Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death Repair

An Xbox 360 is relatively easy to repair once you know how to. The materials that you will need are a Phillips screwdriver (drill is optional), sharp nose pliers (not pictured), 5mm plastic washers, 5mm metal washers, 5mm screws, Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound, and a torx star shaped screwdriver to fit the screws.

Step 1:

The first step is to take off the outer shell to access the parts. You will start doing this by removing the face plate on the front of the Xbox. This is best done by pulling it outwards while  grabbing the bottom of the plate.

Step 2:

Next you will need to remove the plastic covering on the top and bottom of the Xbox. They are a little more difficult than the face plate because they are attached by a series of tabs. You simply need to locate these tabs and apply pressure while pulling up on the covering.

Step 3:

You are now left with the outer shell. It is connected in four places on the front where you removed the face plate. Disconnect these and half of the shell should come lose. The shells will still be connected at the back and there are two ways to take it off. The safest way to do it is to pry each tab that they are connected to but this is very difficult and time consuming. The easier way to do it is to continue to pull the cover back until it snaps off. The only problem with this method is if you have an old Xbox some of the tabs may break off if they are brittle.

Step 4:

Once you take off the cover, you will see the screws holding the other half of the cover on. Take off all of the screws except the black ones in the middle.

Step 5:

Next disconnect the power switch on the front where you took the face plate off. Now disconnect and remove the fan and then the board.

Step 6:

Flip the board over and you will see some clamps shaped like an x. These are the heat syncs. Remove these with sharp nose pliers by grabbing and working each corner until the opposite side pops up. This will allow you to remove the metal vents over the GPU and the CPU chips.

Step 7:

After removing them use the sharp nose pliers to twist out the metal pieces that connected them to the x clamps.

Step 8:

You will notice three microchips located underneath the metal vents, these are the GPU and CPU. You will need to remove all of the residue from them and from underneath the GPU and CPU vents. The best way to do this is by using q-tips and rubbing alcohol.

Step 9:

Next, apply a thin layer of a synthetic thermal compound to cover the entire surface of the microchips; I personally use Arctic Silver 5.

Step 10:

Because the x clamps were removed, you will have to attach the GPU and CPU vents to the board with your own screws. Because you are using screws, I would recommend using washers as well. I use two kinds, plastic and metal; I put the plastic washers touching to board and the metal washers on top of those. Do this on the side with the screw and the side with the GPU and CPU.

Step 11:

Now you need to overheat the Xbox to seal the connections. Do this by plugging the board into the power supply that comes with your Xbox and wait until the red ring of death flashes again.

Step 12:

Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work after the first overheat. Simply overheat it again and if that doesn’t work, you either have too much or too little thermal compound on the microchips.

Step 13:

Now reassembly begins. You will basically be doing the exact same thing you did to take it apart, but in reverse. Once it’s reassembled, be sure that all of the screws are in the right place and enjoy your Xbox. All of the items you need to repair your Xbox can be found on amazon by searching Xbox repair.