Red ring of Death fixes

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

Fix 1:If you have an old original xbox1 get the rubber feet off it

cut 2 of them in half.....leaving 4 bits of rubber with curved ends.

Dissasemble 360 completely and take motherboard out of case.

Stick the 4 Bits of old xbox rubber onto ram chips with double sided sticky pad.

They may already have squishy pink pads on remove these first.


Next take the other 2 whole xbox rubber feet and cut the curved ends off.

Remove xclamps from motherboard and take the hard black plastic centres out.

Place the rubber squares on the motherboard and make sure they fit nicely
in free square space on processors, not on top of any resistors etc, and fit the xclamps back on top.

Re-assemble 360, but do not put lid on.

Turn on without connecting motherboard fan.

Wait till 3 red lights become 2 red lights and then wait 1 more minute.

Turn off 360 from mains supply as it will not turn off from front button.

Re-connect motherboard fan.

Wait 10-15 mins to cool.

Turn on 360 should now work flawlessly although fan will be louder than
it was previously and will remain so.

Fully reassemble 360.


This fix has worked for me for 4 red light (flashed) xbox360's
and has continued to work for past 5 months.... and is still working now.

If you have not flashed / opened your xbox previously then send it to
Microsoft and do not even attempt this fix.


Regards

Niteman1969
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

Fix2:3 RED LIGHT FIX

The problem with the towel trick is that it heats up parts of the 360 that you dont want heating up and can cause the tiny capacitors to fall off the bottom of the mother board. they are about 1mm in size you you can forget finding them or re-soldering them back on if this happens.

They is a way to manually fix the 360 but it does involes a little skill and you must be really careful when doing this.

I have repaired loads of 360's with this method.

You have to fully take out the mother board.
Flip it over and remove the X-clamps on the back of the heatsinks covering the cpu and gpu.
Remove all the thermal paste from the cpu and gpu also remove it all from the heatsinks.

Ive found the best way to get this off is to spray some WD-40 into a cup and dip cottom buds into it (the one's that people clean there ears with)
rub the cotton buds onto the old thermal paste to get it off.

You will have to make sure that they all are very shiny clean (mirror like)

Put new thermal paste onto the gpu and cpu (small amount) and spread it evenly.

Now put the heatsinks back on the motherboard.

NOTE: it is best to throw the xclamps and the clamp bolt going into the heat sinks and relace with M5 10mm machine screws and washers but that will be a major big post to tell all that so i'll just stick to the basics.

When the heatsinks are back on Leave the motherboard out ogf the case for now.

put the front display onto the motherboard, plug in the tv cable and power cable to the mother board (DONT put the dvd drive and fans back yet)

power on the 360,

If the 3 red lights are gone put the full console back together.

If the 3 red lights are still there leave the console on a good heat resistant surface. eg NOT on the carpet or plastic. Use a chopping board or kitchen side for it.

Have the 360 powered on until the 3 red lights turn into 2 red lights
NOTE: this will only heat the GPU and CPU not the full board.

When its changed to 2 red lights leave for 1-2 mins then turn power off at the plug socket outlet.

Leave to stand for 15-20 mins to cool down then turn back on.

The 3 red lights should now have gone back to the wonderful green lights.

Put the console back together (dont forget to connect the dvd drive cables back up)

Your console should now be fixed.

Like i said previous, for the best fix swap the x-clamps for M5 10mm bolts and washers. It stops the board from warping when it gets hot and clamps the GPU and CPU down nice and snug.

The most common reason for the 3 red lights is the board warps due to center pressure of the x-clamp under heat and pops the corner of the GPU/CPU off the board (hairline), only very slightly but it does.

Hope this helps some of you 360 owners out.

chongsparks
__________________________________________________ _________________________________
Alternatively, if your warranty is still valid then send it back, they should fix their own problems. if your warranty is void then you may aswell try these.
hope this helps.

