Hardware Will This Fix a RROD?

[Joe88]

most of that stuff is completely wrong
im not sure where you got it from

overheating the 360 simply does not get hot it enough
it may work in some cases, though not very common

I did the heatgun method with 0 protection around all the components (alot of people said its unnecessary) and have had no problems
I started with 1 min on the back of the board at 750F moving quickly going all over the board just heat up the board
then flip it over and go for 4 mins of 1000F moving quickly between the CPU, GPU, HANA chip
this is the video I followed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEvfBS6Tams

my 360 has been working for weeks now after heavy game play


before this I attempted the shroud mod, x-clamp fix, and overheat method
the 360 would break within a few hours to 1 day and RROD again

the fans 12v move more air out of the system
the problems is the stock fan runs at 5v pretty much all of the time and will only raise the voltage if the cpu still getting really hot
the gpu can be lava and as long as the cpu is cool enough it wont up the voltage
12v mod moves more air out of the system effectively pulling more air through the heatsinks and cooling it better, best used in conjunctions with the shroud mod
trade off is noise, it will sound a bit like a jet engine however I rather have that then a non-working 360

you could move the dvd drive out the case and replace the gpu heatsink with a cpu one with an external dvd drive
however imo its looks like crap, I would never do that if I was repairing one

 

[Maz7006]

Wow, i may just try this on one of my dead 360's

Wonder if i can find one of those heat guns here :/

 

[Joe88]

Wow, i may just try this on one of my dead 360's

Wonder if i can find one of those heat guns here :/

a hardware store should have one usually in the paint section

 

[Garchomp]

most of that stuff is completely wrong
im not sure where you got it from

overheating the 360 simply does not get hot it enough
it may work in some cases, though not very common

I did the heatgun method with 0 protection around all the components (alot of people said its unnecessary) and have had no problems
I started with 1 min on the back of the board at 750F moving quickly going all over the board just heat up the board
then flip it over and go for 4 mins of 1000F moving quickly between the CPU, GPU, HANA chip
this is the video I followed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEvfBS6Tams

my 360 has been working for weeks now after heavy game play


before this I attempted the shroud mod, x-clamp fix, and overheat method
the 360 would break within a few hours to 1 day and RROD again

the fans 12v move more air out of the system
the problems is the stock fan runs at 5v pretty much all of the time and will only raise the voltage if the cpu still getting really hot
the gpu can be lava and as long as the cpu is cool enough it wont up the voltage
12v mod moves more air out of the system effectively pulling more air through the heatsinks and cooling it better, best used in conjunctions with the shroud mod
trade off is noise, it will sound a bit like a jet engine however I rather have that then a non-working 360

you could move the dvd drive out the case and replace the gpu heatsink with a cpu one with an external dvd drive
however imo its looks like crap, I would never do that if I was repairing one

OK......well since i am on sort of a budget and you seem to know exactly what youre talking about since you've had experiences with it I'll follow this method and post back saying if my Xbox lost its RRoD

So what your saying is the motherboard taking the heat gun will fix it and 12v fan mod will reduce heat and keep the xbox running?

 

[tai1976]

Thanks very much! A full explanation with many details and good places to find the equipment

Thank you, I apologize for being so impersonal but there is a lot of information and misinformation out there to wade through.

Ultimately you have to decide what type of repair is best for you and I'm sure there are valid arguments against each of the choices I've made.

I just want to make a couple last suggestions:

1. A reflow with a heat gun still seems dangerous and just as effective as overheating the 360 directly, which does not melt the solder but rather expands the connections enough so that they stay reconnected for an undetermined amount of time. A reflow means heating up the solder enough for it to melt and reconnect existing solder points. On average solder melts at 370°F and a soldering iron typically gets to temperatures of 626°F or higher but requires direct contact. A 1000°F heat gun would require a highly concentrated application in order to melt solder points under the GPU you cannot see all the while over heating the PCB as well as anything else around it.

2. The 12v fan mod is fine but if you do not modify the shroud so that each fan is isolated to a CPU or GPU you are still going to have the majority of the air drawn over the CPU. Also, the fans will be much louder. That said, having the DVD outside the 360 is very loud as well.

3. The X-clamp fix is a no-brainer. The main advantage it gives you is the ability to easily remove your heatsinks again in the future and supposedly applies more pressure on the solder balls underneath the GPU. The CPU does not really need to be done but is usually done for symmetry. The X-clamp fix usually works well for another month or two but not without the overheating process which you will usual have to repeat again in the future.

