Yes. The towel trick is a joke and will not fix the problem. It will get you running again but not for long. Look into replacing the X-Clamp. Just google it and you will find guides.
or just send it back to microsoft even if it is modded. i just got mine back about 2 weeks ago and the total time it took to get the box, send it to them, and sending it back to me took about 2-3 weeks.
another thing that would help is cleaning off the cheap thermal paste they used and putting on some Arctic Silver Thermal Paste which costs about $5 at places like Newegg.com
I had found that fist web site and called LOWES and they had the screws and washers. It cost about $7 for it all. Will brop do this if I come across this EVIL EYE AGAIN
i bought a 360 off ebay for $76 knowing it had the 3rod. read up and knew what the problem was and was sure i could fix it. got it, messed with it for 3 days straight trying to get it working right. i got it to boot twice and finally got pissed and ripped the gpu right off the sucker. then proceeded to throw the motherboard in the trash. my girlfriends stepdad said send it back in to microsoft, they have a 3 year warranty now on the 3rod. i said i already tore it all apart and hacked it up. he said well bring it over i got my box and receipt for the one i got 2 months ago, i just want my accessories back (My 360 on ebay was just the 360, nothing with it) so i said ok, that's more than fair. went to walmart and left the hard drive in the car thinking if they say anything about it missing i will say my game saves are on the other hard drive, just take the new one and put it in the old box. so i go in walmart with a core 360 from 2005 in a premium box with matching receipt and no hard drive in the box. the ladies at the counter look it over, bring out a new one and try to scan it in. i'm not sure if they scan the serial number on the actual 360 or not, but for some reason they were getting an error. i start sweatting!! they call a csm over who puts a code in and i leave with a brand new premium 360 with hdmi, and i got the hard drive in the car. so i would not reccommend replacing the x-clamps as you pry only have a 50% chance of having it work right. Your best bet is to take microsoft up on their 3 year warranty for the 3rod. no questions asked, no receipt needed. they even send you a box. just call up and say you got the 3rod.
