3 Red Lights of Death Fix

[Fletch627]

Tried this trick again, but the tricky bastard doesn't want to go green.
Any suggestions?
The people who owned it tried something, but it didn't work for them, so they brought it to me. I tried this trick, still RRoD.

I replaced the heat pads with pennies wrapped in electrical tape, still RRoD.

Help!

[CrAzY]

this should be a sticky

i get so sick of seeing threads saying "rrod fix" and they'll say wrap you're xbox console up in loads of towels and over heat it.. ITS NOT A REAL FIX

why do that when you could do this fix? which actually fixes it properly and dosn't just overheat it

[Prea]

Originally Posted by Fletch627

Tried this trick again, but the tricky bastard doesn't want to go green.
Any suggestions?
The people who owned it tried something, but it didn't work for them, so they brought it to me. I tried this trick, still RRoD.

I replaced the heat pads with pennies wrapped in electrical tape, still RRoD.

Help!

You replaced the thermal paste and replaced the x-clamps with screws and washers? If that didn't work, then there's nothing more you can really do.

I used this guide for the rrod fix
Llamma's Xbox 360 3RLOD (three red light error) X-Clamp Fix

[techytype]

Originally Posted by Prea

I know this dude, I was saying I tried techtype's idea first (put on better paste and "re-use" the xlamps). I know what I'm doing.

No, I didn't cause the red ring of death. I got two red lights on the left I believe, which means the cpu/gpu (not sure which), isn't getting enough pressure on it from the heatsinks.

oh,sorry my mistake - but did you note write this then? -:

EDIT: also, I didn't have any red lights to begin with, I just did this because I like modding. I followed llama's guide though.

ahh! Alzheimer's - the best thing about it folks - you can forget you got it lol!

You're saying you'd be fine just replacing the thermal paste. I'm saying you can't do that. Because you can't "re-use" the x-clamps.

your experience on one machine, this is possibly the difference between a professional engineers approach, ability and skill used, and an amateur perhaps?

I don't care if it's faulty or not. Maybe it is, maybe it's not......I felt like doing the mod because I was already doing other modding.

seems your memory has returned to you

I can't say I agree on the first part. I took my xbox apart after having it for a year or so, and there wasn't any dust in there. There's no fan sucking air in, therefore not much dust is getting sucked in either. There was literally no dust in there. (I've had an xbox for two years, but my first one got rrod, so they send me a replacement/refurbished one or whatever- which is what i have now).

observation is not your strong suit matey, so the rather large very noisy fans on the back do exactly what? and i wonder not why you had RROD

the intakes is not filtered, any dust in the air gets sucked in by those rear in your case quiet and still fans - or trust me a vacuum cleaners would never work.

And what are you talking about with the fans drawing more power? They're fit in front of the air ducts to help pull heat out from the heatsinks

i'm getting a little befuddled now - so now you say you DO have fans on your Xbox - damn i'm relieved , and now tell me what runs them - work withme now, could it be that power is taken from the USB port of the xbox perhaps - have you ever seen one???.

Tech, have you actually worked on/modded an xbox before, or are you just making assumptions based on what you've read?

ouch! now i'm seriously stung, so why be so rude dude? you don't agree thats fine by all of us, but to humour you - seems i have at least on worked on more Xbox's and succesfully than you can boast (at least i found the cooling fans ) - it also seems to me your not one qualified enough to take pot shots at me or anyone else inthis forum - and be taken seriously :roflmao:

[Prea]

oh,sorry my mistake - but did you note write this then? -:

Yea, I talked about getting red lights.......not the red ring of death (RROD). The red ring of death (which people believe is caused by paste, xclamps, whatever), is when you get red lights in 3 quadrants.

If you read what I said, I got 2 RED LIGHTS, NOT 3 - meaning I did not get the red ring of death. You get 2 red lights when there isn't enough pressure on the chips from the heatsinks(among some other things......but i know for a fact it was caused by not enough pressure when i got the 2 lights).

ahh! Alzheimer's - the best thing about it folks - you can forget you got it lol!

Again, read what I said. I never got the rrod at any point while messing with the xclamps/xclamp mod.

your experience on one machine, this is possibly the difference between a professional engineers approach, ability and skill used, and an amateur perhaps?

No dude, not at all. Once you take the x-clamps off, you can't re-use them, because you have to bend the arms in order to take them off.

You said this (quoted below), i'm saying you can't do it, because once the xclamps are taken off, they won't make a tight enough fit once you put them back on. No matter how much you mess with them (i tried taking them off, adjusting them, and putting them back on numerous times).

Originally Posted by techytype

re-use the x-clamps and you don't need to mess about with ANY washers

seems your memory has returned to you

I honestly have no clue what you're saying here.

observation is not your strong suit matey, so the rather large very noisy fans on the back do exactly what? and i wonder not why you had RROD

Once again, I NEVER HAD RROD (on my current machine.....i did on a previous one that i never touched).

And I'm saying the input air of the fans are not exposed to the outside of the case much. The fans are blowing air from the inside towards the outside, but they're not drawing in air from the outside......generally speaking.

the intakes is not filtered, any dust in the air gets sucked in by those rear in your case quiet and still fans - or trust me a vacuum cleaners would never work.

