So, I've set this LuckStar up three times now and have full function every time. No clue what was going on.

The POST card effects nothing. This last time, I installed the wrong video card, but still functioned perfectly (just way faster). I even added a network card and transferred about 16GB of games. Definitely going to call this GOOD and add it to the collection.

Over the weekend I cleaned and benched a Shuttle FB61 with Pentium 4 SL6WK (3.0/800/512), 2x1GB DDR400, and a very similar Radeon 9600.

I had to use my normal bench PSU (300W Enermax), since the 200W PSU in the Shuttle had plague™ and was broken, most likely from not being powerful enough. It's going to get a nice 350W retrofitted (needs ATX and P4 connectors).

ANYWAY, to the point: it was a similar setup to what I was messing with earlier and now that I got the 9600 in the board, I can compare the "same" video card in two similar systems with wildly different CPU clocks and memory, especially since the LuckyStar has 133Mhz SDRAM. The results are expected, but now quantified.

I had my brothers' Shuttle race my Shuttle, for funsies; mine got blown out of the water. Of course, it DID finish first, but not a fair race, as the GF4 was missing many feature tests. My Shuttle runs Athlon 64X2-3800+(2.0Ghz) 2x512MB DDR400, and GeForce 4 MX4000. I didn't get pictures of his while it was here, but it was way slicker-looking than mine, with a 2mm aluminum plate on the front.

Going to do a recap now. Not sure what, but it's going to get done, 🤣

I decided to do PCChips M861g(1.6a) because it looked like I could get it done quickly, not many caps.

I initially was just going to to the power stage, it had some puffers, but I ended up doing the whole thing. 34 on this one. Most of them tested fine, just the puffers were actually bad.

I'm about to test it soon. If it works, I'll prepare a drive for it. I recently got a pile of 40 and 80 GB Seagate 7200.7, so I've been pairing boards to drives.

Alright! It POSTed first try and then sailed right into DOS and completed the first test. It failed the memory test, but I'm not surprised by that.

What I AM surprised about, is how many boards this stick has gone through and NONE of them have detected the failure. (this is a 1GB stick, always detected as 512MB) After the first restart, the BIOS also told me my memory was crap. I've never seen it straight up say "Extended memory test FAILED, F1 to continue" or something like that. I switched the sticks out for two random ones, both worked and passed both BIOS and Speedsys memory tests. I ended up changing RAM yet again, so I could tune it properly (was DDR333, now I got 2x512MB DDR400).

All my testing was with the onboard VGA so far. WindowsXP doesn't know anything about it and the Hyperion drivers did not contain video drivers. I didn't want to bother with the onboard anyway, so I tried installing the 9600LE. It wouldn't output video and after a few reinserts, wouldn't POST anymore. Removed, it POSTed, but the 9600LE was NOT working. I tried the universal GF2MX200: it POSTed AND gave me video.

Next problem:
3Dmark2001 crashes as soon as the first test starts to load. Ugh. I felt I already knew the problem, so I went right for that: the VIA driver for AGP. I just reinstalled the microsoft basic driver in the device manager and restarted. It was now able to run 3Dmark2001... almost. It crashes randomly now. HARD crash, dead-reboot.

I'm working as I'm typing, so I got updates already. My gut was telling me what's wrong. The PSU. I ran out of PSU! I swapped the PSU (300W Enermax) with a Antec TruePower 650 and it was able to complete the test! It is also a much smoother experience at the desktop.

The 9600LE works in the board now, too! I've tried doing another run with the 9600LE and got the boost expected.

Seems like a good board so far. I don't like the driver situation, but it works pretty good. I'll continue testing.

While I was doing that, I also disassembled the empty XT -style frame and will wash it before getting some fitment details worked out. I'm going to need to make a few parts for it to be completely usable.

I don't know the status of the PSU that came with it. It was opened before and will need to be again.

Just did some quick mock-up to get to know what I'm working with. I started with a "modern" board.

I then tried a board without audio, to add more clearance for the expansion slot bracket.

I moved to try and take care of the other clearance issue: the drives

The easiest route, of course, is a baby AT board, but...

This Gemlight, I knew was going to fit already, so I also threw a bunch of stuff on top to eye-ball clearances.

Not sure which direction I want to go yet with that.

The M861 is still trooping along well, no issues. I'll call it good by tomorrow.

I have some time-off this week, so I'll be trying to re-arrange and get more surface area.

