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[SnufftheCrimeDog]

Ok, I understand now....Sorry for my ignorance . My 360 actually works fine now, still under warranty, and everything, but I want to possibly perform this mod to prevent anything from happening, damn 25 bucks on the cooling system . Now I have a few questions one just to make sure I understand now to clamp the heatsink to the board, but to double check dokworm metioned actually fixing the board to the metal case, which makes sense, but to double check this is not necessary correct? Two, the tutorial mentions throwing on new thermal paste, are you basically covering the chip or lining the chip I've seen different pictures, and can this damage the MB if done wrong? Thirdly, the tutorial metions overheating the xbox to resolder the points, as I said my xbox is now 7 days old so I don't think any damage has been done to the solder points, should I still perform this step or is not necessary? Thanks for the support the tutorial is great, and basically I seek opinions on weather I should perform this on a new xbox 360 or not?

[sirsmooth]

Basically, from what I gather anyone using an xbox 360 with the X clamps on will get the 3 red lights at some point.
Could be in a week, month, year but you will get the 3 red lights.

This is not 100% but it seems all these 3 red light problems are due to warping MB's and this helps the bored not to warp.

1. Either clamping to the case or just the motherbored is fine, If you clamp to the case you know in your head you have done all you can. But its not vital.

2. If you are not going to lapp the heastsink(sandpaper) then just put a thin layer all over the chip. If you are going to lapp the heatsink then just put a small bit on the middle of the chip.

3. You dont need to do the 'overheating' trick unless you are getting 3 red lights.

All the above is what I have gathered from this thread and what I have asked myself, please dont take my word for it thou, wait for other replies

Hope this helps.

[lawdawg0931]

QUOTE(SnufftheCrimeDog @ Mar 27 2007, 04:11 PM)

 as I said my xbox is now 7 days old so I don't think any damage has been done to the solder points, should I still perform this step

No, this step in the tutorial is for people with the 3 lights already. If you are doing this mod to prevent the 3 lights from happening, and all is working for you at the moment....DO NOT overheat your box.

[clicker666]

QUOTE(SnufftheCrimeDog @ Mar 27 2007, 06:11 PM)

Ok, I understand now....Sorry for my ignorance (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif). My 360 actually works fine now, still under warranty, and everything, but I want to possibly perform this mod to prevent anything from happening, damn 25 bucks on the cooling system (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif). Now I have a few questions one just to make sure I understand now to clamp the heatsink to the board, but to double check dokworm metioned actually fixing the board to the metal case, which makes sense, but to double check this is not necessary correct? Two, the tutorial mentions throwing on new thermal paste, are you basically covering the chip or lining the chip I've seen different pictures, and can this damage the MB if done wrong? Thirdly, the tutorial metions overheating the xbox to resolder the points, as I said my xbox is now 7 days old so I don't think any damage has been done to the solder points, should I still perform this step or is not necessary? Thanks for the support the tutorial is great, and basically I seek opinions on weather I should perform this on a new xbox 360 or not?

You say your XBOX 360 is a week old?  No, don't touch it.  You *should* have a warranty if it blows up.  If it blows up after warranty deal with it then.  Something I wasn't aware of, was that even out of warranty, I had the option of paying 126 CDN to get a refurbed replacement from M$, and that they extended the warranty for some of the older XBOXes.  I would have rather paid $126, then the just over $400 I spent buying another one yesterday.

[RDC]

Thermal paste can be applied either way, lapped heatsinks or not, it's a personal preference, period.

QUOTE(SnufftheCrimeDog @ Mar 27 2007, 04:11 PM)

Ok, I understand now....Sorry for my ignorance . My 360 actually works fine now, still under warranty, and everything, but I want to possibly perform this mod to prevent anything from happening, damn 25 bucks on the cooling system . Now I have a few questions one just to make sure I understand now to clamp the heatsink to the board, but to double check dokworm metioned actually fixing the board to the metal case, which makes sense, but to double check this is not necessary correct? Two, the tutorial mentions throwing on new thermal paste, are you basically covering the chip or lining the chip I've seen different pictures, and can this damage the MB if done wrong? Thirdly, the tutorial metions overheating the xbox to resolder the points, as I said my xbox is now 7 days old so I don't think any damage has been done to the solder points, should I still perform this step or is not necessary? Thanks for the support the tutorial is great, and basically I seek opinions on weather I should perform this on a new xbox 360 or not?

