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Fix your Xbox 360's RRoD by yourself, without towels or soldering irons! If you no longer have a warranty on your Xbox 360, and it has gotten the dreaded Red Ring, there is hope. As most of you know, the RRoD is a sign displayed by the 360's "Ring of Light" when there is a general hardware failure. While this can be caused by any part(or lack thereof) on the 360, the general cause is from excessive heat, which stresses the solder joints on the CPU and GPU. Over time, these joints can become seperated, which causes the Red Ring to visit your console, usually when you have a new game to play and you've taken the day off...
What this fix involves is nothing but mere screws and washers. Seriously, no overheating your console, adding new fans(although you can add them if you like), or towels. Ever since I installed it I haven't had the console freeze up once.
What this fix involves is nothing but mere screws and washers. Seriously, no overheating your console, adding new fans(although you can add them if you like), or towels. Ever since I installed it I haven't had the console freeze up once.
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Before you even think to unplug your 360, let's work in a bit of intelligent forethought.
For starters, why would you need to repair the console yourself? If you have a working warranty, I highly suggest you send the console to Microsoft for repairs,as a repair will void your warranty. While Microsoft dropped the ball on product quality in efforts to get the 360 out before the other consoles, they picked up the proverbial dirt-covered ball by extending all warranties to 3 years.
If you plan on actually reviving the 360, don't use the towel trick. What it does is overheat the inside of the console by blocking fan intakes, temporarily doing something to make the 360 run for a brief period of hours to days. While it may be the quick and easy approach, it also overheats every other component in the 360, which is never good. It can cause chips to fail, capacitors to dry out, release the magic smoke, and possibly spark a fire. So unless you hate your Xbox something fierce, don't do this.
And of course, if you're on your 4th Red Ringed Xbox 360, and are considering buying a PS3...
FIX IT, REGARDLESS OF WARRANTY!
I would hate to see someone give up the pinnacle of gaming due to a simple flaw, over a Blu-Ray player with gaming functionality.
So, if your warranty is void, or you're about to join the dark side of gaming, read on!
For starters, why would you need to repair the console yourself? If you have a working warranty, I highly suggest you send the console to Microsoft for repairs,as a repair will void your warranty. While Microsoft dropped the ball on product quality in efforts to get the 360 out before the other consoles, they picked up the proverbial dirt-covered ball by extending all warranties to 3 years.
If you plan on actually reviving the 360, don't use the towel trick. What it does is overheat the inside of the console by blocking fan intakes, temporarily doing something to make the 360 run for a brief period of hours to days. While it may be the quick and easy approach, it also overheats every other component in the 360, which is never good. It can cause chips to fail, capacitors to dry out, release the magic smoke, and possibly spark a fire. So unless you hate your Xbox something fierce, don't do this.
And of course, if you're on your 4th Red Ringed Xbox 360, and are considering buying a PS3...
FIX IT, REGARDLESS OF WARRANTY!
I would hate to see someone give up the pinnacle of gaming due to a simple flaw, over a Blu-Ray player with gaming functionality.
So, if your warranty is void, or you're about to join the dark side of gaming, read on!
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Also, when I don't have the heatsinks on it flashes with 2 reds instead of three. When I put the heatsinks back on then it goes to 3 reds again. Maybe There is to much pressure or not enough? idk...
Also, the bit about using the right number of washers underneath the motherboard is essential. If you put the board back on, and press down on the board close to the screws and it moves down, this means that the height of your washers is not the same as the stays (those lumps in the metal case that the board rests on and that the long torx screws go through) and you need to add washers. This can be a pain, but you must get it right.
Don't use too much thermal paste--I only needed a glob the size of three or four pinheads on top of each to spread out to the width of a piece of paper.
Make sure before you tighten the screws that everything is flush. To be extra-cautious, I turned on screw four quarter turns, then went to the next, and kept going around like that. I tightened each until there was no resistance with a medium-strong amount of torque. The point is to get the heat sinks solidly on top of the chips, with the entire surface of the chips being in contact with the heat sinks.
