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When Xbox 360's first started displaying the RROD (Red Ring of Death) people began
looking for a way to make it stop. An RROD comes up whenever there's a problem with the
console - almost any problem - but most of the time it's a 3-light RROD and has something
to do with the GPU or CPU chip on the motherboard (Graphics Processing Unit and Central
Processing Unit). These tend to "come loose" a bit over time with the constant heating,
cooling, and reheating experienced with normal game-play. Each chip has hundreds of tiny
solder joints underneath it that connect the chip to the motherboard that operates the entire
console - if just one of these solder joints break or crack the Xbox can't operate correctly
and you get an RROD. Somebody figured this out and discovered that you can sometimes
get the broken solder joint to make contact again for a little while if you get the Xbox hot
enough which resulted in "the towel trick". This entails wrapping your entire console up in
a towel and causing it to overheat, repeatedly if necessary, and/or sticking toothpicks in
the case fans to stop them from spinning and cooling the console. This apparently serves to
slightly re-melt the solder points underneath each chip and therefore re-create the lost
connection without having to open up your console. I can certainly understand the joy of
getting it to work again by yourself but this method unfortunately overheats all the chips -
and everything else inside the console - while they're turned on and trying to do their job.
This is pretty much guaranteed to cause further damage somewhere and it's just a matter
of waiting for the next component to fail to find out exactly where. It might work again for
a while but the long-term cost of lost of the extra damage isn't worth it. The microchips
themselves are 100% state-of-the-art, perfectly calibrated components that are
specifically designed to operate under certain conditions. Severely overheating a chip well
past it's maximum operating temperature and forcing it to operate at that temperature just
isn't a good idea at all under any circumstances.
During normal operation the console automatically shuts itself off before any
damage-worthy overheating can occur and this is what usually causes a 2-light RROD. This
is very frustrating to the gamer but necessary to the well-being of the console - it's doing
what it has to do to survive just like we do. This is something that can be properly fixed
though 90% of the time. The parts that tend to overheat are the same CPU and GPU as
mentioned above but the problem is with the thermal paste and heat-sinks that keep them
cool rather than the chips themselves or the solder-joints underneath.
looking for a way to make it stop. An RROD comes up whenever there's a problem with the
console - almost any problem - but most of the time it's a 3-light RROD and has something
to do with the GPU or CPU chip on the motherboard (Graphics Processing Unit and Central
Processing Unit). These tend to "come loose" a bit over time with the constant heating,
cooling, and reheating experienced with normal game-play. Each chip has hundreds of tiny
solder joints underneath it that connect the chip to the motherboard that operates the entire
console - if just one of these solder joints break or crack the Xbox can't operate correctly
and you get an RROD. Somebody figured this out and discovered that you can sometimes
get the broken solder joint to make contact again for a little while if you get the Xbox hot
enough which resulted in "the towel trick". This entails wrapping your entire console up in
a towel and causing it to overheat, repeatedly if necessary, and/or sticking toothpicks in
the case fans to stop them from spinning and cooling the console. This apparently serves to
slightly re-melt the solder points underneath each chip and therefore re-create the lost
connection without having to open up your console. I can certainly understand the joy of
getting it to work again by yourself but this method unfortunately overheats all the chips -
and everything else inside the console - while they're turned on and trying to do their job.
This is pretty much guaranteed to cause further damage somewhere and it's just a matter
of waiting for the next component to fail to find out exactly where. It might work again for
a while but the long-term cost of lost of the extra damage isn't worth it. The microchips
themselves are 100% state-of-the-art, perfectly calibrated components that are
specifically designed to operate under certain conditions. Severely overheating a chip well
past it's maximum operating temperature and forcing it to operate at that temperature just
isn't a good idea at all under any circumstances.
During normal operation the console automatically shuts itself off before any
damage-worthy overheating can occur and this is what usually causes a 2-light RROD. This
is very frustrating to the gamer but necessary to the well-being of the console - it's doing
what it has to do to survive just like we do. This is something that can be properly fixed
though 90% of the time. The parts that tend to overheat are the same CPU and GPU as
mentioned above but the problem is with the thermal paste and heat-sinks that keep them
cool rather than the chips themselves or the solder-joints underneath.
Moving on the "X-clamp fix" also widespread and currently available in every shape and form all over the Internet. The
X-clamps are what Microsoft used to hold their GPU and CPU heatsinks in place but first I need to explain a little about
how all this works. The GPU and CPU chips run extremely hot - especially when playing the newer games that require
just a piece of aluminum and/or copper with a set of molded "fins" on top. The heat from the chip moves to the piece of
metal which then dissipates it into the air via the fins and the case fan blows it out the back of the console. For
maximum heat transfer between chip and heatsink both surfaces need to be touching as much as possible - both
perfectly flat ideally though this isn't quite possible out here in the real world. Even the most microscopic dip or dent in
either surface will allow room for an air-pocket that won't allow proper heat transfer. To counter this you apply
"thermal paste" which fills all the tiny imperfections and creates near-perfect contact between heatsink and chip.
