Xbox 360 heat issues

[AMDSCOrPiO]

I bought my xbox refurbished. Worked for about a month (length of warrenty), then started freezing during GTA (only game I play). Did this a couple times until it wouldn't start anymore, just the 3 red lights.
So i looked online to see what i could do, best option was to replace the old thermal paste with arctic silver. I did that, seemed to work fine but a week later the same issue occured. I took it apart again and seen the paste has boiled away. So i replaced it again. Worked for another week.

I gave up on doing that so now i bought an external fan for it. It still freezes and throws the red lights.

I really don't feel like blowing more money on it. (/shakes fist at microsoft)

Any help would be nice
thx.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

X. Clamp. Replacement.

It's a mod that costs ~5 in parts (maybe ~10 if you have to buy a torx screwdriver) and works fairly well. I got a year's worth of play out of a dead box my friend gave me (bought a new console a few weeks ago because it finally gave in). Basically you replace the spring clamps that hold the heatsinks on with machine screws. This tightens the heatsinks a lot better than with the lousy springs. You also want to overheat the GPU after installing the X clamp fix because it helps to reseat and possibly (though I doubt it) reflow the bad connections.

If you have access to a reflow station (a really high temperature heat gun used for surface mount soldering), use it. Just take the heat and blow it on the GPU, try to get it under the chip where the solder joints are.

 

[AMDSCOrPiO]

one thing i failed to mention is this replacement has been done before i got the xbox. Clearly this was the issue before it was refurbished.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Did you try any overheating stuff? Changing the thermal paste alone is pretty useless. An easy way to overheat the GPU is to unplug the fan from the back of the console, put a separate small PC fan on just the CPU, and then run the 360 until the GPU gets really hot.

 

[AMDSCOrPiO]

ive tried running the xbox without the case on and the dvd drive off to the side with a fan blowing on the whole system.... still....

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

What he means is, let the graphics processor get incredibly hot, that way it lets the solder melt and reconnect, then let it cool down, but do NOT let the CPU get hot like that...

 

[NightSurge]

First mistake: Bought a refurbished 360 without a good warranty.
Last mistake: Bought a refurbished 360 without a good warranty.

If you really want to save that much money, you should just keep saving it until you can afford the new $200 model. Or at least search for a refurb that has a 2 year warranty plan.

 

[Monkey]

I agree with surge. i purchased a 360 refurb and it gave me the death symbol in like 2 weeks. i returned it and bought the arcade version from dell for 170 and did the upgrade plan from microsoft for $30 and got a 20GB HDD. Arcade also has HDMi soo.. its a pretty sweet deal. But good luck with trying to repair it =/

 

[computer newbie]

First mistake: Bought a refurbished 360 without a good warranty.
Last mistake: Bought a refurbished 360 without a good warranty.

If you really want to save that much money, you should just keep saving it until you can afford the new $200 model. Or at least search for a refurb that has a 2 year warranty plan.

summed it up realy. iv had an over heating issue once, but its never done it again.

 

[AMDSCOrPiO]

First mistake: Bought a refurbished 360 without a good warranty.
Last mistake: Bought a refurbished 360 without a good warranty.

If you really want to save that much money, you should just keep saving it until you can afford the new $200 model. Or at least search for a refurb that has a 2 year warranty plan.

Thx for the hot tip

As for the solder points coming loose... i dont see how that is remotely possible.
Could it be from playing 'backups' ?