Post by: BenS on June 16, 2006, 05:43:00 AM
NOTE: Please note this process involves dismantling your 360, which will void any and all warranties you may or may not have. My warranty was up, and I had not purchased an extended warranty. (I'm a cheap bastard.)
This applies to 360 suffering from the "three red lights of death," or red lights from three o'clock to twelve o'clock around the power button. This means "General Hardware Failure" and does not point to any one specific item.
My 360 would boot into the dashboard without any trouble, but once you started a game, it would only run a few seconds. I suspected the dashboard would not give the system much of a workout, but games would, so a heat problem was an avenue to be explored.
There are ways to get a more specific trouble code out of the 360 when this happens. I'm not going to get into that now, but this link will tell you how to get the additional code and how to interpret that.
I was unable get the secondary error code because my 360's troubles were very erratic. Sometimes it would let me play for a few minutes and then freeze up. Sometimes it wouldn't even get past the intro screen during bootup without freezing. Sometimes it wouldn't boot at all and give me the three red lights, but not every time.
I called MS support only for them to tell me for a low fee of $130 they would fix it for me. Or I could use the extended warranty I might have purchased when I bought the unit. I obtained mine from Ebay, so I'm out of luck there. I decided to dismantle my 360 and see what I could find.
I discovered the GPU chip on my 360 possibly had some sort of thermal interface material (TIM) failure. I compared mine to how another one looked over at Anandtech and discovered mine was indeed different. Mine had some sort of metallic silver cover over the heatsink paste on the heatsink, and very little if any paste actually came into contact with the GPU die itsself.
Note: Some TIMs are designed to have a cover over the paste. I personally have never seen one, so at least to me they are rare. (I've been building PCs since 1996.) Your experience may vary. What I found on my 360's GPU could actually be a fully functional TIM in theory, but mine seemed to be experiencing overheating issues.
Have a look. Here's my GPU. Click for large versions.
(IMG:http://members.arstechnica.com/x/benji/8small.jpg)
Here's Anandtech's.
(IMG:http://members.arstechnica.com/x/benji/gpu.jpg)
Notice anything different? My GPU has a mirror finish; it is super clean. Anandtech's has thermal paste smeared all over it. That is what I was expecting to find in mine.
Here's a picture of what I believe to be the source of my 360's problems. The silver pad covering the thermal paste on the GPU's heatsink.
(IMG:http://members.arstechnica.com/x/benji/6small.jpg)
Another interesting fact is that when I pulled off the CPU heatsink, it looks like Anandtech's GPU. Thermal paste applied directly to the die itsself.
(IMG:http://members.arstechnica.com/x/benji/5small.jpg)
And the CPU's heatsink. Notice it does not have the same silver pad covering the thermal paste.
(IMG:http://members.arstechnica.com/x/benji/7small.jpg)
With the troubleshooting gears turning in my head, it made sense that the GPU might be overheating. I thought I would replace the TIM with some Arctic Silver, and see what happens.
So far, this repair has worked for my 360. I've been racking up as much play time as possible, so far 2+ hours, and no lockups whatsoever. This is the most it has let me play in two weeks. Before, I couldn't play 2 minutes without it locking up, much less an hour.
Please consider your options before opening your 360 up. If you feel like you are pretty handy fixing computers, handling sensitive hardware, and working with basic tools, you should be fine.
Now let's get down to business.
Tools you'll need:
A thin hex head L-shaped wrench OR a probe tool of some sort.
1 T-8 Torx screwdriver
1 T-10 Torx screwdriver
Plastic scraper tool or pocket knife
Arctic Silver or other brand high quality heat sink paste
1 Brillo steel wool pad
Cleaning supplies
I'm not going to detail how to get the 360 apart, you can follow instructions on how to do that here. You'll need to get the motherboard out of the metal cage, and pop off the heatsinks from both the CPU and GPU.
Once you get the GPU heatsink removed, look at the thermal pad on the bottom of it. Does it have a rectangular metallic silver cover on it? This is how mine looked. I suspect this thermal pad is insufficient for the amount of heat generated by the GPU.
NOTE: If yours DOES NOT have this metallic silver cover, your hardware faults might lie somewhere else. However, since you're this far already, keep going. Better cooling for your 360 would never hurt.
