Wireless 360 controller on pc?

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mjohn1378

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 11, 2002
Messages
381
What is needed to enable a wireless xbox 360 controller work on pc?

Are the parts available on Amazon with Prime?
 
The wireless have problems. The dongle can get overheated and thus will be damaged. Had the problem - pad works, tested it on Xbox - it worked, so it was dongle problems. THere is also lots of posts in the net about the same problem.
 
I have the official microsoft one, and an official microsoft controller -- I've never had an overheating problem, or a problem of any sort, and I've had some pretty long gaming sessions. With that said, when I'm done playing, I always pop the battery pack out for a second and put it back in to turn off the controller. Maybe thats what's preventing me from having problems....


I also have a generic dongle that works fine as well. Those can be had for $10. They're not as plug-and-play as the official ones, but they seem to work just as good. You just have to install a driver for it.
 
It's not the pad that is overheating... it's the MS Dongle that died on me... twice.
 
I just went ahead and bought a wired controller for the 360, works fine with Windows 7.
 
I have the Microsoft wireless dongle and have no problems with heat at all, hell, doesn't even get warm :/
 
I'm on my second wireless dongle, the first one died mysteriously when I moved. It was working when I packed it into the box, and then it was dead when I set my pc back up at my new place. The second one has been working fine for over a year now though.
 
The USB controller works fine for me. The cord is really really long though. On that note though no clue why it would overheat.
 
As others have said, you only need the dongle. If you wish to get a new controller however, I'd like to suggest the "new " X360 Silver variant with the multi-mode DPad and black/white buttons. Alternatively, Logitech sells 3 new gamepads that are compatible with XInput (what the X360 Controllers use) as well as DirectInput (older games and the like).
 
If I'm not mistaken, it's not that the dongle overheats but that it can get fried upon power-up, blowing the surface mount fuse. You can fix it by replacing the fuse or just soldering around it.
I know because I have a dead one sitting here...
 
The Wireless xbox controller goes perfectly fine with windows 7 64 bit. I have two of them, one for the HTPC/Gaming another for my Gaming/Powerhouse PC. I had USB wired before, the wireless is so much better.

Oh yeah, you can even play Street fighter 4 with 2 wireless controllers :).

I think all console ports should add the split screen multi-player for when I have my console friends over :).
 
I love my wireless 360 controller for the PC and have never had a problem with the dongle. I can't imagine playing a game like Assassin's Creed 2 on the keyboard. I just wish that every title would support it.
 
The issue with the dongle isn't that it overheats. It simply pulls too much power through a fuse and eventually blows it. Google for the "F1 fuse" problem. There are tons of people that have had the fuse blow as seen on google. It can be fixed by soldering and bypassing the fuse, but that is probably not a good idea since a fuse is really a safety feature in the first place. From my experience, the fuse is most likely to blow when plugging or unplugging the receiver while the PC is running. The receiver itself has been shown to pull enough power that people have reported needing to use it on a powered hub for it to function properly.

As such, if you want wireless I recommend the Logitech F710 which shows up as a 360 controller (when it is in XInput mode). If you want wired, the wired 360 controller isn't a bad choice.

If you opt to go with the wireless dongle, it may work for you but the fuse issue is a known defect. I used mine for 1.5 years before the fuse blew, though others have been less lucky.
 
Dongle ftw, but for up close PC gaming (non HTPC) .. wired is probably easier and best (no batteries). But wireless in any other situation or if you have to have it.
 
I have a two yr old dongle here running great.

I use the controller and the wireless microphone with it daily.
 
MorgothPl said:
The wireless have problems. The dongle can get overheated and thus will be damaged. Had the problem - pad works, tested it on Xbox - it worked, so it was dongle problems. THere is also lots of posts in the net about the same problem.
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I'm calling shins.

No matter how crack your team of engineers you couldn't make a wireless encoding, broadcasting, and receiving device consume any more than 5W.
--actually if we abstract further, assuming its running strictly on the USB 2.0 spec, it cant consume more than 2W.
 
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FrEaKy said:
I just went ahead and bought a wired controller for the 360, works fine with Windows 7.
Click to expand...