[djjwdubz]

wow thanks man i got a 3 red lights xbox360 hear its my brothers and i dont no how to fix i need some wd40 an i aint got none big thanks i was usein nail polish remover dont work that good tho realy slow

[dowlinr]

wow thanks man i got a 3 red lights xbox360 hear its my brothers and i dont no how to fix i need some wd40 an i aint got none big thanks i was usein nail polish remover dont work that good tho realy slow

3 Red lights are covered under warranty by MS for 3 years from manufacture date (see the back of your console). Unless you've modded it and it's now banned send it back. If you have modded it, send it back anyway. The worst they can do is send it back unfixed.

Btw, what are you talking about WD40 and nail polish remover for?

[thered]

i got my kids 360 chipped it broke 3 red lights


microsoft arranged for it to be collected from my house fixed it sent it back with a new 3 year guarantee all within less than a fortnight of phoning


they even posted the copy game that was left in the drive back to me, faultless service

[zelda]

hi have done all the things you said but still 3 lights no hope cheers

[thered]

microsoft will fix x-box 360's with 3 red lights even outside of the guarantee or if they are chipped as its a major fault with most older x-box 360's

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

they cant exactly steal it off you... you send it and its their choice if they want to fix a modded one but they have to fix a genuine...

[dowlinr]

they cant exactly steal it off you... you send it and its their choice if they want to fix a modded one but they have to fix a genuine...

My flashed xbox has just got an E74 error (1 red light) 22 days outside warranty. I'm sending it back as a 3 red lighter. Just need to flash the thing back now to the original firmware and remove all traces of the warranty seal.

[fatlip180]

i tried rbjtechs method for replacing the x clamps . its now on mk3. doesnt work all the time, a more permanent solution seems to be re balling. but can be expensive

http://www.rbjtech.net/xbox/clamp/XClampIII.htm

[zelda]

cheers mate will try when sober after new year .happy new year to all members

[']['enacious]

Good advice, I too have repaired countless Xbox's using this method, Although you might need to do some tweaking to get results where the bolts are concerned by either loosening them off a little.

sometimes if an Xbox just will not come back on you might want to put some weight on top of heatsinks while you wait for two red lights (Overheat) this can sometimes revive them.

I use tim cleaner from maplin for cleaning off old heat compound and I make sure I clean ALL the compund off as if there is a big glob of itcovering half the top of the processor it can transfer all that heat onto the components on top of the CPU and cause tonnes of crashes etc, so when puttin new grease on only use a small drop so it dont go too much over edges.

I mostly know how far down to tighten the bolts from experience but used to use nylon washers, all you have to remember is that they are finger tight enough to hold the heatsink LEVEL while not putting any strain on the board to allow it to warp.

[Dandaman1969]

i got myself a set of screws/nylon washers and spring washers and some thermal paste off ebay and i also replaced the 4 thermal pads on the bottom of the board and to my surprise my xbox 360 has not gone down for over 6 weeks and it gets plenty of hammer, the best 15 pounds i ever spent. They even told me how to repair it myself took me about an hour and all was good.

[pcpat]

i have been using more or less the same methods for the last year and only 3 have came back to me since.
great minds think alike bud!!!!

[AdyTheHIt]

I took the two stars off the bottom of the heatsinks, made some non conductive washers and used 8 M4 15mm screws, new heat compound, best 30 mins spent making the 360 even better..... total cost...... 30 minutes of my time top job still going strong after 4 months :devil:

[sasquash]

Tried the fix for 3 red lights, still no good, hav to bite the bullet and buy a new console. Unless anyone has any other ideas on how to fix. cheers

[smirnoff_rules]

remove one washer on each bolt . leave fan off and leave on for 2o minutes to get hot and let it cool down for an hour and put the fan back on a try again

[STU666]

I have currently got my old red ringing 360 stripped to death and have the gpu removed from it. The main problem with the xbox is the solder they use. Its all the lead-free crap thats used in electronics these days(due to some messed up law that states that anything that a child can use MUST be lead-free solder in it or something).
Im in the process of re-balling it with good old fashioned 60/40 lead/tin solder. Its a serious labour of love as i lifted two bga pads and a track, managed to fix the pads and tracks as good as new, just gotta finish re-balling the processor and the board now. Then its time to slabber the board area with some nice thick flux, very carefully place the processor back on and reflow the bga. Just hoping that i dont get any problems with the bga but if i do i reckon ill post it back to microsoft and let them sort it out lol.
Ill post back if i am successful in this crazy crazy repair.