Thermal paste however varies greatly in quality and efficiency and using top quality paste makes a big difference in
how well the whole heat-transfer mechanism works. Some pastes dry out over time and many will completely ooze out
to the edges of the chip which renders it pretty much useless. Microsoft didn't use the greatest thermal paste to start
with and unfortunately many of the cheap "Xbox RROD repair kits" have even cheaper stuff provided. For some reason
almost everyone suggests using a paste called Arctic Silver which is far superior to what Microsoft put on but not the
best option as far as pastes go. Many many hours of trial and testing by all sorts of firms and individuals confirms that
a newer paste made out of microscopically crushed diamonds offers better thermal conductivity than silver or any of
console running cooler for the rest of it's life so it's a clear winner as far as I'm concerned. That's what I use myself
on all the repairs that come in and on my own personal computer and consoles too.
For the "X-clamp" fix you take the console apart and replace the existing X-clamps with bolts and washers which will
let you apply far greater amounts of pressure to the underlying chip. In doing so you force an electrical contact
between the offending chip and the motherboard which again will probably work for a little while until the chip itself
gives way to the pressure or the cracked solder joint just gives out again. Changing out the X-clamps in itself is usually
a good idea if done correctly but applying massive amounts of pressure to the underlying chip is not the way to go. I
use my own version of the bolt and washer set up myself as part of the repair and upgrade process and they work
perfectly for what they were designed to do - hold the heatsinks down to where they make proper even contact with
the microchips. When installed correctly these bolts also help keep the motherboard laying perfectly flat for the rest of
it's life - just like it's supposed to. Without proper support a large circuit board will tend to warp a bit over time either
from applied pressure, sagging, or even from an overly humid environment. What you want is to have it propped-up
and screwed down - sitting perfectly flat just as when all the tiny resistors and microchips were originally attached.
Many XBox 360 self-repair tutorials advise using additional bolts and washers to force a sagging motherboard back up
in the opposite direction in order to regain a lost solder connection. Again though, this will work for a while in some
cases but common sense tells us that overcompensating for a bowed motherboard by bowing it back in the opposite
direction will just put unnecessary pressure on a different part of the board. Components in those areas will then be
likely to suffer the next solder connection failure.
Which leads me to the "penny trick". This is used to combat problems with the RAM chips which are smaller microchips
attached to the underside of the motherboard but usually without any sort of heatsink or support provided. RAM (Rapid
Access Memory) chips cause problems all on their own and it's suggested around the Internet to take your console
apart and put a pile of pennies underneath each RAM chip, wrapped in electrical tape - which will press up on them
after you screw the motherboard back down to the metal case. This provides a sort of heatsink as well as pressing
them harder against the motherboard and propping the entire motherboard up to boot. Adding heatsinks to your RAM
chips is always a good idea as they do tend to get very hot so this is included in all my own repairs. Under no
circumstances though do you want to bow the motherboard upwards in an effort to stop it from bowing downwards.
Dead-flat is always the way to go.
Lastly, there's the "fan mod" which is sort of a good idea and sometimes not. There are two case fans that pull the heat
off of the heatsinks and blow it out the back of the console. These are 12V fans that are normally operated at 5V which
is fairly slow as far as case fans go. The higher the voltage the faster they go and that much more heat is drawn off the
heatsinks and the motherboard in general. Cranking them up to 12V all the time though is not only noisy but it also
draws more power than normal which can mess with the other components sometimes. It also wears your fan out
quicker so this is more for a person that's comfortable getting in there and replacing their own fan when it conks out or
knows how to put it back to the original 5V if needed. If your existing fans are working and your console's still
regularly overheating it's probably going to need more than just a stronger fan to properly fix the problem.
X-clamps are what Microsoft used to hold their GPU and CPU heatsinks in place but first I need to explain a little about
how all this works. The GPU and CPU chips run extremely hot - especially when playing the newer games that require
just a piece of aluminum and/or copper with a set of molded "fins" on top. The heat from the chip moves to the piece of
metal which then dissipates it into the air via the fins and the case fan blows it out the back of the console. For
maximum heat transfer between chip and heatsink both surfaces need to be touching as much as possible - both
perfectly flat ideally though this isn't quite possible out here in the real world. Even the most microscopic dip or dent in
either surface will allow room for an air-pocket that won't allow proper heat transfer. To counter this you apply
"thermal paste" which fills all the tiny imperfections and creates near-perfect contact between heatsink and chip.
