So...

I had the RROD and was chatting about it in this thread here:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=37862&t=1554663&highlight=rrod


A few days ago I took the plunge on my OOW 360 and did the x-clamp fix mod see:
http://www.youtube.com/user/lawdawg0931

Excellent resource. Very comprehensive.

While doing the fix I had the following issues/tough spots.

1. Cleaning the old thermal paste off the CPU/GPUs.
I used a citrus based cleaner and it worked great. I would recommend after using citrus base cleaners or "goo-gone" to clean the area completely with rubbing alcohol. Some replacement thermal compounds say that you should not clean with citrus based products, but they dont say why, for me it works.


2. Opening the 360 case is a pain at first. Be careful and think. there are videos showing explicitly how to open it. Use YouTube, it is worth it.

3. Parts and such can be identified here:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.php?p=23130557&postcount=64



After doing it I realized I was only dealing with half the issue and decided to up the ante and add a fan.

I checked out a couple sample units from xbox scene and decided to just cut a hole in the top and add a fan right on top of the system. I foolishly had the fan blowing OUT thinking that the back fans blew in, but later changed it to blow IN. (the back fans blow out.).


For the fan, I just tapped the DVD 12V power supply and mounted the fan on the top of the console. For me, I love the look of a big fan on top of the 360. Lets face it the 360 is the worst looking console ever, so you cannot do worse.


Also, Be very careful about metal shavings. After cutting a hole there are bound to be some.

If tapping the dvd drives 12v source be very careful about breaking the wires. I used this "mod" tapping the power, by inserting the fan wire into the plug hole. First removing the dvd wire from the plug using a very small screwdriver to pry the plastic, thus releasing the wire/connector and then reinserting the wire and the plug together.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Xbox-360-12v-fan-mod/


Anyhoo, anyone have any questions about doing such things let me know. I would love to help.


God bless and happy fixing!

If you've fixed an RROD using Xclamp or any other method, post it here! also post the rrod error code if you know it!

trujunglist: Xclamp - end of 02/09 - GPU failure 10/31/09
Down_2_Business - approx. 03/09, just RROD'ed again. Just fixed it again.
el-cheapo: RROD (Error Code 0102) x-clamp fixed 9/24 Running Still running as of 10/12/09

I recently got a rrod 360 from craigslist.The seller said it had never been opened and i found out it was still under warranty so i bought it from him and was just gonna send it to microsft and get it fixed for free.Well it came in the mail and it had been opened found out later on the guy bought it refurbished from ebay.It had a warranty sticker on it but it wasn't a valid microsoft one so there went my shot of sending it to them so i decided to open it myself to see what had been done to it.Someone did the 12V fan mod to it and did the clamp fix to it.It was still showing rrod though.I redid the whole xclamp fix and cleaned it really good and applied new thermal paste and its working again.Who ever did the xclamp fix before me put way to much thermal paste on the chips and everything got squeezed off everywhere.

I recently got a rrod 360 from craigslist.The seller said it had never been opened and i found out it was still under warranty so i bought it from him and was just gonna send it to microsft and get it fixed for free.Well it came in the mail and it had been opened found out later on the guy bought it refurbished from ebay.It had a warranty sticker on it but it wasn't a valid microsoft one so there went my shot of sending it to them so i decided to open it myself to see what had been done to it.Someone did the 12V fan mod to it and did the clamp fix to it.It was still showing rrod though.I redid the whole xclamp fix and cleaned it really good and applied new thermal paste and its working again.Who ever did the xclamp fix before me put way to much thermal paste on the chips and everything got squeezed off everywhere.

