Xbox Series X/S Troubleshooting Thread

dmix90 · Nov 15, 2020

ThurstonLess said:
Series X on a C9 with the latest firmware. I played Man of Medan last night and noticed a strange flickering in the first 30ish minutes of the game. It almost looked like the TV was readjusting its brightness every other second, particularly in the dark scenes. As the game went on it totally went away (even with mostly dark scenes present), but I'm curious what could have caused this? I have every setting enabled in the TV settings of my XSX (VRR/120Hz/4:2:2).

EvilBoris said:
It's the VRR.

Damn that game flickers like crazy in the beginning with VRR enabled.... what the hell is even happening there? It should be locked 30 frames and i don't see anything out of the ordinary in it's scenes that would prompt such severe reaction from TV. I did not see anything like that in other games that i have tested so far while VRR being enabled( do not have COD:MW installed since it's bloody huge tho and it seems like that is the other game with same issue )

EvilBoris · Nov 15, 2020

dmix90 said:
Damn that game flickers like crazy in the beginning with VRR enabled.... what the hell is even happening there? It should be locked 30 frames and i don't see anything out of the ordinary in it's scenes that would prompt such severe reaction from TV. I did not see anything like that in other games that i have tested so far while VRR being enabled( do not have COD:MW installed since it's bloody huge tho and it seems like that is the other game with same issue )

It's when you have certain levels of brightness on screen in large amounts- I can totally imagine that game being problematic.
It was pretty atrocious for showing off DSE and vertical banding.

dmix90 · Nov 15, 2020

EvilBoris said:
It's when you have certain levels of brightness on screen in large amounts- I can totally imagine that game being problematic.
It was pretty atrocious for showing off DSE and vertical banding.

It is a terrible HDR "master" for sure, there is no true black there even in menu and loading screens that supposed to be 100% black.

But this shit flickers even when engine outputs fullscreen "black" during initial game loading to menu, so there is no connection to brightness of content displayed i think.

TheKeyPit · Nov 15, 2020

TheKeyPit said:
Got hit with my first serious problem: Everything was fine. Yesterday I wanted to chat with a friend in a party and the mic from the headset that is connected to the controller no longer works. Tried my other headset and it didn't work either. Used another controller and it is fine there.

Something is busted on the new controller.

False Alarm:
🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

In my volume settings I had the mic turned off. Not sure how I accidentally turned that off because I never used that feature there before.

ghoulie · Nov 15, 2020

MrGameANDWatch said:
Is anybody getting some periodic brief graphical glitches on the dashboard? Doesn't seem to be happening in any games from what I can tell, but occasionally I'll get flashes of static on the dashboard. Tried swapping out the HDMI and a couple hard resets but It seems to still be happening.

My screen intermittently cuts out to black on the dashboard and in streaming apps, but not in games. There's no pattern to, it can happen once an hour or several times in a few minutes. I've tried different HDMI cables and ports, factory reset the system, nothing worked.

Byron Hinson · Nov 15, 2020

Anyone had a problem with the LG CX and the series X resetting back to 640x480 when turning it on now and again. Have to pull the HDMI and put it back in again. Been running it at 4K 120hz

Mortis · Nov 15, 2020

Anybody having their console freeze when playing the Xbox boot animation while the Storage Expansion card is installed? Like, the animation starts, but freezes with an audio buzz, followed by a reboot. I have seen at least two reports around various communities that have this issue, but I am trying to get an idea of how common the issue may be.

Cyclonesweep · Nov 15, 2020

Only problem I have had so far was my external drive occasional disconnects and my controller randomly desynced and resynced. My basement is pretty dry and staticy right now which may be the issue.

BananasWithGuns · Nov 15, 2020

Been having an issue where my controller seems to stop responding, possibly losing sync. It never turns off or starts flashing but the whole game goes unresponsive. Once I take out the batteries and put em back in it seems to fix the issue but I'm a little worried the controller is faulty. Might have to hit up MS.

littlegrasshopper · Nov 15, 2020

shanew21 said:
Are you running via ARC?

