Just wanted to post the follow up happy ending about the bad board I received.
Toodles, I just got your package in the mail today. (Sooner than I was expecting, too, which was awesome.) Popped the board into my TE and everything worked like a charm. PC is detecting the Xbox360 board properly, my 360 is auto detecting it, everything seems to be working perfectly. Thanks for the fix!
Hey Marcus,
Can I send you back my board and you take a look at it? Or test it out on your vlx with the disconnect issue when I have it installed? I recorded a video of me testing the strange disconnect when I plug in the headset. I know the kitty doesn’t touch that piece itself but the vlx works perfectly fine without the kitty installed.
Thanks
Is it still possible for a “Fighting Stick VX” kitty? I love my TE Kitty, but… 
Holy shit that was a bitch to deal with.
Ok, first off, swapping you out won’t help. Problem would still exist. I was able to recreate the problem on my own, so you’re not crazy. Also was not able to recreate the problem with the Kitty removed; suckage. After a ton of troubleshooting, I could get the setup down to just the USB cable to kitty board, the USB ribbon from Kitty to VLX, and the four pin headset jack to VLX, all else disconnected, and the problem would occur. With the USB cable plugged directly into the VLX, wouldn’t occur. The GND is direct connected so it wasn’t that. USB lines went through the 4066, but it’s digital signal, and if it communicates at all, no reason for it to disconnect. That left the power. Difference through the Kitty is the protection diode. Same setup that had the problem before, but with the diode shorted so the power didnt go through it, and I’m unable to recreate the error. Disconnected and reconnected that bridge multiple times, always able to recreate without the bridge, never able to recreate with the bridge.
So, good news is I have a work around. You can choose the hacky method, of using a small piece of wire and shoving it into the two connectors to bridge the power. You can use the more permanent solution that doesn’t look neat and solder a wire to bridge the two points underneath the board. Or there’s the super neat looking version where you desolder the diode, and jumper to two pads the diode went to with solder or a small piece of wire.
If you’re only using the original stock USB cable, no problems. Removing the protection diode does open up the possibility of danger if you are using the RJ-45 jack and try to plug it into two consoles at the same time. Slight, but possible, so never do it. If you plan on using the stick in 360 mode through the RJ-45 jack, its a different set of points or a different diode to bridge. If that is the case, please, use ONLY the RJ-45 jack and toss the stock USB cable.
This shows the two points from the bottom of the board that would need bridged. You can easily tell from there where to shove the wires if you want to use the ‘shove wire into connector’ method. The protection diode for the USB cable is D10, between the RJ-45 jack and the USB connectors. The protection diode for the RJ-45 jack is D11.
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/8154/img20110826153443.th.jpg
Working on it, but no ETA. God knows I want to get one done for mine, that’s for sure.
I’ve had my Kitty for almost 2 months now, but I finally got a neutrik jack put in and some system cables made. The Kitty has turned a pretty electronics-illiterate guy like myself into godlike stick owner with relatively no effort! This board has saved my game playing life. 5 stars, A++++++, etc.
Thanks Toodles!
One cool thing about the Kitty is you can install it in half an hour and be good to go for USB systems. Then later, add a jack and make cables for older consoles, without undoing or repeating any of your work.
Need a SFxT guinnea pig 
Yup. Get me what I need for a good pinout (i.e. loaning it, tons of pictures, or detailed writeup of the pins and how they differ from base TE) and you can be the first one to test the SFxT harness on me.
Oh man, this is exciting. I’ve bought a half a dozen things you’ve made, but this is what I’m waiting on the most.
I’ve got a 360 one and a PS3 one, and assuming you are gonna use the 360 guts (of course) I’m gonna put them in the black PS3 case with yellow buttons for the Next Generation Namco.
Im not too sure if that’d work. Arent the ribbon cable connections from the top daughterboard different between the two models? You’d probably have to hack the ribbons to make it would, and I wouldn’t be of much help with that, and theres a chance it would make the turbo sliders screwy. And you’d lose the headset jack.
Why yes, I have contemplated the same thing. The off white color is the only drawback to the FS VX.
I’m waiting on the PS3 one, I get it in the mail next week. I have the 360 model already.
To be honest, I haven’t thought this one through completely. I’ll have to take a gander inside. I believe I’m competent enough to splice the ribbon cable, I’ve got quite a few mods under my belt now.
Either way, I would still be more than pleased with an elegant solution with the white one. I’m not asking you to take my project into consideration with the design, of course.
I can always throw in a completely new PCB in the PS3 FSVX if the outer cases aren’t interchangeable, although it wouldn’t be as nice. I assume too much because I have half a dozen TE’s, SE’s, Wii TVC sticks frankensteined together.
Will do the day it arrives
Is there an ETA for the return of the TE Kitty? It sounds like exactly the thing I would want to use for uh, Baby’s First Dual Mod, but it’s out of stock?
I dont have an ETA yet, but they were ordered a while ago and are in the process of being assembled. Sorry, no firm date on when they’ll be back except as soon as possible, probably 4-8 weeks.
Thank you! I’m not in any great hurry yet, but I’d like to get one when they become available.
Hey Toodles, how many TE Kitty’s do you normally order at a time? I want to get a couple out of your next batch but not sure when to place an order for them.
Plenty, and just order when they’re available. I got bunches comin’
Thanks Marcus! My friend theBAYsics helped me solder the two points and it has been working perfectly! Thanks for the time spent figuring and replicating it and finding a solution.! Great business man.
Regarding the new SFxT sticks:
Butteroj has sent me pictures of the internals. From what I can tell looking at the board, the electronics are completely identical to the TE-S. So, from an electrical standpoint, a TE Kitty and TE-S harness should work great.
HOWEVER, the plastic case where the main board is mounted is very different from the TE-S; I do not think that the TE Kitty will sit underneath the main board like it does in the TE-S. That means that the physical mounting of the Kitty in the stick will be very different, and I have NO idea how it could be done cleanly or easily. I know that the white portion of the case can be used to mount PCBs well enough, but how to do it so that everything is connected is unknown at this point.
Those of you who exited the womb with a dremel in hand may not not be deterred by this; I applaud you and look forward to any tips on the matter. As of right now, MarkMan has said the SFxT run would be limited, and I dont know if other identical but differently branded models will appear. With the current limited run, the idea of making a new board revision specifically for the SFxT case is pretty much right out. If the installation of a TE kitty + TE-S harness proves easy, I will try to make an installation manual for it. But as of right now, please consider the mod ‘possible, but not supported’.