If your 360 is new I wouldn't mess with it at all, BUT on the other hand, doing something along these lines is apt to keep it from breaking down on you in the long run, that's a choice you'll have to make for yourself. You can either keep the warranty and hope it doesn't crap out between here and there and then do it, if it does die you still have yourwarranty, so not real biggie OR do it now and risk possibly causing more harm than good to it and then be un crap creek with no paddle since you voided the warranty to do it in the first place.

Getting thermal compound all over the board and or chip isn't a good idea, but it's not going to hurt anything either unless you have gobs and gobs of it on there. The old thermal paste MUST be removed completely and the chips "die" (small part with all the Transistors and such in it) is the only part that gets new thermal applied to is, just a BB or rice grain sized bit of it.

Overheating the 360 on purpose does NOT resolder BGA joints, it's doesn't get hot enough. What it does do is bow the board the same way that just using the thing does and usually gets the joints to touch again and fixes the 3RLOD for a little bit.

Attaching the board to the cage would also be a good solution, but just having it braced and the heatsinks screwed in place makes for a ton of difference.

Seriously, and as others have already pointed out, leave your 360 alone. No offense, but it seems like ya don't have the "jist" of this and since your 360 is still under warranty leaving it as is for now, with your external cooler, would be the better solution. While doing something like this may prevent it from ever happening, that's no guarantee at all or any reason to try yer luck.

[RBJTech]

I got around to doing this tonight on my 'slave' Xbox 360 (it's good having a 2nd xbox to experiement with, don't really care if I kill it ...  

UK Guys - parts are from B&Q as follows :-

Machine Screws + nuts - Countersunk Slotted 4mm x 20mm (10) - p/n AVF-069314
Hex Nut 4mm (7) - p/n AVF-064616 (3mm thick)
Spring Washer 4mm (30) - p/n AVF-065088
Flat Washer 4mm (70) - p/n AVF-064951 (washers are 0.77mm thick)
Nylon Lock Nut (4) - p/n AVF-064685 (x2)

No need for nylon/plastic washers as the circle area is isolated from the board anyway.

Pics are here :-

Replace those X Clamps !

Note this is different from the tuts in this thread - this is clamping the board to the case as well as the heatsink.  This is solid as a rock, that board ain't going anywhere !

Happy to do a full tutorial if the interest is there - so far so good but it's only been going for a few hours - I want to give it another couple of weeks with lots of thermal cycles before considering it a success.

Cheers,

RBJTech.

PS - Respect to dokworm for giving me the incentive to get this sorted out ...

[nightmare84j28]

Nice idea RBJ!

If i end up doing it sometime, i'll be doing it the way you did.

[sirsmooth]

Thats class Rich.

Keep us updated m8.

This post has been edited by sirsmooth: Mar 27 2007, 10:07 PM

[SnufftheCrimeDog]

QUOTE(RDC @ Mar 27 2007, 04:52 PM)

Getting thermal compound all over the board and or chip isn't a good idea, but it's not going to hurt anything either unless you have gobs and gobs of it on there. The old thermal paste MUST be removed completely and the chips "die" (small part with all the Transistors and such in it) is the only part that gets new thermal applied to is, just a BB or rice grain sized bit of it.

(SnufftheCrimeDog)/sorry quotation retarded too
Gotya, now excuse my technically retarded terminology, but on the GPU, there is a big glassy looking chip, and then a small chip next to it, from what I'm getting, I want to put a drop of thermal compound on glassy/shinny looking one correct?

