Well here is something useful: I figured out how to light up my guide lights so that they come on and shut off with the controller! For those not familiar with the the dilemma, the pads have a 5v coming off the USB, the problem is this is an always on 5v, meaning that power flows through it, even when the xbox is off. Poking around the fightpads, the only switched circuits I found were to the SMD's, and they were just under 2v, not enough to brighten up my LEDS to where I want them to be. So what I did was get a npn3904 transistor, and a 220ohm resistor and I wired the transistor to the SMD tos switch the ground and turn the LEDS on when the controllers are on. Here is how you do it:
Solder a lead from the positive SMD connection to the resistor, then solder the resistor to the base of the transistor.
Solder a lead from the SMD ground to the collector of the transistor
Solder the emitter of the transistor to the ground from the LED
Connect the LED anode to the 5v.
Voila! when the power is on, the transistor closes the ground circuit, powering the LEDS, when its off, the LEDS don't have a ground shut off. If anyone wants more details of pics let me know
Now the frustration: The damned bezel isn't as clean as I want it to be, luckily the tinted plexi hides it all pretty well, unfortunately, putting tint on plexi is a pain! Spent the good part of the weekend applying and reapplying the tint to get rid of the imperfections. The wife said I was getting too obsessed, finally said f-it, and went with what I had. Its IMPOSSIBLE to get all the little bubbles out due to stray pieces of lint/dust that get attracted to the plexi and tint through static electricity. I got it to the point where there are maybe a half dozen really, really tiny bubbbles. They are not in screen area, and you can only see them if the glare off the screen hits a certain way. Most people probably won't see them, so I am leaving them where they are and moving forward.
Now the crushing anger:
That pretty much ate up my weekend. Put in the xbox, and it worked! I removed the drive, built a small wooden enclosure for it and stuck the xbox behind my coin box. Fired up, no problem. Then I go to show my wife last night, the drive starts to open and BAM! 2RL error.
Checked the code, its giving 0013 - RAM overheat. I am thinking I went a little overboard trying to secure the xbox to the cab and maybe flexed the board displaced the ram somehow. Going to look over it this weekend, if I can't get it to work I might get it reflowed. If not I am going to have to get a new one. Maybe I'll get an elite and move my home one into the cab...anyhow, the xbox is down for now... so pissed.
Anyhow, cab still have built in the middle of the house, and I am leaving for work for a few days. When I get back, first priority is to finish assembly and get the PC and speakers in, then I will try and get the xbox working.