Xbox Red Ringed, Then worked, Then stopped again

Tech Talk
#1

Early this morning my xbox bit the dust, then, after a few hours worked fine, then red ringed again later.

I’ve got the thing all taken apart, and it’s pretty dusty, but my laptop’s heat sinks had to be completely built up before it would adversely affect it, so I’m wondering if anyone has a good idea of what exactly the problem could be, before I put it back together…

I know it might be just dirty, but I’ve read about power problems too, and since the thing came back from red ring I’m assuming it wasn’t a major hardware failure, just something in the situation I can’t quite isolate…

#2

IIRC, the most efficient way to fix that problem would be to do the X-Clamp fix. They used to sell a kit for those. Luckily for me, a friend of mine had an extra…

If you’ve built a computer, or are just decent w/ electronics, the whole process is really easy. If not, find a tutorial…

Funnily enough, I barely use any of my consoles nowadays. I have to blame SC2 and the awesome people in Diamond league…

Good luck!

#3

Funny that you mention SC2, because I bought it last night, that’s why I’m not insanely pissed about the xbox lol.

#4

this just happened to me last week and i was able to fix mine using some extra washers to add more tension to the clamps, and removing the old thermal paste, cleaning polishing the gunk of the heat sinks and the heat speaders on the top of the actual chips then using some articsilver5 thermal compound i had left over form building my pc a couple of years ago, still works like a charm :slight_smile: good luck

#5

I tried fixing my using the x-clamp method and the penny trick. Still doesn’t work for me. I have searched everywhere online for other methods with no luck. Does anyone else have any different methods they can suggest I try? lol because if I cant get it to work again, I think I’m gonna be another that uses the case for a stick…

#6

towel tricks and the oven one lol

#7

A buddy of mine tried the penny trick and had no luck. He then switched it to small washers about the same size and it worked like a champ. I don’t know if the penny was what was wrong, or if he just did it wrong to begin with?

#8

I got my friend to re-solder mine because the connection was dissconnect to the board. so resolder and put it through some power/heat cycles and worked like a charm since

#9

that might work for just another week before the rest of the mobo in the case gets overcooked

one thing to understand is that a RROD isnt just one error, its a broad indication for several types of hardware errors. in most cases the heat isnt being properly dispersed from the cpu/gpu to the heat sink. other cases can be but not limited too the processor or gpu being to fried to salvage or heat causing the motherboard to bend and causing chips to actually separate from the mother board, as another person just described. so the xclamp solution my help is its just an issue with the thermal paste and the heat sink. but the if the cpu/gpu is already damaged, then no amout of pennies washers or clamps is going to help.

#10

Most of the RROD’s stem from overheating. Just by looking at the design of the system you can tell that the GPU is going to eventually overheat. The GPU heatsink is disproportionately small for the amount of heat it puts out (basically a desktop GPU paired with a laptop-sized heatsink), and you have a huge DVD drive that sits on top of it to further block airflow. Eventually the system heats up and the motherboard starts to warp, which breaks the solder on the chips and essentially disconnects them from the board. This is also why the RROD can disappear and come back; the motherboard can sometimes cool down to the point where it returns to its normal shape and temporarily reconnects with the chips, but after a while it will start to warp again and the problem reappears.

Assuming that the heat is indeed the culprit (and I have little doubt that it is), the only guaranteed fix is to reflow the solder on the chips, and then either ditch the original 360 case for one that moves the DVD drive to somewhere not on top of a heatsink, or install a water cooling system. Simply replacing the clamps or reflowing the chips does not provide a lasting solution because the cooling system itself is fundamentally flawed. These options are also really expensive unless you possess the skill to build/mod the case yourself for cheap.

Luckily Microsoft has finally decided to ditch the old design, too, and the new 360 is pretty much devoid of the heat problems of the old unit. Buying a brand new 360 is really the cheapest option for most people.

#11

sigh I just tried (I think the last) solution or method on the net. I tried to cover everything up with tin foil etc and use the heat gun to heat up the gpu etc and even left it untouched overnight, still no luck. sigh looks like I’ll be one of those people that use it as a arcade case!