Dead 360's

[GTSRboy]

ive just bought a 360 pro off of ebay, they say its working but the seal is broken, so if it breaks i cant send it to microsoft. I bought it for $89 specificlly to play Forza 3. It came with 20GB HDD, and power brick.

Here is my history with the 360, my first one broke, gamestop repalced it, my second one got 3 red rings, and gamestop replaced it again, and i sold my 3rd one. My freind's 360 broke while playing gears of war a few years back, and now he cant tell me how Forza 3 is because...his 360 recently broke and microsoft has it.

I was just on facebook and my other freinds who has been raving about Forza 3..now has a broken xbox 360 and cant play it.

Does anyone know what my options are if i get 3 red rings or E74? are there people who know how to fix these things by taking them apart?

[Starscream]

ive just bought a 360 pro off of ebay, they say its working but the seal is broken, so if it breaks i cant send it to microsoft. I bought it for $89 specificlly to play Forza 3. It came with 20GB HDD, and power brick.

Here is my history with the 360, my first one broke, gamestop repalced it, my second one got 3 red rings, and gamestop replaced it again, and i sold my 3rd one. My freind's 360 broke while playing gears of war a few years back, and now he cant tell me how Forza 3 is because...his 360 recently broke and microsoft has it.

I was just on facebook and my other freinds who has been raving about Forza 3..now has a broken xbox 360 and cant play it.

Does anyone know what my options are if i get 3 red rings or E74? are there people who know how to fix these things by taking them apart?


There are several tutorials online how you can fix RROD etc but those solutions dont always work.
A buddy of mine had his seal broken and MS stil accepted his RMA for RROD.
So if it breaks down u can always take a chance. Btw that price is pretty cheap you shure it stil has warranty?

[Neox69]

Dude, look for the google guide to the X-Clamp fix. So far it has worked on 3 Xbox's I have fixed myself... ;)

[GTSRboy]

Thats good to hear, if i can fix it myself im not too worried.

here is the guide i found http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1271373/360_three_rings_of_death_fix_real/

Im sure the one i bought is it out of warranty seeing how cheap it was. It didnt come with HD cables and no controllers.

Im sure there is a home fix for E74 error also? Anyone got a video or tutorial that they know works? Theres alot of em

[zanzabar]

the best way to make them last longer is to open them up, replace the foil (i guess that newer ones use TIM, but still change it) with thermal paste and cut a hole in the side and mount a fan to blow air in (slow yates work or high speed yates then splice into the usb for a 7V supply that will make it a slow speed yate)

[EliTE22]

i fixed three so far all seemed to have held, one has been running strong for over a year and other for a month and mine for about 3weeks
i either uses a heat gun or an oven to fix them, 150c for about a few minutes seems to do the trick (it makes and oven smell a little off btw so heatgun little better idea personally) then two pieces of armaflex insulation which is about 3/8 inch thick in the middle of the x clamp between the motherboard & clamp and then a mod the fan to running 12v all the time:up:

[Neox69]

I got my guide off youtube! ;) But the original one I fixed (mine) has been running strong for 2years now. All I did was add the washers and some Ceramique:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/ceramique.htm ;)

[YukonTrooper]

Go on eBay and buy the x-clamp fix kit from China for about $3 shipped.

[Reznik Akime]

The Xclamp fix don't always work. The only guaranteed way of fixing it is taking a heat gun to re-flow it. If you really want to try though, open it up yourself and let it overheat with the fans unplugged. When it overheats, leave it on for about three minutes. It worked on two boxes for me so far.

[YukonTrooper]

The Xclamp fix don't always work. The only guaranteed way of fixing it is taking a heat gun to re-flow it. If you really want to try though, open it up yourself and let it overheat with the fans unplugged. When it overheats, leave it on for about three minutes. It worked on two boxes for me so far.
That's why you overheat it after you've removed the x-clamp. ;)

[[XC] flat-four]

I've done two of them that had RROD, both times I removed the xclamp and hard mounted the heatsinks using m5 screws and nylon washers. Keep the fan blowing on the cpu sink, otherwise the it will shut off before the gpu gets hot enough. This was about a year ago, and both are still going strong.

[GTSRboy]

what is it exactly that causes 3 red rings? Something about the heatsink? How does overheating it fix it?

