Xbox One Wireless Controller Model 1708 Top Motherboard Replacement

Written By: Lien (Ally) Quan
  • Comments: 42
Xbox One Wireless Controller Model 1708 Top Motherboard Replacement

Difficulty

Difficult

Steps

10

Time Required

15 minutes

Introduction

This guide will show you how to access and replace the top motherboard. Soldering is required, so the link to the soldering guide is included to help you.

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    • Slide the battery cover toward the top of the controller to remove it.

    • Lift up the batteries or the battery pack from the battery compartment.

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    • Insert a plastic opening tool into the top seam, and gently work the opening tool to the bottom of the controller.

    • Continue using the opening tool to gently pry the side plate off of the controller.

    • Repeat this process for the second side plate.

    Only use a pry tool! The vibration motor wires are exposed and directly accessible from the side when opening. I attempted to open it with a small knife, expecting to be able to gently pry the clips open, accidentally sliced through my right motor’s wires.

    Sawyer Coe -

    If you have some Guitar picks laying around they work GREAT!

    Mike Beane -

    For some reason, the two closest hinges at the top of the two handle covers are extremely strong. I had to play around to get them off unlike several guides and video tutorials that, I don't know how, take them off without the slightest effort.

    Controller wireless Xbox One Model 1708

    Stefano Spinelli -

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    • Gently peel the battery label or punch a hole in the center of the sticker in the battery compartment to reveal the hidden screw.

    • Remove the five 9mm torx-9 security screws from the back of the controller.

    Torx-8 security bits work as well.

    jahiamir -

    Torx 8 or 9 wasn’t working. I used 2.0 minus screwdriver

    richjlee -

    The 2.0 minus worked for me as well.

    metric -

    When sliding in the plastic cover during reassembly be sure it lines up with the battery compartment contacts. It can be really easy to not see it and bend the contacts. If you still encounter force during this step, depressing the triggers out of the way worked for me.

    Drew -

    Since mine is out of warranty I just broke out the security nib with a 2.0 standard bit. Then used a T8 torx.

    Tim LaCrosse -

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    • Orient the controller so the front plate is facing up.

    • Lift the front cover off of the controller.

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    • Turn the controller face down and gently lift the rear plate.

    • Be careful with the rumble motors, as they tend to fall out, risking damage to the motherboard.

    Reassembly: When placing the back cover on: notice that the battery terminals need to slide inside the cover first. Then compress the triggers slightly, Then the cover will be aligned correctly. Then add the front cover and add screws so it doesn’t come undone.

    hunteil -

    It isn't necessary to take off the back cover

    Otto Hahn -

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    • Tape the Rumbler/shock motors in place.

    • This will prevent the motors from falling out.

    if you replace thumbsticks only, this step is NOT required and it is safer not to remove bottom cover, removing faceplate is sufficient to replace thumbsticks

    Piotr Wysocki -

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    • Turn the device over and remove the directional pad by gently pulling it away from the controller.

    It needs to be made a little clearer that the thin metal retaining ring needs to be unclipped before pulling on the D-pad. A small, flatbladed screwdriver did it nicely for me.

    Paul Hough -

    As mentioned above, clarification is needed that the metal ring is intended to lay on top of the DPad - you should remove it first when disassembling, and it should be installed after the DPad to hold the DPad down when re-assembling.

    Additionally, the DPad is oriented so that the directional button without an extended tab on the end is on the bottom (down).

    sonofray -

    This step is not necessary if you are removing the top motherboard for replacing the joysticks as the D-pad is part of the bottom motherboard.
    In the case of replacing the joysticks (adding in hall effect sensor sticks) I found it useful to desolder all the rumble motor wires before disconnecting top & bottom motherboards.

    Alexsei thisDrop -

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    • Pull the joysticks off of the controller.

    Are the joystick potentiometers soldered to the mother board or just push fit, this guide doesn’t mention soldering so I’m assuming the latter?

    Can you get genuine replacement joystick potentiometers as I’ve only seen cheap eBay type ones?

    Alan -

    The actual joysticks themselves are soldered into the bottom motherboard.

    Bryan Remely -

    So where do i get new parts?

    mrdugi -

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    • If the rumble motors fall out of frame, the wires may disconnect from the motherboard . The wires will have to be soldered to reattach the motor.

    • Turn the device over and remove the two 7mm torx-6 screws in the bottom left and right corners.

    What if you don’t care about the rumble motors (always turn that feature off anyway), can I just leave them unattached?

    tracynoelle23 -

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    • Firmly grasp the top and bottom motherboards in opposite hands, then gently pull them apart.

    • The top motherboard is still connected to the bottom motherboard. To fully separate the top motherboard, you will need to use a soldering iron.

    • Warning: Do not attempt to disconnect the shielded (gold colored) connector as it is extremely fragile you will break it. It runs between the two boards.

    • De-solder the shielded cable from the lower board instead of attempting to disconnect the connector. De-solder using micro soldering techniquest.

    Soldering is not necessary for separation as on the top motherboard it uses a small connector commonly used in wireless assemblies for antennas. Simply pop it of using any prying tool or just your hand but make sure it is the side that has a gold or brassy finish and not a solder joint.

    Wyatt Faught -

    Hey Wyatt,

    Thanks for the feedback. I was on the team that authored this guide. I did not work on this specific guide so I am not familiar with this specific connector. I will follow up with iFixIt and check this issue. Thanks for the comment!

