Hey gang, I know RROD question. This one is a bit different though. I figured rrod's aren't uber tough, so I got 2 360s that were rrod specifically to try out repairs.
Now the user named "P!nk throat" on some repair forum has a video which show her popping the the heatsinks off adding on the new thermal paste after cleaning the die off and swapping the xclamps for m8 screws. She cooks the 360 without the fan shroad until the the lights become two, tightens the bolts, and magically it works.
on Llamma.com they have a similar tutorial, but they drilled out the bottom of the case and slid bolts through the holes. They did everything else the same except they pulled the fan and had it blowing down on the die without the heatsinks...
Okay so which is a better way to do it. I tried P!nk Throats way a bunch of times and it didn't work. The unit didn't come back up and went back to the 3 rrod. Luckily one of the cases someone had already drilled out but got thermal paste all over everything.
Anyone with experience, input is appreciated. YES I ALREADY KNOW about the warrenty and crap, the units I got came with no seals and were already dismantled.
when tightening the screws on the heatsink make sure they are not too tight and that they are evenly tightened. and either way would work but attaching the heatsink and overheating is the way i used to do it.
Hmm. I've tried these method and nothing seems to work. I let 'em cook. I let 'em cool down. I loosen, I reapply paste, I tighten the works. Maybe these things are hideously stubborn....
I do this for a freakin living basically, do this:
first, make sure its actually 3 light RROD, I can't tell you how many 4 light people have sent in their XBOX 360 (4 light is the A/V cable unplugged)
get 8 screws and 16 nylon washers and 16 metal washers (the eBay kits are the best way to go unless you know exactly what to get to bulk buy the parts, trust me, Home Depot is more expensive).
Take the X-Clamps off, put a rice grain sized dab of thermal paste on both bigger chips and a half-grain sized piece on the little chip (there are 2 under the small aluminum heat sink). Attach the heatsinks back with 1 nylon and 1 metal washer on each side of the board (nylons touch the board, metal washers touch the heatsinks) and TIGHTEN in a cross fashion (go diagonal, then across, then diagonal, repeat 2 or 3 times to max tightness). If you are using the correct washers, you cannot overtighten them (unless you used some sort of crazy power drill or something and actually crushed the board, use a manual screw driver in other words). Now, plug the DVD drive back in (unless you want to get booted from XBOX live) and plug the fan in and place it so it rests on the DVD drive and only cools the larger heat pipe heatsink (I'm assuming these are pre-recalled 360s, though I have had to fix 2 post recall ones). Let it run for 20 minutes with the shroud removed and the fan only blowing on the CPU (heat pipe heatsink) and you should get either green lights or still get 3 lights, if you get 2 you copulate up somewhere. 2 lights will not let the board get hot enough because it detects it is overheating and therefore prevents it from operating normally. If you are not getting 3 red lights or normal green lights something is wrong and you screwed up. After the 20 minutes are up, turn it off and let it cool for 20 minutes. About half the time it will give 3 lights through the whole process until after the 20 minute cooldown. Now, replace the cooling shroud and test it. You will notice everything doesn't line up very well (power plugs, etc) due to the pan head screws, this is normal, its really not a big deal. Once you replace all the screws it will fit fine. The extra tension in the board is actually necessary to ensure the CPU and GPU don't separate from the heatsinks like the x-clamps allowed them to in the first place. Careful though, only tighten the 6 case screws all the way, only tighten the rest until they touch the case because overtightening the other screws could actually crack the board (though I have never done it, even when I was not paying attention and just tightening away). Remember too, the fix doesn't ALWAYS work, sometimes the problem is something else, but that's like 3% at the most.
Okay, I'm not some hack. I have done plenty of repairs in the past, just none of the 3 rrod. I let them cool. they dont work. I reapply the thermal paste. Nada. It is a 3 rrod, one is is 0021 and the other is a 0020.
I have done exactly that. They still dont seem to work.
weaponepsilon wrote:
I have done exactly that. They still dont seem to work.
No, you haven't, you specifically stated you turned it on until the 2 light RROD came on, that is NOT what you do, you rest the fan on the DVD drive so that it blows ONLY on the heat pipe exchanger over the CPU (not the small aluminum one under the DVD drive). Doing this should keep it running either normally or in 3 light RROD for the 20 minutes you need to overheat the processor.
You are correct, I did that for the one using "P!nk Throat's" tutorial. I used the other tutorial from llamma which has you do that. I let it cook for 20 mins and then powered down to cool it. Still nada. I guess I get tired of conflicting information which hundreds say their tutorial is best. If you want, I'll sell them to you.
well at this point I can't be sure if you may have permanently damaged them somehow by doing it incorrectly multiple times. To be honest, I would never buy an XBOX 360 that has had repairs attempted by anyone but a Microsoft certified technician.
I don't blame you. I don't like picking up someone else's project, but they could be useful for their drives or casings. Either way, you have been helpful. I did the repair attempts only twice. Once using the one way suggested by Pink and Llama effectively.
If you were interested in them, I'd consider a trade since you may not want to pay actual cash for them.
RROD question. This one is a bit different though. I figured rrod's aren't uber tough, so I got 2 360s that were rrod specifically to try out repairs. 