Table of Content
* Possible Methods to fix Three Red Lights Of Death
o X-Clamp Replacement
o Eraser Fix
o Thermal Compound replacement
o Heatgun Method
o Towel Fix
o 12V Fan Mod
o GPU Reballing
Introduction
Here i?¢â??¬â??¢m going to explain something about the dreaded Red Lights Of Death, that you could possibly encounter during the lifetime of your Xbox 360.
In case you ever encounter an error-message on your Xbox 360, do not proceed with these instructions right away. Firstly read the error-code page, which?¢â??¬â??¢ll help you determine which part of your Xbox 360 could have broken down.
Error code page : (-link-)
Once you have determined an error-code, decide which method is the most appropriate for you to fix the issues. Ofcourse you?¢â??¬â??¢d want your Xbox to work for a longer period so decide here again which method will let your Xbox 360 last longer. If you are going to completely disassemble the Xbox 360, because you are going to do the eraser mod, X-clamp replacement, or the thermal compound replacement, be sure to read the proper instructions. (Tutorials : X-360 Inside&Info)
Warnings
As with most tutorials on 360Hax.com. This is a not completely mine, it?¢â??¬â??¢s a compilation of many peoples?¢â??¬â??¢ ideas, tutorials, theories and methods that have been tested by many others, but as a whole ?¢â??¬â?? seem to benefit the entire Xbox Scene community. Do this at your own risk, only if you?¢â??¬â??¢re ?¢â??¬â?? ?¢â??¬???Out of Warranty?¢â??¬?. I take no responsibility if you destroy your Xbox even more. If you do not have the technical knowledge required, you could destroy your Xbox even further by connecting wires faulty. You must know what you are doing here, or else the chance of breaking your 360 even more is high.
Possible Causes
The problem could be that lots and lots of consoles started failing due to problems with the Xbox 360 solder, the xbox360 is using a lead free solder is suffering heavy stress due do constant overheating of the consoles. The solder being used was low quality because there is a law in the US that prohibits the use of LEAD on electronic components used by children, and therefore Microsoft is using some really crappy solder for the GPU, resulting in all those failures we are seeing, (especially 0102). In hotter country?¢â??¬â??¢s like Brazil it?¢â??¬â??¢s common to see temperatures going above 40????ºC especially in summer, and thus the high rate of "3 red lights of death".
The brutal difference between the lead free solder and the normal one with lead that the industry knows and is used to work for years.
The problem could also be, a major design flaw in the Xbox 360 (found by Dokworm). The answer is the heatsink clamp design.
?¢â??¬???We seem to be seeing consoles where the motherboard has flexed and a few of the solder balls or pads have given way at the corner of the CPU or GPU as pointed out by SMTRework and others.
Now why would a motherboard flex?
If you look at the clamp design, *all* of the pressure to hold the heatsink down is in one tiny point. The centre of the X clamp has a plastic 'spacer button' that sits hard against the bottom of the motherboard and that causes all of the stress to push upwards (towards the bottom centre of both the GPU and the CPU.)
What is the reaction to that upward force?
The corners of the motherboard flexing in the opposite direction. Because the motherboard is not screwed down to the chassis in the areas around the CPU and GPU the natural reaction is for the board to flex downwards slightly because of the pressure in the middle pushing upwards. When the console gets hot, the solder balls may become slightly softer allowing the board to flex further and the break occurs. Even if the soldering was perfect the poor design of the heatsink clamps means the corners of the CPU and GPU are going to be under tension.?¢â??¬?
Basically what dokworm found out was that the ?¢â??¬???X?¢â??¬? clamps are a serious design flaw. They force the motherboard to flex up at the anchor points, causing solder points to become compromised over time/heat. So, we will throw away these ?¢â??¬???X?¢â??¬? clamps, and replace them with other hardware that distributes the ?¢â??¬??clamping?¢â??¬â??¢ of the heat sink uniformly.
The problem could also be, that Microsoft forgot to remove the foil on your heatsink. Some people seem to have this problem, and once the foil has been removed, and new thermal compound has been applied to the chip, it seems to resolve the 3RLOD.
To watch what the protective foil is on your heatsink :
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=B-wyBafJpSI
If you find this foil on your heatsink, NEVER forget to re-apply the thermal compound!