[zanzabar]

what is it exactly that causes 3 red rings? Something about the heatsink? How does overheating it fix it?

im also interested

[Blkout]

flat-four;4101704']I've done two of them that had RROD, both times I removed the xclamp and hard mounted the heatsinks using m5 screws and nylon washers. Keep the fan blowing on the cpu sink, otherwise the it will shut off before the gpu gets hot enough. This was about a year ago, and both are still going strong.

Same here, I just recently had to fix my 1.5 year old Elite using the X-clamp mod with bolts and nylon washers. Been running fine for a month now without any issues.

[EliTE22]

what is it exactly that causes 3 red rings? Something about the heatsink? How does overheating it fix it?
gpu soldings points i believe
overheating reflows the solder

[GTSRboy]

So when you send your xbox to Microsft with RROD do that replace the whole board? Sounds like all those videos are superfical/bandaid solutions that can last a long time

what do the nylon washers do to help the situation.?.if the 360 got better cooling would it solve the problem?

[jton219]

i just did an rrod.. this is how it works...i think. MS uses these x clamps to put attached the hsf to cpu and gpu to the board..the pressure it puts on is not enough. after alot of gaming, the crappy solder they used starts to give way and many times kills the connections between the cpu/gpu and the board because the loose x-clamps give the chips room to wiggle...

the x clamp fix involves using screws and washers to securely attached the hsf to the board. once you have these securely attached, you over heat them to reflow the solder and get a good connection again. Overheating also tells the xbox to throw a different code (the overheat code) instead of throwing the RROD code. i think once it has thrown an rrod code, it keeps throwing that until you get it fixed at MS. if you give it a new code to throw, it forgets about the rrod.

some people add pennies wrapped in electrical tape on them heat sinks of the ram to put pressure on the ram, and give the board less room to flex and cause bad component connections.

[EliTE22]

So when you send your xbox to Microsft with RROD do that replace the whole board? Sounds like all those videos are superfical/bandaid solutions that can last a long time

what do the nylon washers do to help the situation.?.if the 360 got better cooling would it solve the problem?
it helps
they add a nice piece of copper and a heatpipe to the gpu heatsink in later models of the 360, and original gpu HS is all alu and doesn't really get a lot of air flow. the heat pipe they used goes out infront of the cpu HS to help get more air flow to cool the gpu, the dvd drive is on top of the gpu HS if you didnt know so hard to add air flow to the gpu hs, there is not a lot of room to work with. adding fans for intake seems to really help though
i added a divider between the two fans so the gpu gets more air flow
the main thing you need to do is get the heatsink so they're on tight

[GTSRboy]

^ thanks for the explanations jton219 and EliTe22 i get it now!:D

[zanzabar]

you could get the lianli case with a proper fan

[GTSRboy]

I was thinking of that, just mount the board is a small PC case. Wonder if the MB scews would line up

[zanzabar]

look at this one its so nice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112196&Tpk=lian%20li%20xbox

[Blkout]

you could get the lianli case with a proper fan

That case is WAY too expensive. That's over half the price of a brand new 360. And because of it's size, it wouldn't fit in my entertainment center. That case is a good idea, poorly implemented.

[Flip_Lx]

talk with your local gamestop or check craigslist lots of people here either offer repair services (my local gamestop guy does it on the side) and there are always people offering to fix em on craigslist from $70-100 and they'll usually offer a warranty

[ownage]

I bolted down my sinks like there was no tomorrow. 8 m5-10mm screws and 16 teflon rings and RROD was gone.
To bad the LianLi case is hard to find, and expensive.

[Flip_Lx]

i'd rather just get the koolance watercool kit instead of lianli case

[GTSRboy]

Here is the case my old roomate had (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133044&cm_re=thermaltake_case-_-11-133-044-_-Product) for his PC, its small and has decent airflow (great airflow for a 360). Its roughly console shaped

I wonder if aftermarket heatsinks work with the GPU...if so, i would slap a massive Freezer pro 7 on it

[Lestat]

i am just wondering why the OP even kept that xbox.... why didnt you return it to the seller, and if they refused file a paypal claim.

why did you even fvck around with that stupid dead xbox ?

hell i got one here i'll sell you for $75 and it comes with a pre modded dvd drive.

[GTSRboy]

my xbox isnt dead, it works fine. I was just wondering what to do IF it breaks.

