Original Xbox Kiosk Questions

[anotherRetroGuy | 11]

This kiosk was one of my holy grails (not a fan of that term, but this was truly the one i really wanted), i managed to snag it off facebook and had it shipped to me.  and upon receiving it, i found that the wires to the LEDs on the bottom of one of the lower tubes had completely been destroyed.  Thankfully the seller had sent me a TON of photos and videos, and through that i could see that this section wasn't truly lighting up before, so i at least knew it wasn't anything to do with the shipping of it.  

But in order to get this beast into my basement, i spent a day completely tearing it down, taking a ton of photos as i went.  i even went so far as to replace all the nuts/bolts/screws with new ones.  and as i started rebuilding it, i spent a few days completely rewiring the LEDs for all the tubes.  the wires that came with it looked like nothing more than speaker wire and they were all in rough shape.  

With all that... i will say that none of them should be pulsating... they should all be solid. 

In looking at the photos i took, compared to the one you have there... i seem to have a "jumper" wire connected to that connector...

 

Not entirely sure why its there... 

the wire connector bit in your hand in that photo, looks more like part of a breakaway portion of the led cable...  BUT it's a bit complicated to write out, so what i'll do, is tomorrow i'll draw up a diagram showing how all of the LEDs are wired together... it seems overly complicated and kinda weird... but you'd think it was done for a reason... or not.  but when i draw it out hopefully it'll be a little clearer and you'll be able to compare it to what you've got.

So, i'll work on that tomorrow and hopefully we can get ya all up and running!

Best!

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

@anotherRetroGuythank you! That would be incredibly helpful. 

Last night I fixed the two issues I had with some of the wires- one wire was detached from the LED connector that goes onto the LED control board, and then one of the female audio plugs that goes to the second wire to connect to the TV was ripped off. Thankfully I fixed both issues so now everything is fully functional again, apart from the lights pulsing- which I am fine with, as a few other people I know with this kiosk tell me that one or two of their tubes don't light at all lol. Once I confirm everything is wired up correctly compared against your diagram, I'll move it into its final place in my gameroom.  Thank you so much for all of your help. Your knowledge has been incredibly Insightful!!

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

So a little update! I wanted to do something about that jumper cable. Even if it doesn't do anything.  I decided today to find some sort of female to female jumper cable I can connect to each of those 2 pins. I went to microcenter and got a small pack of wires that looked like would fit the two pins. I used one of them to make a connection between the two pins. 

I am so happy I did this! Once I connected it, my tubes no longer pulsed! They are now lit solid green. I suspect this regulates or returns power to the LEDs , and I wonder if anyone who also has pulsing LEDs is missing this piece.  

Update- also that weird plug we said looked like an appliance plug is actually for the fan on the side. Who knew!

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by Retrogamingzone

[anotherRetroGuy | 11]

AH HA!

That is awesome!  well done!  who woulda thought,... i'm glad it's all working and not pulsating anymore.  I'm half tempted to unplug my wire on mine and see what the pulsating is about.   

I did spend some time today making an over convoluted "diagram" of the wiring... i'll attach it here for anyone who comes along, if they need it. 

 

 *Edited the image so it hopefully looks better

Surprised about the cord going to the fan. very much spaced on that but good job sorting that out.  I attempted to replace my fan with a "quieter" one,... but the model I picked up is only a little quieter, so meh.  it works it works.

Anyways, Congrats Again and awesome job!

Edited December 8, 2023 by anotherRetroGuy
image updated

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

@anotherRetroGuythat diagram is awesome.  You really did everyone a service by completely rewiring yours and getting down to how everything is laid out. 

So looking at this, I see the 2 pin cable disconnect plugs on either side that my kiosk currently does not have plugged in. For some reason in mine, the top ones are just sitting in the compartment, and the bottom ones are taped to the underside of the bottom baseplate.  I assume to connect these I'd have to run them through some kind of passageway, which may be a pain lol. I wonder what they do or if they are needed. Mine seems to function fine without them connected.

