Fix: AfterGlow Xbox 360 Controller Wont Work

The Xbox 360 afterglow controller is also known as AX.1. The concept of this controller is that it is a type of transparent with eminent lights coming out of it. It is developed for Xbox consoles and can also be used with your PC.

Many people face the problem where their controller won’t get recognized by their Windows OS. The USB manager would show that the controller is connecting but the PC won’t recognize the hardware. There are several remedies present for this problem. Refer to the solutions listed below.

Solution 1: Changing ports

This problem can be solved by connecting your Xbox controller to your PC through a USB 2.0 port. As we all know, the controller wasn’t originally designed for PC. Through different drivers and software, we try to connect it to the PC; this doesn’t change the fact that it was designed and developed for the consoles. The consoles mostly have a USB 2.0 port present on them.

You can try plugging the controller into a 2.0 port.

Tip: A USB 3.0 port has a blue lining inside it while a 2.0 looks like a normal USB port without any colorization present.

Solution 2: Installing the Xbox official software

If changing the ports don’t help, there is probably a problem with your installed drivers. They may not be configured correctly or they are outdated. Uninstall all the drivers and software regarding the controller which is already present in your system before following this solution.

1. Remove and disconnect all the controllers from your PC.
2. Update your Xbox 360 controller software from here. You will see the option of Windows 7 (32 bit) and Windows 7 (64 bit). Don’t worry if you are running Windows 10 or 8. This driver works in all of them. Just select the driver according to the specification of your computer by choosing 32 bit or 64 bit.

3. After installing the software, plug in your Xbox 360 controller. If Windows still doesn’t recognize it proceed with the following steps.
4. Press Windows + R button to open the Run application. In the dialogue box, type “devmgmt.msc”. This should launch your computer’s device manager.

5. Here if your controller isn’t detected with your PC, the Xbox 360 afterglow controller would be visible in the Other Devices category.

6. Right click on the Afterglow controller and select Update Driver Software.

7. After you click the option to update, Windows will give you two options. Either it will automatically update the driver itself, or it will ask you to browse your computer for driver software. Chose the second option.

8. Now a window will come forward. It will contain a dialogue box where you can browse for the software package and there will also be an option where the computer lets you pick from the list of available drivers for your computer. Choose the second option.

9. Now browse through all the different devices until you find one which has a tag “Microsoft Common Controller For Windows Class”.

10. Now you will be asked to choose from a list of drivers available. Select the latest one and click Ok to proceed.

11. Now Windows will install the software and your Xbox 360 afterglow controller will be ready to use.

Solution 3: Installing SCP toolkit

In this solution, we will try to connect your afterglow controllers with your PC using ScpToolkit. Please note that the controllers won’t lose any of their functionality. The reason we chose this software is that this solution is very effective and efficient.

Please note that we don’t have any affiliations with any third party software. Please proceed at your own risk.

1. First of all, you should have the following software downloaded and installed in your PC. Links are given below.

Official Xbox 360 PC driver

.NET Framework 4.0

Visual C++

2. You can check your currently installed drivers anytime by running the “Run” application and typing “cmd” in the dialogue box.
3. When the Command Prompt pops up, type “driverquery” and hit Enter. Your computer will list down all the installed drivers along with their version, date modified, module name and the driver type.

4. Now we have to head towards installing third party software that will help you enable your controllers to work with your PC. Head here and you will find a green link which directs to the stable release of the software. Install it. The software’s name will be “SCP Toolkit Setup”.

5. Once you have downloaded the files, open the file. You will find an application named “ScpToolkit_Setup.exe”. Right click and select Run as administrator to install it.

6. Set the install location accordingly and agree to the license terms. Click Next after you are done.
7. After you click Next, you will be given an option on which items to install in the form of check boxes. It is recommended to leave them as they are marked default and click the install button.

8. After you have successfully installed the software, your afterglow controllers will be basically plug and play. Meaning they will be detected whenever you connect them to the PC without you having to do anything.
9. After installation, you can configure the keys yourself with ease using the toolkit. You can customize your controller experience to suit your playing style. You can also utilize the profile manager and create custom mappings. The fine-tune option will even help you adjust your thumb stick sensitivity.

Note: If your controllers still don’t get recognized with your PC, you should try to connect with an Xbox console to check if they are working properly. This will eliminate all hardware doubts. If they are working on the console and not on the PC, we can check if your USB ports are clean and don’t have any dust stuck in them. If you are connected your 360 controllers with a USB hub, disconnect them from there and plug them into the USB port present on your PC.

Restart your PC after cleaning the USB ports/changing ports and check if they working. If the controller doesn’t work on both, the console and the PC, it means that the controllers have a hardware issue and you would have to replace/repair them.