Topic: Tutorial : X-clamp Replacement - RBJtech's Method (Read 6445 times)

scotttheman · « **Reply #45 on:** April 26, 2007, 04:06:00 PM »

Well im planning on Buying a 360 this weekend (more likely monday after i know for certain the elite release is/is not going to drop the core price). Anyway after i make sure she boots I'm gonna gut it, install a fan header, an extra 70mm fan, and do this X-Clamp replacement before even gaming. Hopefully prevention will leave me with a long and happy Xbox relationship. I know i have to be a little bit psycho to void the warranty on the day of purchase.

SnufftheCrimeDog · « **Reply #46 on:** April 26, 2007, 04:34:00 PM »

Of course I speak to soon, I put in madden 07 to play, and as I got into the game I got the graphical glitch, and when i rebooted I got the 3rols, now after turning it off, and turning it back on again, the game booted and I was able to play. So does this mean I should go in a possibly tighten up the screws ontop of the GPU?

compuguy01 · « **Reply #47 on:** April 26, 2007, 08:20:00 PM »

Well my day was going great today

I had the 3RLOD 2 days ago, Ive been following RBJ's tut for some time now. So I went ahead and did the xclamp replacement today, followed the directions to a T except for between the MOBO and Heat sinks I used 2 washers not 3, 3 washers did not give the heat sink any contact at all w/ the GPU. Anyway she LIVES.. well until now, I was playin Oblivion played for about 20 min and freezes. Shut the system off, powered back on, I get green lines on the screen. Shut it off again, powered on, now I get the 3 lights again. Could I have made the GPU heat sink too tight??

RBJTech · « **Reply #48 on:** April 27, 2007, 03:26:00 AM »

Possibly - it worth finding out which corner the problem is at on the GPU. On mine for example, if I tightened the front left hand nut too tight, I would get the ROL - I could also recreate the problem by just pressing on the h/s and the booting. So from this, I know that the problem is likely on that corner of the GPU. Now I have it much less tighter than the other 3 nuts (which are almost pressing the spring washer flat) on that bolt, the spring washer is only just being squeezed.

In summary, bending the board the 'other way' is just as bad as bending it with the X clamps - the ideal is to keep the board as flat as possible, whilst maintaining pressure on the die for the h/s.

In short, experiment ..

grim_d · « **Reply #49 on:** April 27, 2007, 09:54:00 AM »

hopefuly going to be getting down and dirty next week with your tut man, cant wait (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

edit: to confirm i'm not weird, i'm buying a 3RLOD box (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

This post has been edited by grim_d: Apr 27 2007, 04:55 PM

nekkron99 · « **Reply #50 on:** April 27, 2007, 10:20:00 AM »

QUOTE(grim_d @ Apr 27 2007, 08:25 AM)

hopefuly going to be getting down and dirty next week with your tut man, cant wait (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

edit: to confirm i'm not weird, i'm buying a 3RLOD box (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Yeah, getting down and dirty with a tut is a bit wierd without the 3RLOD. And I bet the tut is relieved as well. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

This post has been edited by nekkron99: Apr 27 2007, 05:20 PM

grim_d · « **Reply #51 on:** April 27, 2007, 12:33:00 PM »

QUOTE(nekkron99 @ Apr 27 2007, 04:51 PM)

Yeah, getting down and dirty with a tut is a bit wierd without the 3RLOD. And I bet the tut is relieved as well. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

sexy tutorial..mmmhmm.

SnufftheCrimeDog · « **Reply #52 on:** April 27, 2007, 01:58:00 PM »

QUOTE(compuguy01 @ Apr 26 2007, 10:27 PM)

Well my day was going great today (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) I had the 3RLOD 2 days ago, Ive been following RBJ's tut for some time now. So I went ahead and did the xclamp replacement today, followed the directions to a T except for between the MOBO and Heat sinks I used 2 washers not 3, 3 washers did not give the heat sink any contact at all w/ the GPU. Anyway she LIVES.. well until now, I was playin Oblivion played for about 20 min and freezes. Shut the system off, powered back on, I get green lines on the screen. Shut it off again, powered on, now I get the 3 lights again. Could I have made the GPU heat sink too tight??