    Dylan Gross -

    Wyatt is correct that the black wire in the center can be removed from the top motherboard, but it doesn’t do any good to do so as there are two other sets of wires (grey and black twisted pairs leading to the left and right trigger) preventing you from removing the bottom motherboard entirely. These wires are visible in the pictures of this guide.

    Frank Buccella -

    I accidentally broke the part where the black wire connects to. Do I need to buy the top motherboard to fix this problem?

    drakeswifer -

    I can further confirm this as I have just pulled one apart. No soldering iron required.

    Brandon -

    What's is the name of the part for wireless on the controller

    justin edge -

    In my controller that black cable (the antenna like) was separated form the board is there any way to solder it again (the socket is still conected to plug)

    Dominik Gałczyński -

    I have the same problem. It popped off the board when firm pressure was applied to reconnect the wire after a repair. I'm going to attempt to apply a small bead of solder to the part that popped off, press it in place, and then heat the connector with my iron. But I am not hopeful at all. It's tight, really tight, and if it works it will be through luck alone.

    Michael Broder -

    Any luck? Theres no pad to get the solder to stick to on mine. Im assuming it is the j1 connection. Any idea what this wire is for?

    Matt Gribbin -

    Same issue here. I tried to unplug the antenna connector but the weak solder joints disconnected from the top motherboard instead. Looks like it has couple of bigger solder pads for ground/shielding(?) and one tiny pin in the middle for the actual antenna which can maybe still connect by pushing in place? Looks like a very difficult solder job as everything is so tiny.

    Kari Söderholm -

    Can someone help to find out the actual name of RF connector type?

    mntlzr -

    Hi i destroy black wire connector on top board please help me.

    Mohsen Heidary -

    It’s IPEX 4 connector, i've ordered bunch on chinese site and replaced mine. It was hard but doable.

    mntlzr -

    mntlzr : Thanks a lot for the connector type. More specifically it seems to be IPEX 4 SMD female socket on the top motherboard.

    Kari Söderholm -

    Hi yellow tape on board what

    Mohsen Heidary -

    Looks like thick Kapton tape. Probably meant for electrical insulation and a barrier for the coaxial cable to rest on instead of sitting directly on SMD components (which are under the tape)

    Alexsei thisDrop -

    How does the black wire reconnect? And is it necessary?

    Craig McBeth -

    I just put my controller back together (I opened it just to clean all the buttons since my son spilled some juice on it) and it seems to work wirelessly (with a PC using the dongle that came with the controller) even having broken the small black antenna cable connector off from the top motherboard. Not sure what that cable is used for or is it just an additional antenna for better connectivity. At least my controller still seems to work fine wirelessly without that cable being connected even from several meters away from the computer.

    Kari Söderholm -

    Actually nvm. Now that I tried the controller for a second time on the next day it seems to disconnect all the time so wireless is not working properly. I’ll need to try to fix the antenna cable by soldering. Probably will order a replacement connector (IPEX 4 SMD female socket) and try to solder that on.

    Kari Söderholm -

    I think I broke off a little bit of the black antenna. In the zoomed in shot it showed a tiny little piece of wire soldered on the pad with Z2 above it but mine wasn’t stuck onto it. I see a little white (plastic I think) nub on the end of the wire. My controller’s bluetooth range now is only a foot. What do I do? Do I just replace the cable or can I melt away the plastic material and bridge it with solder?

    Jeremy Clarkson -

    1) TAKE HEED TO THESE WARNINGS AND BE VERY CAREFUL

    2) Instead of separating the boards completely all you need is to get enough space to pull the part out.

    *WHILE HOLDING WITH BOTH HANDS AS IF YOU WHERE PLAYING AND PUSH THE TOP BOARD FORWARD WITH YOUR THUMBS LIKE A DRAWER AND THEN LIFT UP!

    IT WILL SEPARATE JUST ENOUGH TO DO WHAT YOU NEED. *THIS TAKES CARE, FINESSE, & SOME SKILL.

    TyGuy -

    This entire step is asinine. 1: you don't need to completely separate the two boards in order to pull them as a single assembly from the controller. 2: Why the f would you try to get someone to do solder work just to clean up some buttons?

    Jason Chappell -

    Just got done putting mine back together after cleaning("Y" was sticking). I was able to access all screws without completely desoldering, no broken wires. It wasn't even hard to do. As long as you don't try to force anything, it's easy.

    This isn't the first iFixIt guide that has made me go "WTF? You're overcomplicating things!" either. It is a running issue with their guides.

    Jason Chappell -

    There is a tool designed specifically for that type coaxial connector (UMC extraction tool)
    https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detai...

    However, you can usually safely remove that coaxial cable by hand or with a spludger tool or small flathead screwdriver. The trick is to wedge between the ground fins of the receptacle (longer solder sides of the connector on the PCB) and the coaxial plug/head, pushing off of the ground fin to nudge the plug up and away from the receptacle. The receptacle solder pads can be weak and if you arent careful you can easily break the receptacle and plug off together. Just take your time and use the ground fins to push against so that it holds the receptacle down while lifting the plug up. Might have to pop one side then pop the other side (always using the ground fins as a fulcrum point).

    Alexsei thisDrop -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Lien (Ally) Quan

Member since: 25/09/17

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