AAARRRGGGHHHH - Three Red Lights
Discussion
Arrghhhh
My 360 kept on freezing the other day so unplugged and left for a while.
Was fine last night.
Came to it tonight played forza, did one race then locked up in 2nd, left it for a few hours and came again to play. Got into a race and locked up after 1/2 lap bugger.
then turned off and on and 3 red lights!!!!! - according to crappy micorsoft site it is complete hardware failure
This is my 2nd console after my first (November 05) console was replaced.
This one is dated December 2005 I think. so no chance of any type of MS cover. damnnnnnn
Not happy was looking forward to Forza action tonight!
My 360 kept on freezing the other day so unplugged and left for a while.
Was fine last night.
Came to it tonight played forza, did one race then locked up in 2nd, left it for a few hours and came again to play. Got into a race and locked up after 1/2 lap bugger.
then turned off and on and 3 red lights!!!!! - according to crappy micorsoft site it is complete hardware failure
This is my 2nd console after my first (November 05) console was replaced.
This one is dated December 2005 I think. so no chance of any type of MS cover. damnnnnnn
Not happy was looking forward to Forza action tonight!
Is it time to take it apart and re solder all the connections.... Or just put the circuit board under the grill.... 
MS has taken all the 360 owners roughly from behind as far as i can see. Crappy design means they are failing all over the shop. It's certainly put me off ever buying one.
MS has taken all the 360 owners roughly from behind as far as i can see. Crappy design means they are failing all over the shop. It's certainly put me off ever buying one.
After doing a search last night it seems that it is due to crappy solder and dry joints breaking. So will bring it into work and put the heat gun on it.
Yes the console has been opened up and flashed - not chipped! So suppose can't moan to much.
Looks like i need to put a case together to SWMBO for a XBOX Elite!
Yes the console has been opened up and flashed - not chipped! So suppose can't moan to much.
Looks like i need to put a case together to SWMBO for a XBOX Elite!
My first one died within 3 weeks of purchase! Took it back to the shop I bought it from and they swapped it over there and then, let me keep my old hard drive so I didn't lose any game saves.
Still on my second and so far so good (touch wood). The occasional freezing, but that's very rare and usually because it thinks the disc is dirty when it really isn't!
Typical microsoft product really, cheap production values to maximise profit margins. But then I still couldn't justify the extra for a PS3 myself, plus then I wouldn't be able to get my regular forza fix!
Still on my second and so far so good (touch wood). The occasional freezing, but that's very rare and usually because it thinks the disc is dirty when it really isn't!
Typical microsoft product really, cheap production values to maximise profit margins. But then I still couldn't justify the extra for a PS3 myself, plus then I wouldn't be able to get my regular forza fix!
My old one is still in bits and only works for a few days when put under the grill.
That was cooled since i owned it by 2 addon fans too, so heat wasn't the problem.
I just got a new 360 which i will leave untouched, but i am picking up another aswell
which i shall again rip apart, only this time i am going to try adding screws to the
heatsink clamps rather than using the standard setup.
It seems that is a very big part of the problem, they simply apply too much pressure.
Will be interesting to see how long that one lasts.
That was cooled since i owned it by 2 addon fans too, so heat wasn't the problem.
I just got a new 360 which i will leave untouched, but i am picking up another aswell
which i shall again rip apart, only this time i am going to try adding screws to the
heatsink clamps rather than using the standard setup.
It seems that is a very big part of the problem, they simply apply too much pressure.
Will be interesting to see how long that one lasts.
We've just returned our 3rd Xbox 360 in less than 9 months to GAME and been issued with a replacement which they told us was new, but appears to be a reconditioned machine. Apparently 1,500 - 2,500 consoles are being returned to Microsoft in the UK on a DAILY basis...
It does seem to be FORZA 2 that's finishing off the consoles. Our 1st one was was sticky for a while, bought FORZA 2 and it died completely. GAME gave us a replacement (we kept the hard drive) but 50% of our old games didn't work on this. Took it back to GAME, they replaced FORZA as they told us the game was faulty not the console. Home again, but by that time all the games were failing as we tried playing them. Back to GAME at the weekend but were no replacement consoles available (apparently they'd had 8 returned in the past few days). Phone call to GAME head office on Monday and then lo - today, a phone call to say they had stock....
Earlier this evening, back to GAME again for yet another console this time c/w hard drive, but can't load the patch to be able to play 'old' games.
That's
Microsoft for you....
Update: Forza locked up again after about an hour last night
It does seem to be FORZA 2 that's finishing off the consoles. Our 1st one was was sticky for a while, bought FORZA 2 and it died completely. GAME gave us a replacement (we kept the hard drive) but 50% of our old games didn't work on this. Took it back to GAME, they replaced FORZA as they told us the game was faulty not the console. Home again, but by that time all the games were failing as we tried playing them. Back to GAME at the weekend but were no replacement consoles available (apparently they'd had 8 returned in the past few days). Phone call to GAME head office on Monday and then lo - today, a phone call to say they had stock....
Earlier this evening, back to GAME again for yet another console this time c/w hard drive, but can't load the patch to be able to play 'old' games.
That's
Microsoft for you....Update: Forza locked up again after about an hour last night
Edited by webmistress on Thursday 28th June 09:20
I guess Forza2 is pushing the 360 a little harder than some of the preceding games. Console runs hotter and shows up pre-existing faults in the cooling system.
I find it kind of odd that the design team went with an ALU cooler, a lot of the PC world have moved to coper stuff for the high end stuff.
I find it kind of odd that the design team went with an ALU cooler, a lot of the PC world have moved to coper stuff for the high end stuff.
Guess it could be the latest titles are pushing the noisy white box to far?
