Red Ring of Death

[17daysolderthannes]

OK, we're all aware that the XBOX 360 is prone to the "Red Ring of Death" where 3 lights blink, indicating a "General Hardware Failure." My two questions are:

#1 what exactly happens to make the red ring of death come on? I've heard its something with the CPU flexing from getting hot and therefore maleable and reaching a point where it somehow breaks the circuit and causes failure. Does anyone know EXACTLY what the red ring of death is/how it happens from a hardware standpoint?

#2 Is this in any way fixable without ordering a straight replacement part? I've just (more or less) been hired at my local Play N Trade as the resident console repair guy and the owner was telling me someone came with an XBOX 360 with the red ring of death and therefore I might have some work. But this is permanent damage, right? This isn't an NES 72-pin connector, this is something major only Microsoft could fix, right?

Please, if anyone REALLY knows what they are talking about (not something you read about in "some dude's" blog), please clarify this so I know in the future. It may not be a 3 light RROD, it may be one of the others that are fixable IIRC, but I need to know the situation with the 3 light RROD.

[eurddrue]

I don't know if you even look, but one of the how-to videos today was, HOW TO FIX THE XBOX360 RED RING OF DEATH, heres the link,http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video ... 196119/32/

[palmertech]

There are a multitude of things that can cause this, from bad power supply, to dead parts.

However, the most common cause is this: Some early 360s had a problem where the graphics card was not properly soldered to the board. Eventually, the pins would lift just BARELY off the board, causing it to not function. There are a few ways to fix thsi, all risky:

Xclamp method: You use washers to hold the mobo in place more firmly, causing it to flex a little bit. This sometimes works, but is usually a temporary fix. On occasion, it can last for a couple years, with more washers needing to be added.

Towel method: Wrap the 360 in towels, leaving no room for airflow. Run it for 45 minutes. Let it cool off a bit for 5 minutes, then turn it on. Sometimes, the expansion caused by the heat lets the pic touch the mobo, allowing it to work. This is almost always a temporary fix, but it should be the fist thing you do, as it is pretty easy, and tells you whatthe problem is.

Heat gun: Use a REALLY hot heat gun to remelt the solder connections to the mobo. Very risky, the heat required is very tough on the components. If it works, though, it is a permanent fix.

Hope that helps!

[totokan]

Towel method: Wrap the 360 in towels, leaving no room for airflow. Run it for 45 minutes. Let it cool off a bit for 5 minutes, then turn it on. Sometimes, the expansion caused by the heat lets the pic touch the mobo, allowing it to work. This is almost always a temporary fix, but it should be the fist thing you do, as it is pretty easy, and tells you whatthe problem is

Bah! Garbage! No offense, but the information you have posted is completely faulty! The "towel method" does not, and could not under any normal circumstances (I suppose even the extraordinary circumstances entailed by preforming it) heat up the Xbox 360 to a temperature even close to the ones required to do what you say they do! In addition, it has a built-in overheating protection which turns it off if it gets to a certain point (I have experienced this, and you may have too, as the two lights on the left side blinking red)

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

There are a multitude of things that can cause this, from bad power supply, to dead parts.

However, the most common cause is this: Some early 360s had a problem where the graphics card was not properly soldered to the board. Eventually, the pins would lift just BARELY off the board, causing it to not function. There are a few ways to fix thsi, all risky:

Xclamp method: You use washers to hold the mobo in place more firmly, causing it to flex a little bit. This sometimes works, but is usually a temporary fix. On occasion, it can last for a couple years, with more washers needing to be added.

Towel method: Wrap the 360 in towels, leaving no room for airflow. Run it for 45 minutes. Let it cool off a bit for 5 minutes, then turn it on. Sometimes, the expansion caused by the heat lets the pic touch the mobo, allowing it to work. This is almost always a temporary fix, but it should be the fist thing you do, as it is pretty easy, and tells you whatthe problem is.

Heat gun: Use a REALLY hot heat gun to remelt the solder connections to the mobo. Very risky, the heat required is very tough on the components. If it works, though, it is a permanent fix.

Hope that helps!

