A friend of mine gave me an old xbox of his that was RRoDding to fix up and keep. I had previously seen it when it had an open tray error, I swapped drives (by swapping logic boards, not flashing), added cardstock shrouds to the heatsinks, and gave it a RoL mod. Anyway, when I got it, it threw a 0020 error. Trying to plan things out, I let it sit for a minute then restarted. Surprisingly, it booted fine. I put it in front of my TV and hooked it up, it threw another 0020 but a few minutes of fiddling made it boot fine. It's been working fine since then, which has been about four days. I've been careful to keep the system ventilated, and off of carpet. The only problem I've encountered is some artifacting in the Avatar Marketplace (straight black and white 'snow' lines running up my avatar and around some other elements), but I think that might be a software problem since absolutely everything else is fine.
So my question is, how can I make sure that it stays working? I'm thinking about buying a team HYBRID X-Clamp fix kit and talismoon fan from divineo, then installing them with some better shrouds and an air divider. On top of that I would use Arctic Silver 5 for the heatsinks and I would cut out the metal grill behind the fan. I've got an extra chassis and other bits from a failed oven reflow, so it would be no risk to do the chassis mods. Would this be enough? Too much?
There is really no guaranteed way to keep it from RRODing. Replacing the X-clamps may or may not do the trick. Graphics artifacts stem from brittle solder under the HANA and GPU in most cases. A replacing the x-clamps and a reflow when it does RROD, should bring it back. I see that you have a failed oven reflow you attempted before? Try w00ly's heat gun method instead and focus on the HANA and GPU.
"All drives should be updated to Lite Touch + (LT+) firmware if playing on XBOX live. Samsung drives and pre-78/79 Hitachi drives do not utilize AP 2.5. All other drives are considered to be detectable by Microsoft (YMMV). Make sure all rips are ABGX verified, contain SSv2, and patched AP2.5 (where needed). XGD3 must currently be burned on new drive with PC Burner Max firmware for 100% rip. All modded consoles can be potentially unsafe for use on XBOX live."
It was trucking along fine, then started artifacting in game, and now E74.
How can I do w00ly's fix? I googled around, but all I found was people telling other people to use it.
Also, if it matters, I actually have a digital hot-air SMT reflow station with temp and airflow control. Would this put me at an advantage, or is there a separate fix?
He was referring to the tutorial in my signature but if you have a reflow station find a good heating profile and use that instead. Also some no-clean liquid flux like Kester 951 can help the solder bond stronger so it doesn't break again
w00ly,
Does this tutorial have a good profile? It's based on my rework station, so I figure it has a higher chance of working properly.
Also, I'm kinda nervous due to the spectacular failure of my last RROD fix attempt (the GPU delaminated), so should I do a chip lift on the old xbox first? Also, the xbox is switching between an E74 and a 0020, which chips do I need to reflow?
EDIT: OK wow. All the parts (thermocouples, griddle, etc.) that I'd need to do this right would cost WAY too much for my blood. I think I'm gonna find someone local with a decent setup to do it for me.
I know it's hard to have the confidence to try this all over again, especially since your first one failed. You want to be very cautious with this next one, and so I strongly agree with your decision to let someone else do it for you. The 0020 error code console can be tricky. If you ever get brave enough to try, the heatgun method works really well.
It should also be noted, the oven reflow temperature settings also vary greatly from location to location because of altitude. This is seldom mentioned unfortunately and could be a reason as to why your particular motherboard reached extreme temperatures.
"All drives should be updated to Lite Touch + (LT+) firmware if playing on XBOX live. Samsung drives and pre-78/79 Hitachi drives do not utilize AP 2.5. All other drives are considered to be detectable by Microsoft (YMMV). Make sure all rips are ABGX verified, contain SSv2, and patched AP2.5 (where needed). XGD3 must currently be burned on new drive with PC Burner Max firmware for 100% rip. All modded consoles can be potentially unsafe for use on XBOX live."
