Xbox controller plug busted - repairs help please!

[Least100Seraphs]

Hey there, everyone. First up, let me apologies in advance for being a bit of a newb to this sort of thing. I've done some searching through what I thought would be the relevant boards (this one, Info Request, and the repairs one) and I've not found much... probably because my question is so simple and low-level that nobody's ever had to ask it before. :/

Aaanyways, on to the question... situation.. whatever. Please keep in mind that a lot of the assumptions I'm making could be completely wrong - I'm not very knowledgeable on this sort of thing.

I have the Nubytech "Official 15th Anniversary" Streetfighter arcade stick, and unfortunately I've run into a slight problem. The xbox plug doesn't work on it anymore. The PS2 plug works fine, have had no issues there, but the Xbox one isn't working. I've already established it's a controller fault, by testing a variety of other controllers in the Xbox's port 1, and they all worked fine.

I figure there's one of three possibilities that explains why it's cactus.

Option 1: There's a problem with the connection at the controller's PCB end.
If this is the case, it's very unlikely. The wires are all properly secured and I can see no reason why this'd be a problem. Furthermore, if the problem is here, I don't feel confident in trying to fix it.

Option 2: There's a problem with one or more of the cords that run to the plug.
This is also possible, but, I feel, also unlikely, as it worked just fine for a long time before simply stopping.
Again, if this is the issue, I'm not really looking forward to stripping out a bunch of wires and the like.

Option 3: There's a problem with the controller plug - this is the one I'm hoping for. Somewhere on the plug end, a pinout was broken or a fuse or something isn't working? That's my hope.

After all this, my plan is actually quite simple - I want to cut off the old plug, grab a spare plug, and join the spare to it (either by soldering the wires back on or just splicing the wires back together). I figure wire splicing would be easier, I'm not too worried about looks as long as it works.

What I'm trying to find out is - are the cords in the controllers colour-coded with some sort of convention? I have 6 wires to work with here - one unshielded (which I believe was on the metal outside edging of the controller plug), a white, red, green, black, and yellow.

Do all Xbox controller cords use the same colours? If so, would it be relatively safe to say that the arcade stick would've stuck with this convention?

I apologise for asking such questions, and I must admit I feel a little foolish for asking. I just figure, I'll attempt to put a new plug on, but if the problem is PCB or damaged wires, I'd wager it's too far out of my comfort zone, and I'd rather err on the side of caution and buy a 10 dollar PS2-to-Xbox adapter from Play-Asia.

Thanks to anyone who can help me, I appreciate it!

[kendrick]

Don't assume that controller wiring colors conform to any standard. The only thing that the colors are good for is matching the pin on the connector to the I/O point on the controller board.

Having said that, you should be aware that the Xbox controller port is a USB 1.1 port with a funny connector and an extra wire. The best thing for you to do is get a multimeter or other continuity tester, and map which connection on the board goes to which pin on the connector. That way you can match wires based on where they go and not on what color they are. It's *possible* that everybody is sticking to the USB wiring standard internally, but you can't safely bet on that.

[blackevilweredragon]

Don't assume that controller wiring colors conform to any standard. The only thing that the colors are good for is matching the pin on the connector to the I/O point on the controller board.

Having said that, you should be aware that the Xbox controller port is a USB 1.1 port with a funny connector and an extra wire. The best thing for you to do is get a multimeter or other continuity tester, and map which connection on the board goes to which pin on the connector. That way you can match wires based on where they go and not on what color they are. It's *possible* that everybody is sticking to the USB wiring standard internally, but you can't safely bet on that.

I've done a lot of testing for this, and the colors in official xbox controllers ARE color coded to USB standards, along with YELLOW, which is video sync...  (never cross that!)

http://macteens.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12094/xboxusb.jpg

I've done a lot of these now...

1   Red      +5 VDC
2   White   Data -
3   Green   Data +
4   Yellow   Video Sync
5   Black   Ground

[kendrick]

Dragon, that'll be useful for splicing the plug from a real Xbox controller, but the Nubytech pad might not conform to the same standard. Stilll, useful information to have.

[blackevilweredragon]

Dragon, that'll be useful for splicing the plug from a real Xbox controller, but the Nubytech pad might not conform to the same standard. Stilll, useful information to have.

It's worth checking though.  Don't they have to conform to USB spec still?  Cause if that's the case, they must have matching colors.

Just crack open the plug, they should be the same.

[NFG]

The Xbox pads do not conform to the USB spec, it's a custom system based on USB.  If it was USB spec it wouldn't have five wires, right?  Don't make too many assumptions when you're working on this stuff, it's much better to be sure.

With a multimeter you can find out where each wire goes in about 60 seconds, so the colours don't matter at all.

[Least100Seraphs]

Thanks for the advice and help, guys A friend is gonna come around to my place on the weekend and we're gonna start practicing with a couple of dead pieces of old electronics - trying to solder, lift pins, etc., - so that hopefully one day not too far from now I will have the confidence to do things like replace the power socket on my US SNES, mod my new-style NES to have A/V out (since the RF picture is very snowy now through all my RF modulators), maybe even throw a 50/60 switch in my PAL SNES!

Anyways, I noticed in another thread that people here don't tend to give much in the way of words of appreciation, so I wanted to make sure you all realised that us unwashed masses do care. This site, the info you have, the forums, and the links to similar sites I've found through it, are very very appreciated!

[blackevilweredragon]

The Xbox pads do not conform to the USB spec, it's a custom system based on USB.  If it was USB spec it wouldn't have five wires, right?  Don't make too many assumptions when you're working on this stuff, it's much better to be sure.

With a multimeter you can find out where each wire goes in about 60 seconds, so the colours don't matter at all.

communication wise, it's spec..

with a special cable (all it does is connect wires), and with something like xbox linux, all your USB devices can work..  the only thing not in spec is the connector itself.