Dude put your hand behind your fans........the fans are blowing air outside of the case, not bringing air in.

And a vaccum works in the opposite direction, bringing outside air inward. The xbox blows inside air outward.

i'm getting a little befuddled now - so now you say you DO have fans on your Xbox - damn i'm relieved , and now tell me what runs them - work withme now, could it be that power is taken from the USB port of the xbox perhaps - have you ever seen one???.

Of course I have fans on my xbox. And the fan power is definitely not drawn from the usb port. The fan power is drawn from the motherboard directly, via a 4 pin 12 volt plug (or a 3 pin plug on newer models).

[techytype]

Originally Posted by Fletch627

Tried this trick again, but the tricky bastard doesn't want to go green.
Any suggestions?
The people who owned it tried something, but it didn't work for them, so they brought it to me. I tried this trick, still RRoD.

I replaced the heat pads with pennies wrapped in electrical tape, still RRoD.

Help!

Hi Fletch627,
possibly solder balls not playing ball

i've found this works for some harder ones, after doing the repair run it (showing RROD'd) for about 1/4 hour or so, with the fans connected but out of the box. let it cool for a good hour then try it.

last method is do or die, but what have you got loose?

get mum's clothes iron and some brown paper, place brown paper over chip, heat with iron on hot (cotton setting) while pressing down evenly and firmly for about 2 - 3 minutes.

the iron is being used as a giant soldering iron, what your are doing is a less crude method of the 'towel trick'. the brown paper is to electrically insulate from the iron's shoe, stopping any electrical 'leakage' from the iron damaging the chip while in contact with it.

[techytype]

Prea,

ffs - the fans SUCK air through the case expelling it from the rear vents, Vacuum cleanes SUCK air expelling it after filtration (thats how you get dust in the bag/container.

on the Xbox air sucked in is not filtered, hence atmospheric dust is also drawn in with it through the vents, down the tunnel, over the heat sinks and onto the fan blades, before bing wooshed out the back, not all dust is expelled due to static electricity so it clings to the bits as it passes.

there are several models of additional fans which plug into the usb port for your information, the rest of what i said is for others to read your posts - you could do the same perhaps

[Prea]

Originally Posted by techytype

Prea,

ffs - the fans SUCK air through the case expelling it from the rear vents, Vacuum cleanes SUCK air expelling it after filtration (thats how you get dust in the bag/container.

on the Xbox air sucked in is not filtered, hence atmospheric dust is also drawn in with it through the vents, down the tunnel, over the heat sinks and onto the fan blades, before bing wooshed out the back, not all dust is expelled due to static electricity so it clings to the bits as it passes.

Well of course some air is drawn, but because the air is drawn in from small holes all along the side vents, there really isnt much/any dust that is going to get in. And I play my xbox pretty regularly.....and after a year of play there was no dust in mine. And I have it on the carpet.

But anyways.....my main point is still this

Originally Posted by techytype

re-use the x-clamps and you don't need to mess about with ANY washers

Once you take the x-clamps off, you can't re-use them, because you have to bend the arms in order to take them off.

I'm saying you can't do it, because once the xclamps are taken off, they won't make a tight enough fit once you put them back on. No matter how much you mess with them (i tried taking them off, adjusting them, and putting them back on numerous times).

So therefore, if you're going to do the x-clamp mod (aka rrod fix), you pretty much have to use screws and washers

[techytype]

Originally Posted by Prea

Well of course some air is drawn, but because the air is drawn in from small holes all along the side vents, there really isnt much/any dust that is going to get in. And I play my xbox pretty regularly.....and after a year of play there was no dust in mine. And I have it on the carpet.

But anyways.....my main point is still this

Once you take the x-clamps off, you can't re-use them, because you have to bend the arms in order to take them off.

I'm saying you can't do it, because once the xclamps are taken off, they won't make a tight enough fit once you put them back on. No matter how much you mess with them (i tried taking them off, adjusting them, and putting them back on numerous times).

So therefore, if you're going to do the x-clamp mod (aka rrod fix), you pretty much have to use screws and washers

Depends how you remove them, they are made of spring steel alebeit i'd concede not of the highest quality. i think most remove with oin nosed pliers but i use a prod (ground pointed screwdriver), if you work from the opposite corner to the one you removing, levering against the pin you can gently lever the clamp off without damage.

with regards to dust, your machine is possibly in a rarely sanitised and clean situation and you obviously take care of it, but many serve time as a place to lodge kebabs and other lovelies. perhaps decorating or building works have gone on in that room or house even liquids spilt onto it. so you can't base assumptions on one or even a few machine's, and trust me some of the xbox's i've looked at had more dust in them than most vacs

as an engineer i'm very sceptacle of any claimed outright solution offered, its all part of what i referred to earlier regarding too many variables involved when assessing if or not one method works better than another accurately, especially something with an unpredictable time span caused by overheating issues, no matter how many lights most machines respond to virtually the same fix with a few variations.

i've said this before, to claim one or the other method is superior you have to do a controlled sample of each method, thats simply impossible using 'subject' machines from owners because of the variables involved, i've found reusing the xclamps to be just as succesful as using the bolts and again as an engineer i prefer the clamps as they do not overly stress the motherboard.

regs
tt

[mini_nuker]

You can fix this???