Is Your Xbox Flashing 3 Red Lights?

This is part of a collaborative effort in helping people understand and fix their 360s. For now, this thread only covers the red rings of lights issue. Let me know if I've been mistaken or you'd like to add something helpful to the list. The more info here, the better.

Why's my Xbox 360 flashing red lights?
A general and sometimes common issue (unfortunately). Some refer to it as the Rings of Death (RoD). The most common you'll see on the internet (at least) is 3 red rings with error code 1020 because you will find that most people seek help and fixes for this one as it is a general hardware failure. This can be a big problem. If you still have your warranty, contact Microsoft. If you don't have your warranty, you're on your own (Pay or fix yourself).

Take a look at this Xbox 360 error code FAQ where you can find your ring of light error and accurately (almost) discover what exactly is wrong with it
http://forum.xbox-sky.com/showthread.php?t=21505
Remember to check out the secondary codes for a better look at what�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s really wrong.

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NOW, if you've got RoL error (3 rings or even 2 -left side- for overheating), you may see the following methods being thrown around to get your 360 working again. To of my knowledge and research, I've ordered these from not the best fix (top) to best fix (bottom)

Towel Trick �?¢â�??¬â�?��? (Examplehttp://www.youtube.c...h?v=31tvXu34T8Q) This is only a temporary fix and what I would consider HARMFUL to your Xbox 360. You are overheating the entire 360 and possibly damaging other components in order to fix the bad solder joints it�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s supposed to overheat and rejoin to the board. People like this because it doesn�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t technically void your warranty because you don�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t have to open your 360.

Heat Gun / Hot Air Gun Method �?¢â�??¬â�?��? (Examplehttp://video.google....389051301515628) Can be dangerous if you don�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t know what you are doing. Lots of people have their own methods to this but I will just share mine: As you know, you gradually heat the board but how do you know what temperature to blast the chips at so that the solder is soft enough to join the board again? What I did was get a piece of test solder (if you have a spare computer chip you can blast, even better). Now, pretend it�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s on the 360 mother board. Gradually warm it up. Now, I set my heat gun to about 450F-475F (as my higher temp) and in a circular motion, timed the amount of time it took for the test solder to melt/get soft enough to reshape. This is your target time for the chips on the board. Now you know how long it takes and what you have to do and get those broken points joined back to the board. You should get it right the first time. The more and more you go back and try to heat gun your board, the less likely it will fix your problem. It�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s already a lot of heat and stress on the board. Don�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t give it anymore than it has to. Also note that the hot air can contain charged ion's,which can mess up your gpu. See the chart below for more info on time it should take for the solder to reshape (jonko).This method may not be so forgivable if you mess up.

X-Clamp Replacement �?¢â�??¬â�?��? This is probably your best bet if you don�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t have a warranty left and/or your warranty is voided. Basically, there are these X-Clamps on the bottom of your motherboard that hold the 4 screws for your CPU and GPU heatsink. What happens here is a design flaw with these X-Clamps. It�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s putting too much stress on the board where those 4 screws are located and it is warping the motherboard. You need to get those things off and replace them with screws that are the same height and stuff as the X-Clamps but these won�?¢â�??¬â�??¢t make your board warp. Once you�?¢â�??¬â�??¢ve got your replacement screws in. You disconnect the fan and purposely let the Xbox360 overheat. After a given amount of time, the 360 gets hot enough to warp the 360 motherboard straight again thus repairing the damage done by the X-Clamps. This method has a very high success rate.

There are 2 methods to this: RBJtech's(http://rbjtech.bulld..._com/XClamp.htm) and Lawdawg0931's(http://copronymous.c...r-the-3rlod.pdf)
Check out both and see which suits you. (Lawdawgs might be a bit more n00b friendly). All credit goes to these guys for the great method and you can thank them on Xbox-scene.

BGA Reballing �?¢â�??¬â�?��? Just thought I�?¢â�??¬â�??¢d mention it since it�?¢â�??¬â�??¢s out there but you will need some expensive equipment and is not for the average human being. You can Google it if you like but only serious professionals who are into this kind of thing know what to do. This is quite the permanent fix. You basically desolder the GPU chip and redo the complete soldering of the chip to the motherboard yourself (like your a machine in the M$ factory that installs the chips to the board - only slower and better).

Others There are also other mods to aid these methods, these include:
- Eraser Mod(http://forums.xbox-s...howtopic=591894) - Glue erasers on top of RAM chips to press against motherboard
- AS5 Replacement - Redoing the thermal compound between GPU & CPU using Arctic Silver. Some people only do this method and it cures their ring of light issue. It depends on the severity of the issues, if your GPU has foil on it (rare), or if your board came from the factory with either not enough of compound or a sloppy job.

I do not claim any of these methods my own. All credit given to their repsected authors. I've just pulled what I've found on the internet together in order to help people who may not have the time to search around or may not be aware of all the options available to him/her. I've added my own summary to methods and personal advice without being biased (I hope). Just from research and what people have experienced, some options may be better than others. Thank you to all and good luck to everyone trying to get their 360 back in working shape.

iBotModz CBox

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