I diligently followed this instructable--with the exception of using a metal scrubber--and everything was up and running without even having to tweak anything! Thanks!
My comments:
I used a toothpick, then lighter fluid on a Q-Tip to clean off the old thermal paste. It worked great, but maybe there's a good reason I shouldn't have used this particular cleaner? The tip about using a piece of cardboard to protect the board was excellent. One of my go-to tools for this project was one of those eyeglass screwdrivers you get at the grocery store checkout lane--perfect for popping open the backside stays on the shell, and good for getting those pesky X-brackets off.
The suggested screws and washers were perfect, just be sure you get the washers with the small outer diameter; not such a big deal for under the motherboard, but essential for between the motherboard and heat sinks.
Thanks again. This is an old instructable, but it's still valid and useful.
First : take the case off xbox 360.
Second : turn xbox 360 on
Third: Put a screwdrive in both fans so the fans cant spin round
Last : after about 30 mins pull out the power cable with xbox 360 still on then plug it back in do the steps for a second time when you turn it on it should now work.
if you dont want it to happen again i would keep the xbox 360 case off the xbox 360 and see how it goes.
In response to Kdude63, the PS3 controller format is slightly different from the Xbox's and the controllers are slimmer. I think the issue is just that you are not used to the PS3 layout just like I am not used to the 360 layout. Also, the kinect won't work with the ps3 because it was made for xbox. Sony actually came out with something similar years ago called eyetoy for the ps2. I don't know anything about RROD and the new systems, so I'll take your word for it.
In comparison, I find the systems to be more or less equal. Graphics and game wise there is a minor difference. The ps3 wireless is free, but the 360's has more users. The ps3 controllers have batteries built-in and power meters, the 360's do not. The PS3 has something like the wii wand, the 360 has something like the eye toy. The 360's extra capabilities (netflix, etc) is more developed than the PS3's. I can go on and on with this, the point is that when you look at them from a neutral view, both systems are very good, and the costs/benefits of each balance out quite nicely. Hence, I feel both systems are equivalent in quality.
I just recently acquired a older 360 (Zephyr) that had been hacked badly, and thanks to your indepth article, I was able to restore it perfectly ( so far). I don't know how long it will last, but Im hopeful, as I did it as per the instructions. Mine took almost two minutes to overheat though, if that matters.
I wanted to say thanks so much for the article, as without this exhaustive work you have done, I doubt I would have been able to get mine to work . The clincher for me, was the washers. The hacked job ( when I got the console) had 3 washers on each gpu and cpu, but fixing that as per instructions worked perfectly.
Thanks so much.
lee
And The 3/16" x 1/2" Pan Head Machine Screws
And The 10# Washers
Anyone else run in to this problem? I'm going to try and run to the hardware store and find some smaller screws and report back. . .
Also, I couldn't fit washers side by side and needed to clip the washers. Nylon washers are much easier to clip. BUT, the nylon washers I got were thicker than the metal ones, so take that into account when stacking. I would say 2 nylon washers are the equivalent of 3 metal washers in thickness.
You can fix it permanently w/ the Ring of Death repair guide at 3redlightfix.com
1. When drilling the holes into the back piece you are going to want to use a size larger than 3/16 like 13/64
2. You are going to want to get nylon washers because the number #10 metal ones are way to big for at least 4 of the screws that are all clumped together.
3. For people that don't know if you are getting 4 blinking lights it just means that your av cable isn't plugged in and so all you need to do is plug that in and poof the xbox works.
4. Taking the fan out makes it A LOT EASIER to get the motherboard back in the chassis.
5. 3/16 screws convert into 10-32 if you are going to home depot. This will save you TONS OF TIME. Just pick up a baggy of 10-32 1" and 10-32 1/2"
Anyways thanks for the guide and it is going to be nice to have this extra 360 for hacking.
I have effectively bought an XBox for the price of some thermal paste and a few bolts.
Thank you very much indeed Sir.