I would send mine off but do you start a new 1 year warranty period when you recieve your replacement xbox? Surely until quality improves you will only end up with another faulty £300 bit of kit?
Beginning to piss me off now....when you spend so much on the console, games, controllers etc
I would send mine off but do you start a new 1 year warranty period when you recieve your replacement xbox? Surely until quality improves you will only end up with another faulty £300 bit of kit?
Beginning to piss me off now....when you spend so much on the console, games, controllers etc
They've started putting extra heatsinks in the replacement units now, passing it off as an evolution that is common in console life cycles, but seems more like they are covering up a design fault, my original day 1 machine is still going strong, but if it pops I will be straight onto the consumer advice people.
Right
Had this in work today
Took xbox apart, check over board
All looks Ok
Take heatsinks off, seems like the CPU didn't have a good connection to its heat sink.
So put new themal conductor on. turn on and ..... no joy.
So have looked at the board through a X-Ray machine, all of the balls under the BGA devices (CPU/GPU/memory etc.) all look ok and contact. Still no joy.
Next thing is to try and spread some flux by the components and to reflow the BGA's
Will let you know!
Had this in work today
Took xbox apart, check over board
All looks Ok
Take heatsinks off, seems like the CPU didn't have a good connection to its heat sink.
So put new themal conductor on. turn on and ..... no joy.
So have looked at the board through a X-Ray machine, all of the balls under the BGA devices (CPU/GPU/memory etc.) all look ok and contact. Still no joy.
Next thing is to try and spread some flux by the components and to reflow the BGA's
Will let you know!
No joke, put it under the grill for a bit minus the heatsinks, then report back : p
(just the mobo i mean, nothing else)
I cover the plastic parts in foil and pull it in and out until it's
getting to the point where it is extremely uncomfortable to touch metal parts.
Works every time for me, although only for a week or so max, then i have to
cook it again if i want to use it.
Chances are though it's probably had it - hence i am going to try replacing the clamps
on one of mine to see how long it lasts.
(just the mobo i mean, nothing else)
I cover the plastic parts in foil and pull it in and out until it's
getting to the point where it is extremely uncomfortable to touch metal parts.
Works every time for me, although only for a week or so max, then i have to
cook it again if i want to use it.
Chances are though it's probably had it - hence i am going to try replacing the clamps
on one of mine to see how long it lasts.
Edited by Digby on Friday 29th June 17:43
,it didn't pass the ip test so I manually put some numbers in but now fails the next test, it was fine on monday 
I hate computersRight sorry didn't reply back yesterday was busy and then had to leave.
After X-Ray things didn't look good so was in a position of can't hurt to try anything.
So stripped heatsinks off again and put a load of flux around the outside of the GPU, and then got a heat gun out.
The heat gun we have at work is fairly crappy and not that hot. Set at 200'C you can put your finger underneath. So we set it at max (550'C) and carefully heated up the GPU. We wanted to get it hot enough to get the solder balls under the BGA to start melting, and the flux would stop them shorting against another ball.
Before we heated it up we used the gun to try and blow the flux under the GPU, fortunatly it is not underfilled.
Heating round the outside of the chip in fairly constant motion gradually coming to the inside. after a while (We didn't want it to hot) we stopped and let the board cool down slightly before re attaching the heatsinks and plugging everythign back in.
Somebody then suggested that the gun was that crap it wouldn't work and to put it under the IR machine we have, but before that I decieded to see what the secondary code was saying. (should have done that earlier really!!!)
So plumbed everything back together and turned the machine back on and waited for the 3 red lights.
And waited
And waited
And we got the green circle!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippee
All works now fantastic.
I don't think this will be a permanent fix but it is fixed!! Back to Forza we go!
After X-Ray things didn't look good so was in a position of can't hurt to try anything.
So stripped heatsinks off again and put a load of flux around the outside of the GPU, and then got a heat gun out.
The heat gun we have at work is fairly crappy and not that hot. Set at 200'C you can put your finger underneath. So we set it at max (550'C) and carefully heated up the GPU. We wanted to get it hot enough to get the solder balls under the BGA to start melting, and the flux would stop them shorting against another ball.
Before we heated it up we used the gun to try and blow the flux under the GPU, fortunatly it is not underfilled.
Heating round the outside of the chip in fairly constant motion gradually coming to the inside. after a while (We didn't want it to hot) we stopped and let the board cool down slightly before re attaching the heatsinks and plugging everythign back in.
Somebody then suggested that the gun was that crap it wouldn't work and to put it under the IR machine we have, but before that I decieded to see what the secondary code was saying. (should have done that earlier really!!!)
So plumbed everything back together and turned the machine back on and waited for the 3 red lights.
And waited
And waited
And we got the green circle!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippee
All works now fantastic.
I don't think this will be a permanent fix but it is fixed!! Back to Forza we go!
Digby said:
No joke, put it under the grill for a bit minus the heatsinks, then report back : p
(just the mobo i mean, nothing else)
I cover the plastic parts in foil and pull it in and out until it's
getting to the point where it is extremely uncomfortable to touch metal parts.
Works every time for me, although only for a week or so max, then i have to
cook it again if i want to use it.
Chances are though it's probably had it - hence i am going to try replacing the clamps
on one of mine to see how long it lasts.
Didn't really want to put it under the grill as that would reflow the entire board, it is only the GPU that causes the problem!(just the mobo i mean, nothing else)
I cover the plastic parts in foil and pull it in and out until it's
getting to the point where it is extremely uncomfortable to touch metal parts.
Works every time for me, although only for a week or so max, then i have to
cook it again if i want to use it.
Chances are though it's probably had it - hence i am going to try replacing the clamps
on one of mine to see how long it lasts.
Edited by Digby on Friday 29th June 17:43
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