I've heard pretty much the opposite regarding X-clamp vs. heat gun. It seems X-clamp mod is pretty much a permanent solution, whereas heat gun is usually temporary. Also, DON'T do the towel trick as your first try. Anything you do to overheat the Xbox can and will cause permanent damage. The X-clamp mod is your best bet, right from the get-go, with no overheating/heat gun. Check out xbox-scene.com for more stuff about fixing RROD's.

EDIT: @ totokan: the towel trick can work; I've seen it work. But it's a really bad way to go about it. It's very temporary (lasting usually only a few days), and does do more damage. But, if you're still in warranty, and just want to squeeze a little more life out of it, do it, and then send it in to Microsoft after it completely dies.

[totokan]

I never said it didn't work, just the explanation for it working and the reason behind it was wrong. I've yet to hear a more rational explanation.

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

I never said it didn't work, just the explanation for it working and the reason behind it was wrong. I've yet to hear a more rational explanation.

Alright, sorry. I misinterpreted what you said.

[CronoTriggerfan]

Why WOULDN'T you do the towel trick first? You guys forget, Microsoft fixes this problem for free, so why would you automatically jump to the two options that assuredly void your warranty? And why would the XClamp mod be the permanent fix? All it's doing is providing pressure to make the pins contact, right? It would make sense that a re-soldering of the component would be a more permanent fix.

[palmertech]

Of course the towel trick risky, but hey, the 360 is broken, might as well fix it for a few days while you get ready to send it to be fixed. Remember, I said it was EASY. That is why you should try it first. That way, you do not viod the warranty. And if my explanation is not right... Then WHY does it work? We are talking microscopic expansion here, I think it is very plausible.

And the xclamp just puts pressure on the board, of course re-soldering is better.

[WompaStompa11]

The xclamp and heatgun methods are both somewhat temporary (lasting a few weeks to a few months on average). The only permanent way you can fix it is either sending the 360 to microsoft, or by using professional reflow equipment to reattach the GPU

The reason 360's get the ring of death is because the xclamp that hold the gpu's heatsink puts pressure on the motherboard, and when you turn the 360 on and off, it heats and cools, which warps the motherboard under the gpu. Over time, connections between the gpu and the motherboard break; thus causing a hardware failure.

[dragonball345]

You guys are all forgetting the most important part of the xclamp method you must allow the 360 to run long enojugh without the heatsink on the gpu for the solder to remelt then you apply the clamps thereby reflowing the solder and keeping the gpu more securely in place

[WompaStompa11]

You guys are all forgetting the most important part of the xclamp method you must allow the 360 to run long enojugh without the heatsink on the gpu for the solder to remelt then you apply the clamps thereby reflowing the solder and keeping the gpu more securely in place

Yes, heating up the gpu is part of the x-clamp fix. Yet it still isn't a fully permanent fix. I have plenty of experience of repairing 360's. If you look around at forums.xbox-scene.com you will see what I mean

[vskid]

If the warranty is still valid, just send it back to Microsoft. If it is void, then you have nothing to lose by trying the other fixes.

[17daysolderthannes]

thanks for the help/suggestions guys, but all of these methods are way too sketchy/ghetto for me to do and consider it a professional repair job. I mean, if it was just a friend saying "see what you can do" its one thing, but I'm not going to take a $300 minimum system and attempt a fix that may not work and will almost definitely void their warranty, because then my local play n trade is liable (or perhaps even me) and their policy is that if they can't fix it, the customer doesn't owe them, so I could spend 5 hours, break the damn thing, and get paid nothing and owe someone $300 for a new XBOX. Again, thanks for the input, but I'm going to recommend they go with Microsoft. Hey, it was their screw up for trusting a Microsoft product to begin with IMO (and don't try to defend Microsoft, everything I have ever owned from them has been buggy, faulty, or otherwise crap). At any rate, aren't all XBOX 360s still under warranty anyway? I mean, they've only been out, what 2.5 years? IIRC the warranty is good for 3 years from the issue of the recall of the RROD with problems pertaining to the RROD, so I'm going to just suggest that and wash my hands of it. I'll poke around with an NES 72 pin all day, but I'm not touching this beast, that's just asking for trouble.

[bicostp]

You guys are thinking too hard.

Microsoft fixes this problem. For free. Just send it in and they'll ship you another one.