Thermal paste however varies greatly in quality and efficiency and using top quality paste makes a big difference in
how well the whole heat-transfer mechanism works. Some pastes dry out over time and many will completely ooze out
to the edges of the chip which renders it pretty much useless. Microsoft didn't use the greatest thermal paste to start
with and unfortunately many of the cheap "Xbox RROD repair kits" have even cheaper stuff provided. For some reason
almost everyone suggests using a paste called Arctic Silver which is far superior to what Microsoft put on but not the
best option as far as pastes go. Many many hours of trial and testing by all sorts of firms and individuals confirms that
a newer paste made out of microscopically crushed diamonds offers better thermal conductivity than silver or any of
console running cooler for the rest of it's life so it's a clear winner as far as I'm concerned. That's what I use myself
on all the repairs that come in and on my own personal computer and consoles too.
For the "X-clamp" fix you take the console apart and replace the existing X-clamps with bolts and washers which will
let you apply far greater amounts of pressure to the underlying chip. In doing so you force an electrical contact
between the offending chip and the motherboard which again will probably work for a little while until the chip itself
gives way to the pressure or the cracked solder joint just gives out again. Changing out the X-clamps in itself is usually
a good idea if done correctly but applying massive amounts of pressure to the underlying chip is not the way to go. I
use my own version of the bolt and washer set up myself as part of the repair and upgrade process and they work
perfectly for what they were designed to do - hold the heatsinks down to where they make proper even contact with
the microchips. When installed correctly these bolts also help keep the motherboard laying perfectly flat for the rest of
it's life - just like it's supposed to. Without proper support a large circuit board will tend to warp a bit over time either
from applied pressure, sagging, or even from an overly humid environment. What you want is to have it propped-up
and screwed down - sitting perfectly flat just as when all the tiny resistors and microchips were originally attached.
Many XBox 360 self-repair tutorials advise using additional bolts and washers to force a sagging motherboard back up
in the opposite direction in order to regain a lost solder connection. Again though, this will work for a while in some
cases but common sense tells us that overcompensating for a bowed motherboard by bowing it back in the opposite
direction will just put unnecessary pressure on a different part of the board. Components in those areas will then be
likely to suffer the next solder connection failure.
Which leads me to the "penny trick". This is used to combat problems with the RAM chips which are smaller microchips
attached to the underside of the motherboard but usually without any sort of heatsink or support provided. RAM (Rapid
Access Memory) chips cause problems all on their own and it's suggested around the Internet to take your console
apart and put a pile of pennies underneath each RAM chip, wrapped in electrical tape - which will press up on them
after you screw the motherboard back down to the metal case. This provides a sort of heatsink as well as pressing
them harder against the motherboard and propping the entire motherboard up to boot. Adding heatsinks to your RAM
chips is always a good idea as they do tend to get very hot so this is included in all my own repairs. Under no
circumstances though do you want to bow the motherboard upwards in an effort to stop it from bowing downwards.
Dead-flat is always the way to go.
Lastly, there's the "fan mod" which is sort of a good idea and sometimes not. There are two case fans that pull the heat
off of the heatsinks and blow it out the back of the console. These are 12V fans that are normally operated at 5V which
is fairly slow as far as case fans go. The higher the voltage the faster they go and that much more heat is drawn off the
heatsinks and the motherboard in general. Cranking them up to 12V all the time though is not only noisy but it also
draws more power than normal which can mess with the other components sometimes. It also wears your fan out
quicker so this is more for a person that's comfortable getting in there and replacing their own fan when it conks out or
knows how to put it back to the original 5V if needed. If your existing fans are working and your console's still
regularly overheating it's probably going to need more than just a stronger fan to properly fix the problem.
You can usually tell if someone has gotten into a console and added pennies or an over-enthusiastic X-clamp fix by
checking the external ports. None of the external ports, like the USB ports, should be off center by more than a
millimeter or two. If someone has already added bolts and/or pennies the internal sockets you see inside the outer
case holes will be sitting much higher up than normal - barely accessible in some cases which is a sign that a
non-professional did the job. All the internal sockets you see are attached to the motherboard so when it's propped up
with bolts and pennies it won't sit inside the outer plastic case like it used to.