Today, I made a quick repair to the Boston BA-7800s I got a while back. I tested them today and had flaky volume and basically no "notch" on the two that were supposed to have it. It comes apart easy, the face has to be unbolted from the pots and one screw on the back.

I'm glad nothing serious was going on once I had one open. I just cleaned it with alcohol and added some grease.

This is not computer related, but an important issue:
The timing belt on my Passat broke and completely took the valves out with it. I got lucky on a 04 Honda Accord, but I will have to spend the whole first day of my vacation making it drivable.

I will feel better once the Honda is safe to drive. I was thinking about sharing the pic of the car, but you can't see the mechanical failure. What you CAN see is this:

I test drove the car after receiving it (about 3-4 miles) and noticed this AFTER... Looking closer around, that sh*t is EVERYWHERE and there were little mushroom-looking guys growing around the floormats. But, hey, the price was indeed right. I did detail work years ago and still have my equipment, it's just going to take some time.

I started working on the Biostar M7VIG 400.

I was feeling adventurous and removed ALL the caps at once! I think this method will cut time, but not for the feint of heart. There are only 3 smaller sizes and 2 larger ones on this board, so I figured this would be an easy one to play with. 25V22µF, 16V100µF, and 16V1000 are the small ones, 16V2200µF and 6.3V3300µF are the large ones. ALL of the 6.3V3300 tested BAD.

Cleaning it without the caps was great. Real easy to scrub the normally hard-to-reach area(s). All around good time. This is going to be fun to re-populate.

I had to take some creative liberties when replacing the caps this time. Most of the 3300s were replaced with 2200s and two of the three 16v2200µF were substituted with 1800µF. This was due to not having the correct parts. Should work fine still.

I'll use this Sempron for testing:

Is there a specific name for that plate/spacer thing? I call it "Athlon Armor" It seems like a cool thing to get for my other Athlon systems.

Huzzah! Came right on!

Passes initial test, so I'm installing XP. I have a board with a similar chipset, so if I do it next (ECS L7VMM2), I can streamline the loading-into-windows part of the experience.

I ditched the onboard VGA and went with 2x512MB DDR333.

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-10-28, 02:20:

Is there a specific name for that plate/spacer thing? I call it "Athlon Armor" It seems like a cool thing to get for my other Athlon systems.

Copper shim.
You can still find reviews around. It was a thing back then.

Nexxen wrote on 2025-10-28, 09:51:

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-10-28, 02:20:

Is there a specific name for that plate/spacer thing? I call it "Athlon Armor" It seems like a cool thing to get for my other Athlon systems.

Copper shim.
You can still find reviews around. It was a thing back then.

I've read some reviews now and see that they don't do much for your CPU. I just want them because they look cool, 🤣 I saw that there were a bunch of different-looking ones. Variation in thickness for different CPU support. Unnecessary, but neat accessory! I'll try to make my own design later, but for now, I copied the one I have.

It's nice to have the 3D printer for prototyping, as I can now SEE it fits and can get it made out of copper without waste.

I started/finished another board, but I forgot to update on the M7VIG 400. It works perfectly. No hiccups installing windows and was able to get a benchmark run.

I was going to do the ECS L7VMM2 next, but closer inspection revealed no faults, so I'll clean it and test it later.

This is the other board: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium It came with AMD Opteron

Time for some testing!

Well then.... scratch that. Looks like I have to pull them ALL.... F#k. The symbols for ALL the capacitors are on BACKWARDS!! WTF?! It's partially my own fault, I should've paid attention... During my final check, I noticed the two I didn't touch (25v10µF) were on backwards. Checking the "before" picture, ALL of them were installed "backwards". Damn....

Glad I double-check my work. Looking at the boards I've done and yet to do, it looks like the ASUS boards have all the symbols on backwards... Confirmed on the K8V-X SE. I installed them all "backwards" (opposite of symbol, hurts brain).

Ugh! Lame!

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-11-01, 22:56:

Well then.... scratch that. Looks like I have to pull them ALL.... F#k. The symbols for ALL the capacitors are on BACKWARDS!! WT […]
Show full quote

Well then.... scratch that. Looks like I have to pull them ALL.... F#k. The symbols for ALL the capacitors are on BACKWARDS!! WTF?! It's partially my own fault, I should've paid attention... During my final check, I noticed the two I didn't touch (25v10µF) were on backwards. Checking the "before" picture, ALL of them were installed "backwards". Damn....