Methods to fix Three Red Lights Of Death
X-Clamp Replacement BY LAWDAWG0931
First off, we are reading this because you have a problem with your Xbox 360. Either it is caused by a solder problem, where points on the GPU/CPU have worked loose ?¢â??¬â?? or a temperature problem causing the same result: The 3 Red Lights of Death. First thing we need to do is open the 360 & remove all the internal parts.
When you are going to replace your X-Clamps, these parts are necessary for this mod, and they are very inexpensive. You will need the following parts:
a) 8 M5-.80 x 10 Machine Screws
16 x #10 Flat Washers ?¢â??¬â?? Nylon 
c) 16 x 5mm Flat Washers ?¢â??¬â?? Metal
d) Artic Silver 5 : Thermal compound (For re-applying thermal compound)
e) Arctive Silver 1 & 2 (For cleaning chips and heatsink)
Sometimes you are just not able to find the right length of bolts, and not being able to find nylon/fibre washers. I recommend working out the best method to do it for yourself, with the parts that are available to you.
Once you have all the parts removed, DVD drive out, fans off, motherboard removed?¢â??¬?¦.then remove the ?¢â??¬???X?¢â??¬? clamps holding the heat sinks to the motherboard. (read X-360 Inside & Info tutorial)
Once the X-Clamps are removed, the heatsinks will just come off. Just lift the heatsinks off the cpu/gpu.
At this point, you need to clean the old thermal compound off of the chips and the heatsinks. Be very careful in how you do this, not to damage the chips themselves. I used alcohol & Q-tips, and patience. Don?¢â??¬â??¢t rush this part, as it is crucial for the surfaces to be perfectly smooth for optimal conduction of heat.
(Note: The thermal compound, is the material on the chips (in between heatsink and chip). This is to conduct the heat.)
After a quick clean, they should look similar to the next picture. Use ArctiClean 1 to get a good clean surface. This next picture is after using a credit card to remove excess paste, but before using ArctiClean 1
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This part is completely optional. I wanted to make the contact surface of both heatsinks as smooth as possible, so I decided to lap the heatsinks. There are plenty of guides on the internet describing these methods in great detail.
Basically it involves wet sanding the heatsinks on a flat surface (glass, or similarly flat surface), to remove any possible rough grooves in the heatsink. I started with 600 grit, and moved onto 800, and finished with 1200 grit. You could go to 2000 grit if you want.
The following picture shows the finished result. They are smoother than they used to be before lapping.
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Cleaning the CPU, GPU, and heatsinks.
Use a toothpick or similar to remove any large chunks before using ArtiClean 1 to make it easier. ArctiClean 1 and 2 work well for this part. I used both parts on the cpu, gpu, and heatsinks
After you have cleaned the chips & and you have all necessary equipment for the fix, here?¢â??¬â??¢s is an illustration with the hardware replacing of the ?¢â??¬???X?¢â??¬? clamps.
Note that the Nylon washers are up against the motherboard on both sides ?¢â??¬â?? not metal. With two washers (1- nylon, 1- metal) on each side of the board, this matches the original spacing provided by the ?¢â??¬???X?¢â??¬? clamp posts we have removed. In my situation with these parts listed, I could tighten down the #5 bolts completely because the spacing was identical to what it was before.
Re-applying thermal compound
Apply the thermal compound to the CPU and GPU. I used Arctic Silver 5. It is the recommended thermal compound for this fix.
Continue here (click)Re-attaching the heatsinks
Here is probably the most important portion of this tutorial. Once you have replaced the heat sinks like the illustration above (don?¢â??¬â??¢t tighten the bolts down ?¢â??¬â?? just screw the gently for now), set the motherboard back into the bottom case. Don?¢â??¬â??¢t screw it down yet. Replace the Power button board with the lights, so we can see when the 360 overheats. Plug in the DVD & set it aside on the edge of the case (not sure if this is necessary). Leave the fans off for this part. The video plug must be inserted or the 360 will auto-shut off, and the power brick must be plugged in. Turn on the Xbox & most likely you will see the 3RLOD ?¢â??¬â?? Red Lights Of Death. Without the fans, it?¢â??¬â??¢s a matter of time until the box overheats. When this happens, it will change to only 2 lights (both left side lights). I waited 2 minutes exactly, then shut it off.
