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[zelkinp]

I went ahead anyway, as I'm an impatient jerk.
I thought I did a fairly good job at the re-flow because I work as a mobile phone technician and have all the equipment to complete it properly (I hope ). Anyway, after the re-flow I attempted a power up without the X-clamp on or any thermal paste, this resulted in a RRoD almost instantaneously. I then proceeded to re-flow the board again, but still the RRoD persisted. I Decided i'd put the X-clamp back on to see if this made any difference.
Bingo, the 360 came to life without any issues.
I assume the pressure from the X-clamp was the key.
However i'm not expecting this repair to last.

Notes: My 360 is an Elite and has hot glue around the edges of the CPU/GPU I think this may have made the re-flow less effective because the hot glue may have held the CPU/GPU stopping them for settling properly on the board. This is just a theory however, I may have just done a lame job during the re-flow, I'm not sure.

If anyone has any idea's/input i'm sure it my help someone or myself later down the track.

Thanks.

[ILikeMeat]

Take a heatgun or something like that and heat up the glue/expoxy, not hot enough to flow solder, but hot. Then chip away at the glue with a a razor blade, get it all off without moving the chip (hopefully the solder isn't flowing at the time) Then reflow it. Then put some high grade thermal paste on the die, AS5, Tuniq TX-2, or Arctic Cooling MX-2 are the best.

Then buy a X clamp replacement kit off of ebay (I know there is one for 6 dollars shipped) and throw away the X clamps.

[Wilhelm_I]

QUOTE(ILikeMeat @ Aug 23 2008, 10:20 AM)

Take a heatgun or something like that and heat up the glue/expoxy, not hot enough to flow solder, but hot. Then chip away at the glue with a a razor blade, get it all off without moving the chip (hopefully the solder isn't flowing at the time) Then reflow it. Then put some high grade thermal paste on the die, AS5, Tuniq TX-2, or Arctic Cooling MX-2 are the best.

Then buy a X clamp replacement kit off of ebay (I know there is one for 6 dollars shipped) and throw away the X clamps.

Are you joking, dude?
This would fuck it up for sure...
The epoxy is there for a reason to keep it in place and you can reflow the GPU properly even though it is there.

What this guy did is simple, he powered his 360 without heatsinks/reapplying thermal compound, something like that.
Then turned it on and got the 2 red lights instantly.
After applying the heatsinks it worked just as expected...

And at the topic starter when it dies the next time replace the X-Clamps because they are still flexing the board and will cause the previously reflowed solder balls to become cold/crack again...

[chadives]

QUOTE(ILikeMeat @ Aug 23 2008, 04:20 AM)

Take a heatgun or something like that and heat up the glue/expoxy, not hot enough to flow solder, but hot. Then chip away at the glue with a a razor blade, get it all off without moving the chip (hopefully the solder isn't flowing at the time) Then reflow it. Then put some high grade thermal paste on the die, AS5, Tuniq TX-2, or Arctic Cooling MX-2 are the best.

Then buy a X clamp replacement kit off of ebay (I know there is one for 6 dollars shipped) and throw away the X clamps.

no way, that is unbelievably risky. what do you think is in the epoxy?  Have you actually done this?