You mentioned crystals, so I'm guessing that you don't have a 2.4ghz radio system. Have you tried reseating your crystals?

Actually from what you said in your first post it sounds possible that the XL-5 in the slash might have issues, and could have damaged the receiver.

Did you MAKE SURE that you had the ESC plug to the receiver turned the right way? If that's the only radio that you have it might be a good idea for you to get AT LEAST another compatible receiver and a new set of crystals for testing. Should be able to get a used one off here/eBay/craiglist pretty cheap.