Yes, I am. My soundbar is on ARC. I don't have my Series X connected to it because it doesn't support HDMI 2.1.

DazzlerIE · Nov 15, 2020

Ehhh I'm getting nothing but a black screen when I turn on my series x - is this a known bug?

ilikesanta · Nov 15, 2020

BananasWithGuns said:
Been having an issue where my controller seems to stop responding, possibly losing sync. It never turns off or starts flashing but the whole game goes unresponsive. Once I take out the batteries and put em back in it seems to fix the issue but I'm a little worried the controller is faulty. Might have to hit up MS.

I got the same thing with my controller, its weird

ragingbegal · Nov 15, 2020

For anyone who has been experiencing flickering (brief white static followed by a momentary black screen) while using video apps like HBO Max I may have identified a possible cause.

I noticed this only occurs with my TV set (TCL 6 series) when using a Harmony remote. Even just turning the volume up and down will occasionally cause the system to flicker. It also explains why it doesn't happen during games since I'm not usually using the remote while I play.

Curiously, I tested navigating the video apps using the new Xbox controller and I cannot replicate this issue, so it does indeed seem to be correlated to using a media remote.

GlacialTruffle · Nov 15, 2020

Chip Chanceworth said:
When you say disable VRR do you mean on the console or on the tv? I have never had the free sync option enabled on the tv, but do have the VRR enabled on the console. Im going to see if that fixes anything right now.

On the console. I don't recall a toggle on the TV, unless you mean the FreeSync Premium toggle. I think that's best left off regardless because it kills Dolby Vision, but adds LFC, which it's not clear if the Xbox benefits from.

jdroopy · Nov 15, 2020

ragingbegal said:
For anyone who has been experiencing flickering (brief white static followed by a momentary black screen) while using video apps like HBO Max I may have identified a possible cause.

I noticed this only occurs with my TV set (TCL 6 series) when using a Harmony remote. Even just turning the volume up and down will occasionally cause the system to flicker. It also explains why it doesn't happen during games since I'm not usually using the remote while I play.

Curiously, I tested navigating the video apps using the new Xbox controller and I cannot replicate this issue, so it does indeed seem to be correlated to using a media remote.

I have a TCL 5 series, the flickering started for me like a day ago. I switched the HDMI back to a old one. It went away for like 5 hours. Now when I play Fornite it happens about every 20 mins.

BananasWithGuns · Nov 15, 2020

ilikesanta said:
I got the same thing with my controller, its weird

Was your controller already synced out of the box? I remember when setting up my XSX I was surprised that I didn't need to manually sync the controller.

Wonder if it might be worth just redoing the sync completely.

EasyCompany · Nov 16, 2020

After have some really frustrating flickering black screen during Tetris Effect on my LG CX, I did the following:

-switched my HDMI cable (audioquest 2.1) with the out of box HDMI cable
-switched from HDMI3 input to HDMI1
-recalibrated my tv / Xbox settings based on the LG CX thread

This seems to have resolved the issue. Hoping it sticks.

Solsc · Nov 16, 2020

jdroopy said:
I have a TCL 5 series, the flickering started for me like a day ago. I switched the HDMI back to a old one. It went away for like 5 hours. Now when I play Fornite it happens about every 20 mins.

I had something similar happen, have you tried allowing ycc 422 in the settings? That seems to have fixed my issue.

DazzlerIE · Nov 16, 2020

DazzlerIE said:
Ehhh I'm getting nothing but a black screen when I turn on my series x - is this a known bug?

Update on this - I think it's my TV moreso than the Xbox. I would get this issue rarely with my One X too.

I turn Xbox on, get nothing but a black screen. Usually just have to power cycle my TV and it fixes it. It's a Vizio P Series from 2017

SP. · Nov 16, 2020

I'm on a Series X. How functional is the quick resume feature right now? Did some testing switching between MCC and Horizon 4 and it loaded both games from quick resume about 90% of the time, the other 10% it reloaded the game entirely...

It's a great feature but if it's not working 100% of the time I don't think I'll ever use it, or I guess I'll never rely on it to work in fear of losing game progress. And I know it's not that it ran out of game space and cleared the game out, since those were the only 2 games I was switching between.