Scrape off the thermal pad from both the aluminum GPU heatsink and the copper CPU heatsink. I used a Brillo steel wool pad for this, and it worked great. It even polished the bottom of the heatsinks a little bit. If you get the heatsinks wet, make sure you dry them thouroughly before reinstalling.
Now clean the remaining thermal paste from the GPU and CPU. My CPU had the most paste on it, so it took the longest. I used small pieces of a paper towel slightly dampened with 409 and it worked fair. You may have a better method of removing thermal paste from a CPU, so use your judgement here.
Once clean, apply your thermal paste to the CPU and GPU dies. Don't apply too much, just enough to cover the entire die.
Now reinstall the heatsinks, put the 360 back together, and enjoy.
As a side note, I've chronicled most of the process I took on my blog. I would be VERY interested in hearing from others in my situation. No warranty options, and willing to pull off their GPU heatsink to see if they have the silver pad on the heatsink like I did. If you do, PLEASE email me: bspradlin AT gmail DOT com.
Post by: robivy64 on June 16, 2006, 06:32:00 AM
Out of curiosity what is the manufacturing date of your 360? This may help determine around what time in the production run they used these cheap materials.
-R
Post by: xboxexpert on June 16, 2006, 06:47:00 AM
Welcome to the forums's BenS! Great way to start off posting.
-xboxexpert
Post by: BenS on June 16, 2006, 07:34:00 AM
This problem seems to be plaguing 360 owners like me who have owned one since launch, and have worked fine for 6+ months, and now are dying. I'm not sure why the thermal compound breaks down after this period of time. I didn't play my 360 very much to be honest, maybe 1 hour a week here lately, at the most four or five hours a week back around Christmas.
robivy64, if I remember correctly, I want to say the build date was 8/28/05. I may have the day wrong, but it was August 05. It was stamped everywhere inside. I would LOVE to know when Anandtech's was built. I might email the author of that article to see if he or she remembers.
Post by: patrick2269 on June 16, 2006, 05:30:00 PM
A MS Rep. told me about this loophole, and it saves people $100
Post by: BenS on June 16, 2006, 08:06:00 PM
QUOTE(patrick2269 @ Jun 16 2006, 07:37 PM) 
You do know that you could have purchased an extended warranty from Ms for $30. It don’t mater how are where you got your 360, you even don’t need a receipt, and you can buy it at any time (Say your 360 is out if warranty and it just died, just call in buy the extended warranty for $30. Wait 3 days for the extended warranty to take affect. Call back in and have your 360 replaced). Just as long as you have $30, and an intact warranty sticker, it all works.
A MS Rep. told me about this loophole, and it saves people $100 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Isn't MS's warranty $50? I asked to buy one, but was flatly refused by the rep I spoke with. She told me you could only buy one within the 90 days after purchase.
Regardless, I already had arctic silver lying around in my toolkit, so total out of pocket cost for my fix was $0, and about 2 hours work time vs. $130, in addition to a month+ turnaround time to get a replacement shipped to me.
This post has been edited by BenS: Jun 17 2006, 03:13 AM
Post by: patrick2269 on June 16, 2006, 07:38:00 PM
QUOTE(BenS @ Jun 16 2006, 09:37 PM) 
I asked to buy one, but was flatly refused by the rep I spoke with. She told me you could only buy one within the 90 days after purchase.
Regardless, I already had arctic silver lying around in my toolkit, so total out of pocket cost for my fix was $0, and about 2 hours work time vs. $30, in addition to a month+ turnaround time to get a replacement shipped to me.
LOL, I guess it pretty much boils down to what Rep. you talk to.
Post by: patrick2269 on June 16, 2006, 08:05:00 PM
QUOTE(BenS @ Jun 16 2006, 09:37 PM)
Isn't MS's warranty $50? I asked to buy one, but was flatly refused by the rep I spoke with. She told me you could only buy one within the 90 days after purchase.
The Rep. I talked to told me the 1 year warranty had went down from $50 to $29.95, and when he told me that I decided to buy a 1 year warranty becaues my new 360 they sent me had been out of warranty for almost 30 days.