the console I did which I've written about in the thread the OP posted also had been opened and one of the X-clamps had been removed. Apparently they didn't feel the need to do the other at the time or were trying to get more money from the scammer that sold it to my roommate. When we took the heatsinks off, it was clear that they had applied way too much and had done an incredibly sloppy job with it. It took me at least an hour to clean off the gunk. I sat there and scrubbed with q-tips and rubbing alcohol until I felt it was up to standards. Apparently it was not as it RROD'd after starting up for the first try. We took it apart again and I sat there for even longer scrubbing the thermal paste off. They clearly applied too much because it had oozed over the sides - reading tells us that's a big no-no. You'd think they would A) follow directions and B) use caution anyway since it's an incredibly fragile machine, but hey, whatever. The 2nd time around, I was meticulous with applying the new thermal paste... I don't think you could get any more anal really, because I wanted it to work so as to not have to try it again.
I'm gonna open the wiki, and what I'd like everyone to do is post if they've done the fix, and how long the console has lasted. If it's died, make a note of approximately how long it was alive please. :bounce:

just a note about cleaning the CPU/GPU, try to use 95% or higher isopropyl alcohol.

and i myself use a citrus cleaner (Arcticlean CPU Cleaner Kit) so its just fine to use those.

Another thing is even after you do the xclamp fix it will still red ring the first time because there is not a good connection between the chip/thermal paste/heatsink.All the guides i looked into and the one i finally decided to use all said the same thing.Turn it back on after doing the fix and it will still red ring but leave it on and running for 20 minutes or so or until it flashes 2 red rings(overheating).After that turn it off and let it sit for about 20 minutes that way all the connections form properly.I did this and after waiting the 20 minutes everything worked just fine.Started it up and had all 4 green lights.

Another thing is not to put the white vent tube thing back in when heating it back up just leave it out that way it overheats quicker and reforms the connections that broke in the first place and caused the rrod.

Another thing is even after you do the xclamp fix it will still red ring the first time because there is not a good connection between the chip/thermal paste/heatsink.All the guides i looked into and the one i finally decided to use all said the same thing.Turn it back on after doing the fix and it will still red ring but leave it on and running for 20 minutes or so or until it flashes 2 red rings(overheating).After that turn it off and let it sit for about 20 minutes that way all the connections form properly.I did this and after waiting the 20 minutes everything worked just fine.Started it up and had all 4 green lights.

Another thing is not to put the white vent tube thing back in when heating it back up just leave it out that way it overheats quicker and reforms the connections that broke in the first place and caused the rrod.

In Lawdawg's most excellent videos he recommends the following method to "cook" the system.

With the case open and the fans DISCONNECTED let the machine run until the TWO red lights indicate overheating. This usually takes 3-5 minutes.

Then with the two lights still flashing let it sit overheating for 2 minutes. Then shut everything off and tighten the heatsink screws while the board is cooling.

Then let the system cool for 20 mins or so.

I have played a lot of Gears Of War this weekend and have noticed that the game no longer freezes on me like it did prior to the RROD.

I do think that the GPU needs it's own fan somehow, that will be tough given the position of the DVD drive.

I don't think you could get any more anal really, because I wanted it to work so as to not have to try it again.
I'm gonna open the wiki, and what I'd like everyone to do is post if they've done the fix, and how long the console has lasted. If it's died, make a note of approximately how long it was alive please. :bounce:

A couple of summers ago, when lawdawg's (and the other guys) method for x-clamp replacement was gaining traction, some of the members on xboxscene noticed that their boxes were RRoDing again shortly after the fix. At the request of me and a few other posters, the mods added a similar poll to see if any of the boxes were dying again and for how long. I'm not sure if it's still there since I think the mods eventually locked it, but out of those that bothered to report back after 4 weeks, over 60% had RRoD'ed again without being able to tweak the screws and repeating the process to bring it back to life. You should head over there to see if you can dig up that thread if it's still in the archives. The success rate also seemed dependent on the type of RRoD code as well.

In Lawdawg's most excellent videos he recommends the following method to "cook" the system.

With the case open and the fans DISCONNECTED let the machine run until the TWO red lights indicate overheating. This usually takes 3-5 minutes.

Then with the two lights still flashing let it sit overheating for 2 minutes. Then shut everything off and tighten the heatsink screws while the board is cooling.

Then let the system cool for 20 mins or so.