The idea isn't really to completely fix the RROD, but to keep it away as long as possible. In my limited experience, over heating the GPU makes it run and then keeping it cool keeps it running longer.

 

[Mantis41]

Most fixes mentioned here will be temporary at best. The only real way to fix the issue is to have the chips removed, re-balled and then re-soldered using a BGA machine.

Another solution is a BGA reflow machine here:

 

[Joe88]

the only way to truly fix the rrod is to have the system reballed
this is expensive and needs to be done by a professional with special equipment

general prices are

$50 for a reflow (you could sort of do this yourself with a heatgun)
$100 for a reball

and none of those includes shipping

so at the end of the day you have to decide if its just worth it to get a $200 4GB 360 slim instead of spending all that money on an old 360 that will eventually rrod again

though there is plenty of stuff you can do on the cheap or free like x-clamp, heatgun, shroud mod, volt mod fan, to keep the systems going a lot longer

 

[Garchomp]

the only way to truly fix the rrod is to have the system reballed
this is expensive and needs to be done by a professional with special equipment

general prices are

$50 for a reflow (you could sort of do this yourself with a heatgun)
$100 for a reball

and none of those includes shipping

so at the end of the day you have to decide if its just worth it to get a $200 4GB 360 slim instead of spending all that money on an old 360 that will eventually rrod again

though there is plenty of stuff you can do on the cheap or free like x-clamp, heatgun, shroud mod, volt mod fan, to keep the systems going a lot longer

I've probably made up my mind: I'm gonna heatgun it then mod the fans for 12v and let it run until it finally gives in

 

[tai1976]

Most fixes mentioned here will be temporary at best. The only real way to fix the issue is to have the chips removed, re-balled and then re-soldered using a BGA machine.

Another solution is a BGA reflow machine here:

You're missing the point, this process costs 55 British pounds or $90. I can buy an Xbox 360 Slim for

 

[tai1976]

I've probably made up my mind: I'm gonna heatgun it then mod the fans for 12v and let it run until it finally gives in

Cool, let us know how it goes.

 

[Garchomp]

I will but probably won't be able to heat gun it till tomorrow or so because i will have to buy my own heat gun or hopefully find someone who will let me use one

 

[Garchomp]

I know this topic is as old as dirt, but i finally got my HYBRID X-Clamp fix with the uniclamp and i did everything mostly right (my arm got really tired sanding after a while). I turn on the xbox i get 4 red lights, then the RRoD lights, then 2 lights (1,3) then my xbox just cuts fan power off completely. What the heck is wrong with it?

 

[Garchomp]

please help me someone......now it just acts like it is going to cut on then goes straight to two lights!

 

[RandomOddness]

Lights 1 and 3 being red means overheating, did you apply the right amount of thermal paste?

 

[Garchomp]

yeah im pretty sure i did nothing was showing on the cpu and gpu after i applied it was all covered

 

[RandomOddness]

You only need a small amount of thermal paste too thick is just as bad as too thin, that's a possible problem. How thick would you say you put it on?

 

[Garchomp]

lets see....i put on about a pea sized portion and i rubbed it all around on the gpu, did the same for the cpu also, should i just let my xbox cool off and see if that solves the problem because i even have thermal pads on the gpu and cpu now

 

[RandomOddness]

Yes make sure you let it cool down if you keep trying to restart it you can damage the GPU, I'd say give it half an hour to cool down then try again, if it overheats again try cleaning the chips and putting on a little less paste and try not to move it around too much just enough to spead it.

 

[Garchomp]

alright thanks i have it cooling on my laptops cooler pad, ive had it that way for about 15 minutes so ill wait about 15 more and try again, thanks

Edit: yep its been 30 minutes since ive had it on and it ran for about 30 seconds, so its probably my messy thermal paste, time to reapply it and try again! at least i know it works now its just an overheating

 

[Garchomp]

Ok so my Xbox unringed and now i have them again.....heres why: the xbox turned on fine, the green light in the middle just didnt stop blinking. My DVD drive wouldn't open so i looked at the paper clip fix thinking that would work. When i moved the paper clip around i hit something and it made the screen on the TV go really fuzzy looking. I cut off the Xbox and cut it back on and again, I have the RRoD. I spend too much of my time to give up on this unit right now, so what the hell happened?