Aparently my console had RROD and was fixed by somone, so hopefully they did it right and i shoudlnt have to worry about it ever happening

[Reznik Akime]

That's why you overheat it after you've removed the x-clamp. ;)

What were you trying to get at there? :shrug:

[GTSRboy]

Just took apart my 360, and discovered it still has the X-clamp. The previous owner fixed the RROD but didnt do an X-Clamp replacement.

Off to the store to get a torx 7 or 8 or whatever and some thermal paste and some washers

[kraifect]

Im thinking of buying a 360 soon , i've been searching craigslist and I actually found a Elite with a 120gb hard drive for 160 with no controllers. I heard theres alot of xbox's being banned though now and you can't tell if they are unless you go online?

[GTSRboy]

is it true that there is drilling required in the x-clamp replacement mod...

EDIT: One of the tutorials im seeing says drilling is needed....i dont see why it would be needed, im not sure it is

[ownage]

is it true that there is drilling required in the x-clamp replacement mod...

EDIT: One of the tutorials im seeing says drilling is needed....i dont see why it would be needed, im not sure it is

Nope. Some mods require it, but if you're XS, you do it pro-style without having to drill. I only used 8 m5-10mm bolts and 16 teflon wafers. 2 Teflons per bolt, one on each side of the mobo.

You can buy different xbox360 mobo's from ebay, even drives. Thats better than buying a whole new xbox.

[GTSRboy]

After doing some detective work, i found out my motherboard actually a Falcon model, but the case and PSU are from a Zephyr (16,5A 203w printed), causing me to have thought it was an old Zephyr. Looks like the last person who had it was mixing and matching parts

[ownage]

After doing some detective work, i found out my motherboard actually a Falcon model, but the case and PSU are from a Zephyr (16,5A 203w printed), causing me to have thought it was an old Zephyr. Looks like the last person who had it was mixing and matching parts

That's M$ with their weird practices. I bought my 360 brand new, and still have an older case (or actually false label) with a falcon mobo. You can't trust those labels.

[GTSRboy]

i just did the x-clamp replacement on my xbox, which was running very very loud, and now its nice a quiet again. The fans were reving up the second i turned it on, and the heatsinks wernt getting hot, meaning the contact was crap. Artic silver probabaly helped i dont know what was on there before


EDIT: I take it back. The fans were, when i first booted it up running quiet, but now they are back to blasting full speed. Anyone have an idea what the problem could be? wtf are fans blasting at 1000% when im not even gaming, just in dashboard? i can confirm a tight connection between heatsink and motherboard with good thermal paste. the XBOX is such a POS

EDIT2: ok, its not THAT loud (before it was) but its still running up the fans...oh well

[Michowski]

GTSR, the fans probly dont increase in speed untill the chips reach a certain temperature. Once they do the fans kick over to full speed to cool em down. Its a never ending cycle. Once the fans cool to a certain point the fan speeds get bumped back down. I personally have never owned a 360 but thats just electronics in general.

On a side note, my nephews 360 has the rrod and I want to give it a permanent fix like in the video. Ive already got some tx-3 and some artic silver cleaner but I just want to clarify what else I need for the fix. What size washers and screws do I need and what about this x clamp? I dont remember see'ing any x clamps in that video posted earlier. Any help on all the items needs besides thermal compound and cleaner would be appreciated.

[GTSRboy]

(8) M5-.80x10 Machine bolts [pan head, not hex]
(16) 5mm flat Metal washers
(16) #10 Nylon flat washer
Some Thermal paste
Thin screw driver for getting case open and prying off x-clamp
Torx size 8 and 10. If your 1 size, off it will probably work.
Goo-Gone or rubbing alcohol to clean off old thermal paste
some plyers maybe

You will be getting rid of the x-clamp and bolting the heatsinks directly to the motherboard. you will use 4 washers on each bolt, the nylon ones in contact with the motherboard.

----

does anyone know if the whisper fan replacment for the 360 is a good idea? Do they have good airflow?

[Michowski]

What do you mean by #10 nylon washer. Does that refer to the thickness of it? Is the one im looking at ok? http://www.mcmaster.com/#95610a160/=4p9sjm

[GTSRboy]

@Mich - yea that will work. Its hard to tell you exactly what to do, because there is alot of conflicting information on the internet. As far as i can tell, you should have it go like this: Heatsink, metal washer, nylon washer, motherboard, nylon washer, bolt head.