I have played a lot of Gears Of War this weekend and have noticed that the game no longer freezes on me like it did prior to the RROD.

I do think that the GPU needs it's own fan somehow, that will be tough given the position of the DVD drive.

Thats pretty much what i did except i did turn the fan back on but left the white vent tube that is supposed to help pull the air from the cpu/gpu out.
It took roughly 10 minutes before it flashed 2 red lights.I turned it off right after that and after cooling for twenty minutes it was fixed.I tightened the screws after letting it cool for twenty minutes.Works like a champ now.

A couple of summers ago, when lawdawg's (and the other guys) method for x-clamp replacement was gaining traction, some of the members on xboxscene noticed that their boxes were RRoDing again shortly after the fix. At the request of me and a few other posters, the mods added a similar poll to see if any of the boxes were dying again and for how long. I'm not sure if it's still there since I think the mods eventually locked it, but out of those that bothered to report back after 4 weeks, over 60% had RRoD'ed again without being able to tweak the screws and repeating the process to bring it back to life. You should head over there to see if you can dig up that thread if it's still in the archives. The success rate also seemed dependent on the type of RRoD code as well.

will do, thanks for the info. if I find it I'll put it in the wiki.
unfortunately I didn't realize there was a way to get the error code at the time I fixed mine, so who knows what the deal is on that one.

These things are not really fixable. You can do stuff to get them going again.

I have one Xenon based Xbox that I gave to my friend that had a RROD. We added a fan and a gpu heatsink off a Falcon board. (with the pipe extension). It RROD rather quickly so I decided to take a shot in the dark and reflow with a heat gun instead of overheating the chips. This is a real poor mans way of properly reflowing but it worked and it's had a few sessions put on it - I ran it for 10 hours straight with gaming sessions thrown in the mix. Then another night he played it for 4 hours straight.

I'm sure it'll RROD again.

These things are not really fixable. You can do stuff to get them going again.

I have one Xenon based Xbox that I gave to my friend that had a RROD. We added a fan and a gpu heatsink off a Falcon board. (with the pipe extension). It RROD rather quickly so I decided to take a shot in the dark and reflow with a heat gun instead of overheating the chips. This is a real poor mans way of properly reflowing but it worked and it's had a few sessions put on it - I ran it for 10 hours straight with gaming sessions thrown in the mix. Then another night he played it for 4 hours straight.

I'm sure it'll RROD again.


There are no sure things, but I bet there are a lot of people who have had great long term success with this. Depends on How bad the solder was broken, how well the fix was performed, and how cool the unit stays over time.

I have seen people in xbox forums who have had good long term success.

At any rate, blanket statements like "it will never work" are not helpful.

I should mention that my roommate leaves the rrod on pretty much 24/7 since he doesn't have a job and watches netflix til he falls asleep.

I should mention that my roommate leaves the rrod on pretty much 24/7 since he doesn't have a job and watches netflix til he falls asleep.

:)

Fix his lazy butt!!!

That is a cool point. I do worry that the board will flex again over time and reinjure the ball solder points. But hey, keep it cool. The 360 I mean! :)

These things are not really fixable. You can do stuff to get them going again.

I have one Xenon based Xbox that I gave to my friend that had a RROD. We added a fan and a gpu heatsink off a Falcon board. (with the pipe extension). It RROD rather quickly so I decided to take a shot in the dark and reflow with a heat gun instead of overheating the chips. This is a real poor mans way of properly reflowing but it worked and it's had a few sessions put on it - I ran it for 10 hours straight with gaming sessions thrown in the mix. Then another night he played it for 4 hours straight.

I'm sure it'll RROD again.
Well update on this. My friends elite purchased in December 08 got an E74 error and he shipped it back to MS. The xbox I fixed has been used nearly 30 hours in the last week (he doesn't have cable tv and watches netflix) and it's been playing games.

Whats funny is when I gave it to him after fixing it I said "this thing will make a great spare for when your new elite dies" heh