Xbox 360 - Three Red Rings. Any tips for a DIY repair?

[Ynox]

Get home yesterday and decide to play GTA V.

10 minutes in, game crashes. Reboot Xbox and I get the 3 RROD come up.

Looking around it seems as if this is related to overheating and that replacing the thermal compound on the CPU / GPU as well as replacing the x clamps with bolts *should* work?

Anyone got any tips for sorting this? Or shall I take it as a sign to get a PS4 / XBox One? The Xbox is a 2006 model without HDMI so it has given me pretty good service.

[Steve Evil]

I did the X-Clamp thing myself and it worked again, but only for another 3 months when it happened again. I replaced it with a newer model 360 and that has been OK since 2009.

[russ_a]

Mine also lasted around 3 months after being fixed.

[Martyboy84]

Not joking, I switched mine on and wrapped it in 5 big towels for a few hours keeping a very close eye on it for obvious reasons.

Let it cool down and it's worked no problem since (probably 2 years).

[buglabjab]

Try just cleaning it all up as worked on mine for a good few months.

[GregK2]

russ_a said:

Mine also lasted around 3 months after being fixed.

Mine too

[Irrotational]

I did the x clamp repair and it also lasted about 3 months - uncanny!

Ultimately you'll end up with a new box I'm afraid.

[Jayyylo]

MY flatmate at uni used to fix xbox's but I'm not sure how. I think his main tool was a hairdryer.

Surely this is your chance to use some man maths for purchasing a next gen gamer?

[Ynox]

Did the x clamp mod tonight. Haven't reflowed the motherboard but no luck. It's bricked.

Think I may look out for a half decent deal on a 360 for the time being. Was only 30% of the way through GTA V annoyingly!

[GregK2]

Ynox said:

Did the x clamp mod tonight. Haven't reflowed the motherboard but no luck. It's bricked.

Think I may look out for a half decent deal on a 360 for the time being. Was only 30% of the way through GTA V annoyingly!

The re-flow is an essential step. all you do is turn it on without the fan til it overheats, why would you miss out such a simple step?

[anonymous-user]

Ynox said:

Did the x clamp mod tonight. Haven't reflowed the motherboard but no luck. It's bricked.

Think I may look out for a half decent deal on a 360 for the time being. Was only 30% of the way through GTA V annoyingly!

I've got a slim you can have for £125, completely unmolested (not banned from Live etc), pretty sure I have the box for it etc. I've got a One coming on Saturday so this is going spare.

[andycambo]

When you say 3 RROD do you actually mean the RROD or have you got 3 flashing red lights?

They are two different things you see. 3 red lights is power supply related and non of the above solutions will help (I don't think) as they are for the RROD (4 red lights - a full circle).

[GregK2]

andycambo said:

When you say 3 RROD do you actually mean the RROD or have you got 3 flashing red lights?

They are two different things you see. 3 red lights is power supply related and non of the above solutions will help (I don't think) as they are for the RROD (4 red lights - a full circle).

Incorrect.

[mrmr96]

GregK2 said:

andycambo said:

When you say 3 RROD do you actually mean the RROD or have you got 3 flashing red lights?

They are two different things you see. 3 red lights is power supply related and non of the above solutions will help (I don't think) as they are for the RROD (4 red lights - a full circle).

Incorrect.

Greg is right.
Sorry andy, you're wrong.

HTH

[andycambo]

Fair enough I was looking at this https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/xbox-360/system/thr....

I had the dreaded RROD before and the clamp work around gave me a few months extra life whilst I bought a cheap second hand one off eBay for £30 which is still going 3 years later.

[Ynox]

Update - did the towel trick. 3 red lights are now down to 2. In the office now so not been able to test yet, but here's hoping.

[Fastdruid]

GregK2 said:

russ_a said:

Mine also lasted around 3 months after being fixed.

Mine too

And mine.

Actually that's not _quite_ true. It still works but crashes anywhere from 2-20min after use.

[GregK2]

Ynox said:

Update - did the towel trick. 3 red lights are now down to 2. In the office now so not been able to test yet, but here's hoping.

It will work now.

[dave_s13]

I had this earlier in the year on an original Xbox - the one that sounds like a harrier jump jet mid hover.

Got it repaired (and chipped) by a local chap. Broke again after 4 weeks. Got ir repaired again (free). Lasted 2 months. Troed my own Xclamp kit. Lasted another 2 months.

Binned it.

Ended up getting a used "Jasper" version which is 1000x queiter than the original and is also supposed to have a very low failure rate indeed. Gumtree - £50.

So, have a look on gumtree, get something to tide you over until the Xbone furore has damped down a bit and then upgrade.

[Boydie88]

Martyboy84 said:

Not joking, I switched mine on and wrapped it in 5 big towels for a few hours keeping a very close eye on it for obvious reasons.

Let it cool down and it's worked no problem since (probably 2 years).

Towel trick for the win.