[welshbhoy]

I fixed my boys Xbox 360 yesterday using an x-clamp fix kit I got for less than a fiver off Ebay. Took about an hour and it's done the job.

My next thing to do is updating the firmware on it for him. Read loads and still nervous about bricking it.

Can anyone say what's best to use, I-Prep or Jungleflasher? Read loads on both and a lot of folk moaning about results of both. It's a benq drive. I have a Via card installed ready, it's just taking that step...........

[dowlinr]

I fixed my boys Xbox 360 yesterday using an x-clamp fix kit I got for less than a fiver off Ebay. Took about an hour and it's done the job.

My next thing to do is updating the firmware on it for him. Read loads and still nervous about bricking it.

Can anyone say what's best to use, I-Prep or Jungleflasher? Read loads on both and a lot of folk moaning about results of both. It's a benq drive. I have a Via card installed ready, it's just taking that step...........

For a Benq I would personally use iprep. Not a lot can go wrong in dos when flashing, I've never been brave enough to try in windows with Jungleflasher.

[Daniel.]

how do i fix my 3 red lights quick as posible ?

[MikyB]

When I did this, I went from 1 red light (E-74) to 3 red lights. So I did it again and now I have 1 red light and an E-73 error. Any suggestions?

[46645]

i replaced my xclamps with new screws, also fresh arctic silver 5 thermal compound, and washers, etc.

[tango]

When I did this, I went from 1 red light (E-74) to 3 red lights. So I did it again and now I have 1 red light and an E-73 error. Any suggestions?

e-73 isnt an easy fix :(

i reflow the gpu and cpu with a rework station but some still dont work and all thats left to do then is reball which is not an easy option either

[krazylegz]

where did people get their bolts from??

i've tried B&Q, whicks and maxwells DIY and the closest i can find is M5 20mm??

[krazylegz]

anyone???????????????

[Evastar]

Try ebay it's amazing what you can get on there.

(4) Microsoft XBOX 360 Heatsink Washer Bolt Screws Pegs - eBay (item 150362467028 end time Oct-27-09 12:27:42 PDT) (http://cgi.ebay.com/4-Microsoft-XBOX-360-Heatsink-Washer-Bolt-Screws-Pegs_W0QQitemZ150362467028QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo _Games_Accessories?hash=item23024d2ad4)

[tango]

where did people get their bolts from??

i've tried B&Q, whicks and maxwells DIY and the closest i can find is M5 20mm??

u can get them from rs components

personally tho i put the xclamps back on after a proer reflow

[Duall]

i had 3 red lights on my xbox, purchased a x-clamp replacement kit and had a play.

Now it flashes 3 lights about 3 times then goes to flashing 2 lights..

any ideas?

[azzadinga]

how good of a fix is thhis x-clamp lark? is worth investing or is it jus as easy to get a new box??

[dpmc21]

Hi all this is my first post on here but I've read this thread with interest. I fix games consoles up in Newcastle for a living, and although all the fixes you mention do work they don't actually address a key issue that is causing the error in the first place. A common misconception is that the X-box gets so hot that the solder can melt, this isn't true as the lead free solder has a melting point of somewhere in the region of 220 degrees celcius, (there is a page that you can find somewhere on google where a company from japan tested how hot the 360's really run and although it's very hot it's not that hot), the problem is a culmination of things, poor design is the main flaw in that the mainboard is put under excessive stress causing it to flex at different points across the board, the X-clamps magnify this effect on the CPU and GPU, so that when it is running hot and is constantly used over a period of time these stresses cause tiny fractures in the solder on the GPU and CPU.
Some of the fixes listed here and all over the internet basically overheat the console so as to effectively but not safely re-flow the solder on the chips, doing so does work but could cause damage to other sensitive parts on the mainboard and it still does not address the issue of the board flexing. To fix the problem permanently and safely you need to re-flow the chips properly using a re-flow station and a pcb pre-heater (important tool that is often over-looked) and then set about correcting the design flaws that place the stress on the board in the first place. I know that is possibly to technical a fix for some people but it really is the only way to safely and permanently do it and once done the RROD will never return, I guarantee all my repairs and I wouldn't be doing that if I repaired them how some people suggest.