The attachment 20251008_224507.jpg is no longer available

Glad I double-check my work. Looking at the boards I've done and yet to do, it looks like the ASUS boards have all the symbols on backwards... Confirmed on the K8V-X SE. I installed them all "backwards" (opposite of symbol, hurts brain).

Ugh! Lame!

Hi, I wanted to let you know that I follow your work with interest, and I see that you have acquired a certain familiarity with the replacement of electrolytic capacitors.
I don't know if you do this for work, or do it for yourself (hobby?), however I can congratulate you on the results obtained.
I also have an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium among the cards being repaired, recently I thought about reviewing it, but right now, I'm dealing with older PCs, various S.7 and some 486.
Good work, greetings

PC@LIVE wrote on 2025-11-01, 23:01:

Hi, I wanted to let you know that I follow your work with interest, and I see that you have acquired a certain familiarity with […]
Show full quote

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-11-01, 22:56:

Well then.... scratch that. Looks like I have to pull them ALL.... F#k. The symbols for ALL the capacitors are on BACKWARDS!! WT […]
Show full quote

Well then.... scratch that. Looks like I have to pull them ALL.... F#k. The symbols for ALL the capacitors are on BACKWARDS!! WTF?! It's partially my own fault, I should've paid attention... During my final check, I noticed the two I didn't touch (25v10µF) were on backwards. Checking the "before" picture, ALL of them were installed "backwards". Damn....

The attachment 20251008_224507.jpg is no longer available

Glad I double-check my work. Looking at the boards I've done and yet to do, it looks like the ASUS boards have all the symbols on backwards... Confirmed on the K8V-X SE. I installed them all "backwards" (opposite of symbol, hurts brain).

Ugh! Lame!

Hi, I wanted to let you know that I follow your work with interest, and I see that you have acquired a certain familiarity with the replacement of electrolytic capacitors.
I don't know if you do this for work, or do it for yourself (hobby?), however I can congratulate you on the results obtained.
I also have an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium among the cards being repaired, recently I thought about reviewing it, but right now, I'm dealing with older PCs, various S.7 and some 486.
Good work, greetings

Thanks! I do it all for fun. I take jobs sometimes, too. I've been obsessed with hardware since before it was called "retro". I have a few older units to repair soon, but I got so much broken goodies recently, I have a hard time deciding on what to do next. I did get a job with some Xboxes, never worked on one of those before, so that'll be fun.

I'll take a break from the A8N-SLI to take care of those Xbox today. I looked through ALL of my boards and ASUS boards ALL have the capacitor footprint/symbol on backwards. Something to take note of. Definitely not doing that again.

So, I have a STACK of OG Xbox to work on! Four units, three modded and one completely fresh. The fresh one is the lifeless one. The "important" one, I'll work on first, in case I need sacrificial parts. It has a 1.5TB SATA drive in it, and as I understand, the drive is locked to the BIOS, so it is pretty much unrecoverable unless the key is retrieved from the BIOS. This drive IS all the data, the 4TB drive with all the backups on it had a head crash, so getting this one to work is critical. Once working, it will be backed up again, over the network.

I started last night and had the capacitors replaced. I replaced the CPU power and 3x6.3V1500µF, all of which looked bad and tested bad.

I cleaned the board and the rest of the casing (it was GROSS) and was able to set it up as a pile of boards.

Excellent. It works! I was playing with it for a bit and it indeed works great! I noticed the DVD drive had the door-opening issue, so I opened that and cleaned/lubricated it. It also works perfectly now!

With the new thermal paste, this is going to work better than it ever has.

I'll reassemble and retest, then move to the next one

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-11-02, 20:02:

Thanks! I do it all for fun. I take jobs sometimes, too. I've been obsessed with hardware since before it was called "retro". I […]
Show full quote

PC@LIVE wrote on 2025-11-01, 23:01:

Hi, I wanted to let you know that I follow your work with interest, and I see that you have acquired a certain familiarity with […]
Show full quote

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-11-01, 22:56:

Well then.... scratch that. Looks like I have to pull them ALL.... F#k. The symbols for ALL the capacitors are on BACKWARDS!! WT […]
Show full quote

Well then.... scratch that. Looks like I have to pull them ALL.... F#k. The symbols for ALL the capacitors are on BACKWARDS!! WTF?! It's partially my own fault, I should've paid attention... During my final check, I noticed the two I didn't touch (25v10µF) were on backwards. Checking the "before" picture, ALL of them were installed "backwards". Damn....

