What kind of heat gun for rrod fix?

[stuntpenguin007]

My 360 got the rrod for the second time, but this time its not under warranty. What kind of heat gun should I get for this? (wattage and brand helpful)

I was planning on getting one eventually I guess, and this will give me an excuse to buy a friends broken 360 and make it into semi portable form.

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

Don't use a heat gun. Do the standard X-clamp replacement. xbox-scene.com for details.

[stuntpenguin007]

thanks. I just disassembled my 360 and popped off the x-clamps in preperation to heat gun it, but then I decided to put it back together with the heatsinks and x-clamp to try it out one last time and so far its been working for about 30 minutes.

Should I still do the x-clamp mod?

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

Should I still do the x-clamp mod?

Once it dies on you again. It might be good for awhile but the RRoD should come back pretty soon, and when it does, that's when you apply the X-clamp mod. It's not too difficult. Takes around $2 in parts, and some time. When I streamline the process, I can go from unopened RRoD Xbox 360 to re-assembled working Xbox 360 in under an hour.

[Gooche]

The x-clamp replacement is the best place to start. However this isn't always permanent. Some pesky units keep red ringing...that's because the solder probably cracked...

The best option is a reflow machine, but I think the lowest price on a cheap one is $150. With these you can locallize the heat.

If you can't get a reflow machine any heat gun with dual heat should work. You want to get putty and foil as well. What you want go do is mask off the area around the CPU GPU and scaler chip. In any case what I mean is the masked off area will be a bowl.

EDIT...here are instructions I used when my last x-clamps replacement would not stick.

http://ioverflow.net/xbox360/heatgun1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thick Plastic

Then Foil:

STEP 5 : Burn baby burn!

You are now ready to apply the heatgun method to your board. Place the board on a flat surface, like a table. MAKE SURE THAT your surface is STABLE! Once the board is hot, the solders will be quite soft and easy to wreck; Surface MUST not move - otherwise you'll probably irreversibly damage your Xbox.

Start your heatgun on LOW (on my gun that was 500º F) and heat up your board for about one minute, applying circular movements to heat up evenly and slowly. I set the heatgun about 4 inches from the board (a fists' height).

After that, set your heatgun to HIGH (my gun : 1000º F) and keep on making circles for another 3 minutes. After that, turn the gun back to low, and gradually lower the board's temperature by applying less and less heat. I kept on heating the board for 2-3 minutes while progressively raising the heatgun from the board to do so.

NOTE : Not all heatguns are born alike - you might need to adjust and/or experiment depending on the power of your gun.

You're done! Don't touch anything! Don't touch the table! Don't let kitty or your kids approach the table! Let the setup cool down for 45 minutes.

[stuntpenguin007]

thanks for that. If my 360 starts rrod-ing again I'll do that. Is sticking it in the oven (just the motherboard / no heatsinks) and covering it in tinfoil like the picture a stupid idea? Some people say it works for them.

[Gooche]

thanks for that. If my 360 starts rrod-ing again I'll do that. Is sticking it in the oven (just the motherboard / no heatsinks) and covering it in tinfoil like the picture a stupid idea? Some people say it works for them.

As a last ditch effort my friend did that with success...but that is really dangerous as the caps can burst since you have no way of localizing the heat.

In either scenario if you don't have something blocking the heat out of non wanted areas you run the risk of heat getting in the parts and staying there because of the foil.