Xbox One Wireless Controller Won’t Turn On

If your Xbox One Wireless Controller is not turning on, the controller might need to be charged. Plug the controller into the Xbox console using a USB cord. To check the controller’s battery level, press the Xbox button, and navigate to the home screen. The controller’s charge should be displayed in the bottom right corner of the home screen. Allow the controller to charge until the controller’s charge level is full (this could take several hours).

If your Xbox One Wireless Controller is not charging at all, your charging cable may be defective. Try using a new charging cable to charge the controller.

If your Xbox One Wireless Controller is losing battery power very quickly, the controller’s batteries may be faulty. If the batteries will not charge or lose charge very quickly, replace the batteries using the Xbox One Elite Wireless Controller Series 1 (Model 1698) Battery Replacement Guide.

If your controller was disconnected during a firmware upgrade, it will not function until the firmware is recovered. To do this, the controller will need to be updated from scratch. Note: In this condition, the wireless on the controller is nonfunctional. This has to be done over USB.

Tip: If you have problems getting the controller to turn on, removing the batteries for 15 minutes before recovery is known to help in situations where this occurs.

Plug your controller into an Xbox One console or a PC. At this point, your method will vary. It should also be noted one functional controller is required to use a console for controller firmware recovery.

To recover the controller on a console, follow these steps:

• Step 1: On the console, navigate to Devices and Accessories.
• Step 2: Find the Elite controller. It should say Update Required if it is the correct controller.
• Step 3: Re-run the firmware update.

PC recovery requires Windows 10 as a prerequisite. Newer versions of Windows 10 no longer require a Microsoft Account to download the required programs, but older versions usually do. Users on older versions of Windows 10 will need to convert an account or make a new account just for this task. After you have confirmed you have a Windows 10 system, you can begin the process of recovering the controller.

• Step 1: Install the Xbox Accessories application.
• Step 2: Once Xbox Accessories is installed, plug the controller in. It should turn on and say Update Required if your controller is visible to the PC and Xbox Accessories.
• Step 3: Click Update Required and allow the firmware to reinstall.

If you followed these steps correctly, your controller should be functional again.