|
Xbox 360: red ring of death
|
|
|
kevin_w
Newbie
|
8. September 2010 @ 11:22 |
Link to this message
|
Hi,
I recently got the dreading red 3 lights on my console, and unfortunatly my extended warranty has expired. I have been told that this is from overheating and that a towel would cool the console down, however I only use my xbox360 maybe twice a week for an hour at a time, surely this would not be enough to overheat it?
I have also heard that maybe there is not enough power getting to the console from the power brick, can this be true? if I were to change the plug on the cable would this make a difference?
Anyone have any experience of fixing this terrible problem themselves?
Thank you,
Kevin
|
|
Advertisement
|
  |
|
|
Senior Member
|
8. September 2010 @ 11:52 |
Link to this message
|
Whatever you do don't wrap your console in a towel. Not sure where you heard that it was supposed to help it cool but it makes it much hotter and often damages it further. RRoD is caused by cracks in the solder that connects the chips to the motherboard. The idea of the towel trick is to try to get the solder hot enough to melt back together and repair the tiny cracks. The system itself cant get this hot though and would be damaged if it could.
If you want to do it yourself, follow the tutorial in my signature. Otherwise look for someone who can do a reflow
|
|
kevin_w
Newbie
|
8. September 2010 @ 12:09 |
Link to this message
|
|
Cheers for your help, very much appreciated.
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what exactly is a reflow?
Thanks,
Kevin
|
Senior Member
|
8. September 2010 @ 13:06 |
Link to this message
|
|
A reflow uses very hot air, such as from a rework station or heatgun, to heat up the solder to the point that it melts back together and repairs the fractures. It's safer and more effective than the towel trick because it gets up to the temperature that allows the solder to melt and does it with an external source of heat rather than the system itself.
|
|
JamReadyTeacups
Newbie
|
8. September 2010 @ 14:18 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by kevin_w:
Cheers for your help, very much appreciated.
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what exactly is a reflow?
Thanks,
Kevin
Also, if you wanted to look at another guide to solving typical RROD issues. There are a bunch of free guides for 360's here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Insta...-Fix-Kit/3550/1
They have easy to follow pictures and comments, and you can see how involved the process will take if you choose to repair your 360. Its a great way to look ahead at what you will have to do before you even open your 360 up.
Hope it all turns out well!
|
Senior Member
|
8. September 2010 @ 14:50 |
Link to this message
|
That's a good tutorial for opening the 360 and removing/applying the x-clamp fix. Only problem is it doesn't fix the broken solder that causes the RRoD in the first place. It may work for a while if it causes the solder to make contact again but the cracks will still be there, and in fact be harder to repair when the RRoD comes back again because oxidation will build up in the cracks and require flux to remove.
|
|
JamReadyTeacups
Newbie
|
8. September 2010 @ 14:56 |
Link to this message
|
|
Just providing a useful resource. If it happens to be a solder-related issue, than its a good thing your here to help! XD
|
|
kevin_w
Newbie
|
9. September 2010 @ 10:30 |
Link to this message
|
|
cheers for all the help lads, I reckon il be doing your tutorials so. Im slightly clumsy, how difficult are the tutorials, they dont look like rocket science. What are the chances of my f**king things up?
Thanks,
Kevin
|
|
JamReadyTeacups
Newbie
|
9. September 2010 @ 13:15 |
Link to this message
|
|
Its step by step, I would recommend reading through it all before opening it up.
But as long as your careful and apply the same amount of care when installing/removing PC components, you should be fine.
|
Senior Member
|
10. September 2010 @ 13:24 |
Link to this message
|
|
W00ly's guide is the method I use and prefer. His tutorial is very easy to follow. It's a video, so you can pause, rewind, fast-forward, etc. it, making it extremely easy to repair the console.
|
|
JamReadyTeacups
Newbie
|
10. September 2010 @ 13:42 |
Link to this message
|
|
I'm not trying to compete against W00ly's guide, it seems very useful.
Some people prefer different forms of communication when dealing with technical issues.
'X' like videos, and 'Y' like print, while 'Z' enjoy both or have no preference.
Just trying to help the Y's and Z's out, and I'm glad W00ly has a great video out there for the 'X's.
As long as people are benefiting from the resources available, that's all that matters to me!
|
|
ignite10
Suspended permanently
|
29. September 2010 @ 11:57 |
Link to this message
|
hi your problem is simple MAD but simple ,ive done this to my 360 and it works 100%,you might think its bull (like i did) until i tryed it.....
you need to do the penny trick youll find tuts on verious Video websites I.E youtube.
you need 8pennys ,electric tape and some heatsink lubb.
wrapp 2x pennys in eletric tape (has to be eletric tape)
remove heat pads off the motherboard where X-clamp is
lubb them on one side and hold down for a few secs on where the heat pads used to be.
put 360 back together ,wrap 360 in 8 towals ....switch on ......bake it till it crashes or 30mins ,take towals off ..leave for 30mins to cool down.....woaaallllaaa...
u need to bake it coz it does a hardware reset on console...ye it might sound like a jet taking off but you can turn ur tv up..........
ooooo and for all you know it alls out there dont comment that this dont work coz it does tryed and tested 40 rrod xboxs NONE have returned...and mine still works without fail
happy to help
|
|
ignite10
Suspended permanently
|
29. September 2010 @ 12:01 |
Link to this message
|
|
P.S using Pennys on my last post? Why you may ask
Bronze is a good heat conduter it sokes heat up..
simple
5min job could save you money
|
Senior Member
3 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 20:30 |
Link to this message
|
LOL... you just gotta love these answers.
Don't wrap your xbox in a towel, you can easily start a fire when/if the capacitors get too hot. The caps can't take much heat and they'll leak electrolite fluid everywhere.
Don't try the penny trick either (they call it the penny fix but it doesn't fix anything). The penny trick will make the xbox's motherboard warp even worse than it already is. It might help with the continuity issues that the ram is having for awhile but after it warps from a few dozen heat-cycles the problem will come back and the bga will be damaged beyond repair.
Here are a few links for everyting you need to know about xbox repair.
First get your error code. RROD has a secondary error code.
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/Xbox-360-error-codes.htm
Once you get your secondary error code you can look it up here for a more specific explanation.
http://www.xbox-experts.com/repairguide.php?n=3
0022, 0023, 0030, 0031, and any 000 error code is more than a pain to fix. If you have one these you should just throw your xbox away or post it on ebay instead of attempting to fix it.
Here's a tutorial on how to replace the xclamps.
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/rin...x-clamp_fix.htm
Here are a few tutorials on how to reflow the xbox motherboard.
http://www.xbox-experts.com/tutorial/all...flux-usage-etc/
Other repair tutorials
http://xbox-experts.com/tutorials.php
You can find a lot of information by using the search button that's in my sig. There's countless similar posts with even more repair guides and tips.
I'll be around if you have any other questions.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. September 2010 @ 20:39
|
|
JamReadyTeacups
Newbie
|
30. September 2010 @ 13:25 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by ignite10:
P.S using Pennys on my last post? Why you may ask
Bronze is a good heat conduter it sokes heat up..
simple
5min job could save you money
Pennies are not made of bronze. They are made of copper, which is a great heat sink.
You need pennies from before 1973 (I think is before they changed them), because that was when pennies were made of 100% copper, they are currently made of zinc and copper.
I would not recommend this method, at all. Its very dangerous for the other components to get that hot.
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
ignite10
Suspended permanently
|
30. September 2010 @ 13:43 |
Link to this message
|
Ye bronze copper pal my bad, but as I said using this method worked for me and others ,so try if u feel like it just wanted to help
|
