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The Official X-Clamp Mod: To Fix Your RROD
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Senior Member
1 product review
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6. June 2008 @ 12:42 |
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The Official X-Clamp Mod: To Fix Your RROD
A little history lesson: Right when 360 came out there were known issues of overheating and RROD, but only recently, through collaboration of the community as a whole did we find the source of the issue for the RROD. 90% of all RROD can be traced to improper cpu/gpu contact to the heatsink and also poor medium between the 2 (thermal grease). All this was caused by a design flaw of the x-clamps that hold the heatsink to the cpu. The x-clamps are made of soft metal and bend under pressure, they also contract which bends the motherboard. All this leads to improper contact with cpu/gpu as mentioned above. Through trial and error of many the first full guide to correct the issue was made by Lawdawg0931 on xbox scene. As much as I hate to link away from here: but here is the orginal 75 page thread: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=599216 This was a BIG breakthrough, not only for the modding community but for the xbox community as a whole, spawning countless of 3rd party RROD fix commercial services. All of them use the x-clamp method. These services usually cost $70-$130. Why pay that when you can do it with an hour worth of time and $5 worth of bolts and washers?
So If you xbox has got RROD, do the x-clamp mod and 90% of the time it will be FIXED PERMANENTLY. (Statistics source: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=595746) My Xbox went RROD after 2 solid years and it was fixed by X-clamp mod.
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GUIDES:
Original X-Clamp Mod Guide by Lawdawg0931:
http://rapidshare.com/files/120545371/fix-for-the-3rlod.pdf.html
This is a very nice 40+ page guide with all pictures by Chris whitney:
http://rapidshare.com/files/120304321/UL...Manual.pdf.html
All credit goes out to respective authors and community as a whole.
Good Luck.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 6. June 2008 @ 12:47
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. June 2008 @ 19:42 |
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burningas, thanks for the info i too got the ring of death about 2 days after you. i did the towel trick on both of them and one lasted 5 min the other around 20 min. so i got a warranty sticker for one that is not modded and i am sending it in, the other i did the xclamp fix (the one that is modded) i played it for about an hour last night with no probs. but the fans seemed to be running at full speed constiantly. this happen to you? also there wasnt anything in the tut about the gold screws that hold the mb on, i know its common sense to remove them which i did but i was trying to follow it exactly. and removing the thermal compound was a pain the only thing i had available to me was no fragrance nail polish remover. all in all i spent about 60 bucks on tools and what not so hopefully it works for awhile. but again thnx for the link it was a good one, and i would like to know about your fan speed. ~homesick~ by the way between 2 trips to the store it took me about 2 and a half hours. 1 hour of it was removing the thermal.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. June 2008 @ 19:43
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Senior Member
1 product review
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10. June 2008 @ 01:59 |
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Hey man, I'm glad your RROD is fixed too. I don't know about the fan but it's suppose to be temp controlled bu cpu. The hotter the faster it spins. I upgraded the the talismoon max and now it runs 12V max all the time.
The gold screws? I do remember encountering these.
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ANeophyte
Junior Member
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10. June 2008 @ 08:58 |
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It sounds like you diding apply ample thermal compound, or it wasent distributed properly. Now the fans are having to work overtime to keep the system cool.
Also, Goof-Off applied to a q-tip is the best way, IMO, to remove old thermal compound. If it took you an hour to remove the stuff, something is wrong.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. June 2008 @ 18:38 |
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can anyone confirm this? my fans hit high speed after about 10 mins. i only applied a thin layer of compound like the instructions said however i would've liked to see a litte bit ooze out the side not enough to hit the mb though. if that is the case, what would you do? start over? or just strip the case down buy a fan for a desk and just put it on high while playing it? i played it for about an hour last night with no problems, but i dont want to damage the hard work i put into it. also is goo-gone safe for a heatsink and cpu? i didnt think it was so i didnt use it. i was told strictly frag free nail polish remover or rubbing alchohol at least 70%, and of course thermal compound remover, which i wasnt able to get any at any local stores. yes even circuit city! even though thats where i got the 20$ compound.