Anyway just thought I'd post that because some people may end up doing more damage to their machines than it already has and I wanted to get a post up hehe....happy gaming guys!!

[ManofScience]

Nice first post! i'm also in Newcastle, if i get any mates asking for professional repairs i'll send them your way via this board if thats ok

[dpmc21]

Yes that is fine with me, any extra work is always welcomed...Just PM me on here for contact details or directions to my shop.
Thanks

[eamonngti]

my xbox seems to be really dodgey at reading discs,is that the disc drive i assume,it reads em when it feels like it and i find i have to install everything before i play it,it seems to play easier from the hard drive,although not always

[femmym]

if i got my xbox 360 fixed propally from the ring of death how long would it last .

[short360uk]

could last, days months or even a year

[Barbrah]

My grandson's xbox has developed the ring of fire but is just out of guarantee according to MS as they have now downgraded the guarantee purchase date to 2007 he bought his in 2006. This is an appalling way to treat these youngsters who cannot afford the cost of repair which is a design fault in the first place.:thrasher:

[cunny]

The warrenty is for 3 years on E74 or RRoD. As in your case, out of warrenty, have a look for RRoD fix's, 3 red lights. Also X-Clamps is a term for search for.

[tonixi]

I don`t know if that helps but Im pretty sure that the temperature is an important factor. I can only use my Xbox 360 at night because of the high temperature on day.

[galinpizza]

whith dose metods I fix my xbox 360 wich wase whith errors : E73 and E 74

[kekoa]

to everyone trying to repair with no success, try putting less amount of thermal paste has known to work better, just cover both GPU and CPU chips completely just do not put too much to where it comes off the chips.

[2Fast2Hard]

Looks like my main problem is the GPU soldering cracking due to stress of PCB flexing. Bolting down heat sink replacing X clamps seems the way to go this will put more pressure on the GPU to pcb and so good electrical contact is maintained but need even pressure.
The flex caused by the metal case expanding under heat and the pcb screwed across it which will not expand causing stress and flex too. Dont think the X clamp is a main cause of flex but need to increase pressure once solder cracks under GPU or CPU and more even pressure to prevent flex damage.
Im going to leave the case to pcb as lose as possible on the outer attachment points (apart from psu and video connector support) so metal case can expand and contract but the pcb mounts can slide slightly to prevent PCB flex.
To boost cooling new Inter-cooler TS has separate psu now and comes on when needed much better than the old model. Maybe should have got this before it went wrong.
Dont use cheap thermal compound! Arctic Silver 5 seems to be a very good one.
These links seems to make sense
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/ring_of_light_x-clamp_fix.htm
Xbox-experts.co.uk - Tutorial - Wilhelm's improved X-Clamp Fix (http://xbox-experts.co.uk/tutorial/wilhelms-improved-xclamp-fix/) :goodnight:

[bobtracy]

Hi could someone help and tell me where im going wrong? i get to the point of 2 red lights then when i power up again it goes back to 3 again ? i did get to no red lights then put the fan back on and red lights again?? could it be the fan? please help me

[keefy7]

@dpmc21 what setup are you using for reflowing im using dark ir Achi pro machine if you use the same machine what setting are you using for ramping also are you using no clean rosin free liquid flux cheers m8

[irorwayrix]

5 year ring of death warrenty.Elites wernt supposed to get it though.Towel trick ftw