Post by: Matt_Tracy on June 16, 2006, 08:50:00 PM
Post by: cadavra on June 17, 2006, 11:24:00 AM
QUOTE(Matt_Tracy @ Jun 17 2006, 03:21 AM)
I sent you a nice, long e-mail, BenS. Thank you for the tutorial.
Did this method work for you?
Post by: Matt_Tracy on June 17, 2006, 11:43:00 AM
QUOTE(cadavra @ Jun 17 2006, 12:31 PM)
Did this method work for you?
Yes. I did this last night, popped in Madden, played for half an hour, popped in PGR3, played for another half hour, and turned it off.
Before doing this, the 360 wouldn't even boot to the dashboard.
Post by: Xfab29 on June 17, 2006, 12:10:00 PM
http://forums.xbox-s...howtopic=522125
no problem of overheating
Post by: BenS on June 17, 2006, 01:23:00 PM
Post by: WildMonkeys on June 17, 2006, 04:10:00 PM
I had a launch 360 (through every10minutes) and I didn't buy a warranty - however was lucky enough to find my 360 overheating with just 10 days left of the 90 day preriod. It was the day after a 3 day holiday when I called in and the rep told me 3 day turnaround, but said it might be longer because of backup. I got it no later than 6 business days ship - recieve, but instead of the same xbox I got a different "refurbished" (one I assume was already sent back and fixed since it's manu date was earlier than mine) box + an extra HDD (though it had scratches all over it; still netting me +95$ on ebay)
All - in - all I'd have to say if you still have the 90 day (or bought a warranty) definately go for it. Best product support I've ever experienced.
P.s. unless they explicitely tell you to include the HDD in shipment (especially if you have a prem.) don't send it to them - you'll get an extra back (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
This post has been edited by WildMonkeys: Jun 17 2006, 11:12 PM
Post by: Tim H. C. on June 18, 2006, 01:25:00 AM
Post by: xboxexpert on June 18, 2006, 02:09:00 AM
QUOTE(Tim H. C. @ Jun 18 2006, 03:32 AM)
Arctic Silver® ArctiClean Thermal Material Remover / Surface Purifier - 60ml Kit
Post by: burgemaster on June 18, 2006, 08:11:00 AM
QUOTE(xboxexpert @ Jun 18 2006, 08:40 AM)
I did this months ago.. it lasted a week then red lights all the time
Think the GPU gets damaged when it overheats
Good luck
Post by: Xfab29 on June 18, 2006, 11:20:00 PM
i succeed in correcting my 2 red lights (overheating), when getting of the foil and changing thermal paste.
All be ok but today I've got 3 red light of death, with 0102 error no video on screen.
The GPU radiator is so damn hot!
When i get the radiator of, i get 2 red light error (overheating)
wtf could this error be?
Post by: neoed30 on June 19, 2006, 11:27:00 AM
QUOTE(burgemaster @ Jun 18 2006, 09:42 AM)
I did this months ago.. it lasted a week then red lights all the time
Think the GPU gets damaged when it overheats
Good luck
I did this last month as well. It worked for about a week and then back to the flashing again and freezing up.
Messed around with it and have found that it is actually the video memory that is overheating. For me anyways. I cut the GPU heatsink back just enough to uncover the to modules that are underneath the heatsink and mounted a fan over top of the 4 modules. It has been working as good as it did when I first got it. Not 1 Crash or the Flashing Red Ring Of Death. Now all I have to do is take the remaining piece of the GPU heatsink that I cutoff and cut it into 4 pieces and get some thermal tape and place it on top of the memory modules. Then I'll modify the case so I can get my DVD drive back in and close it up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
This post has been edited by neoed30: Jun 19 2006, 06:33 PM
Post by: TSOPrano on June 19, 2006, 09:01:00 PM
Post by: robivy64 on June 20, 2006, 11:37:00 AM
. I posted a thread a while back about how the video memory is to blame, and how cooling those rectifies most issues.-R
Post by: pbkill on June 20, 2006, 02:30:00 PM
Post by: Onetrack on June 21, 2006, 08:04:00 PM
Anyways, I wanted to let you know that I didn't have a small pair of plyers, but I found that a very small screwdriver, a 1.4mm flathead worked great at popping off the brackets holding the heatsinks. I just slid it as far as it would go before the arc would touch the motherboard and popped them off.