The attachment 20251008_224507.jpg is no longer available

Glad I double-check my work. Looking at the boards I've done and yet to do, it looks like the ASUS boards have all the symbols on backwards... Confirmed on the K8V-X SE. I installed them all "backwards" (opposite of symbol, hurts brain).

Ugh! Lame!

Hi, I wanted to let you know that I follow your work with interest, and I see that you have acquired a certain familiarity with the replacement of electrolytic capacitors.
I don't know if you do this for work, or do it for yourself (hobby?), however I can congratulate you on the results obtained.
I also have an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium among the cards being repaired, recently I thought about reviewing it, but right now, I'm dealing with older PCs, various S.7 and some 486.
Good work, greetings

Thanks! I do it all for fun. I take jobs sometimes, too. I've been obsessed with hardware since before it was called "retro". I have a few older units to repair soon, but I got so much broken goodies recently, I have a hard time deciding on what to do next. I did get a job with some Xboxes, never worked on one of those before, so that'll be fun.

I'll take a break from the A8N-SLI to take care of those Xbox today. I looked through ALL of my boards and ASUS boards ALL have the capacitor footprint/symbol on backwards. Something to take note of. Definitely not doing that again.

So, I have a STACK of OG Xbox to work on! Four units, three modded and one completely fresh. The fresh one is the lifeless one. The "important" one, I'll work on first, in case I need sacrificial parts. It has a 1.5TB SATA drive in it, and as I understand, the drive is locked to the BIOS, so it is pretty much unrecoverable unless the key is retrieved from the BIOS. This drive IS all the data, the 4TB drive with all the backups on it had a head crash, so getting this one to work is critical. Once working, it will be backed up again, over the network.

The attachment 20251101_231821.jpg is no longer available

I started last night and had the capacitors replaced. I replaced the CPU power and 3x6.3V1500µF, all of which looked bad and tested bad.

The attachment 20251102_120757.jpg is no longer available

I cleaned the board and the rest of the casing (it was GROSS) and was able to set it up as a pile of boards.

The attachment 20251102_122954.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20251102_122335.jpg is no longer available

Excellent. It works! I was playing with it for a bit and it indeed works great! I noticed the DVD drive had the door-opening issue, so I opened that and cleaned/lubricated it. It also works perfectly now!

The attachment 20251102_124719.jpg is no longer available

With the new thermal paste, this is going to work better than it ever has.

I'll reassemble and retest, then move to the next one

Yes, I also repair motherboards in my spare time, when I started I didn't understand anything, then I started repairing ATX power supplies, and in short I fixed several, unfortunately later the broken ones were no longer available at symbolic prices, so rather than paying 💰 a lot, I started looking for disused motherboards, but many had problems, especially swollen electrolytic capacitors, I repaired a couple, and it wasn't easy, but in the meantime some of my PCs, had problems with electrolytic capacitors, I solved them, and since then I've been repairing MB, slowly I learned more, and for some boards it takes me years, before being able to fix them, the last one is a 486DX2-66 after a couple of years I found the problem, a big success!
However, while 35 years ago I used PCs daily (then an XT), only in the last 10 years I started to repair them and dedicate my free time to them, during the day I don't have enough time to stay in front of the PC, except that I need the Internet.
Even the ASROCK motherboards have the white part on the back, not only the ASUS, I don't remove them all, I start with the swollen ones, then if they are in the VRM zone, I also remove the visually good ones, but I always take a picture before and after the removal.
I've never had a PSX, I know they're very similar to PCs, but now I have enough motherboards, to try to repair them, I don't feel the need to get more, I stopped ordering other cards a while ago, and especially looking for them.

What I'll call "Xbox2" is toast. The northbridge heatsink was glued on this one, so I left it alone during cleaning, but when I plugged it in the first time, it ran for about 12 seconds, then powered off. It wasn't even supposed to power itself on. I ran again checking some voltages, same result. But DAMN, the northbridge/GPU heatsink was HOT! I removed the clip and it mushed right off.

The thing was absolutely piping hot! I plugged it in again with my finger on it and was IMMEDIATELY greeted by a firestorm of failure. Ooof. If this were any PC, I'd call it cooked. Wait, it is... She's dead, Jim.

I stole the parts back off it and tossed the thing back together.

The next one(xbox3), was a partial success. As usual, I had to clean everything before working on it...

