Wireless 360 Controller not working? Try this

Firstly if you have a 3rd party wireless receiver - forget it, I have 2 and have had nothing but issues with these devices. Getting them to install by force loading the driver is not the only bug and the problems just multiply from there ranging from dropouts and constant connectivity issues.

Since I bought an official Wireless 360 controller for Windows I have had not one single issue though certain games like Dark Souls appeared not to work at all.

I purchased Deadly Premonition on Steam which had a patch added recently for controller support - this is the way the game should be played but after launching, just like Dark Souls I could not get my 360 controller working at all, other games like Tomb Raider were fine mind you.

The Solution

After an extensive troubleshooting crusade which involved disabling things like my G13 and various other USB input devices I stumbled on a legacy controller setting within the Advanced controller properties for my device - which I must highlight, will only be seen if you have the controller turned on.

For Windows 7:

Turn your 360 controller on (important)
Navigate to Control PanelHardware and SoundDevices and Printers
Right click on Xbox 360 Wireless Controller and select Game controller properties.
Select Controller (xbox 360 Wireless Reciever for Win) and then click Advanced.
Now select your 360 controller as your Preferred device for use with older programs.

Games like Deadly Premonition and Dark Souls should now work without issue. This issue appears to arise when you have more than one input game controller. In my case my Logitech G13 was the default legacy device. Changing this fixed my problems and I hope this method works for you too.

Xbox RROD Project - Cheap way to buy an XBOX 360?

I recently just bought 2 RROD Xbox 360's off Ebay after doing a bit of research on common Xbox 360 RROD problems. I must admit, I quite enjoy getting my hands dirty with this sort of thing and being a long time PC builder, this exercise was quite easy.

Upon initial inspection of the console, the previous owner had attempted an xclamp fix and had got thermal paste absolutely everywhere. It took a while to clean all this off and re-apply some Artic Silver.

After turning the console for the first time I got the error code 0031 which appears to be a Southbridge Issue. Undeterred by this, I tried pushing down on the Southbridge chip and then powering up again - which unbelievably actually worked, green lights to be had all round! I applied some pressure on the chip with a clamp and then gave the Hot air gun a spin for a while. Now the Xbox 360 boots without issue and works for long periods without a single fail.

Sometimes you get lucky, some fixes take no time at all.

The last thing I need to do is fix the fan as it sounds like an Aircraft carrier at full throttle:

Xbox 360 fixed RROD loud fans

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot4OCRDh77g

If you are going to try and do this yourself, be aware that there are quite a few bricked 360's for sale which are usually due to a failed attempted at patching a 360's DVD firmware.

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List of Xbox 360 RROD error codes and how to determine what error you have can be found HERE>