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ANeophyte
Junior Member
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10. June 2008 @ 18:49 |
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I would start over and re-apply some thermal paste. Just a small dab on the chipset will do. Make sure to clean the heatsinks and the chips before appling it again.
Goof Off will not harm anything, just use it sparingly and wipe it dry with a dry rag after you cleaned everything.
Radio shack has tubes of Artic 5 for 10$
Also, are you using ceramic or silver based compound?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. June 2008 @ 19:09 |
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silver based compound. so you wouldnt suggest just putting a bigger fan over it since it is running? also if not, should i just re-apply the compound after taking the old off, but skipping the rest of the steps, basically just re-applying the compound?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. June 2008 @ 19:10
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AfterDawn Addict
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10. June 2008 @ 21:48 |
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silver based compounds takes a while for it to cure. AS5 takes about 200 hours to cure. so regular use is good.
applying a paper thin layer of thermal compound is what is recommended to any cpu/gpu.
after doing rbjtech's fanshroud mod in our 360, the stock deltas have not been running full speed. the benq drive is noisier than the fans.
ps2: v7 scph-39001 - independence exploit - hdloader 0.8c - maxtor 300gb hdd
(+[__]%) psp slim ta-085v1: 6.60 PRO B10
wii (powered by bootmii/priiloader): 4.1u - d2x v10beta53-alt (base 56) - configurable usb loader v70r51/devolution r188 - wd scorpio black 7200rpm 320gig w/ ams venus ds2 enclosure
got a whole lot more to list . . .
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ANeophyte
Junior Member
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10. June 2008 @ 23:37 |
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All i know is that i had the same problem you have my first time. It would overheat and the fans would be going crazy, i would get 2 red rings after a while of the box being on.
I cleaned and reapplied the thermal paste to both the CPU and GPU and it runs fine now.
Just reapply the paste first, dont mess with your clamps. If this dosent work, then something might be wrong with your clamp mod.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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11. June 2008 @ 08:20 |
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well i am not getting any errors or red lights so i guess i will run it a couple of times and see if it keeps doing it before i strip it. especially if it takes 200 hours to cure and i dont think its even been that long yet. thanks for all of the info guys
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. June 2008 @ 08:21
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Senior Member
1 product review
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11. June 2008 @ 08:20 |
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The thing with thermal grease is the less, the better. I only applied a very very thin layer. Remember it's only to fill up microscopic imperfections in 2 surfaces, nothing else.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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11. June 2008 @ 08:31 |
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ok so thats what i used, so i am not sure how i didnt apply enough, i applied a thin layer from side to side covering the entire surface area. maybe it just hasnt had time to cure yet? did yours have loud fans the first couple of runs? i am kinda stumped.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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11. June 2008 @ 10:10 |
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ok so i just took it all apart and reapplied the thermal compound to my cpu only. put it all back togethet and i also made sure i used exactly the size of one grain of rice. so anyway i put it all back to gether and i get the same thing my fans kick up to haigh after about 5 min of being on. i would run it hard just to see what happens but i dont want to buy a new one today if ya know what i mean. i think i might just go get a deskfan leave the case off and run the fan while i play since the stock fan is an exhaust fan if i used an intake directly above it i think it would help.
btw this is what i got on the cover when i opened after first sight of red lights, tried to wipe it off but couldn't, must'ove been a little warm in there. :)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. June 2008 @ 10:24
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Senior Member
1 product review
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11. June 2008 @ 10:40 |
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holy crap yeah. Toast marks! I just thought of this: The toast marks obviously mean one thing: the heatsink is very very hot, which can only mean the heatsink is properly doing it's work and that the thermal grease is applied properly. the heat ihas no issue flowing from cpu die right no to heatsink. So it's perfect.
Whereas before: the thick glop of thermal grease between the die and heatsink didn't allow heat to properly pass through and created all the RROD problems.
Now you just need some extra fans to fan all taht heat on the sinks away.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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11. June 2008 @ 10:47 |
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thank you for verifying this, i am gonna go to wally world today and just leave the case off and put a small desk fan on top of it instead of modding the case. i thought i put the thermal on right.
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