[HOW TO] M11x Internal Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver

Hello everybody !!

I like to play video games on my M11x R3 and I really like to play them using a Xbox 360 wireless receiver. Because I don't like wires, it was painful for me to use the standard USB wireless receiver so I decided to mod an internal one.

To do so, you'll need :

• A laptop with a least 1 mini PCIe free slot and/or 1 WWAN free slot
• A Xbox 360 USB wireless receiver
  
• A mini PCIe to USB adapter
  
• A Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit (you can find the cable only on eBay for a few bucks)
  
• A soldering iron, some wires and basic soldering skills
• A multimeter (optional but highly recommanded)
• A hot-air rework station (optional but highly recommanded)
• Basic modding tools including a little hacksaw and thick double sided adhesive tape

Step 1

First you have to dismantle the USB wireless receiver in order to cut the PCB to make it fit into your laptop.



Just follow the red lines and it will be perfect ! I used a little hacksaw to cut it and a small nail file to make it smooth.
Once cut, you should obtain something like this :





As you may have noticed, I had to remove the sync button, the USB cable socket and the metal protective cover otherwise it was too thick to fit into the M11x. If you have a bigger laptop it's not mandatory.

To remove the sync button and the USB cable socket I used a hot-air rework station. If you don't own one, it should be okay with a soldering iron or a heat gun but I will the much more difficult.

Step 2

Now, you have to do exactly the same thing with your mini PCIe to USB adapter.

You should obtain something like this :



Step 3

When your two boards are ready, you have to assemble them. To do so, you need to solder 4 wires between the two boards in the order shown on this picture :



(The yellow point will be used to connect the +5VDC power supply !)

Tip : Always use hot glue to cover your solders and protect them !

When your wires are on place, you can stick the two boards. To do so you can use some thick double sided adhesive tape and paste it on your board as shown in this picture (red area) :



You should obtain this (without the S wire on the top, it will be used in the next step ) :



Step 4

In order to fit the USB wireless receiver PCB into the M11x we had to cut it in the Step 1 but now we have a very big problem : we cut the antenna part of the board !!! Without the antenna part of the PCB, you should obtain a massive 20 to 30 cm range if you're lucky :cry:

That's why you'll need to create a new antenna. To do so, you just have to solder a wire on this point :



You can solder it directly on the PCB (on the red dot position) or you can solder it on the little componant just above (much easier way in my opinion).
Once this operation is completed, your Internal Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver is almost ready :wink:

Step 5

As you know, mini PCIe or WWAN slots don't provide +5VDC (but only low amps +3.3VDC as shown on the pinout) so you need to find a +5VDC power supply somewhere on the motherboard.



I HIGHLY recommand you to teardown your laptop in order to solder a wire on one of the 2 USB ports because it's definitely the best and safest power supply available !!





A mutlimeter check could be a great idea at this point before to solder





[IMG=http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/9379/155vsoldering.jpg][/IMG]

If you're lazzy and don't want to teardown your laptop, you can check your motherboard with a multimeter to find +5VDC but I warn you, only USB ports are protected against overcurrent with a kind of "virtual" fuse that cut the power if an overload is detected. If you decide to use another current source that USB ports you have to be 100% sure it can deliver the correct amount of current (400mA should be enough) otherwise it could destroy your laptop motherboard ! You have been warned

Step 6

Congratulations, your Internal Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver is finished ! You can mount it into you laptop and install Microsoft drivers (you can download them HERE).

Picture of the final assembly :



Hey ! One more important thing ! You maybe want to know how to sync your controllers now ? There are 2 ways to do so :

• Hard way : you can solder a remote button between the two points shown on this picture (red rectangle, right above the IC2 tag) :
  
  [IMG=http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/9379/155vsoldering.jpg][/IMG]
  
  
• Soft way : just use your Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit as shown in my video
  
  
  

If you want to turn off your controller without to remove the battery, you can use this app : Xbox Off

I don't know who created this so BIG thanks to him/her :thumbsup:

Hope it can help ! :smile:

 

Awesome mod bud, +rep!

 

Thanks !

 

Thanks for sharing this! It seems like a pretty awesome mod!

 

well done! very creative

 

Great mod and most important, it's done properly. Good job mate

 

Very great instruction. Try to do this on my x230 but it seems that there is missing the soldering picture. Could you reupload it?
BTW: Does this also work on mSATA Ports?
Thanks a lot!

 

This is an excellent guide! I've used some of it to make an internal wireless receiver for my desktop (wired directly to an unused USB 2.0 header). It works, but the range is poor. I suspected this is because its contained in a metal box so I tried putting a wire from the aerial point you highlighted, through the case and it ends between the metal and the plastic front fascia. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to have made a lot of difference. My solder point is the large copper section as I didn't have to cut my adapter down, and I'm using a piece of multi-cored wire I had lying about. Should I have soldered on at a different point or used a different kind of cable?

Thanks