Xbox 360 Users: Got the RROD and are out of warranty? Fix it yourself!

[Eclipse GSX 61]

So I basically stopped playing my Xbox 360 about a year ago when the CD drive started to fail reading games. I fired it up maybe 8 months ago to play a game and then it decided to RROD (Red Ring of Death) on me. So basically I couldn't give two ****s less at the moment. Recently I've had a lot of free time and I've been bored. So I found this tutorial:

I-Hacked RROD Fix

Now before you go opening your 360 and such remember it voids the warranty. I had a launch 360 and was out of warranty anyway so I didn't really care. Basically just follow the steps on the video and it should work. Now I have heard mixed reviews from different people. For some the system works for a long time, for some a short time, and for some doing this did nothing to fix the RROD. There were two reasons the 360's failed. It either had something to do with the heatsinks (which this method fixes) or something else which I forget what it was. Basically you need to purchase $16 worth of supplies. Some Arctic Silver $10, and the screws and washers listed below the video.

Basically I just completed this in 30 minutes and my 360 fired right up no problems.

[bmatyeah]

did you have a disk scratch xbox?

[trista]

Wow... lmao i'ma try it. Mine Just started doing the Ring :c

[Eclipse GSX 61]

Originally Posted by bmatyeah

did you have a disk scratch xbox?

...meaning did it used to scratch my disks? No. It was just a drive that was prone to failing and it eventually did.

[importpower99]

I gots teh warrenty!

[**Alex**]

I hate the damn Nuva Ring of death.. I was playing at friends house and got it. Supposedly he said his boy can fix it for him. Guess it really is fixable.

[lagos]

I did the towel trick and my RROD went away, however the 360 locks up after about 15min of playing now, so it leads me to believe that it really is a heat sink issue at this point.

Going to try this repair tonight.

[DPancoast]

if anyone can do it, you can Art lol

[lagos]

Originally Posted by DPancoast

if anyone can do it, you can Art lol

I'll have it fixed tonight.

[c0nfl1kt]

Originally Posted by lagos

I did the towel trick and my RROD went away, however the 360 locks up after about 15min of playing now, so it leads me to believe that it really is a heat sink issue at this point.

Going to try this repair tonight.

warped motherboard ftw

[lagos]

Originally Posted by c0nfl1kt

warped motherboard ftw

You would need some serious heat to warp a mother board.

I took my 360 totally apart, but couldn't remove the mother board because I cant find my torx #8 (or is it a 6) screw driver bit. With the case off and the dvd drive out, it runs perfectly with no problems.

This proves that the problem is with the heatsinks not being on there properly.

[c0nfl1kt]

Originally Posted by lagos

You would need some serious heat to warp a mother board.

I took my 360 totally apart, but couldn't remove the mother board because I cant find my torx #8 (or is it a 6) screw driver bit. With the case off and the dvd drive out, it runs perfectly with no problems.

This proves that the problem is with the heatsinks not being on there properly.

It's widely known that the hardware is A)very powerful and runs hot B)the case was never designed with heat dissipation in mind C)the motherboard manufacturer never properly stress tested their material and it warps under a lot of heat. Not necessarily a lot of heat but the amount of heat over time. This causes the heatsinks to unseat when the motherboard warps(remember the motherboard unwarps once it cools) and stuff getting into the thermal paste and sometimes the heat sinks seat themselves back on top of the dirty thermal paste. I've fixed a few dozen with the same exact problem. If the heat sinks had not been properly seated since day one of the factory it wouldn't have lasted 20 seconds without turning off. The heatsinks unseat themselves after the motherboard warping. It is recommended you replace the "X" clips being the chips to keep that section of board to warp. These motherboards are not made of the same material and quality of something MSI or Asus would make motherboards out of.

[Z31Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Eclipse GSX 61

I had a launch 360 and was out of warranty anyway so I didn't really care.

Are you sure microsoft won't fix it for free?
I had the RROD for the first time on my 360 last month. I bought my 360 in december 2005 so it's 4 years old now. All I did is go to the xbox site and entered the info needed for the repair order. Printed the UPS shipping label, boxed the 260 and dropped it at the UPS store.
10 days later I get it back. I didn't pay a cent for the service. Microsoft covered it.

[TalonTsi97]

Originally Posted by Z31Fanatic

Are you sure microsoft won't fix it for free?
I had the RROD for the first time on my 360 last month. I bought my 360 in december 2005 so it's 4 years old now. All I did is go to the xbox site and entered the info needed for the repair order. Printed the UPS shipping label, boxed the 260 and dropped it at the UPS store.
10 days later I get it back. I didn't pay a cent for the service. Microsoft covered it.

A close friend of mine just told me about this as well.

[lagos]

Originally Posted by Z31Fanatic

Are you sure microsoft won't fix it for free?
I had the RROD for the first time on my 360 last month. I bought my 360 in december 2005 so it's 4 years old now. All I did is go to the xbox site and entered the info needed for the repair order. Printed the UPS shipping label, boxed the 260 and dropped it at the UPS store.
10 days later I get it back. I didn't pay a cent for the service. Microsoft covered it.

Its based on your serial number and the manufacturing date. I put my code and it told me it was out of warranty and that ms could fix it for 100$

[Foolinaround]

I had the RROD for the first time on my 360 last month. I bought my 360 in december 2005 so it's 4 years old now. All I did is go to the xbox site and entered the info needed for the repair order. Printed the UPS shipping label, boxed the 260 and dropped it at the UPS store.
10 days later I get it back. I didn't pay a cent for the service. Microsoft covered it.


This. mine was out of warranty and this fixed it no questions.

[lagos]

Thats kind of messed up. I bought mine in April of 2006, so its a few months past warranty, and the website denied my claim. I even called them and tried to argue that I bought it for xmas of 06 and that they should cover it, but they said they wouldn't without proof of a receipt.

Oh well, its actually not that difficult to fix yourself.

[Z31Fanatic]

Originally Posted by lagos

Its based on your serial number and the manufacturing date. I put my code and it told me it was out of warranty and that ms could fix it for 100$

You are right, they want the serial number of your console but you probably didn't specify that you had the RROD. There is an option at the page to select which of the option best describes your problem. When you select the RROD that $100 number changes to $0

Give it another try. There is no reason why it shouldn't work for you.

[lagos]

Originally Posted by Z31Fanatic

You are right, they want the serial number of your console but you probably didn't specify that you had the RROD. There is an option at the page to select which of the option best describes your problem. When you select the RROD that $100 number changes to $0

Give it another try. There is no reason why it shouldn't work for you.

I did specify and it still wanted to charge me. Then I called them and they still didn't want to do it. Too late now tho, I already took my 360 apart.

[martang]

It's very easy to fix I've done it on 2 of them