Last question - how on earth did you get the tubes out of the bottom? Moreso, how did you get the LED pieces out of the tubes? Last night I had one moment where one of the bottom tubes did not power on after I had the kiosk on all day without issue. All wires were connected fine as I could see. I shut it off for 20 minutes, plugged it back in and it was working fine again. Just curious if I ever had to get in there and rewire or replace the LEDs how difficult it would be. 

[anotherRetroGuy | 11]

so, that image is terrible... it's actually the second one i did and it just comes out super pixilated...  so it's really kinda hard to look at.. i'm going to figure out some way to make it actually look good, even if i have to post multiple times haha. 

the first image i had uploaded had a few photos kinda showing how the wiring works,... but it was just to big and hard to see,... but i'll figure it out somehow...  

i really did luck out with my kiosk... because it is like 99% complete (i think) and really only had one issue with the lighting.  it really is difficult to tell, but each tube has it's led's on the top and bottom.  and on my kiosk when looking at it, the bottom right one was out.  which i completely didn't notice when viewing the photos and videos the seller sent.  and frankly i dont think he knew either. 

In order for me to get the darn thing down into my basement, because it weighs a million pounds, i spent a whole day doing a complete teardown of the kiosk.  this also gave me the chance to do a super thorough cleaning of it, as it was super dusty from being in the sellers garage for a few years.  

Someday, if i ever get time, i'm in the middle of building my site where i'm going to be dumping all the photos i took in tearing this down and rebuilding it.  i have a few other kiosks i've torn down as well that i need to get back together... but finding time is difficult haha. "if i can find the time" - famous last words.

Until then... and until i get the image reworked into something that is actually decent.  I'll try to explain how the wiring for my kiosk is set up.

apologies for the wall of text, maybe i can jam in photos as i write it out. and quick disclaimer, this is how mine was wired, i simply rewired the whole thing because one of the wires leading to one of the lights was torn away, so i figured why not.  and although all these kiosks "SHOULD" be the same, you just never know, so be carefule.

So, for the kiosk,  Basically, the wiring is like we have a control box, which has the power, that supplies it to 4 different sets of wires. 

• One wire for each of the bottom tubes (so two there)
• then one wire for each left and right sets of the top tubes (other two)

Each Tube has an LED board on the top and bottom of them.  and they are held into place by a round rubber cap which has a hole in the top for the plugs to the LED boards to hang out.   

These are basically just tight enough to hang onto the tube and keep the boards in place.

in our LED Control Box, aside from that jumper wire, which we know now is important... we have 4 - 5 pin plugs.  

This is the way mine was wired, already numbered that way, so that was helpful.  i'm not sure why the plugs are not wired the same though,  you'd think it'd be the same but assuming they had reasons.  Its a bit easier to see from the wires I used vs the speaker wire they used, but i did include a little drawing of how they were set up to make it a little easier.  

   #3 and #4 are used for the bottom Tubes

   #1 and #2 are used for the top.

    Fairly sure it doesn't really matter what side you do, since they are the same LED boards.

  Only including one image to cut down on the size, but #4 is the same, it's just wired to it's 5 pin plug slightly differently. 

so the way the wire is running through the kiosk,

• 3 and 4 go from the control box, to basically their respective tube.
• in the top and bottom LED boards you have a 4 pin connector.  so on the top you have the two wires from the control box but also the two wires leading to the bottom control board.  
• the way you route them is by basically having it run down the left or right "pillars" of the kiosk.  
  • There should be screws you can undo on the inside of these pillars to gain access. 
  • This is why there is a breakaway connector in the cable, so it's a lot easier to install.  
• On the bottom of the kiosk, Mine had a piece of wire channeling, that holds the wire so it's not just resting on the ground.  
  • this is what was completely destroyed on my kiosk for one of the sides. 

   How you get these tubes out... is not fun.. you basically have to take the entire top of the kiosk off.  there are 4 bolts that are holding the top half to the bottom half, but there could be some of these wires in the way, and the top half is so very heavy.  

 

  So thats the bottom half, and its all one piece (not including the grey foot kicker bar on the front).  But in that photo you can see the wires from the top are not yet running down those pillars on the side.  and thats because you need to install the middle part and kinda feed the wires through it... again it was 1000 times easier since i had completely taken apart the top of the kiosk with all the pieces so it was easier to handle.  You can even see the wires kinda coming out from the side of the bottom.  In those pillars on the inside, you can see on the right how you have access to the inside, and thats because i took the plate off.  