The40Watt · Nov 16, 2020

I have an intermittent issue with the Series S and my LG C9. I will switch on the Series S and switch over to the HDMI source but the TV doesn't get a signal. I have to pull out and the reconnect the HDMI cable.

Any suggestions?

SOLDIER · Nov 16, 2020

The one consistent problem I keep having is the controller losing sync with the console. When this happens, there's no way to re-sync the controller (it just keeps flashing the Xbox button) until I manually restart the console (by holding down the power button).

I also don't know if this is related, but I've also been having a hell of a time getting a consistent stable audio with my Arctis 9X headset. I learned today that it seems to be caused when I'm not pushing any buttons on the controller for more than 5 seconds or so. As a result, I have to keep a button or analog stick held down during cutscenes.

I'm not sure if the two issues are related but I really hope a fix comes soon.

Deleted member 75819 · Nov 16, 2020

Anyone having their TV briefly flash black while playing games? Happens in ACV, but I've only seen it maybe three times.

CrewShadow · Nov 16, 2020

I've had my screen flash black a couple times since launch. I can't tell if its the media remote messing with things or the hdmi that came with the xbox. Its never happened in games just only on the dashboard or using an app.

Moppy · Nov 17, 2020

SOLDIER said:
I also don't know if this is related, but I've also been having a hell of a time getting a consistent stable audio with my Arctis 9X headset. I learned today that it seems to be caused when I'm not pushing any buttons on the controller for more than 5 seconds or so. As a result, I have to keep a button or analog stick held down during cutscenes.

I'm not sure if the two issues are related but I really hope a fix comes soon.

Yeah, dude! This has been driving me crazy for days now and I finally did some testing to try to rule some things out. Quoting the post I just made in the nextgen headset thread:

Moppy said:
Sorry for the conspiratorial wall of text, but I've been doing some testing for the last hour or so and have come to a weird (and possibly completely wrong) conclusion: I think the new Series X controller causes wireless audio interference with the console. Ever since my Arctis 9x showed up and I've been getting the same occasionally extremely choppy audio, I've tried to narrow down what it could be and the only consistent variable seems to be the controller that came with the Series X.

When using the Series X controller, if I let it idle/don't touch any inputs for 10 or so seconds, headset audio gets extremely choppy/stuttery. This occurs with both my wired Turtle Beach headset and my new Arctis 9x wireless headset. My (headset) distance from either the console or controller does not seem to influence this (based on the limited spacing to test in my apartment anyway.) Moving the analog sticks or pressing a button instantly causes the audio to clear up and become normal until, again, no controller input occurs for 10 or so seconds.

I've further narrowed it to the Series X controller because using my other controller (the Bluetooth Xbox One controllers that came with my One X) yields no audio interference as described when using the Series X controller. Idling, no button inputs, etc - no audio choppiness. Having both controllers on and synced to the console - no audio choppiness. Turning off the One X controller with the Series X controller remaining on - audio choppiness while idling comes right back.

Am I onto something here or just out of my mind?

Edit - Was about to post this, but I've been sitting here trying different combinations of which controller is on/off, which one is on first, etc while writing this post, and just found an interesting wrinkle: if the Series X controller is on first, my One X controller can't/won't sync to the console at all. Trying to power it on causes the Xbox button to fade up, blink a couple times, then turn off. Turn the Series X controller off first? One X controller turns on and syncs just fine. Haha, what's going on here?

TLDR - I think it's an issue specifically with the new Series X controller.

NickMitch · Nov 17, 2020

On 2 occassions where i have been playing for 11-12 hours straight, my Series X has had-locked and restarted itself from cold boot. I have been playing 360 games from my external USB-drive. No error message, and no data loss in the games.

Anyone had this issue? Not sure if it's the console or my hard-drive that causes it. For info: The console is not hot at all when it locks - so i'm not very worried for actual hardware errors.

BrickArts295 · Nov 17, 2020

Is there anything to keep and eye out for like on PS5 (rest mode, external HDD etc)?
So far my experience with Series X has been almost flawless, except for slow downloads.

