Wiring Ethernet Port to Router

[GoTeamScotch]

I'm working on putting a hacked (dd-wrt) wireless router into an Xbox as a means of giving it wifi. I want to wire the ethernet port directly to the router so that I don't have to run an ethernet cable out of the box and into the port on the back. The case is a mountain dew limited edition case so I'd rather not hack it up.



The controller ports are attached to the board so that's why they're connected in the 2nd photo.

So I've tried about 3 or 4 times now running wires from the pins on the bottom of the Xbox's board over to the pins on the bottom of the router's board with no luck. No lights on the router indicating that it's connected. No IP address / link. Nothing. The router works fine though. It is getting power and I can connect a regular ethernet cable and everything works as expected. But when trying to run wires between the pins on the bottom I get nothing. After the 4th attempt I'm thinking it's not so much a case of bad connections as it is me not understanding something about ethernet connections. I don't need to wire it crossover style so I haven't been doing that. I'm wiring it to a LAN port and not WAN - even though the dd-wrt router can be set to use the port WAN as LAN.

I initially tried just matching the arrangement of the pins, assuming they would be the same on both the router and Xbox, meaning I ran a wire from the top-left point to the other board's top-left point and then worked my way down. I then tried matching wiring colors thinking that had something to do with it, meaning "pin 1 is orange striped on both sides, pin 2 is orange solid" and so on. I tried that 2 times, thinking one of the 16 connections must have been bad. I then tried cutting an ethernet cable and wiring it to the bottom of the Xbox and connecting the other end into one of the router's ports and still nothing.

Any tips would be very appreciated!

[hawsey]

What about using a standard cable plugged in to the router and chop the other end off and solder that end , so only half the chance of getting it wrong .
You haven't just got it reversed have you ? So 1 is 8 ?

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[GoTeamScotch]

Yes I have tried splicing an ethernet cable and wiring only just one end and using a regular plug on the other end and no luck.

Here's what I just got done trying:
With the front of the xbox away from you and the rear closest, looking at the TOP of the board...
There's 4 pins stacked on 4 more pins, offset so that the top row is shifted to the right. Pin #1 begins on the top right, then pin #2 is just below it to the left (diagonally down and to the left). Pin #3 is to the top left of that. Pin #4 is to the bottom left and it goes on like that.

My pin arrangement:
1. Orange striped
2. Orange
3. Green striped
4. Blue
5. Blue striped
6. Green
7. Brown striped
8. Brown

From the diagrams I've found online this format looks correct. I've also looked at the end of my cable (it's clear) and saw that this is the color arrangement of the wires when plugged in to the port (that is now removed). I then figured that the pins are going 1 through 8 as I've described above.

Any ideas?

[Rocky5]

I couldn't be bothered soldering to mine so I just done this.



I just used a nail file ( one attached to nail clippers ) to make the little indent for the flat cable to fit through.


The only option if you haven't done so already is to use a continuity check on the wires use a RJ45 wire, to make sure they are in the correct order. ( they probably are )

Is the Xbox Ethernet magnetically coupled. and do both ports use the same ground pin/pins?

[psyko_chewbacca]

Biggest issue I can see here is the lack of isolation on the Xbox's side. Ethernet specs requires specific electronic coupling scheme to remove any DC and ground offset between multiple connected devices on the Ethernet bus. A quick look at the 1893AF datasheet, the PHY device used on 1.0 motherboards shows it requires an external isolation transformer. Since it doesn't seem to be located on the motherboard, I think we can assume it is located in the RJ45 connector itself, a common practice.

The router seem to have external isolation transformers ICs(cannot see topside of PCB) on the board so wiring it directly onto the connector's pin *should* be good(but not recommended for optimal performance, those wires are twisted by pair up to their endings for a reason!). However, on the Xbox side, you're bypassing the isolation transformer, probably injecting a DC component onto your transmission line. If you power your router from your Xbox's power supply directly, you need not to worry about grounding offset.

Have no fear, there is still hope. In your case, you could try capacitive coupling as explained in the following paper. In order to increase your chances of success, I would move your soldered connection on the router to bypass the external transformer. It's usually a big blocky chip right beside the RJ45 jack. In your case, it might work. Intermittent connectivity issues could arise due to external interference from the nearby DVD power connector.

Another, preferred method would be to desolder the RJ45 jack from the Xbox motherboard and replace it with a vertical on that fits into the same footprint. You could then use a tiny CAT5 cable between your Xbox and router board inside the Xbox. No more issues related to interference or proper coupling, as long as the chosen RJ45 connector has an isolation transformer embedded, also sometimes called integrated magnetics.

Vertical RJ45 looks like this:

[GoTeamScotch]

Thank you psyko_chewbacca. That's about as good of an answer as I could have hoped for.

I'm looking at digikey for vertical RJ45 connectors and there's quite a few results. I'm using the Xbox's RJ45 connector as a reference point for what to look for.


I realize there were other rj45 ports used in the Xbox over the years. I assume they're all the same though. This is the one I'm replacing so it will be my starting point.

Datasheet: http://belfuse.com/pdfs/SI-50141-F.pdf

One thing I'm noticing with many of the ports on Digikey is that the LED connections aren't located in the same spot as with the Xbox's port. The Xbox has them towards the back whereas the ones I'm finding on Digikey have them towards the front. The LEDs aren't even necessary since they'll be inside the Xbox out of sight, but it would definitely be reassuring to see them light up when all is said and done.

Using a couple filters, I'm left with 4 results. Maybe I'm being too specific. I'm not entirely sure which filters matter in this circumstance and which don't. Here's the list I'm working with: http://www.digikey.com/products/en/conn ... geSize=500

Any insight on which one would I should pick?

[psyko_chewbacca]

Hum, all 4 parts seem good but I'd go for the cheaper one, the JD2-0010NL, just for the sake of it. Probably the most expensive ones are rated for more insertion cycles. In your case, you'll likely insert a cable once in there and be done with it!

It's important to note that the datasheet snippet you posted about the Stock RJ-45 connector as it's pin numbering inverted compared to all parts listed in your Digikey link. It's probably just a documentation issue and the new connector will likely fit the footprint on the motherboard just fine. I would just have a serious look beforehand.

The LED thing is a bummer but once it's all set up, you won't need them. In the meantime, you always have the status LED on the router itself.

EDIT: Nope, they will likely not work. The pin order is reversed. When choosing a right angled connector, you have the choice of 2 layouts. First one, the most common, has the 8 contact pins located at the top of the connector. The second model, like on the Xbox, has the contact pin at the bottom. When looking facing toward the connector entry hole, model 1 will have pin 1 will be the first pin on the right while if you look at model 2 the same way, pin 1 will be the first left contact...

To illustrate, here's a datasheet for a "model 1" connector : https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sh ... 3-2010.pdf
Datasheet for "model 2": http://productfinder.pulseeng.com/files ... 0004NL.pdf

Just ignore the LED pins placement difference for a moment and concentrate on the actual signal pins. You'll see the footprint is identical but location of pin1 is not the same on both connector.