This is the middle section i was talking about, although oddly sized and heavy, it's a lot easier to manage when it's not connected to everything else.

So looking into it, you can see the two wires from each tube, kinda messy in this photo, but, the way the top pillars are built, youd want to wait until you got those on there before running the wires down the lower pillars. so it doesn't pinch the wires.  

I think i've hit the size limits of the post, so i'll do another for the top LED Tubes. 

[anotherRetroGuy | 11]

Continuing the LED Journey haha. 

The top, being #1 and #2, are basically wired the same, but again the 5 pin plug is different.

These messed me up though, because the 2 pin connectors and the way they're on the wire was a little weird when your looking at it.  In that diagram i made there, thats how the wire has the plugs on it, like all the plugs are wired the same way, but the orientation kinda flips on them... 

Also, to install these, you bassically run it up the pillar to the bottom of one of them, say the front... then continue up the pillar to the top of that same tube.  then to the top of the other tube, and back down the pillar to the bottom of the other tube.  

 

They also used zip ties to kinda hang onto things.  they did not do this for the bottom ones, as there is no room.

This is a bit tough to see, but the tubes rubber cap has a slightly larger zip tie that is actually going through the metal of the pillar, to help hold it in place to the kiosk.  and then there's a little zip tie hanging onto the cord and connector.  making sure it doesn't come loose. 

Found a picture of the other side of that.

here's an example of the wire connectors and how they just hang onto the wire in the middle of it.

so dirty

 

Found a shot i took of the bottom of one side while tearing the kiosk down.  You can see the wires are coming up the pillar from the same point that the lower LED tube wires head down... and in this photo, you can see the left tube the wire comes up plugs in and heads back to the pillar to go up to the top... then comes back down and ends on that bottom one on the right.  

You could totally rewire these to jump from the left to right then head up if you wanted... 

Thats, really about it... the top half, although the wire can be confusing, it's a lot easier to deal with than the bottom, simply because there's much easier access.  

 

at this point i'm just finding photos i have to help show more angles of it all... 

Wires going through through the top pillar to the bottom and top.

Here's the base again, and it's at this point you can pull the tubes up and out.  BUT you have to disconnect that cable thats going up the pillars.  

This might be tough to see, but on that pillar there, i removed the piece of metal to expose the inside of it.  and there are like 6 or 8 screws holding it on there, so it's very doable to get into there without taking the whole thing apart.  and it makes it a lot easier to feed the wire from the bottom up the pillar and plug in that disconnect part. 

 

Alrighty, i've hit the image cap again haha, hopefully this helps.  A lot of these pieces can actually be found on amazon, The wire i used was kinda the wrong gauge, slightly too big, so i had to use solder and hot glue to make it work.  But i found that they do sell green tubes that seem to come in various sizes, so if anyone needs new tubes we could measure these and help figure it out.  the rubber caps i found on there as well, but without the holes, which is easy enough to cut into them.  figuring out a way to do the boards may be difficult, but they really are just leds.  oddly though, mine are blue leds... but being in a green tube... i guess thats good enough haha.  

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

@anotherRetroGuy thank you! I am going to connect my two pin wires on either side today. I didn't realize that i can take the inside panel off the bottom inside to make it easier. There are screws missing randomly all over my kiosk. My key comes this week, maybe the screws will be in the top section. Excited to see what is in there.

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

I got the key @anotherRetroGuy recommended and it was a perfect match! All of my locks are original and undamaged, which I am very happy about.  Whoever got this kiosk originally had everything but the top back storage area unlocked before taking it home. I was excited to see what was hiding in the back storage area. 

I hoped to find maybe the remote or demo disc.. however it was only that "parts" bag, system paperwork, and some metal fixture pieces. I did need some of these washers so that's cool..and the remote battery cover was there.. but no remote.  I ended up using Google Lens to find the remote based on a previous picture posted by @theirontoupee and i cant wait for it to arrive. Thank you all for the help!