This thing was happening to my friend xbox that we just fixed. It dont think that it was a coincidence that I was playing around with the tightness and looseness of the screws when it came back, but here what I did, I went back in, overheated the 360 and then screwed down the heatsinks tightly. Not extremely tight mind you, but there definitely a little more then snug. This took care of it as far as I know, I played a little bit this morning, but I will be checking up with my friend to see if there has been anymore problems. I think what RBJTech said is correct you do need to experiment to get it right, although loosening it seemed to cause more problems for me then tightening them. So try both in my opinion, but be careful, Like RBJTech said the whole point of this mod is to stop the board from flexing, so if you do try tightening them up, be careful, you don't want to flex the board downwards or worse snap the MB, but i think as long as you dont over do it, and use the washer to gauge how tight the heatsink is down on the chip you should be fine. I definitely try both loosening the lock nuts and tightening them.

ptr.exe · « **Reply #53 on:** April 27, 2007, 03:49:00 PM »

I bought a faulty 3 ROD Xbox off eBay. Initially I did the towel trick to confirm that it was the solder joints, as this was a release date 360.

The towel trick only made it work for a week, so I started reading up on X clamp replacement, I decided on this method as it will stop the board flexing as it is secured to the case.

I'd like to point out that you need to reball the solder, by allowing the 360 to overheat and then waiting 2 minutes. As described in lawdawg0931s tutorial.

Thanks RBJtech and lawdawg0931.

grim_d · « **Reply #54 on:** April 27, 2007, 05:45:00 PM »

QUOTE(ptr.exe @ Apr 27 2007, 10:56 PM)

I'd like to point out that you need to reball the solder, by allowing the 360 to overheat and then waiting 2 minutes. As described in lawdawg0931s tutorial.

I dont think that's necessary, plus overheating the machine does not reball the joints, most solder melts at around 190C, by this point you have far more problems than your overheating xbox, the thing is probably on fire.

RBJtech, could you confirm, is it necessary to do the towel/heatgun trick before attempting this.

booker · « **Reply #55 on:** April 27, 2007, 06:33:00 PM »

QUOTE(grim_d @ Apr 28 2007, 12:16 AM)

I dont think that's necessary, plus overheating the machine does not reball the joints, most solder melts at around 190C, by this point you have far more problems than your overheating xbox, the thing is probably on fire.

RBJtech, could you confirm, is it necessary to do the towel/heatgun trick before attempting this.

i think it may varay from system to system. On my case it was necesary. Actaually the 2 min wasnt enough. So i did the towek trick for 20 min.
And i tight the screews really tight..

Since i did both things at the same time (well not the same time but you get the idea) i don´t know what did the trick.. but the story is..

before doing this i got video freezeing after 5 to 10 min...
after doing this (overheat + really tight the bolts), i can play the system without a freeze (so far).

(Touch wood)

JakeDunn · « **Reply #56 on:** April 27, 2007, 06:33:00 PM »

When you guys did the towel method, did you put the case back together or was the system naked then toweled. Though I highly doubt its the latter because thats just asking for trouble right there

Btw booker, I believe the correct term is "knock on wood". Touching wood seems to imply something else...

booker · « **Reply #57 on:** April 27, 2007, 08:21:00 PM »

QUOTE(JakeDunn @ Apr 28 2007, 01:40 AM)

When you guys did the towel method, did you put the case back together or was the system naked then toweled. Though I highly doubt its the latter because thats just asking for trouble right there (IMG:style_emoticons/default/flamethrower.gif)

Btw booker, I believe the correct term is "knock on wood". Touching wood seems to imply something else... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

LOL.. you are right.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I´m not from the us as you can see (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And yeah... i did put the case back together before doing this.

Edit:
"Touch wood" or "knock on wood" is a popular saying to reverse any bad luck that might come your way, due to a recent action you have taken or comment you have made.

Not so mistaken after all... But what does touching wood means? :/

This post has been edited by booker: Apr 28 2007, 03:22 AM

lawdawg0931 · « **Reply #58 on:** April 28, 2007, 06:15:00 PM »

QUOTE(booker @ Apr 27 2007, 09:21 PM)

Not so mistaken after all... But what does touching wood means? :/

http://www.answers.com/topic/woody-1
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

This post has been edited by lawdawg0931: Apr 29 2007, 01:20 AM

RBJTech · « **Reply #59 on:** April 29, 2007, 04:08:00 AM »

QUOTE(grim_d @ Apr 28 2007, 12:45 AM)

I dont think that's necessary, plus overheating the machine does not reball the joints, most solder melts at around 190C, by this point you have far more problems than your overheating xbox, the thing is probably on fire.

RBJtech, could you confirm, is it necessary to do the towel/heatgun trick before attempting this.

Shouldn't be necessary - if the fix needs any type of heating, then it's the board flexing that's making the fix, not the X clamp replacement (= bad, as it will fail again).

As I think somebody has already said - you are actually masking the results by heating things - if you get the 3ROL initially after doing the clamp replacement - then you aint fixed it ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Author Topic: Tutorial : X-clamp Replacement - RBJtech's Method (Read 6445 times)