Also, when someone opens a console to work on it they have to remove or damage the silver/chrome official Microsoft
warranty sticker which is behind the faceplate. If a professional repair service handled the job their warranty sticker
will be there instead but if was done by an individual there's usually no sticker or they try to reapply Microsoft's
original. The faceplates easily snap off to check these things - just run your fingernail along the top edge to undo the
snaps and it'll pull right off then just snap it back in place when you're done. If you're out to buy a used Xbox 360 this
is definitely something to look for. Extremely few people go out of their way to get in there and replace the clamps and
paste and what not unless something has already gone wrong. In most cases you'll have no way to know what exactly
was wrong with it in the first place, who fixed it, or how good (or bad) of a job they did. Just like buying a used car
there are lots of things people can do to get them to run a little longer and hide the defects - especially to untrained
eyes - so it's definitely a case of buyer beware. If there's no warranty on it be especially careful as you won't have
any come-back at all if a problem crops up.
All is not lost though if you have a major RROD problem. Some of the repair services I see advertised around the
Internet offer what's called a "re-balling" service which basically means they take the CPU and/or GPU chip
completely off the motherboard, remove the old solder, re-apply new solder, and run it through a proper heating
machine just like the big computer companies did in the first place. This is a very expensive and labor-intensive job
and people therefore charge a lot of money to do it. If done correctly this will take care of the standard 360 CPU/GPU
chip problems but it still leaves all the other soldered components in their original though re-heated/re-flowed state.
I'm certainly not set up to perform this sort of high-end repair and therefore can't give an informed opinion on how
well this works out for the consumer in the long run. I'm sure there are plenty of very highly qualified and professional
techs out there that do this sort of thing but to my mind it still all comes back to spending near the cost of a new
console on what may be a lost cause. Microsoft appears to have done a much better manufacturing job with the newer
360 Slim consoles so for my money I'd rather invest in one of those and then pay a bit extra for the extended warranty
just to be on the safe side.
Anyway, I hope this information has been helpful and I'll be adding to it as time allows. You're welcome to email if you
have any questions and I'm always happy to help get your console back up and running whenever possible. Sincerely,
Lynn Brown Email: LBrown@xboxrepairservice.com
checking the external ports. None of the external ports, like the USB ports, should be off center by more than a
millimeter or two. If someone has already added bolts and/or pennies the internal sockets you see inside the outer
case holes will be sitting much higher up than normal - barely accessible in some cases which is a sign that a
non-professional did the job. All the internal sockets you see are attached to the motherboard so when it's propped up
with bolts and pennies it won't sit inside the outer plastic case like it used to.
Also, when someone opens a console to work on it they have to remove or damage the silver/chrome official Microsoft
warranty sticker which is behind the faceplate. If a professional repair service handled the job their warranty sticker
will be there instead but if was done by an individual there's usually no sticker or they try to reapply Microsoft's
original. The faceplates easily snap off to check these things - just run your fingernail along the top edge to undo the
snaps and it'll pull right off then just snap it back in place when you're done. If you're out to buy a used Xbox 360 this
is definitely something to look for. Extremely few people go out of their way to get in there and replace the clamps and
paste and what not unless something has already gone wrong. In most cases you'll have no way to know what exactly
was wrong with it in the first place, who fixed it, or how good (or bad) of a job they did. Just like buying a used car
there are lots of things people can do to get them to run a little longer and hide the defects - especially to untrained
eyes - so it's definitely a case of buyer beware. If there's no warranty on it be especially careful as you won't have
any come-back at all if a problem crops up.
All is not lost though if you have a major RROD problem. Some of the repair services I see advertised around the
Internet offer what's called a "re-balling" service which basically means they take the CPU and/or GPU chip
completely off the motherboard, remove the old solder, re-apply new solder, and run it through a proper heating
machine just like the big computer companies did in the first place. This is a very expensive and labor-intensive job
and people therefore charge a lot of money to do it. If done correctly this will take care of the standard 360 CPU/GPU
chip problems but it still leaves all the other soldered components in their original though re-heated/re-flowed state.
I'm certainly not set up to perform this sort of high-end repair and therefore can't give an informed opinion on how
well this works out for the consumer in the long run. I'm sure there are plenty of very highly qualified and professional
techs out there that do this sort of thing but to my mind it still all comes back to spending near the cost of a new
console on what may be a lost cause. Microsoft appears to have done a much better manufacturing job with the newer
360 Slim consoles so for my money I'd rather invest in one of those and then pay a bit extra for the extended warranty
just to be on the safe side.
Anyway, I hope this information has been helpful and I'll be adding to it as time allows. You're welcome to email if you
have any questions and I'm always happy to help get your console back up and running whenever possible. Sincerely,
Lynn Brown Email: LBrown@xboxrepairservice.com
| XBOX 360 TRICKS WHAT NOT TO DO AND WHY |