Edited December 12, 2023 by Retrogamingzone

[anotherRetroGuy | 11]

OOOO 

I'm glad the key works!

so, those are awesome finds!

In that first picture on the far right, that giant 'U' bracket looking thing, that is for the console... and / or the space underneath where the console goes... My kiosk had two of them, i'm not sure what went into the bottom space though.  some say a dummy console was on top, but i've yet to find a fake console... so maybe there were plans for it down the road?  all the demo units i've found of the original xboxs were legit real xboxs, with just a sticker slapped on them.

in the second picture, that metal bar behind your hand,... that is to help hold down the TV... 

it has some rubber "washers" and butterfly nuts

and that giant box in the first photo is to cover the cords on the back of the tv

 

That long piece in the middle of the first photo, i have no idea what that is for... i have one as well... but i cant figure out where that goes and haven't seen photos of it in use on other folks kiosks... so thats a mystery, BUT the fact that you have one as well, means it must've done something... 

For the remote, mine had a panasonic in it, but it's tethered to the back, so i picked up a new old stock one off eBay so i could leave it in the front and control the volume easier.

 

Now, as for the paperwork, that is also insanely awesome, mine didn't come with any paperwork.  so if you get time and wouldn't mind taking photos of all of it i'd love to have a copy!  or even if you have the ability to scan and make pdf's thatd be awesome!

wow good finds in the top.  

When i bought my kiosk... the seller said that the top was pushed in on one corner, so they were never able to open it.  and when i got it, i spent some time with various small screw drivers trying to pry it open.  when i finally did i found the kiosk arms for the controllers in there which was completely unexpected and crazy.

So, lesson learned for other folks out there... get that key and look in the top!

Awesome finds!  It is so awesome to see another kiosk coming together like this... 

Grats!

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

@anotherRetroGuythank you for the info! Very cool that these pieces will help the kiosk to be closer to 100% complete. 

On the topic of the bracket bar- I have two as well. But I wonder if there was some kind of demo or dev unit in the original kiosks as well as an actual xbox... I wonder because it turns out that I actually have a kiosk demo disc in my collection that I acquired years ago...but when I go to run it on my system in the kiosk, it doesn't read. I've tried it on two systems, and have gotten the same results. Maybe there is a dev unit that was formatted to read the demo disc's specifically? Speculation here, but it's odd that both my systems can't read the disc. It's not scratched at all

This disc is version 3.0, but I've seen all different version types. 

As for the paperwork, it looks like it's the typical packet that came with any plain old system.  Here is another photo for reference.  I will look through it in more depth to make sure, and if that's the case I'm sure it's something that can be snagged from ebay for a few bucks. I may even have an extra set if that's the case I may be able to send.

One last question- the bulb in the middle above the system. Do you know anything about it, or if a replacement is available? Mine is flickering. I can go the LED route to light that area but I'd prefer to keep things original and just replace the bulb, if it's a common enough bulb. 

I haven't taken the bulb housing apart from the kiosk yet, I was planning on doing it this week. Just figured I'd ask ya!

[anotherRetroGuy | 11]

hmmm well thats a good point about the demo discs...  i have one but haven't tried it out in a console... i wonder if the demo console i picked up had it's mobo / hard drive swapped... 

if anyone ever finds out, let us know!

Appreciate the info on the paperwork, man i got excited there heheh.  i do have og paperwork i appreciate the offer though! but yeah take a look and if you happen to stumble on something let me know!  most of the kiosks had some kind of manual with them, so i imagine this one should as well.  would be awesome to find.

LIGHTBULBS!

For the bulb above the console, in the center there,.. that takes a F8T5 8w bulb... mine is a cool white, but there are others... so mine says F8T5/CW 8W. ...  But to make it green, there is a very small thin green tube it goes into... 

 

For the top, for those interested, it's an F15T8/CW, mine showed up broken, so i replaced it with one from Lowes that lets you change between daylight, warm light and cool i think... but it's almost TO MUCH LIGHT, as it washes out the xbox graphic that it sits behind hahaha

It looks better in person, but in photos it looks a bit much.... sadly i also seem to have a stain on the back of mine, next to the X... i think someone before spilled something and it must've cooked on there, i cant clean it off. 

