Fixing the xbox red ring?

[austinjames]

hammer?

[SDubATC]

Originally Posted by CJ Man

You can buy a ps3 and never have to deal with it,

Bought my PS3 and XBox 360 the same day. My PS3 stopped reading disks a few months before my XBox finally died. Bought a new XBox, but didn't buy a new PS3 as I only used it for Blu Ray. PS3 has its problems, too.

[Overflow]

Originally Posted by Mr_Draco

What you do is disconnect all of the plugs except the power cord. Take a couple towels and wrap them around the xbox for a couple hours and turn it on. It was determined early on that almost all of the RRODs was caused by the low grade solder that MS used and what would happen was the xbox would heat up enough to slightly melt the solder and loosen it causing bad connections which eventually caused the RROD. The towel trick, as already mentioned, remelts the solder and allows it to make connections again but only for a limited time. The only true fix for this type of RROD is to fix it yourself or have someone else fix it.

MS as since changed the type of solder that is used, put in a bigger fan and a bigger heatsink so it's not as common but it does still happen.

Oh. Thanks!

[PoorMansCamaro]

bump. i'm going to try this:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-...-towels/#step1

thanks to irocnroll for the link!

looks like I need to buy some screws/nuts/washers. some thermal paste and steel scrubber, and I think i'm set.

[mikeyg36]

Originally Posted by PoorMansCamaro

bump. i'm going to try this:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-...-towels/#step1

thanks to irocnroll for the link!

looks like I need to buy some screws/nuts/washers. some thermal paste and steel scrubber, and I think i'm set.

Did yours go down the shitter?

[kalimus]

I did the towel trick on my 360 and it worked for a few months after that. It didn't work on my friend's though, so we did the removal and clamp down of the GPU heatsink that PoorMan linked up, and that fixed his. I would try the towel thing first. It's pretty easy.

Originally Posted by SDubATC

Bought my PS3 and XBox 360 the same day. My PS3 stopped reading disks a few months before my XBox finally died. Bought a new XBox, but didn't buy a new PS3 as I only used it for Blu Ray. PS3 has its problems, too.

If you still have the PS3, you can buy a new laser for like 50 bucks and replace it yourself. The first model of PS3's used the same laser instead of two different lasers (or vice versa, I can't remember). It's an easy fix. Just Google-fu it.

[PoorMansCamaro]

Originally Posted by mikeyg36

Did yours go down the shitter?

it's been down for 2 years. just been really busy with life, to try to fix it. lol and I moved to computer gaming for a little bit. played star wars the old republic for a while. but i'm about ready to go back to console, now that talk about the next gens are everywhere. makes me miss my xbox. plus I want to get madden 25 for the free sunday ticket. lol maybe pick up a used forza 4.

[PoorMansCamaro]

Originally Posted by kalimus

I did the towel trick on my 360 and it worked for a few months after that. It didn't work on my friend's though, so we did the removal and clamp down of the GPU heatsink that PoorMan linked up, and that fixed his. I would try the towel thing first. It's pretty easy.



If you still have the PS3, you can buy a new laser for like 50 bucks and replace it yourself. The first model of PS3's used the same laser instead of two different lasers (or vice versa, I can't remember). It's an easy fix. Just Google-fu it.

i'll have to look up the towel trick. I keep hearing about it, but never cared to look it up.

and like I said, it's been 2 years since I've even tried to power it on. maybe it'll work for a while, without doing anything to it. lol

[mikeyg36]

Originally Posted by PoorMansCamaro

i'll have to look up the towel trick. I keep hearing about it, but never cared to look it up.

and like I said, it's been 2 years since I've even tried to power it on. maybe it'll work for a while, without doing anything to it. lol

I had a friend that did the towel trick and it ruined the whole GPU. I wouldn't personally try that one.

[PoorMansCamaro]

ok, thanks for the heads up.

[irocnroll]

Originally Posted by mikeyg36

I had a friend that did the towel trick and it ruined the whole GPU. I wouldn't personally try that one.

I dont see how the towel trick works other than overheating the system. Solder needs close to 400 degrees to melt. That thing needs to get pretty damn hot to fix solder connections without blowing one of the chips.

[strych9]

Towel trick is NOT the way to fix these. I've fixed many of these consoles by following this procedure:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-...ithout-towels/

[PoorMansCamaro]

lol, I just posted that link on post #18.

[kalimus]

Originally Posted by irocnroll

I dont see how the towel trick works other than overheating the system. Solder needs close to 400 degrees to melt. That thing needs to get pretty damn hot to fix solder connections without blowing one of the chips.

All solders are not equal, and cheaper solders have lower melting points, depending on what they are made from. Typical solder for electronics has a melting point of 300-350 degrees, but there are cheaper ones used. The cooler something is supposed to run, the cheaper that solder can be. If it's something like a game console, it's also not designed to take any kind of real shock, so they don't need to worry about solder joints in the same way as something you carry, like a laptop or cellphone.

Also, don't underestimate just how hot some electronics can get before they are damaged. The ambient temperature can be quite hot as long as the thermal paste and heatsinks are reliable. I've worked on computers that were hot to the touch on the outside, with no electronics damaged on the inside. Amplifiers for car audio are good examples. I promise you anyone running a large amp has had that thing hot enough where they wouldn't want to keep their hand on it, and it didn't break.