OmegaDL50 · Nov 17, 2020

Anyone have an issue when you turn on the console and it's stuck at 640x480 resolution?

I have an LG CX and using the HDMI 2.1 cable that came with the console. The console won't get out of 640x480 res unless I hard power down the console by holding down the power button and starting it.

BananasWithGuns · Nov 18, 2020

Anyone having issues with HDMI-CEC? It worked fine on my One X for turning the TV on/off but for Series X it doesn't seem to work at all. I have an LG C9 btw.

Edit: Okay, nevermind. Had to turn it on the settings on the TV and now it seems to work fine. For anyone wondering it's under Connection > HDMI Device settings on my C9.

Deleted member 50735 · Nov 19, 2020

Byron Hinson said:
Anyone had a problem with the LG CX and the series X resetting back to 640x480 when turning it on now and again. Have to pull the HDMI and put it back in again. Been running it at 4K 120hz

Yep. For me it changes from 4k to 720p or something similar. Mine is running via an AVR, but switching on and off the AVR restores full 4k without having to do anything to the xbox. My xbox is set to energy saving power mode. No issues with x1x. It appears to be some sort of series x bug. Also only happens once every half a dozen or so xbox power on's.

Edit: my tv is a Philips OLED btw, so I dont think this is the TV's fault. Also mine is only 60hz so likely nothing do with the fact you're running 120hz.

dreamer3kx · Nov 19, 2020

DazzlerIE said:
Ehhh I'm getting nothing but a black screen when I turn on my series x - is this a known bug?

I got this when trying to get into the store a few times, had to restart.

DazzlerIE · Nov 19, 2020

dreamer3kx said:
I got this when trying to get into the store a few times, had to restart.

Yep, it's working ever since then but gave me a bit scare briefly

SOLDIER · Nov 19, 2020

No word yet on a firmware update?

JED BARTLETT · Nov 19, 2020

Anyone else having the Series X just switch itself off?
Didn't happen at all last week. Twice today playing Call of Duty.

Spasm · Nov 20, 2020

Anyone successfully set up their Harmony Elite/Pro/Hub? Mine was working great with the Xbox One X, but I had to add a new device for the Series X. Now it takes only 1 out of 10 commands or less, and it's driving me nuts. I've adjusted the command repeats, delays, etc, but nothing has helped.

Deleted member 13091 · Nov 20, 2020

Spasm said:
Anyone successfully set up their Harmony Elite/Pro/Hub? Mine was working great with the Xbox One X, but I had to add a new device for the Series X. Now it takes only 1 out of 10 commands or less, and it's driving me nuts. I've adjusted the command repeats, delays, etc, but nothing has helped.

My series x and harmony hub automatically worked with my existing xbox one x activity. I didn't do anything new besides change the name of the activity. Try to set up again as if it were an xbox one.

Deleted member 50735 · Nov 21, 2020

Yeah, same as, I just left it as per my x1x. Why would you change anything when the ir signals are the same?

GrimGrinningGuy · Nov 21, 2020

Does anyone know if the new battery packs they sell with the usb C cord work on the old controllers? I used the new battery in my normal elite and charged it with my normal usb cable that fit and it still shows dead . Bad battery or do they not work on older controllers?

namerson23 · Nov 21, 2020

No idea why, but my Xbox Series X won't let me turn it off. Holding the home button on the controller won't pull up the menu to power it off and hitting power off in the settings doesn't do anything. The only way I can turn it off is to press the power button on the actual console. Is this just some weird glitch? Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Jedi2016 · Nov 23, 2020

I just picked up a XSX controller for my PC, and noticed the right stick has a bit of a "bump" just above the 9 o'clock position, all the way at the edge. It doesn't seem to affect the functionality at all, and I'll probably never even feel it during normal gameplay, I was just curious if anyone else noticed anything like that.

Terbinator · Nov 23, 2020

namerson23 said:
No idea why, but my Xbox Series X won't let me turn it off. Holding the home button on the controller won't pull up the menu to power it off and hitting power off in the settings doesn't do anything. The only way I can turn it off is to press the power button on the actual console. Is this just some weird glitch? Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Are you in any of the console OS betas?

