96 without hard drive). That’s more then $250 – $300 less then the Mac Mini. I know it’s a bit like comparing apples to oranges; the chip is slower, the bus is slower, the footprint is bigger and the I/O doesn’t really compare. On the flip side, the Mac mini doesn’t have a server grade power supply, is limited to slower laptop HDD’s and can’t be rack mounted. There are tradeoff’s either way but when I look at what I am hoping to use it for — web/file/media server — the differences will be outweighed by the 40% – 45% savings of the home built micro server.
This was enough for me, I was sold on the idea. If for nothing else then the pure geeky joy of it… so I went ahead and ordered the parts.
In part two I will show you the assembly of the micro server once the parts arrived, and some of the hiccups I had.
[tags]how to,server,mac mini[/tags]
[a_100209211734]: http://adam.merrifield.ca/2009/09/29/imac-g3-web-server-part-1/ “Adam Merrifield { the collective – the collective thoughts and web works of adam merrifield}”
[a_100209224857]: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811152131 “Newegg.ca – SUPERMICRO CSE-502L-200B Black 1U Rackmount Mini Server Chassis for Intel Atom Platforms w/ 200W Power Supply – Server Chassis”
[a_100209225129]: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182168 “Newegg.ca – SUPERMICRO MBD-X7SLM-L-O LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Core 2 Duo/Pentium D/Pentium 4/Celeron D Server Motherboard – Server Motherboards”
[a_100209225613]: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116075&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_- “Newegg.ca – Intel Celeron E1500 Conroe 2.2GHz 512KB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor – Processors – Desktops”
[a_100209225754]: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146526&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_- “Newegg.ca – Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT12864AA667 – Desktop Memory”
[a_100209230228]: http://www.networksupply.ca/product/1455487/SNK-P0032A-4.html “Supermicro SNK-P0032A4 – processor cooler – 1U”
[a_100209230613]: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136112 “Newegg.ca – Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJB 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive”