Fixing Red Rings of Death

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beckett360

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Aug 20, 2009
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I always heard that people have fixed red rings on the Xbox 360 before. People have mostly opened it up.

My Xbox recently got the red rings and I don't really want to send it in, mainly because my warranty has expired.

I heard that overheating it for a while has fixed the Red Rings for a while. Is this really possible? And if not are there other ways to fix it?
 

grimsprice

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Jun 28, 2009
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There are Youtube videos showing people fixing it with the towel trick so why not, tho i've heard it only works for a while.

And welcome to the escapist.

Don't feed the trolls.
Don't mind the dead bodies, MaxtheReaper and Neonbob can get messy.
Don't give out your address.

...and you'll be fine. Mostly.

And... Use the searchbar, there was a RRoD thread just last night.
 

Danz D Man

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Jun 26, 2008
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In some cases, overheating your xbox (by wrapping in a towel for extended periods of time or something to that extent) will reset the chips in the xbox making it playable for another week or so. I know someone who has been doing this for over a year now. However, it doesn't work for every case of the RROD. Hope this helps. It's not like trying to overheat it will hurt you, your warranty's expired and your xbox is broken :p There's plenty of tutorials on youtube.
 

Snowalker

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Nov 8, 2008
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Umm... Welcome to the escapist *tries to hide the bad stuff*

Your going to like it here kid *dead head slips out*

nvm that, that was a stage prop, completely fake, you know, just like the cake.

So enjoy your stay here, and maybe you'll make it big and even over shadow Max The Reaper


*Max stabs me*
 

Internet Kraken

Animalia Mollusca Cephalopada
Mar 18, 2009
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grimsprice said:
Don't feed the trolls.
Don't mind the dead bodies, MaxtheReaper and Neonbob can get messy.
Don't give out your address.
Anyone else sick of this joke?

Anyways, it sucks that your warranty expired. Maybe you could try using Google to find a way to fix it. But I think you might just be out of luck. Sorry.
 

Neonbob

The Noble Nuker
Dec 22, 2008
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I think I heard somewhere that overheating fixed a problem with a cold solder or something like that.
It actually worked for me on my first xbox, but then it died, and could not be saved.

Send yours in.
I'm kinda flattered that I made it into the opening joke, honestly.
 

Froobyx

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Mar 22, 2009
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(Off topic: LOL @ Neonbobs avatar!}

Anyways, I heard wrapping it in a towel and turning it on for a while works, I didn't try it with my old 360... Just made my ex fork out for a new one :D
 

the farkinator

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Nov 6, 2008
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Overheating stuff isn't usually a good idea. Although nothing's completely crazy. My friend flushes bad CD's in the toilet in order to clean them off. (No seriously, we did this to Halo 2... the game works, but I am not sure it will work on anything newer...)
 

beckett360

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Aug 20, 2009
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I heard that the towel trick sometimes worked forever. I dont know, Im doing it now anyways.
 

megapenguinx

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beckett360 said:
I always heard that people have fixed red rings on the Xbox 360 before. People have mostly opened it up.

My Xbox recently got the red rings and I don't really want to send it in, mainly because my warranty has expired.

I heard that overheating it for a while has fixed the Red Rings for a while. Is this really possible? And if not are there other ways to fix it?
Look if you overheat your console you're basically just temporarily re-soldering things. But the thing is this will fix it for a week tops before it dies completely and it will cost even more to fix. Another problem with the towel method (overheating), is you run a high risk of starting a fire and melting your Xbox. Those people that you see opening up their console? Yeah their little modifications are doing nothing except maybe getting them banned from Live (that's if they installed an internal fan or anything that draws power from the system internally).
The best thing to do is to send it in, even if the warranty is expired it'll be cheaper and more reliable than anything you see on youtube.
 

beckett360

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Aug 20, 2009
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Well there is this one videogame store that fixes Red Rings for 60 bucks. Better than paying 100 to send it in I guess.

Would doing that be any good?
 

Aitruis

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Mar 4, 2009
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For the love of god DO NOT towel it. You're taking a huge risk of it catching fire.

I'm an electronics engineer. I've fixed my 360, and several of my friends, because I can, it's cheaper, and I don't have to wait months to get it back.

This is the best method to fix the RROD:
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/ring_of_light_x-clamp_fix.htm

That guide does a pretty good job of leading even an inexperienced person through fixing one.
And no, that guide is NOT mine, but like I said, it's a good one for people that have never worked on something like this before.

As Llamma puts it: "Many tutorials tell you to unplug your fan and turn it on until it overheats. There is one major flaw with this approach. The thermosistor for the overheating protection of the 360 is contained within the CPU. The problem is that the CPU overheats without any airflow before the GPU is able to get sufficiently hot to "reflow" the BGA solder connection that has failed."

Simply put, you only want heat on the GPU. Heating the whole thing, like with the towel, runs the risk of overheating and damaging the rest of the hardware.

Also, you DO NOT need any of the special case tools. All you need to open the case is a small flathead screwdriver, and a bit of patience.

*Edit*-Forgot to mention, if done right, this is indeed a permanent fix. You won't have to open it up every week to do it again. If you did it right, that is.
 

teutonicman

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Mar 30, 2009
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Dude you don't have to pay if you 360 gets red rings. Or atleast I didn't when I was out of warranty.
 

beckett360

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Aug 20, 2009
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Aitruis said:
For the love of god DO NOT towel it. You're taking a huge risk of it catching fire.

I'm an electronics engineer. I've fixed my 360, and several of my friends, because I can, it's cheaper, and I don't have to wait months to get it back.

This is the best method to fix the RROD:
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/ring_of_light_x-clamp_fix.htm

That guide does a pretty good job of leading even an inexperienced person through fixing one.
And no, that guide is NOT mine, but like I said, it's a good one for people that have never worked on something like this before.

As Llamma puts it: "Many tutorials tell you to unplug your fan and turn it on until it overheats. There is one major flaw with this approach. The thermosistor for the overheating protection of the 360 is contained within the CPU. The problem is that the CPU overheats without any airflow before the GPU is able to get sufficiently hot to "reflow" the BGA solder connection that has failed."

Simply put, you only want heat on the GPU. Heating the whole thing, like with the towel, runs the risk of overheating and damaging the rest of the hardware.

Also, you DO NOT need any of the special case tools. All you need to open the case is a small flathead screwdriver, and a bit of patience.

*Edit*-Forgot to mention, if done right, this is indeed a permanent fix. You won't have to open it up every week to do it again. If you did it right, that is.
Thats cool. I glanced at the website. But do I need to buy hose tools or are they common in any household?
 

zacaron

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Apr 7, 2008
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welcome to the escapist hope you enjoy your stay
...what do you mean 'was that hitler'?
of corse not were um...having a party... and that was a hitler gram...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L203I2zDFFs
 

Hazy

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Jun 29, 2008
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Froobyx said:
I heard wrapping it in a towel and turning it on for a while works
And the other times, You may need this:

As well as a good excuse as to why the house burned down while you were playing Xbox. Kidding, I hear it actually does work.

Anywho: Op, I would normally suggest turning it over to Microsoft, but since the warranty expired, that will do you no good. Try searching Google for a remedy.
 

Birras

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Jun 19, 2008
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zacaron said:
Welcome to The Escapist, I hope you enjoy your stay
...What do you mean 'Was that Hitler'?
Of course not! We're um...having a party... and that was a Hitler gram...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L203I2zDFFs
You might as well tell him right away that we transplanted Hitler's brain into the body of a great white shark, otherwise he might find the Swastika flower arrangement shown here [http://nazigarden.ytmnd.com/] to be a bit offensive.

In regards to the towel trick, I did it when my 360 Red Ringed. It worked for about one week in two hour increments before I broke down and covered her in bubble wrap to be fixed by the surgeons.
 

Paul

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Aug 21, 2009
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Check what error code you get. If it's an E74, you're in luck! Microsoft have a three year warranty against the E74 error, that is included for free. Unless you have a launch console, you can get it repaired easily.

I wouldn't try the towel trick or any of that stuff. It might cause more trouble in the future.
 

beckett360

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Aug 20, 2009
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xMP44x said:
Check what error code you get. If it's an E74, you're in luck! Microsoft have a three year warranty against the E74 error, that is included for free. Unless you have a launch console, you can get it repaired easily.
How do I tell what my error code it is?