 

BUT NOTE, do not get the changing light bulb for the smaller t15 center one... it wont fit into the green little tube... 

Going back to the main console area, i went the route of throwing in some LED strips... i picked up some led light strip metal channels, and cut them to fit.  I really wanted the entire console area to light up and was kinda bummed that the fluorescent only seemed to light the front... 

but i may have gone a little overboard...

But i think the result is fairly cool

 

 

if the bulb is flickering, hopefully it's just the bulb and not the ballast in there.  i replaced the top bulb because mine was fried,...  but i'm thinking of putting leds in there as well... maybe not as much as what i did in the center area... as for the center area, the guy actually sent me an extra bulb, i picked up the 3 way changing one from lowes thinking it'd be nicer, but it didn't fit with the green tube, so that went back and i just stuck with what the guy sent.. which again was good, but i kinda wanted the whole inside to lightup.  

lots more info than asked haha but hopefully it'll help others as well!

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

Got a new bulb yesterday. The old bulb above the system had to be original becauase it looked OLD. But good news, it was labeled cool white just as you said, and now the new bulb I got from home depot is looking awesome! 

Also went ahead and connected that back box. 

i think we are 100% now!

[anotherRetroGuy | 11]

That is awesome!  

I'm glad that you had the metal pieces in the top.  and were able to get all the lights going!

it looks awesome and really is one of the best kiosks imo.  

Again Grats on the kiosk and well done getting it all up and going again!

[Rotendo | 0]

Hi! I've had my Xbox Kiosk for well over 10 years now. It was originally a kiosk used at one of our GameStops. One of the arms are missing and just recently I had someone at an FXGames (used games store here) interested in buying from me. It works and lights up, but I've been looking online for a replacement arm. So if they end up not buying it off of me, I'm looking for replacement arms. I saw a pair on ebay going for $680?! That dude is smoking crack! 

 

Any chance anyone here willing to let go of theirs if they're not using them? Or better yet, know where I can look to find one? I just started searching so so far I found that ebay listing and saw this pop up on images. 

Thanks in advance! 

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

@Rotendo

hi! Not sure if you have already , but have you looked into what is stored in the top storage compartment? A few people have found arms stored in there for whatever reason. 

[anotherRetroGuy | 11]

Thats how i got lucky with my Kiosk.  The dude i bought mine from, said that his brother worked at a gamestop, and snagged it from there.  But in the decade they had it, they never opened the top.  Something happened to where the top compartment's door was pushed inward to where you couldn't get it opened.  and they just never tried to pry it open.  

So when i got it, i managed to pry it open and was shocked that the arms basically fell out, almost hitting me in the face.  

AS FOR BUYING THEM... TYPICALLY... they're like 400 bucks on eBay... usually thats the going rate, about 200 per arm... BUT there are also different variations on the arms, namely the mounting bracket, so do make sure you're looking at the right ones for whichever kiosk you have.   I just checked eBay and i see that 680 listing, thats a bit much imo, but it is for the kiosk that I have (photos in this thread)..  

Otherwise, facebook marketplace, there's also a few kiosk groups on facebook, some are a bit more involved than others, some have been merged also, this one seems a bit more active "The Kiosk & Display Collective".   if you join that you should be able to ask if anyone there happens to have one or a pair available.  

But again, typically going rate is like 200 per arm.  

[Rotendo | 0]

I seen those kiosks. Mine is the one with the X for the base and the top part is just the speakers and lit logo. I would have found a storage compartment if I  had the other variation. 

That's just crazy to hear. $200 per arm?! Might as well 3D print one. lol or search through marketplace and swapmeets. 

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

@Rotendo3D print would be a good idea. Maybe then you can spray them after with some rubber compound to give it a smooth feel 

[Rotendo | 0]

16 hours ago, Retrogamingzone said:

@Rotendo3D print would be a good idea. Maybe then you can spray them after with some rubber compound to give it a smooth feel 

Yeah. Plasti Drip would be perfect for that application. I use it for some of my tools that its original grip got worn or didn't have any. It's a great product. 

[Retrogamingzone | 5]

@Rotendoabsolutely. Just gotta make sure you do a couple coats.