Which power supply does my Original Xbox need?

This is the part where people get caught out, and it is worth being blunt about why: an Original
Xbox power supply that physically fits is not automatically the right one. The connector changed
during the production run, and then changed again in a way you cannot see.

Three connectors, not one

There are three situations, and which one you are in depends entirely on your motherboard
revision.

• 1.0 and 1.1 — a single row of twelve pins.
• 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 — twenty pins in two rows.
• 1.6 and 1.6b — the same twenty-pin connector as above, wired differently.

The first difference is easy: a 1.0 or 1.1 supply simply will not reach a later board. One row
against two. You will notice immediately.

The difference you will not notice

The second one is the dangerous one. A supply from a 1.2 to 1.4 console plugs straight into a 1.6
without any resistance at all. Same shape, same size, clicks into place.

But the pins do not carry the same things. Where a 1.2 to 1.4 board expects +5 V on certain
pins, a 1.6 has standby voltage on those same positions, and the 12 V rail sits elsewhere. Plug
one into the other and you are feeding voltages into places that were not designed for them.

Match the supply to the board revision, not to the shape of the plug.

And definitely not a PC power supply

The twenty-pin connector on a 1.2 to 1.4 board has the same physical form as the old ATX connector
from a desktop computer. It is not the same thing. The pinout and the signalling are completely
different. People have tried; it does not end well.

What these supplies actually deliver

The internal supply is rated at 96 watts. Printed on the board itself:

3.3 V standby	0.075 A
3.3 V	4.8 A
5 V	13.2 A
12 V	1.2 A

Measured on running consoles, a 1.0 draws roughly 68 watts and a 1.3 roughly 65 while playing,
with about 2 and 1 watt respectively in standby. So there is real headroom on a 96 watt supply,
including for a larger hard drive.

Who made them

Microsoft did not use one supplier. Delta and Foxlink units are the common ones; 1.6 consoles turn
up with a Samsung-built unit, and Minebea units exist as well. They are all doing the same job.

On the Delta units the model number carries the market: the -1 suffix indicates the
240 V European version, while the version without it is the 120 V North American one. Worth
checking against the label on yours before ordering.

A word about the mains lead

Microsoft ran a replacement programme for the power cords on early consoles — units built before
late October 2003, or before mid-January 2004 for consoles sold in continental Europe. If you have an
early console with its original lead, that is worth knowing.

Regardless of age: never use a mains lead that is visibly damaged, crushed or repaired. Replace it.
This is the one part of the console that runs on wall voltage.

Buying a used supply

These are twenty-year-old switching supplies. A unit that has been tested and is known to power a
console is worth more than one described as untested, and the difference in price is usually smaller
than the cost of finding out the hard way.

Working out which one you already have

The model number is printed on the supply itself, and it tells you both who made it and which
market it was built for.

Delta units carry a DPSN number. Foxlink units carry an FTPS number — FTPS-0001 for the 120 V
market, FTPS-0002 for 240 V, with revision letters after it, and FTPS-0007 appearing on later
120 V units. Consoles from the end of the run turn up with a Samsung-built supply, and Minebea
units exist as well.

Whatever the brand, the rated output is the same across them. They are interchangeable within the
same connector generation; the thing that has to match is the board revision, not the manufacturer.

What actually fails in these

These are switching supplies from the early 2000s, which means electrolytic capacitors that have
been warm for twenty years. A supply that has drifted out of spec does not usually die outright — it
sags under load, and that shows up as a console that starts and then cuts out, or that will not start
at all while the light does something inconsistent.

That makes a power supply fault easy to confuse with a motherboard fault. The quickest way to
separate them is to try a known-good supply. If you do not have one, the capacitors near the power
connector on the board are worth checking first, because they fail in the same way and are
cheaper to replace.

Safety, briefly

This is the only part of the console connected to mains voltage, and the capacitors inside hold a
charge after you unplug it. If you are not comfortable working around that, do not open the supply —
swap the whole unit instead. There is nothing user-serviceable in there that justifies the risk.

The same goes for the mains lead. Never use one that is crushed, cracked or repaired with tape.

Can you adapt a PC supply?

People do it, and there are guides for it. It involves rewiring the connector to the Xbox pinout,
which is not the ATX pinout despite the identical shape. It is a project, not a shortcut, and it does
not save money against a tested original unit. Mentioned here mainly so you know that “it fits, so it
must work” is exactly the assumption that damages boards.

Before you order

Check your revision, check the connector on your board — one row of twelve pins, or two rows of
ten — and check the voltage marking on the supply against your country. Those three things together
get it right every time.

Power supplies we stock

Check your revision first, then pick the matching unit.

• Dpsn-96ap-1 — For a 1.0 or 1.1 — the twelve-pin single-row connector.
• Delta-DPSN-96BP-1 — For a 1.2, 1.3 or 1.4. Do not fit this to a 1.6.
• Original Xbox PSU Delta DPSN-96DP-1 (220-240V 50/60Hz 1.2A) — For a 1.2, 1.3 or 1.4, 220–240 V.
• Xbox Power Cable — A replacement mains lead.
• Set of motherboard capacitors (excluding clock capacitor) — If the board capacitors near the power connector have failed as well.