I done the same, been playing old games on emulators that I'm too lazy to crawl up in the attic to find. :eek:
 
That link in the second post for the dongle -- thats a bootleg. Microsoft doesn't sell them separetly any more. Not saying you won't find some back stock somewhere, but this one -- it's definitely a bootleg.

The pictures of the dongle say XBOX 360 on it. The official Microsoft one says "Microsoft". You can confirm this by looking at the third picture, which is user submitted.

There is a picture of the package -- nowhere on it does it say microsoft. It's a fantastic knock-off, but it's not the official package. It would say microsoft clearly on it somewhere.

The only pictures that show the official dongle are user submitted and might not even be this product. I know the verbage on the add says it's made by microsoft -- so it's a bit of a gamble. At this price, if your'e getting the knock-off show in the pictures,

The knock-off works fine. I own two of them. I just bought them a few weeks ago for $10 a pop. If this is indeed a knock off, don't pay $30+ for it. Search around. Five of us from work went in a bought a bunch of them to save on shipping and it came out to $10 a pop after we hit the free shipping method. I don't recall where they were ordered from, but it shouldn't be too hard to find the knock off cheaper than $30+.
 
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What's stupid about the dongle+controller is that there is no way to turn it off. You have to literally unplug your battery from your controller to shut it off.
 
Jonnyy said:
What's stupid about the dongle+controller is that there is no way to turn it off. You have to literally unplug your battery from your controller to shut it off.
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Indeed, quite annoying. I just either leave and let it turn off after 5 minutes or un-click the battery pack then click it back in.
 
I had been looking for a new game controller for the PC. Couldn't find anything worth while that was reasonably priced, so I picked up a wired 360 controller off Amazon for $29.99 w/ free shipping (newegg had the same deal, but charged charged tax). It has worked fantastically. The rumble feature works, no switching out batteries or crap like that, the cable is very long, and I didn't even need to download a driver (Windows 7 already knew what it was of course).
 
Met-AL said:
This kinda shoots your theory out the window.

http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-U...es/XboxWirelessGamingReceiverforWindows.aspx/
Click to expand...

I'm telling you, I just bought a two of these for $10 a piece. The arrived in the package shown in the link. They are not microsoft receivers -- they're some generic thing. It even ships with a driver disk that you have to install -- the officials ones just work with Win7, these don't.

I just wanted to give you a heads up. They do have appeared to have changed the way they are labeled (Mine says Microsoft, not XBOX 360), but that package is not the microsoft package.
 
Met-AL said:
I stand correct, it doesn't here either. I could have sworn if I held it in it turned off.
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You can do that if you're using the controller with a 360, but on PC there's no way other than removing the battery.
 
Rossi~ said:
I have the Microsoft wireless dongle and have no problems with heat at all, hell, doesn't even get warm :/
Click to expand...

Same here, wireless dongle still works fine.

I did eventually trade it out for a wired 360 gamepad instead. No more dealing with batteries, and the rumble is stronger.

Edit: I'll also confirm that the official adapters say "Microsoft" and not "XBOX 360." Mine is one of the original ones, from when they were still being soled separately of a gamepad.
 
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Unknown-One said:
Same here, wireless dongle still works fine.

I did eventually trade it out for a wired 360 gamepad instead. No more dealing with batteries, and the rumble is stronger.

Edit: I'll also confirm that the official adapters say "Microsoft" and not "XBOX 360." Mine is one of the original ones, from when they were still being soled separately of a gamepad.
Click to expand...

Does the wired one work correctly in BC2? The wireless one does not, it doesn't pick up the 2nd joystick in the game.
 
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nobody_here said:
after reading up on issues and what not i just ordered the AX1 Afterglow Wired gamepad It works with both 360 and PC apparently, im not using it on any shooters though so dont ask if it works on any FPS games, i only got it for some flying and driving type simulation games.......FPS is pure mouse + keyboard on a pc

http://www.amazon.com/Afterglow-AX-..._6?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1296451797&sr=8-6
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That controller is just a 360 controller knockoff. You'd have been better off just getting the real thing.
 
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