This allows the solder problems to fix themselves by getting hot enough to re-solder themselves in place. As this is cooling off, take the board out to where you can tighten the M5 bolts down snug. Don?¢â??¬â??¢t over-tighten them.
(Note: Don?¢â??¬â??¢t over tighten any one bolt straight away. You need to allow even pressure on all 4 corners of each heatsink. Turn the screw?¢â??¬â??¢s similar to a car tire, alternating the bolts you turn in a sort of star type pattern to apply even pressure on the cpu/gpu.)
Let it cool down completely, then put everything back together. Any cooling mods that you could add to this fix will only help the situation. There are several out there: 12V mod to the existing fans, aftermarket fans, or even the cut-out of the case itself. All will help the temperature overall. Now cross your fingers & hope you?¢â??¬â??¢ve joined the others who?¢â??¬â??¢ve been blessed by this fix.
Eraser Fix by Chiaroscuro
Ever wondered what's going on with your 360 when you get a 0102 error?
Processor problems? no.
GPU problems? no.
it's GPU Memory related! and this is how you can attempt to fix it WITHOUT the hot air gun.
All you need is:
- one rubber eraser
- one stiletto (or a very sharp penknife)
- one double face tape
- all the stuff to open the 360
Cut the rubber eraser in 4 pieces of 4 millimeters high.
Get the double face tape on the memory modules than tape the rubber eraser on them.
Now Close your 360.
Turn the 360 on.
Still 3RLOD? Don't worry. Wait 20 minutes with the console turned on.
Turn off the console.
Wait 2 minutes so it can cool down.
Turn it on.
Done, fixed with no pain nor risking to burn sensitive components.
Thermal Compound Replacement by Zilli0n
Most people have a fair knowledge of how to apply thermal paste and proper procedure, so if you do most likely you can just skim by and see the illustrations for insight. To the other folks who have no idea what this is or getting into this is for you. Initially this is what your XBOX 360 thermal paste under those fancy heatsinks appear to look like some one took some paste, put a fat glob on the GPU, yet hardly enough of the XCPU, threw the heatsinks on their and passed it on to the next warehouse employee. My guess is the heat is probably not at its peak cooling with this procedure. Although the thermal compound for this is far beyond better that the XBOX1, it goes through a manufacturing plant so most likely its a victim of quantity vs quality. I'm not hear to act like this is going to solve anyone who trying to sue m$ problems, but as a hobbiest upgrade it should help knock down a couple degrees off the 360s global warming campaign.
First thing I want to mention although this is not a absolutely difficult upgrade, the clamps of the 360 can be a royal pain to take off and put back on, so proceed with caution and patience. Once your past the first hurdle heres what you have...
For this upgrade I used the following cooling products that can be purchase easily at newegg. Here are the links below, they are quite handy to have a round for any computer cooling upgrades.
ArctiClean Thermal Surface Remover
(-link-)
ArctiClean 1 Thermal Material Remover quickly emulsifies and dissolves the existing thermal grease or pad from the CPU and/or heatsink so that it can easily be removed with a clean cloth or paper towel. A few drops of ArctiClean 2 Thermal Surface Purifier and some gentle wiping then removes the remaining residue and inhibits flash corrosion on copper or aluminum.
Arctic Silver 5
(-link-)
A unique high-density filling of micronized silver and enhanced thermally conductive ceramic particles provides superior level of performance and stability. Arctic Silver 5 is optimized for use between modern high-power CPUs and high performance heatsinks or water-cooling solutions.
As well if you have any type of business card, putty knife, etc... you will need to keep it in hand. Initially it is to remove the excess thermal paste residue left from the previous setting. Then afterwards to apply the Arctic Silver 5 compound. So lets get started with what we have.
Before setting the ArctiClean Thermal Paste Remover, you want to get as much of the leftover thermal compound off of the heatsink prior to replacing the new compound. To do so, I used a putty knife although a credit card or stirdy business card would do the trick. Definatly make sure you get as much gunk as you can off in the first run.