Mine also had the silver pad and my gpu was totally clean (got it on launch day) I scraped off the old stuff with a solid sharpened peice of plastic used for cleaning pots and applied the AS, its been running for a few hours now without a glitch and those damn red flashing lights have gone away.
I was wondering if anyone has added additional fans to the copper CPU heatsink, i have a spare 40mm fan that would just sit perfectly on the side under the air shroud, maybe i'll link it off the fans plug and see what it does for additional airflow.
Thanks alot for the info BenS.
Cheers,
One
Post by: TSOPrano on June 23, 2006, 06:12:00 PM
QUOTE(Onetrack @ Jun 22 2006, 02:35 AM)
Hey guys I just did this fix too, my 360 started seriously wigging out with the flashing lights and locking up. The noise that came out of my speakers was ear shattering..
Anyways, I wanted to let you know that I didn't have a small pair of plyers, but I found that a very small screwdriver, a 1.4mm flathead worked great at popping off the brackets holding the heatsinks. I just slid it as far as it would go before the arc would touch the motherboard and popped them off....
I must ask, was your 360 starting at all? Or was it completely sporadic?
Post by: Tfizzle on June 23, 2006, 06:33:00 PM
i went ahead and pulled the heatsinks off and replaced the thermal compound with artic silver 5. i put everything back together and powered it up. started up a game of GRAW and set the server for 60 minutes, unlimited respawns, and let it go. bout 5 mins went by and the 360 locked up. restarted multiple times and each time it played for a different amount of time.
so i went ahead and took the heatsinks off again and redid the thermal compound for a 2nd time. put everything back together and it played for an hour or so with no freezing or red lights. turned it on about 2 hours later and played halo 2 for about 2 1/2 hours with no problems.
turned it on this morning and not more than 5 mins into a game of COD2, the thing locked up. and its been locking up all day. right now i got a small fan blasting onto it and the 360 has been running for about 30 mins now.
basically at this point idk if its worth it. i mean in order to keep it running, im gonna have to buy some sort of fan to place ontop of the gpu heatsink and then the dvd drive wont fit.
who is MS kidding with their less than average defect rate?
EDIT: Just turned the fan off and was able to play for about 3 mins before the thing froze up.
This post has been edited by Tfizzle: Jun 24 2006, 01:40 AM
Post by: raven1221 on June 24, 2006, 12:42:00 AM
Post by: neoed30 on June 24, 2006, 08:45:00 PM
QUOTE(raven1221 @ Jun 24 2006, 02:13 AM)
Am I supposed to add the thermal compound directly to the cpu and gpu on the motherboard or just on the heatsinks?
CPU\GPU. Once you place the Heatsinks back on it will spread itself onto the Heatsinks. I placed some onto each one to equal about a grain of rice. I then smoothed it out over them with a Credit Card.
This post has been edited by neoed30: Jun 25 2006, 03:46 AM
Post by: Tfizzle on June 25, 2006, 07:32:00 PM
earlier today i powered on my 360 and went straight to red lights with no video. finally i decided to replace the thermal compound again and after replacing the heatsinks, the console fired up and has been running for the last hour or so with no locks ups or anything.
but im sure after i shut it down and try and start it later, i will run into problems.
Post by: Tfizzle on June 25, 2006, 11:33:00 PM
Post by: Virtucon on June 25, 2006, 11:36:00 PM
QUOTE(Tfizzle @ Jun 24 2006, 01:04 AM)
i also have a 360 that gets the 3 red ROL. Sometimes i dont even get the lights and it just locks up and freezes.
i went ahead and pulled the heatsinks off and replaced the thermal compound with artic silver 5. i put everything back together and powered it up. started up a game of GRAW and set the server for 60 minutes, unlimited respawns, and let it go. bout 5 mins went by and the 360 locked up. restarted multiple times and each time it played for a different amount of time.
so i went ahead and took the heatsinks off again and redid the thermal compound for a 2nd time. put everything back together and it played for an hour or so with no freezing or red lights. turned it on about 2 hours later and played halo 2 for about 2 1/2 hours with no problems.
turned it on this morning and not more than 5 mins into a game of COD2, the thing locked up. and its been locking up all day. right now i got a small fan blasting onto it and the 360 has been running for about 30 mins now.
basically at this point idk if its worth it. i mean in order to keep it running, im gonna have to buy some sort of fan to place ontop of the gpu heatsink and then the dvd drive wont fit.
who is MS kidding with their less than average defect rate?