I reassembled it and tried powering it on to a big nothing. I had noticed a capacitor that looked different from the rest.

I salvaged the same capacitor from the other board. These boards are different revisions, so it was in a completely different place, but it was there. I removed the capacitor, cleared the holes, and tossed it back together. Plugging it in, it did the same nothing. I added the cap and plugged it in. Pressing power now started the board! It even showed me the green screen! Now.... I would put this cap in, but it is also bulging and does not work correctly. The black cap was completely open. I'll have to wait to fix this one the rest of the way. At least it will be an easy fix.

I tested the last of the Xbox(xbox4) again and plugging it in, you can hear the PSU spark, so it's doing something, power side, but nothing when power is pressed. I'm guessing it's the SAME cap from the other ones keeping it from doing anything. Not that powering it on would be good anyway, based on how the capacitors from the other xbox tested. Somehow, the unopened one is most exciting.

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-11-01, 21:57:

I've read some reviews now and see that they don't do much for your CPU. I just want them because they look cool, XD I saw that […]
Show full quote

Nexxen wrote on 2025-10-28, 09:51:

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-10-28, 02:20:

Is there a specific name for that plate/spacer thing? I call it "Athlon Armor" It seems like a cool thing to get for my other Athlon systems.

Copper shim.
You can still find reviews around. It was a thing back then.

I've read some reviews now and see that they don't do much for your CPU. I just want them because they look cool, 🤣 I saw that there were a bunch of different-looking ones. Variation in thickness for different CPU support. Unnecessary, but neat accessory! I'll try to make my own design later, but for now, I copied the one I have.

The attachment S462_SHIM_1.JPG is no longer available

The attachment S462_SHIM.JPG is no longer available

It's nice to have the 3D printer for prototyping, as I can now SEE it fits and can get it made out of copper without waste.

The attachment 20251101_164212.jpg is no longer available

I started/finished another board, but I forgot to update on the M7VIG 400. It works perfectly. No hiccups installing windows and was able to get a benchmark run.

The attachment M7MIG400_S2200_GF2MX400.JPG is no longer available

Just ensure it's not too high, so it prevents the cooler touching the core right ... 😀

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-11-04, 03:35:

What I'll call "Xbox2" is toast. The northbridge heatsink was glued on this one, so I left it alone during cleaning, but when I […]
Show full quote

What I'll call "Xbox2" is toast. The northbridge heatsink was glued on this one, so I left it alone during cleaning, but when I plugged it in the first time, it ran for about 12 seconds, then powered off. It wasn't even supposed to power itself on. I ran again checking some voltages, same result. But DAMN, the northbridge/GPU heatsink was HOT! I removed the clip and it mushed right off.

The thing was absolutely piping hot! I plugged it in again with my finger on it and was IMMEDIATELY greeted by a firestorm of failure. Ooof. If this were any PC, I'd call it cooked. Wait, it is... She's dead, Jim.

The attachment 20251102_173047.jpg is no longer available

I stole the parts back off it and tossed the thing back together.

The next one(xbox3), was a partial success. As usual, I had to clean everything before working on it...

The attachment 20251102_173339.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20251102_182954.jpg is no longer available

I reassembled it and tried powering it on to a big nothing. I had noticed a capacitor that looked different from the rest.

The attachment 20251103_211907.jpg is no longer available

I salvaged the same capacitor from the other board. These boards are different revisions, so it was in a completely different place, but it was there. I removed the capacitor, cleared the holes, and tossed it back together. Plugging it in, it did the same nothing. I added the cap and plugged it in. Pressing power now started the board! It even showed me the green screen! Now.... I would put this cap in, but it is also bulging and does not work correctly. The black cap was completely open. I'll have to wait to fix this one the rest of the way. At least it will be an easy fix.

The attachment Screenshot 2025-11-03 204049.png is no longer available

I tested the last of the Xbox(xbox4) again and plugging it in, you can hear the PSU spark, so it's doing something, power side, but nothing when power is pressed. I'm guessing it's the SAME cap from the other ones keeping it from doing anything. Not that powering it on would be good anyway, based on how the capacitors from the other xbox tested. Somehow, the unopened one is most exciting.

Xbox2 has trace rot, among other things, likely from the clock capacitor leaking all over the board. Powering on without pressing the button is a common symptom, so is the power button not responding.

