Pull Your Xbox Clock Capacitor

If you have an OG Xbox sitting on a shelf somewhere, this is your reminder to pull the clock capacitor and clean up whatever corrosive goo it has already vomited out.
I was talking old video games with a student in one of my labs this week and it reminded me that this is one of the many projects I’ve been meaning to get to but haven’t had time for for the last several years.

Microsoft used some cheap 2.5V 1F early super caps which will inevitably fail and spray electrolyte on your motherboard, because they made some cost-cutting choices about the RTC, so now everyone with an old Xbox has to fix it.

iFixit has their usual helpful guide for pulling it apart, and the ConsoleMods wiki has the details on the clock cap situation. I didn’t even bother replacing the one in mine, I don’t pull my old Xbox out enough for it to matter.
Remove dead cap, clean residue thoroughly, move on. It’s a quick job.