EDIT: Just turned the fan off and was able to play for about 3 mins before the thing froze up.
It's like you wrote my story for me. have had mine since jan 1st. no problems. even played 160 hours of oblivion...many were 4-8 hrs strait! no problems. the just 4 days ago got the 3 red lights after it froze and I rebooted(froze after 2 min of being on). after a few finding out it was a 0102 error (unknown) I cracked it open. ran a small box fan over it and tried to play a game and it worked. so I knew it was a heat problem. so I cleaned up the CPU/GPU and put ceramic paste on it, put it all back together and played GRAW for an 1.5 hrs. next day 2min after loading a game it freezes again.
right now I have the 360 out of its white shell, sitting vertical, with the dvd-rom sitting on a small box fan that is aimed at the CPU/GPU. now I can play all I want...looks like ass
there were 2 mem chips under the smaller heatsink, and 2 more just an inch or so from the sink itself. why are two touching the heatsink and two are not?
Post by: Tfizzle on June 25, 2006, 11:56:00 PM
the two under the heatsink are not actually touching the heatsink.
Post by: neoed30 on June 26, 2006, 12:11:00 AM
QUOTE(Virtucon @ Jun 26 2006, 01:07 AM) 
right now I have the 360 out of its white shell, sitting vertical, with the dvd-rom sitting on a small box fan that is aimed at the CPU/GPU. now I can play all I want...looks like ass
That's how mine is. Sucks don't it?
QUOTE(Virtucon @ Jun 26 2006, 01:07 AM)
there were 2 mem chips under the smaller heatsink, and 2 more just an inch or so from the sink itself. why are two touching the heatsink and two are not?
The 2 mem chips under the GPU heatsink do not touch it. There is a Gap between them. They are just sitting there under it baking away.
Post by: leo5111 on June 26, 2006, 12:46:00 PM
Post by: angadsingh on June 29, 2006, 11:03:00 AM
Help
Hey all ... i tried this thing but it didnt work for me... earlier i used to gets freezes every 2 mins or during a boot up ... and i used to get error code 0102 .. Now i get 0020 ..
Help
Post by: BenS on July 09, 2006, 05:15:00 AM
I haven't been around much due to starting a new job and holding my wife at bay from buying stuff for our bun in the oven.
Anyway, I wanted to give an update to how mine was doing. I got about 12-15 hours of play time in and decided to switch to a Pelican component AV cable. After I had finished re-arranging my tv cabinet, the 360 quit working and just started giving the 3 red lights again, this time constantly. It wont boot at all now.
There have been some 360 motherboards on ebay here lately, and I think I might pick one up soon. I have some old heatsinks lying around, I might try putting them on the ram just to see what happens since some of you have had luck with that.
QUOTE(neoed30 @ Jun 26 2006, 01:42 AM)
The 2 mem chips under the GPU heatsink do not touch it. There is a Gap between them. They are just sitting there under it baking away.
You sir are correct. Everyone seems to think the GPU's HS somehow magically touches the top ram chips, but there's about 1/8" gap between the two.
Post by: CerealKiller741 on July 09, 2006, 11:07:00 AM
Post by: bigjimmy on July 09, 2006, 03:34:00 PM
QUOTE
So does that mean that heat from the heatsink is radiating down onto the memory chips and making them even hotter? If that's the case, why would they have made the heatsink that way?
Well yes those 2 ram chips would be a lot hotter sitting under the GPU heatsink like that. Even the GDDR3 ram chips on my 6800GT graphics card get hella hot after a session of gaming and they even have little heatsinks on them....just imagine how hot the ones in the 360 must get...
Not sure why they made it that way, but they mustve thought it wasnt going to affect the ram at all sitting it under the HS like that...