Also, pay attention to the revisions of XBOX systems. 1.4 and 1.6 have similar ATX-style connectors, but they're NOT compatible with each other's power supply. 1.6 goes with 1.6 PSU, I mean.
1.6 is the only revision that needs the clock capacitor. All the others are better off without it. You're generally better off with them for many reasons

TechieDude wrote on 2025-11-04, 11:24:

Xbox2 has trace rot, among other things, likely from the clock capacitor leaking all over the board. Powering on without pressin […]
Show full quote

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-11-04, 03:35:

What I'll call "Xbox2" is toast. The northbridge heatsink was glued on this one, so I left it alone during cleaning, but when I […]
Show full quote

What I'll call "Xbox2" is toast. The northbridge heatsink was glued on this one, so I left it alone during cleaning, but when I plugged it in the first time, it ran for about 12 seconds, then powered off. It wasn't even supposed to power itself on. I ran again checking some voltages, same result. But DAMN, the northbridge/GPU heatsink was HOT! I removed the clip and it mushed right off.

The thing was absolutely piping hot! I plugged it in again with my finger on it and was IMMEDIATELY greeted by a firestorm of failure. Ooof. If this were any PC, I'd call it cooked. Wait, it is... She's dead, Jim.

The attachment 20251102_173047.jpg is no longer available

I stole the parts back off it and tossed the thing back together.

The next one(xbox3), was a partial success. As usual, I had to clean everything before working on it...

The attachment 20251102_173339.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 20251102_182954.jpg is no longer available

I reassembled it and tried powering it on to a big nothing. I had noticed a capacitor that looked different from the rest.

The attachment 20251103_211907.jpg is no longer available

I salvaged the same capacitor from the other board. These boards are different revisions, so it was in a completely different place, but it was there. I removed the capacitor, cleared the holes, and tossed it back together. Plugging it in, it did the same nothing. I added the cap and plugged it in. Pressing power now started the board! It even showed me the green screen! Now.... I would put this cap in, but it is also bulging and does not work correctly. The black cap was completely open. I'll have to wait to fix this one the rest of the way. At least it will be an easy fix.

The attachment Screenshot 2025-11-03 204049.png is no longer available

I tested the last of the Xbox(xbox4) again and plugging it in, you can hear the PSU spark, so it's doing something, power side, but nothing when power is pressed. I'm guessing it's the SAME cap from the other ones keeping it from doing anything. Not that powering it on would be good anyway, based on how the capacitors from the other xbox tested. Somehow, the unopened one is most exciting.

Xbox2 has trace rot, among other things, likely from the clock capacitor leaking all over the board. Powering on without pressing the button is a common symptom, so is the power button not responding.

Also, pay attention to the revisions of XBOX systems. 1.4 and 1.6 have similar ATX-style connectors, but they're NOT compatible with each other's power supply. 1.6 goes with 1.6 PSU, I mean.
1.6 is the only revision that needs the clock capacitor. All the others are better off without it. You're generally better off with them for many reasons

Oh wow! I looked closely and found trace damage, though not by any capacitors.

I located both ends, since it was a pretty large section damaged and it's very tiny. I can get good pictures, but I can't use my camera to peep it, so I had to do it by eye and test it after it looked good.

Plugging it in THIS time... Something! It is in standby now until I press the power and it powers off immediately when pressing power button. No video/sound at all and the lights aren't flashing until I try to eject (which it doesn't do). The chipset doesn't get smokin' hot anymore, too! I can casually check voltages now, CPU is 1.7. That clock cap is 2.5V, everything else is 3.3V and 5V

I only have 2of3 6.3v1500µF and 1of3 6.3v3300 on the board right now, I figured it needed SOMETHING for testing. The 2.5V is also removed still and has no effect bridging. It's doing more than it's ever done, there may be hope. Worth it to repopulate? Could that keep it from booting?

While that's on the back-burner, I'll try to take apart Xbox4. I was playing the Futurama game on xbox#1. It's funny and very much like the classic episodes. I never got to play it, since there was no PC version. Controls are a little funk, but I think I'll try to play through it before I have to return it.

The 2.5V1F capacitors you showed in your other post are the clock capacitors I was referring to. They help the console keep time for a little while in case it loses power. They're black on every revision except the last. The gold ones are typically more reliable and less likely to leak, but still can't be fully trusted after 20 years.
These sites should provide useful info for you to work on them:

https://xboxdevwiki.net/Hardware_Revisions

https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:Versions

These go into detail on the different revisions of the XBOX and the clock capacitor failures on the earlier revisions.