After you get the majority of the residue off from previous thermal paste, you now put drops of ArctiClean 1 on the spots that were unable to come off from the putty knife/credit card. Let it sit for a 30 seconds to a minute. This dissolves the existing thermal grease or pad from the CPU and/or heatsink so that it can easily be removed with a clean cloth or paper towel. Once you get as much that is able to come up off, make sure you use the ArctiClean 2 Thermal Surface Purifier and some gentle wiping to remove the remaining residue and inhibits flash corrosion on copper or aluminum. Heres what mine looked like after a few repeated steps.
Now that your heatsinks are clean, you are prepared to go advance to cleaning the CPU and GPU, which is alot easier that the XBOX1. Your pretty much going to apply the same method to your CPU and GPU as you did with the heat sinks. First I took my putty knife and edged the previous thermal compound from the corners.
Once you get this accomplished you are now ready to put on your ArctiClean 1 and let it set for 30 seconds to a minute. When you are ready to clean, get your Q-tips out to gently wipe the surface getting all the left over thermal paste up. Its very easy and pretty much should be done rather fast. Once you finished that step apply ArctiClean 2 Purifier to clean up any left over spots you may have overlooked. When you are finished your CPU should look clean as a whistle.
Now you are ready to apply Arctic Silver 5 compound to the CPU and GPU. Carefully apply no more than a rice grain size of thermal compound to your CPU and BOTH GPU cores. Take you a business card/credit card/putty knife and spread them out evenly till you get the result below. A small dab goes a long way believe me, you dont want to put to much on the chips or your defeating the process. If your feeling lucky, your welcome to apply the Arctic Silver 5 onto your GDDR3 RAM Chips as well, since the GPU heatsink rests on it as well.
Now you are able to apply your heatsinks and clamps back together, once again DO NOT use to much force to remove or apply your heatsink clamps for you may damage an important part to the 360 Motherboard. As well this should be no substitute to *fix* a broken or unventalated system that has artifacts or freezes. Leave it to the M$ repair center to fix your console not yourself, you will void your warrenty with this procedure.
Heatgun Method
This is the heatgun method.. The only thing being done here, is that the solder on your motherboard, get?¢â??¬â??¢s reheated by the heatgun. The solder is able to melt again, which could give the chips good contacts again.
This is a very risky method, as you can melt plastic pieces. This method has had many succesfull outcomings. No succes garanteed. And it could be that it will not last very long. For some it works longer then others.
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=leOkRbqWeWo PART1
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=LWEB6sBB_Gg PART2
Towel Trick
This is the towel-trick method. The only thing being done here, is that the Xbox 360 uses his own heat, to melt the solder a little. All there is done is wrapping a few towels around the Xbox 360. This technique is not very long lasting most of the times, but it could work and fix your issues for a while
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=hjjinHmEoss
Also this technique works similar:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=cIARuzFOExc
12V Fan Mod
OK here's how to do a 12v mod, but it's extremely loud and you could destroy your Xbox 360. You will also lose the auto-adjusting functionality of the fans, where the voltage increases as the CPU temp does. That shouldn't be a problem though.
STEP ONE:
Take the RED and the BROWN wires shows below, and cut them off at the top of the plug, so you have the most wire left. Leave the BLACK and BLUE wires, as they're just grounds.
STEP TWO:
Twist, then solder the RED and BROWN wires together, then solder a third wire to that, about 5" long. Solder the OTHER end of the third wire to the pin shown below, either on the bottom of the motherboard, or onto the wire that does to the DVD drive.
And there ya go, both fans are now running at 12v. If you only want 1 fan to run at 12v, cut only one of the wires, RED or BROWN, and leave the other one alone. If you want 1 or both of the fans to run at 7v, then cut the BLACK and BLUE wires, and solder them to a 5v source on one of the USB plugs.
GPU Reballing (Caution: High expertise and technical equipment required!!!)
In this method, you are going to have to reball the GPU. Considering this technique is not very often used, because lots of people simply can?¢â??¬â??¢t do it, i will not write much about it, but here you can get a general idea about what you could do to possibly fix your 360.
Lifting the "little *******"
This is a bit hot, but nothing that some pre heating can't solve!
Some dots really BLACK shows the oxidations caused by short-circuits generated on the dots in the GPU.
Now the Reballing, we cleaned everything and replaced the spheres, here it's almost ready:
Now the GPU with 100% new spheres using normal solder (with lead)
