My project, a gamestop modded Jasper 360

[me_man]

Hello, I'm working on a Jasper 360 that was serviced by Gamestop, apparently in 2015.
I just opened up this unit to flash it's disc drive.

My first question is to people's consensus on this fan mod, particularly as far as Jaspers go. Obviously it's done to keep the temperature down. I know there were a lot of problems with RROD on some fat consoles, but the jasper uses smaller cpu/gpu, reducing heat-loads.
I'm leaning towards restoring this to original, mainly because the noise is a bit annoying.

Second, in general, on units with stock fans, did RROD problems go away, or at least reduce to low levels with this revision?

My thirdd question is about the heatsink mod they did.
I was already thinking about changing the thermal paste while I'm in there, Then I noticed that the eight screw locations, on the bottom cover, where the heatsinks are fastened have no bolts in them!
They used to be there, because there are marks from the screw heads. Looking in the holes, I see something other than threads, (after that I can breathe a little)
looking at the heatsink side, there are little white washers between the circuit board, and the heatsinks. I can also see bolts threaded up into the heatsinks themselves.
Is this an improvement? Does this mean that this cpu or gpu was re-balled? re-flowed? I haven;t pulled the mainboard out, and don't really want to here unless there's something imperative to do wit this. I kind of doubt it, as they likely did this to reduce warranty claims, Mainly just curious about people's opinions on this mod vs whatever was stock, and if it indicates a re-ball.

Third point, even though Gamestop's seals were intact, only 5/6 bolts holding the top cover were in place.

Time for me to try and flash this thing I guess. Thanks for reading. I look forward to your replies.

 

[DinohScene]

Repaste the unit and undo that horrifying mod.

RROD is possible in all units, earlier ones are more likely to RROD but ever since the Falcon units it's been pretty alright.

Bolt mods are disgusting, they put extra strain on the board and any mong that did that should never own another console in their life.
I doubt it still has the xclamps but I would loosen the bolts a little bit, just enough that the heatsinks are on top of the chips but not wiggling.
If it was reballed then xclamps would've been fine but gamestop doesn't know what they're doing, they probably didn't do shit to it.
Any fool can go on the web, read some baseless claims about boltmods and towelwrapping and apply it on a innocent unit.


That being said, I'm sorry for your loss.
I wouldn't throw to much time and effort at it but good luck!

 

[me_man]

I guess Ill pull the board out and have a closer look.
This is my first rodeo here, so I don't know what a stock one looks like. (I'll search for images or videos.)
When I look through the eight holes in the sheet metal. I'm not sure what I see, but they're not threads, and they're not bolts. It looks more like a rivet, or some kind of splayed fastener, I know just above this is the board, then the heatsink, so there's not too much room for anything too substantial.

I did come across a video on that "towel trick". Before that I though re-flowing in an oven was bad.

Worst case scenario, I'm out $30 for it, some games, and a controller, and I've learned a thing or two.

I guess I'll have to pull the board and look. I'll either try to make it right, or leave the fan mod in and hope it holds on.
It has lasted since 2015, but judging from the low level of dust inside, I'm thinking it hasn't seen too much use since then.

 

[DinohScene]

Worst case scenario, you're some spare parts richer ;p

I would crack it open, clean it out and flog it off to the next person.

 

[me_man]

I finally got back to this. Thanks for everybody's help so far.

I flashed the drive awhile back, I did it with a switch and a grounded wire to MPX01. it all seems to work XGD2 and XGD3 problems on a couple games. I have yet to try cleaning the laser, giving it a better overall cleaning and maybe giving it some grease. If it's bad, it could push me towards an x-key or rgh.
If the drive were to quit, now that I have my key, if I had a fat donor drive could I just put my key in any of them or only another lite-on?
I think I flashed mine with LTPlus 251 v3.0, following an old video, I see in the firmware folder newer versions, including LTPlus 442 v3.0, should I have used that one, or is that for a different drive?

I pulled the board out. Looking closer, before I pulled it I noticed a blown, and what looks like a bulged cap. They're green Sanyos, 16V 1500uF 105 degrees C. I"ll be replacing these two and the others like it for a total of nine. Besides the solid state caps, there are (2) 6.3v 820uF tall narrow Nichicon caps, (7) short 10v 220uF Nichicons and (11) 16V 100uF KMG capacitors. These 1500uF caps are all getting replaced, maybe with something with a little higher voltage rating. Should the smaller ones be replaced as well? I'm already doing 9, I'll do all 29 if they're all failure points. If no one's ever had any of the smaller ones go bad, I'd rather not mess with them.

I'm not sure what I thought I saw that was holding down the heatsinks, I guess a reflection in the screws. It is a screw mod on the heatsinks. None of the screws were very tight at all, and the paste, while excessive, was pliable.
Is it worth trying to track down a set of x-clamps?

I undid the fan mod, It was easy to do nice and clean, as they had an add in cable, I just broke open their splice connectors and taped the wires up. It no longer sounds like a jet is getting ready to take off.

This console is currently on dashboard 17349. Is there anything to consider bifore updating it? Anything that's easier to do on this dashboard before going to a newer one?

Post automatically merged: Jan 5, 2023

After looking around, checking whats available at what rated voltages, looking through their datasheets, while there are 25V rated caps of the same size as these, 10xmm20mm, as well as 16v rated ones a bit bigger. I decided I wanted bigger caps, rated 16v or 25v, as ratings between are uncommon.
I found a good deal on a bunch of Nichicon's, way overkill, but at my door for just little over a buck a piece, 25v rated, but 16mmx25mm. I think it will clear everything being 5mm taller, and I can make everything fit, leave a little room between, etc.

Post automatically merged: Jan 6, 2023

Blown caps in the power supply too.
This thing was running fine, all but a couple games.