Post by: CAjr45 on July 09, 2006, 04:25:00 PM
oh yes BENs you guessed my problem spot on. Ive had my 360 for about 6-8 months (i brought it at launch) and has been dyeing (no 3 red lights just freezing everytime i boot to dashboard)
I'd love to hear what your symptom is to my problem, Thank you
Post by: micraz on October 10, 2006, 01:34:00 AM
Post by: bozo8787 on December 14, 2006, 01:28:00 AM
Unless is this is no longer valid or there is some newer method of dealing with these issues.
Post by: jcdenton2003 on December 14, 2006, 07:24:00 AM
Post by: St8kout on January 12, 2007, 12:55:00 PM
It seems all launch models are covered until March 2007, so before anyone voids their warranty, they should check with MS first.
Post by: biga55 on February 11, 2007, 11:49:00 PM
Still, I am worried that the thing is going to breakdown again in a few weeks like some of you have reported. Was this a permanent (to date) fix for any of you? What kind of paste did you use?
Post by: darksith36 on March 03, 2007, 10:52:00 PM
.I think after the termal paste must have bonded better after heating up and was conducting well because,i was like no this cant be happening to me not after this ,well dont panic it will fix very quick .Had about 5 freezes in need for speed and then game ran forever and gears of war too shut down booted up no problem
no freezing for 9 hours and counting .Plus i want to mention for detail that when the five freeze's happened i had to reboot. The 3 red lights never came back on and never froze at 360 logo, dash board never froze once out of all of this. So i knew it was working again and has been ever since.So thats got to be the reason for all these problems.Unless the ball grids on the chip's are screwed, mine werent.So i would really try this if you can do it its not really hard at all just be carefull.ill keep updating on my results.darksith36.
Post by: warlin on March 07, 2007, 07:47:00 AM
Post by: RBJTech on March 07, 2007, 08:53:00 AM
QUOTE(warlin @ Mar 7 2007, 02:18 PM)
How do you get the video memory cooler? Anybody know of a tutorial for that?
Try here ..
Post by: old codger on March 08, 2007, 03:47:00 PM
Post by: kingroach on March 08, 2007, 10:01:00 PM
Post by: masterchief11111 on September 24, 2008, 03:24:00 PM
After toiling with my xbox for days, I was able to get it going using the method from these guys which included a full video tuturial : http://x-box360redlightfix.com/
Got the link from this review
http://x-box360redlightfix.com/
Good Luck!
Post by: craz3d on November 18, 2008, 11:26:00 PM
1. Primarily, a Brillo pad will scratch the bottom of the heat sink. The bottom of a heat sink is polished to a fine tolerance, if there are any air spaces caused by scratches or any other microscopic defects, the thermal efficiency of the heat sink goes down. In a perfect world, your heat sink would make 100% contact with the die and thus have maximum heat transfer. However, this is generally not the case, but you don't need to make matters worse by going at it with steel wool.
2. If any small pieces of steel wool break off from the pad and either get stuck to the bottom of the heat sink or make their way into your 360's case, or worse, the motherboard, you open yourself up to the possibility of shorting a connection and possibly (probably?) frying your 360. This is not good.
Additionally, Brillo pads are impregnated with soap. I don't think soap will cause any harm directly to the system, but why would you want to test that theory.
As was suggested before, use a product specifically designed for removing thermal paste or use something that is less likely to scratch copper, like the edge of a credit card followed by a Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol.
Post by: Dragonlance902 on January 09, 2010, 10:43:00 PM
I tried turning it on, and now i get the three red rings of death as soon as i turn it on!!!
Whats going on??? what do i wrong?!?!?
Post by: 1hotjob on January 09, 2010, 11:55:00 PM
There are many problems that can arise when doing the X-clamp fix. The first thing to realize is that not all 360s can be fixed with the x-clamp repair. Some can be repaired with a professional reflow and some are destined to be DOA.
That being said, the first thing I do with a 360 that doesn't respond to the x-clamp repair is to over heat the GPU. I don't have pictures or a video, but I learned it from here.
