Yet another RROD, help needed

[irishjoe]

Hi all, I have been trying to fix my xbox for a while now and I need some advice where to go next. Below is what I have done so far…

Xbox was crashing now and again, never thought much of it because I thought the DVD might have been scratched. Then the dreaded RROD happened, the console was quite hot so I switched it off and let it cool. The next day, it switched on ok and I thought I was a lucky man! Then about a month or so later, it happened again but it was after about 5 mins of playing so the console was fairly cool at this point.

First thing I tried was taking the xbox apart, cleaning all the thermal paste off the motherboard and heat sinks, putting on some arctic silver and then putting it all back together. No joy, still RROD.
Next, I tried the x-clamp fix. I couldn’t get screws short enough so I was testing this with the xbox on the floor, still RRODed.

After a lot of searching about on the internet, I couldn’t find any other avenues to go down. I tied to find someone with a glue gun to do the copper penny fix but couldn’t find one.
So I took my x-clamp stuff off and put it all back together. I switched it on and instead of going straight to RROD, it thinks about it first. The green lights would spin round and then it would RROD when the rear fans switch on. I don’t know what I did differently because I am getting a different error message. I am getting 0013 now instead of 0020. 0013 is GPU overheating but no-one seems to know exactly what 0020 is.

I tried getting in contact with a couple of people who are advertising to fix RRODs but no-one has got back to me.

Does anyone have any ideas what to do next? (Apart from bite the bullet and buy another 360...)

[parminder]

i guess you were lucky that it played for a month but if you spotted that problem you shouldve have treated it earlier. due to overheating and stuff it might have damaged your xbox more. if none of the process you described above worked then i guess hardware may have failed.

[irishjoe]

Thanks for the reply.

Do you think there could be any connection between the fans switching on and it going RROD at the same time?
Before it would just go straight to RROD, now it takes about 3 or 4 seconds of the green lights spinning, then red ring appears when the fans switch on.

[CoFree]

man at this point im not sure what to tell you.
i do know that heat is the killer.

at this point i would try to find someone that could do a x-clamp and heat gun on it.
that is the last thing you can try.

[irishjoe]

Would u recommend buying the x clamp fix kit from here?
http://www.x-clamp-fix.com/catalog/prod ... Y-Kit.html
I know its expensive for what it is but I can't find the same things over here in Australia.

[CoFree]

well it looks good.ive not heard of them before.
i would look around for the parts in a store.if you cant find them that maybe what you have to do.

[irishjoe]

I've ordered it. Its a complete rip off paying US$15 for 4 screws, 8 washers and 4 nylon washers... But if it fixes my xbox, it's worth it.
Will post the results when I get it...

[CoFree]

cool
let us know how it goes

[lilrevuk]

The screws should hopefully do the trick, but I get the feeling you may need a hot air gun for a "reflow"....

[irishjoe]

Still not got the kit, must be really taking its time getting from America to Australia!!!
If this doesn't work, I will have to find someone who can do the hot air gun trick. Seen a video of someone doing it and I'm sure I would melt something on the board by mistake.

[sadalius]

Its not that difficult to do the heat gun trick if you take your time and use aluminum foil to mask off everything else that you don't intend to heat up. I use two layers of foil when I do the heat gun trick. I've also out of necessity, bought longer screws. You can drill out the GPU heat sink and cut the fins just a small bit in each corner and use a washer and a nut on top of the GPU heat sink to tighten it down. I have also measured out the bolts and got what to me would be a good length and marked them and then put a nut on each one all the way down the bolt and then used a dremel with a cut off wheel to cut them to length. Then used a wrench to back the nuts off and straighten out any burs on the bolts so they can thread back into the heat sink.

You may or may not be able to do any of these options, or you may not even want to, but they are options to consider none the less.

Hope everything turns out alright and your able to resurrect your 360

[irishjoe]

Thanks for the reply...
I did the chopping the corner out of the fins so I could stick a screw and a bolt on there instead of the clamp on the underside.

I couldn't find screws short enough to be able to put the motherboard back in the case and when ever I tried to shorten the screws with my leatherman, I couldn't get the screw to screw in cause when I did chop it, it bent the top. The hardware shops in Australia are crap, they are massive but dont stock anything!

How much would a heat gun set me back?
Is the heat gun trick melting the solder that holds the chips on? So when it cools down, it sets in the correct place...?

[sadalius]

Yeah, thats the heat gun trick. When done correctly, its supposed to reflow the solder for the chips that you heat and let the connections, well, connect again. I can't say how much heat guns are in Australia but here in the states they run anywhere from $20 to as much as you want to spend on them. Basically, if you want to try it, you want a heat gun that has at least high and low settings, with as high of a max temperature as you can get. Mine puts out about 1400 degrees at its high setting after running for about 5 minutes and on low, it generates 6-700 degrees. Thats in Fahrenheit too. If you look at them at a hardware store like home depot or lowes or similar stores, they advertise them as a paint removal tool, and if you ask a sales person, just tell them you need to remove several layers of paint thats been on there for years because they won't know what your talking about if you start talking about rrod

[irishjoe]

Ha ha, yeah, I've never even met anyone who has tried to fix a 360 over here let alone actually done it!
When I lived in the UK, most people had a PS2 or xbox (at the time) but over here, noone seems to play consoles! I'm the weirdo having a 360 and my flatmate having a PS3!!! Out of everyone I know, only 2 Nintendo Wiis are owned and they basically sit below the TV until a few people come round.

I'll wait till the kit arrives and if it doesn't work, I will look into the heat gun trick.

Thanks again for the assistance.

[sadalius]

No problem man. Over here, you still can't find a Wii on the shelf hardly. 360's and PS3's are dime a dozen though when it comes to finding them.