i assume this is the best place for this thread. i turned my 360 on for the time in weeks (so i don't think it's a heat issue) and i got 3 red lights. i found the secondary error code (link), but it's just a "general hardware error." i've been a member of xbox-scene for years so i've seen tons of batshit insane ways to try and repair this thing. i basically have no confidence in any method i've seen online and i've opened the console so ms is out of the question. so has anyone successfully repaired their 360 or can offer sound advice?
I am not qualified to answer this, but a mate of mine heatgunned his 360 back to life but this only worked for a couple of months. I don't think there is a good way to fix these things.
As I understand it, the only foolproof way to fix them would be to crack her open, remove all solder, and redo it all with a beefier, lead based solder. In all honesty, I'm tempted to try to do that. I have a Jasper 360 elite right now...which SHOULD last forever...but I'm seeing all of those busted 360s out there...and I'm tempted to buy a hot air reflow station and pick some Xboxes up to reflow and use...and perhaps try to completely resolder the CPU and GPU, but that seems a bit harder. Sounds like fun, right?
If you search on Google for the ebay repair guide on the red ring of death and follow that, you should be fine. I've fixed about 20 using that method and they are all working about a year later. You may have to reflow the solder (which isn't that difficult) if this fix doesn't work. A few friends of mine thought it was a good idea to buy rrod 360s and repair them for their own personal use, and theirs are still in good working condition after 2 years. If you aren't comfortable with this repair, just send it to Microsoft. That ALWAYS works.
Here is how to , 3 ways depending on your effort level/supplies. The easy way _______________ open it unplug the fans let it run till you get 2 lights Plug Fans back in Turn on Its working for usually 4-9 hours Medium Way ________________ Open it Remove Xclamps and heatsinks add arctic silver thermal paste re-attach heatsinks with screws and plastic washers Repeat easy way* or use heat gun works Up to 3 months at best Hard Way ___________ Open and remove mobo Use reflow station to remove Gpu (graphic processing unit) Replace the POS lead free solder balls with copper/lead balls Re-attach You now have a permanent fix most of the time, but ive seen people get theres DOA
Or you could just do it medium way and get new heatsyncs and modify your fans to 100% thats how I have kept xenons alive for years.
I find with your "easy way" that a better way is to keep the fans on and only block off the GPU. The temp sensor is in the CPU, and I don't think it will get hot enough to do any decent reflowing before the two lights (overheat). I have generally done this (just a piece of cardboard in front of the GPU heatsink between it and the fan shroud), and let it run for 15 minutes or so. The fans will go nuts. Maybe have a game run so it gets proper hot. I also shield some exterior components from the heatsink. I've had them last from a few days to months like this. I'm of the opinion, however, that a RROD unit is basically doomed unless some serious work is done, IE your "hard" method of actually replacing the solder. And that's too scary for me. So, with units like my brother's, I just fix it for him every few months. It's a pain, but you can crutch the system for a while. x-clamp replacement is a pain, I hate all those washers... and paying extreme attention to getting the heatsink perfectly flat on the die... if one does this, double and triple-count your washers and make sure you have the right ammount on each post/screw. Once I had one-too many. Needless to say, that repair only lasted a few hours before it failed again, and only after re-doing it did I notice I had one extra washer left over after reassembly. In addition, you can also put some physical pressure on the board (the "penny" or "yen" trick, basically wedging 3 pennies (I think) or a couple 1円, wrapped in electrical tape, between the scaler chip and the fan shroud?) and it may help flex it enough to reconnect some cold solder joints and work a bit longer. Never tried it, but I know a couple guys that swear by it, regardless of it's actual merit. I think it's a bit scary.
Buy one of the RRoD repair kits off eBay with the screws, washers and thermal paste. You want the ones with 16 steel and 16 nylon/plastic washers, M5 x10mm screws. There's a bit of fiddling involved, but I haven't had a console I can't repair yet. http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/ring_of_light_x-clamp_fix.htm Llamma sell kits too, but they use an odd number of washers. Follow their guide but only use two washers on each side of the screw, then leave the console to overheat as per instructions. You'll notice the board warps back to straight again. Otherwise hit up a hardware store and find the bits you need.
I'm still voting for reballing the CPU/GPU. I don't have the time right now, but I think that after I'm done with school (FOREVER!!! HAHAHAH) in July, I'll buy a hot air/solder station and take a crack at 360 repair. I need to upgrade my equipment anyway. I could run everybody in my area out of business by offering actual fixes versus simple heatgun bandages. That said, does anybody have a good guide to at home BGA work? I understand the basics of BGA, and could easily remove the GPU/CPU and probably remove the old solder balls (what does it take, just a ton of flux and a braid or vacuum?)...and I could buy new solder balls...but beyond that, I have no clue how to make them attach to the parts so that I could place them on the board again. I've never tried anything THIS advance with soldering. Looks fun/exciting.:icon_bigg
I have a 360 that was X-Clamp fixed. It worked good after that for about 3 months, and then just died all of a sudden. So I have it somewhere along with a controller and hookups and 20gb hdd in a box until I decide what to do with it. I ended up buying another system. Even the Jasper units aren't RRoD proof. It's always pretty funny to see a 360 kiosk at a Best Buy or Gamestop with a system that has the RRoD - not the most reassuring thing to see for someone that wants to buy a system (how does a store clerk explain that to a gamer?). I am personally on my 4th 360. I am just so fed up with them, that I hardly ever play them (which is a shame because the only game I play is Rock Band since I have all the instruments and a lot of downloaded content). Now I only use it for Netflix (although my PS3 is starting to take over that task).
