Print

[CarbonMonkey]

You shouldnt have bent the original xclamps as they were designed to put the optimum pressure on the chips. A problem could be that there is incorrect pressure on the CPU causeing it to too hot and then just force toe console to shut off, try rebending the xclamp to the original shape although you have probably wrecked that xclamp now

[xbox3604me]

QUOTE

Now for the most important part and most likely the point where the majority of people who were unsuccessful completing this fix failed.

This step requires you to overheat your GPU.  Many tutorials tell you to unplug your fan and turn it on until it overheats.  There is one major flaw with this approach.  The thermosistor for the overheating protection of the 360 is contained within the CPU.  The problem is that the CPU overheats without any airflow before the GPU is able to get sufficiently hot to "reflow" the BGA solder connection that has failed.

 In order to cool the CPU but not the GPU it is again important to have your fan shroud removed.  Now take your fan that IS plugged in and lay it on top of your DVD drive with one of the fan's over the top of the CPU.  This will keep the CPU plenty cool to prevent it from overheating while the GPU will get smokin' hot; like burn your finger hot!

Now power on your 360.  Some boxes may just work at this point because just pressure alone was enough to make the GPU's connection good.  I still like to overheat even those just to make sure I don't have to deal with it again.  So now you should be getting the three red lights like your were expecting.  You want to overheat the unit for at least 30 to 45 minutes.  The key is in the lights;  as long as it is flashing the 3 red lights (1,3,4) then your are in good shape and the overheating process is working.   What you DO NOT WANT is for the unit to actually overheat giving your TWO flashing red lights (1,3) at which point the 360 cuts off power to both the CPU and GPU preventing them from actually getting hot.  Again is probably the difference between someone who succeeds and someone who fails.

  Now that you have sufficiently heated the GPU, power down your Xbox 360 and let it cool down completely (ten to fifteen minutes should be more than enough).  Replace your fan shroud; you should now be fully assembled except for the case itself.  At this point you should cross your fingers and power your box back on.  If all went well your should now have a working 360!  Congrats!

What i'm trying to say is that it shows that the CPU does actually get very hot, or am i wrong mate?

[CarbonMonkey]

I definately wouldn't recomend trying to do a repair by unplugging the fans and letting it overheat as this is putting unneeded stress on the chips. It would probably be best to reflow the board, do you know anyone with a proper reflow station?

[xbox3604me]

QUOTE(CarbonMonkey @ Dec 27 2010, 08:40 AM)

I definately wouldn't recomend trying to do a repair by unplugging the fans and letting it overheat as this is putting unneeded stress on the chips. It would probably be best to reflow the board, do you know anyone with a proper reflow station?

I wasn't actually gonna unplug the fans mate, but i was going to somehow get somemore fans and place them very close to the cpu to cool it down.  This is to eliminate that the cpu is the issue here.

Sorry i don't know anyone with such a reflow station  

[CarbonMonkey]

You could always try a heatgun reflow, remember to use plenty of flux and a preheater to reduce board warping.

Tutorial - http://forums.xbox-s...howtopic=651407

The only thing that you could do it check the thermal paste to check it is correct, check the pressure on the chips and adjust to see if you can get it to work. A heatgun is a last resort for fixing an xbox, but it still reflows the solder. If that doesnt work you could pay to get it reballed. Although if it isn't a jtag it would be worth buying a second hand xbox that hasnt been opened to mod (if you want to flash it).

[xbox3604me]

hi mate,

i have some update for you.  Last night i took the xbox mobo and parts to my friends house, to try and see if we can fix it.  Of course we couldn't, but i forgot to mention in my previous post that i left the box and everything else outside in the vehicle.  Of course, being freezing outside overnight, the xbox was very cold when i bought it in.  I gave it a quick try without connecting to TV and guess wot?  It worked!    Albeit for approx 1 minute and i only noticed that the red lights never came on, but it went through the green light sequence.  After that, i tried again and it was back to the red lights.

So am i right in thinking that its definately an overheating issue?  If so, i'm suspecting that the thermal paste is no good and also the problem has to be the CPU, right?

What do you suggest mate?

thanks again

[Zoneout]

99% the problem was and always is the GPU. Yet to come accross an X360 that the problem was the CPU, and we've been through a lot of consoles.

Since this is a stock RROD, 0020 is definitely GPU and it's not overheating (contributor but not the cause), the lead-free solder simply failed (cracks + fractures, thus bad connection between GPU and the motherboard hence the RROD error).

I use a professional BGA rework station + also do re-balling.

In my experience 0020 is always fixed with a re-flow on the GPU, 0020 is typically a worse condition than 0102.

Don't even go near a heatgun, only thing it does is damage the X360 further, and even if you get it working using a heatgun, it will simply fail again soon.

Seek a professional for a proper re-flow, otherwise don't bother. Honestly.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

[xbox3604me]

hi guys, just want to say thanks for helping me.  I have an update, but since its very quiet in this part of the forum, i've decided to start a new topic in the xbox hardware forum.

I'm hoping you can join me and help out.  Find me here:-

http://forums.xbox-s...howtopic=726167

Many many thanks again