The reason i omitted the second metal bolt under the MB is because its not needed, assuming the machine bolt can screw up into the heatsink that much higher


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My xbox fans are still running loud even after i did the x-clamp mod, i wonder if the two bolts above the motherboard are about the same height as the CPU die is? maybe those two washers are holding the heatsink slightly above the die causing my fans to continue to rev up? Just some ideas

[Michowski]

Ya I understand how the process goes, just want to make sure I got the right hardware before I attempt anything. Thanks for the info.

[Michowski]

Got a working 360 now. Wierd thing was I didnt have to overheat it. When I powered it on it just worked.

[GTSRboy]

well you got lucky i suppose!

When a 360 red rings its up to chance as to how badly the solder balls are messed up. sounds like more pressure did the trick on yours. also you may have released bending on the board that the x-clamp caused

my problem was fans were revving wayyy up right when the box went on, and my first x-clamp replacement only sortof fixed it. i took it apart again and found that screws were too long on the CPU and jamming against the fins.. went and got some pan head type that are the right length, and re-applied artic silver ect, and now its perfect. Fans are quiet as ever now...

My friends 360 currently has RROD, hes bringing it to over to my house in a few weeks and im going to try the overheat method.

[GTSRboy]

i have to dig up this topic, to update the status of my 360

Recently i bought whisper fans to cool it down more, they move 50% more air. I also bought a clear wind tunnel so that LED will shine through it, which will work well with my new case.

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9484/dsc00046zd.jpg

So what is the result? It OVERHEATS!! I am sure it is the GPU that is overheating, since the CPU is 65nm and the GPU is a energy gulping 90nm (hotter). To fix the heat problem, i used clear thick packing tape to 'extend' the fan shoud onto my GPU, so direct airflow better. It seems to have worked, i ran the 360 for 1.5 hours on forza 3 and it seemed fine.

And now that that, seems fixed, my CD drive is now making a terrible grinding noise. I did blank disc tests in it, and the grinding isnt affecting the disc, (not scratced) and seems to go away when i put the console vertical. It does this even if there is no disc in it. So now i am going to, once again, crack it open and see what the problem is and post back.

[GTSRboy]

update - 360 now has RROD.

Now looking for a Jasper motherboard

[Michowski]

Man sounds like you need to sell it lol. Never 1 good report and I bet a lot of frustration.

[zanzabar]

how did u RROD it.

my 360 has a lite on drive and it makes a horrendous sound, and i find it funny since it (the 360) reads disks at 12x but my ps3 that reads dvds at 16x and blue ray at 8x is wispier quiet even when copying files from a dvd

[GTSRboy]

i was playing forza, and there was a autible 'pop' and the smell of smoke. It then showed 3 red rings, and the fans now spin at about 15rpm max.

I booted it back up, and the RROD is gone, and now it just overheats after 10min. Heatsink is firmly in place with new artic silver.

At this point im just going to get a used Jasper off of ebay with 65nm GPU, that should fix everything. Ill be putting parts up on ebay, DVD drive, broken MB, MB chassis. My ebay is amcq4901 if somone wants to buy anything like heatsinks and what not

[dave510]

Hi all,

I'm having major issues with my xbox. Lestat has been helping me out a bit.

A few days ago I was watching netflix, and I heard a system beep and then my xbox froze. I couldn't get to the dashboard or do anything. I had to physically turn it off. It happened a few more time, with a variety of results: once, the screen was filled with vertical lines; a few times it turned green; and i believe once or twice it had a checkerboard-like pattern, while still showing a frozen frame of the video in the background.

One time, I turned it back on and received an RROD. I got an E86 error. So, I removed the hard drive, and the console worked just fine. I tested about 2 hours worth of DVD playback without any issue, and then ODST for about 20-30 minutes. I ordered a 120gb hard drive this morning, but I think I'm going to cancel the order, since it sounds like I have more than a hard drive issue. Does anyone have experience with these problems? Is this thing dead?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Grrr...the hard drive is already being prepared to ship, so I can't cancel it. I hope that's the problem.

[GTSRboy]

off the top of my head, lines and checkboards on the screen might be GPU problems? What generation is your console? Xenon, Zhepher, Falcon, Jasper?