Seriously, and as others have already pointed out, leave your 360 alone. No offense, but it seems like ya don't have the "jist" of this and since your 360 is still under warranty leaving it as is for now, with your external cooler, would be the better solution. While doing something like this may prevent it from ever happening, that's no guarantee at all or any reason to try yer luck.

I wouldn't go as far as saying I don't get the "jist" of it. I now understand completely what to do. I have modded two original xboxs and I've done a fair amount to my PC. I'm not trying to go on the defensive here, but to clarify I do understand what I am doing its the parts I'm a little cloudy on that I just wanna make sure I've got absolutly down to the very last point, I want ultra-clarity, so not to screw up  I feel as though I should make the modification if it is inevitably going to happen, but I heed you warnings, and maybe until my warranty runs I will hope my external cooler will prevent it. Thanks for all the clarification guys, its is nice to know there is hope beyond the red lights

[lawdawg0931]

@RBJTech
Definitely nice job. Once mine was together & I realized the holes on the bottom case lined up perfectly (Duh) with the M5 bolts, I thought about what you have done. Being tied in to the case, no doubt be stronger. Keep us posted as to the life of this fix. Nice job on the pictures as well.

This post has been edited by lawdawg0931: Mar 27 2007, 11:46 PM

[N00bvin]

QUOTE(lawdawg0931 @ Mar 27 2007, 01:42 PM)

No, this step in the tutorial is for people with the 3 lights already. If you are doing this mod to prevent the 3 lights from happening, and all is working for you at the moment....DO NOT overheat your box.

FYI.  I had the three lights before this mod and did NOT have to do the overheat "trick."  It simply worked right after doing the mod, which is good because I'm not in the habit of overheating electronics on purpose.  Just so people know this step "might" be unnecessary.  Mileage may vary.

[lawdawg0931]

QUOTE(N00bvin @ Mar 27 2007, 08:05 PM)

I'm not in the habit of overheating electronics on purpose.

Me either, but point taken....I guess I need to add a line in the tutorial stating to see if just replacing the "X" clamps has worked, then no need to try the overheat trick. In my case it made the difference.

[bmdubya]

Hey everyone, I am new to these boards, but I had to register because my Xbox got the 3 lights of death, and I thought I was screwed. I found this tutorial, and now my Xbox works awesome. I took some pictures, not really good ones, but showing me kind of working on it, then showing my Xbox working. I just want to say thanks to everyone who contributed to this tutorial, you saved me $139!
Pics of Fixing the Xbox

[brywalker]

QUOTE(sirsmooth @ Mar 27 2007, 08:10 PM)

Question...

What is the size of the gap between the bottom of the motherbored and the bottom of the case?
My screwhead with washer comes to 5mm(1mm washer)
I have tried looking to see if the screwhead is touching the case but its to hard to tell.

Hammertime.

No, really.

If you are careful, you can "persuade" the chassis to back off just a tad. This is what I did, and if you do it CAREFULLY, it will all fit together nicely.

I do like what Richard did. It was actually my first instinct! To quote myself way back when:

QUOTE(brywalker @ Mar 13 2007, 03:10 AM)

dokworm: Would we be able to acheve the same results by using a screw with a plastic washer coming from the bottom and use a nut (or other such screw down type) on the top of the sink to torque it down? I have done this with a few PCs on the Northbridge/Southbridge. Or do you think it will be too much pressure on the holes of the board?

I decided not to deal with cutting the fins on the GPU heatsink. Mine is working great for now, my thermal pads will be in soon. Maybe I will switch over to that. But then I have to hammer my RF shield back. Hmmmm.

[kalon]

I picked up a red-lighted 360 earlier this week and have gotten it working quite nicely, thanks to this thread. My only issue is that when initially disassembling the system, I discovered that the six long screws that hold the metal housing together are missing (presumably the previous owner took it apart and didn't bother to put them back in).

Does anyone know the dimensions of these screws or where I can get replacements? Also, am I likely to encounter any issues running the 360 in the interim? It seems to be working fine at the moment, but I don't want to use it if I'm likely to damage something. Thanks.