Take some cardboard and cut it into pieces about the size of a CD case. It can be smaller, mine is. It needs to fit over the GPU heat sink and cover it completely. I use four pieces of cardboard and three CD cases. That makes the top CD case even with the CPU heat sink. Take out the fan, leaving it plugged in. Remove the wind tunnel and put the cardboard and CD cases over the GPU heat sink. Put the fan on top of this so that one of the fans is blowing down over the CPU heat sink. Make sure the fan is set to blow down. Leave your DVD drive connected with it sitting over the left side of the case.
Run the 360 for as long as you can. You need to do this while you can watch it. I don't recommend you do this over night unless you put it somewhere where there is no risk of fire. It could get hot enough to ignite the cardboard depending on the make up of it. Safety first. I usually try 4-8 hours. After this time shut down the 360 and let it cool a few minutes. Put the fan, shroud and DVD drive back into place. Turn it on and see if it worked.
Post by: MadMaxGR on January 11, 2010, 01:47:00 AM
QUOTE(Dragonlance902 @ Jan 10 2010, 07:43 AM)
Ok... so, here it is. I did everything mentioned in this thread. I took off the old thermal compound that was on the CPU and GPU + the heatsinks, and put on new stuff (Arctic Silver 5). I then put it all back together, and guess what?
I tried turning it on, and now i get the three red rings of death as soon as i turn it on!!!
Whats going on??? what do i wrong?!?!?
Can you tell us the secondary code?
Post by: MadMaxGR on January 25, 2010, 05:46:00 AM
Post by: citabria94 on August 05, 2010, 09:07:00 PM
I want to thank you (and so does my wife, she just doesn't want to acknowledge it yet) for saving me TONS of $$$ CASH $$$$. Using some info from www.Llama.com and their solution for the RROD with three lights I have SUCCESSFULLY saved my Xbox 360!!!!!!! As you can see I AM VERY HAPPY!!!!
This is how it is done people...
First
I tore the system down all the way to the chipsets for the GPU and the CPU and cleaned them with goo gone on just one end of the Qtip at a time (VERY LITTLE). I also cleaned the heatsinks with goo gone then soap and water to rinse (remove them from the motherboard first).
Second
I went to RadioShack and bought some Arctic Silver (Yeah $10.00 USD)
Third
I made a small pile of Arctic Silver in the middle of each chipset (about half a centimeter in diameter) just enough so when the heatsink squished it together it would spread out to cover the chip but not leave too much excess.
Fourth
I somewhat reassembled the system just enough to be able to get everything running and then fired it up.
To my disappointment I STILL had the RROD...so thinking about what Llama said about the "reflow" of the chip set I let it run for just under an hour. I briefly turned the xbox off and turned it back on...spash screen...game loading and presto ONE FIXED XBOX 360!!! I played for only a half hour but it was long enough to know the Xbox was no longer overheating.
Thanks BenS your info was invaluable
Post by: Syn201 on August 06, 2010, 12:32:00 PM
QUOTE(bennos @ Jan 25 2010, 05:08 PM)
Really... Put it in the oven? I'm not game for this. I don't even know what a GPU reflow is. Can someone explain please?
Are there any other suggestions to start with first before the oven trick? I had to be a little strong handed when putting the x clamps back on and may have loosened something. How can I check this?
Thanks for the reply MadMaxGR
reapply x fix dont tighten all way over heat tighten the amount guide says to leave off 30 mins check
if it dosnt u prob over tighten xclamp or it will need reball or reflow ..
Post by: JordanQ on August 06, 2010, 12:48:00 PM
QUOTE(Syn201 @ Aug 6 2010, 07:32 PM)
reapply x fix dont tighten all way over heat tighten the amount guide says to leave off 30 mins check
if it dosnt u prob over tighten xclamp or it will need reball or reflow ..
your signature is so valid its crazy
Post by: citabria94 on August 06, 2010, 08:44:00 PM
Post by: Syn201 on January 22, 2011, 08:49:00 PM
QUOTE(JordanQ @ Aug 6 2010, 08:48 PM)
your signature is so valid its crazy
Well no shit Sherlock how dare me try and help someone and yes im aware of how old this thread is
I hardly visit this site mainly due to asshats like YOU
Next time you have some creative input to add fuck off onto aol teen chat and put it ther where you belong you
Idiotic troll
Ignore thread..
Post by: sara135 on July 11, 2011, 05:34:00 AM