Better Usb Adapter for XBox

In the course of creating and maintaining a modded (or stock) XBox, it is often handy to be able to transfer files from PC to XBox. You could use an Action Replay and XBox memory card; however, the cards have limited storage space, and the action replay is pricey.

Chances are, you have a spare XBox controller cable lying around (in my case, from making StepMania dance mats) and a female USB connector, soldered in some useless piece of electronics. With those parts it is child's play to make an adapter.

These adapters are simple and common builds, however, they often end up looking terrible, and taking up room. My version is small, sleek, and doesn't require modifying XBox hardware.

Step 1 Gather Materials

You'll need a few things to build the adapter:

PARTS
-XBox Controller cable or extension
-Junk USB Female connector
TOOLS
-Pocket Knife
-Flathead Screwdriver
-Soldering Iron
-Dremel
-Hot Glue gun


once you've got these, the fun can start.

Comments

[ficarra1002]

Instead of killing an entire controller, would this be possible to open the xbox and take out a port and replace it with the female usb?

[gschoppe]

Although the controller is not killed... in fact, after splicing a male usb on it, the controller works on Computer and Xbox... you could easily add a usb to the xbox... or do what I eventually did... on controller ports 2,3, and 4, I wired a relay to switch when a connection between ground and shield on the controller port and switches the four usb-compatible wires between the controller port and an it sensor on port 2 and usb ports on port 3 and 4... it was a complicated hack, but it makes loading data, using a remote, and gaming practically peripheral free

[fishofsword]

Any suggestions on how to be extra careful in avoiding detinnig or breaking the traces?

[coletrainlfd]

just made one of these myself... looks just like the one in the picture... works great!

[Jmanwit]

How does one "test" it? Sorry, kind of a newb.

[cody777]

i tested mine useing the product of this instructable
http://www.instructables.com/id/XBOX-Controler-Via-Usb/

[FallenNoctis]

Just plug the adapter into you Xbox and see if you can get it to work before you super glue it back together cause it would be very hard to get it back apart after you had done so.

[seven206]

works great soldered it wrong twice i guess i should read more hahah but my xbox is kinda picky when it came to the flash drives

[Snipe07]

I'm 99% sure i got the wiring correct, but my adapter gets SUPER hot after about 1 minute of use and i cannot get any of my flash drives to be recognized by my xbox any suggestions?

[mojobo1]

What kind of controller do you have? Different controllers may change which wires go where a bit.. What you describe sounds like the wires not being hooked up correctly. For me it was just trial and error, finally got it hooked up right by accident.

[Pete67]

In a fit of rage I thought of this, and made it. Instead of soldering the female end directly to the dongle I used paperclips to extend the reach of the tiny pins. J-J-Jam it in as they say. with the paperclips a small hole at the end of the dongle the size of the usb was all that was needed.

[MattWasser]

so if i plug this into the xbox, the xbox hardrive will be erased?

[MattWasser]

nevermind, it formats the flash drive

[ellygeh]

 Alright, this is kind of a dumb question, but I gotta make sure!

I did all the wiring, and when I connect my 512 MB Micro SD through a USB adapter it recognizes it, but it says it's damaged. Does that mean that I got the wiring right? Or is that a problem with the USB storage? I'm gonna buy some other cheap usb drives later, so I need to know If I got it right at least! So if  the xbox is recognizing it, does that mean i got the wiring right?

[mojobo1]

I don't know for sure, but what do you mean by it says it's damaged?
Does it actually use the word "damaged", or does it say "there was an error. the drive has been erased"?

If it actually uses the word damaged, then I don't know for sure, but I would guess that either the wiring is wrong, or the XBox doesn't accept that type or something.

Although, with mine I got the wiring wrong the first time and it didn't say anything. It just didn't work..

I would try a USB drive and see what that says.

[mojobo1]

I had some problems getting my XBox to read my flash drive at first, but then I realized my controller was a cheap copy, and the wires where different colors than a normal controller cord (I actually left some cord on it, I didn't feel like soldering it like you did). So I switched them around a bit and got that working (first flash drive I tried worked, woo!).

Then I had problems getting the MaxDrive to install to the flash drive, and after trying about 20 times, finally figured out it just wouldn't work on my 32-bit Windows 7 laptop and tried it on my older XP desktop, which worked instantly.

I actually did a few other things, too. I added a male USB connector to the end of the controller cord, so I can still use that controller on the XBox. And as a added bonus, it works on my computer, too! (With XBCD as a driver, and installed JoyToKey, a mouse/keyboard emulator.)

[LZBear]

Hey Guys I used 5 different usb flash drives but seems like my xbox wont like them...LED inside will flash but nothing else is happening...
any advice?
I used 2- 1Gb 1-4Gb and 2-2Gb....Im getting crazy here...
help please

[bounty1012]

Perhaps you got the wiring wrong? thats what happened to mine.

[jsith96]

Whenever I try to update the driver it says "Windows has determined that your driver has the best software" I'm running vista. If anyone could help me with that could you please reply.

[Solderguy]

Go to control panel, then to device manager, find your "mass usb storage device", right click it and choose "update driver software". Then choose "browse my computer for software", then click on "let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer", click on the usb mass storege device and then click "have disk", browse for the xbreader.inf file you modified, load it, and it will successfully update it. it is doesn't work then you're doing something wrong.

[z400100500]

that's why! Vista has some wierd problem with it because IT'S VISTA!!!!!! WHY USE VISTA?!?!?!?!?!?! I'm done. Try it on a different computer, or if you have a big hard drive, make a dual-boot environment and have XP as a 2nd system. Works fine on XP

[fwjs28]

DEATH TO VISTA!!!!

[will421]

Or:

DIE VISTA!!!

[fwjs28]

no, death to all techies using vista

[Danny_Payne]

o god no, please dont do it!! ;-]

[fwjs28]

do you use vista?

[Danny_Payne]

yeah, i personaly think it is better than all the others, just the stuff in my computer, and the bars telling you how mich space you haved used, ant the search bar on the start button =] do you use Vista??

[fwjs28]

i do too, but i hate it...the looks are nice and so is the search bad but UAC is a pain, and speed on a quad core with 4 gigs of ram pssht, its like windows '95....i'd rather use linux or xp....hopefully 7 will fix some of this...

[cody777]

vista may such but compared to 98 it is great i finally upgraded
it is also great if u dont have $100 to spend on xp
wait for 7!!

[cody777]

i meant suck not such

[fwjs28]

ah..

[fwjs28]

im not sure if you meant '98 or you were quoting me in which case you meant '95 ...anywho, i like Xp over Vista and i like Ubuntu over them all...

[cody777]

by 98 i meant windows 98

[fwjs28]

mhkay, wasn't sure

[badboys777]

Can I put a usb in it and my xbox will recognise it as a memory card so i can use action replay thanks

[Solderguy]

Only certain usb sticks are recognized by the XBOX. I have 3 usb sticks but my xbox will only recognize a generic fourth-party chinese usb drive I got from wal-mart.

[cody777]

i tryed an iomega external zip 100 it dosent give me a broken card message but it dosent work
WHY I ASK, WHY!!!!

[iAlex50]

Very nice! But when your done programming a flash drive with this...You can Make it direct. By soldering the drive to the xbox male port... So you can give it a nice casing and\or use it on multiple xboxes...

[jsith96]

When i try to save the XBreader.inf it says that i'm not the administrator when i am. This isn't really related to the soldering or anything but i want to know how i can fix this for so it works.

[Thepage]

My cousin, who is really good with xbox's did the original bunch of electrical tape way. That's before I found this way, now I will work with him to make one or two of these things.