Vanillalite · Nov 23, 2020

Beyond 120fps mode what's the difference between 1440p and 4K in the video settings for the series S. Spoken as someone with a 4K TV that does 120@1440p.

Hunter-Zero · Nov 23, 2020

So, i´m having a small issue with my S, every time i plug my headphones into the controller the audio keeps playing on the tv too, it sounds fine on the headset mind you, but i have to go manually to the sound settings and disable hdmi audio so it doesnt sound on the tv too.

I´m sure there is a setting hidden somewhere that makes possible to plug the headset and automatically disable tv audio right? and its just me being stupid

A friend of mine is having the same exact problem with his X

Captain Wreckus · Nov 23, 2020

Hunter-Zero said:
So, i´m having a small issue with my S, every time i plug my headphones into the controller the audio keeps playing on the tv too, it sounds fine on the headset mind you, but i have to go manually to the sound settings and disable hdmi audio so it doesnt sound on the tv too.

I´m sure there is a setting hidden somewhere that makes possible to plug the headset and automatically disable tv audio right? and its just me being stupid

A friend of mine is having the same exact problem with his X

Had the same issue on my One S as well. All I do is Mute my TV or turn off my Bose Speakers/subwoofer (cinemate I believe) when I use my Astro headset.

Vanillalite · Nov 23, 2020

Captain Wreckus said:
Had the same issue on my One S as well. All I do is Mute my TV or turn off my Bose Speakers/subwoofer (cinemate I believe) when I use my Astro headset.

Thats been our fix too. I was hunting in the settings and my son was like it's fine and hit mute on the remote. I was like well fine with me, and I rolled to bed while he played.

Justsomeguy · Nov 23, 2020

Audio cuts out over earc for me every few seconds. It's unusable.

Xbox - > LG C7 set to atmos output. This works fine.

If I connect earc out to my Anthem 1120 AVR it gets detected as a dolby 4/3 signal but more often than not the audio keeps cutting out with the amp showing "No signal" at those times.

Any ideas? Most likely an LG issue I guess.

Blind Rage · Nov 23, 2020

So I'm having a weird issue, if I sit on any of the dashboard screens for too long my LG CX will just switch to a full screen of static.

I think this is the Xbox Series X and not the TV because if I switch apps or open up Netflix, a game, etc. the picture usually comes right back. Sometimes I have to restart the console to get everything back to normal. I'm using the HDMI cord that came with the console. I've searched around for other people having any similar issues and I found a post on Reddit where the guy said it happened on Youtube but the post was deleted by mods.

any suggestions? I have VRR on, 4K, 8-bit.

namerson23 · Nov 23, 2020

Terbinator said:
Are you in any of the console OS betas?

I don't think I ever signed up for anything like that. Also, it's my first Xbox in a while and so I thought I was missing something when the home button stopped working.

Hunter-Zero · Nov 24, 2020

Captain Wreckus said:
Had the same issue on my One S as well. All I do is Mute my TV or turn off my Bose Speakers/subwoofer (cinemate I believe) when I use my Astro headset.

Vanillalite said:
Thats been our fix too. I was hunting in the settings and my son was like it's fine and hit mute on the remote. I was like well fine with me, and I rolled to bed while he played.

Well, stupidly enough i didnt think of that, shame on me.

But i can´t believe there is no option for having the audio sound just on the headphones without meddling with the settings (or using mute lol), its kind of dumb

GasProblem · Nov 24, 2020

Hunter-Zero said:
So, i´m having a small issue with my S, every time i plug my headphones into the controller the audio keeps playing on the tv too, it sounds fine on the headset mind you, but i have to go manually to the sound settings and disable hdmi audio so it doesnt sound on the tv too.

I´m sure there is a setting hidden somewhere that makes possible to plug the headset and automatically disable tv audio right? and its just me being stupid

A friend of mine is having the same exact problem with his X

I have the same with my Series X. Don't know if it's a bug or not. I just lower the tv volume or put it on mute.

Xbox Series X/S Troubleshooting Thread

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