Xbox 360 heat issues

[CalcProgrammer1]

No, it has nothing to do with backups.

The 360's GPU is mounted via what is known as a "ball grid array". This means that the GPU has a grid of metal pads and the motherboard has a matching grid of metal pads. There are no pins going through the board. Instead, a tiny ball of solder is applied to each pad on the GPU. The GPU is precisely aligned so the pads on the chip match the board, and then the whole thing is run into a really hot oven, melting the solder balls and connecting the chip's grid to the board's grid. However, due to a stupid law that says you can't use lead-based solder (apparently kids these days eat their 360 GPUs and get lead poisoning), they had to use lead-free solder. Problem is, lead free solder is awful. It has a much higher melting point and if not formed at high enough temperatures becomes brittle. The 360's GPU makes quite a bit of heat while running, so each time you turn it on and off the heat on the solder joints changes drastically. Due to expansion properties of all matter, this heating/cooling cycle makes the solder connections expand and contract. Eventually the joints become so weak that they develop hairline cracks, breaking connections from the board to the GPU and causing system errors. The 360's error system sees the broken connection and signals an error message in the form of the infamous "Red Ring of Death".

You can check the error code (a 4 digit number) by holding down the Sync button and pressing Eject. You can do this 4 times and it will flash a different number. Note the number of OFF LED's (if 3 are on that means 1, because 1 LED is off) from each press to get a 4 digit code. You can then find information about your problem by google searching the code.

 

[AMDSCOrPiO]

now thats the answer i was looking for.
I will google the code when i get home. Thx.

 

[AMDSCOrPiO]

ok, i found a website that says "0103 CPU Error/ CPU Overheating - see solution for error 0102"

Using your theory the code was 0301, using theirs is 0103.

What would be a good solution here, changing the x-clamp has been done for the gpu, would heating it work?

Right now there are no lights at all, just the power light. Once in awhile its making weird noises through the tv.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

0301...yeah...>.<

0301 is apparently closely related to 0302. 0302 is the error that plagued my old console. I did get 0301 once but turning it off and back on gave me 0302 again. X-Clamp should be a good idea here. I'd like to know how the X-clamp was done on your console. There are pretty much two main ways of doing it (through board or through case) and I think through board is a lot more manageable.

Is yours:

[Heatsink]
(Metal Washer)
(Nylon Washer)
[MOTHERBOARD]
(Nylon Washer)
(Metal Washer)
[SCREW HEAD]

OR is yours:

[Heatsink]
(Metal Washer)
(Nylon Washer)
[MOTHERBOARD]
(Nylon Washer)
(Metal Washer)
[METAL FRAME (Chassis/Case)]
[SCREW HEAD]

Basically, is the screw head sticking out the bottom of the chassis or not? I think it works better if the screw only goes through the board and not the chassis.

 

[AMDSCOrPiO]

it does go through the chassis, but if i remember correctly, that was for the cpu, the gpu doesnt have the x-clamp and is on with nuts.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I would do the mod to both CPU and GPU. You DON'T want the X-shaped spring clamp (even though the mod is called the "X-Clamp Mod" it involves getting rid of the clamps and using screws instead).

 

[AMDSCOrPiO]

I just did the heat gun method yesterday, so far its working but it always use to after fresh thermal paste. The real test to see how it performs through out the week.

 

[AMDSCOrPiO]

and..... it still doesnt work, any more ideas?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

You tried heat gun and x clamp mod? If that doesn't work after doing it a few times then I would say try buying a new jasper unit...

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I just fixed my old box again, I basically just tightened the screws until they wouldn't tighten anymore...GPU especially. Thing is, if you tighten too hard it will give you an INSTANT RRoD, if you don't tighten enough it will wait like 2 seconds and then give you an RRoD. Idea is to tighten it little by little and try it each time until you get it to instantly RRoD. Then you just loosen the screw slightly and it should be at maximum possible tension on the heatsink. Test it by playing a few games and if it doesn't crash you should be good (at least for a while).