The BestBuy extended warranty was the best thing ever for the RROD, not only did they replace the console but they replaced it with the latest model available. I ended up getting 3 replacements and finally ended up with an Elite console that didn't Red Ring.
Bestbuy has the best warranties for everything. I did the exact same. I ended up getting the last elite series with the new chip set before they refreshed the console.
I did the towel trick to finish ODST because my 360 died overnight between sessions, lol. Finished playing, went to sleep, next day turn my 360 on to be greeted to the red ring. Got the job done to finish the game but yeah, very temporary fix. Less than 24 hours later it was dead again. That was my 3rd 360, so I didn't even bother shipping it back. A year later I got the Reach edition 360S and it's still trucking.
I worked in ms xbox support back in 2009/2010. The amount of crying/sad teens/grown ups who called me with rrod was huge.. but we were instructed to never agree that xbox is a poorly designed console with flaws, but to read the script instead..and issue post labels to the customer, if their xbox was eligible for repairs.
We were fortunate with our 360. (Toy's R Us preorder; got it on release day.) Ours lasted a good 2 years before it finally got the RRoD. By that time, the exchange program was in full swing, but with quite a backlog. In return, we got a brand new Falcon unit, which is running fine to this day. (Not that it gets much use these days...)
So the actual cause for the RROD, is the seal between the Substrate and dies, also called TG. Early RROD GPUs had a Low TG that would get soft at 70C allowing the GPU to bend and break those connections. When they figured it out, they started making fixed Xbox 360 Versions known as Late Falcons, Jaspers and Tonaskets. Older models also could have a fixed GPU if they were sent to repair back then in 2008.
The material is called underfill, which is a special sort of epoxy. TG means temperature of glassification, which is very relevant -- the defective GPU models used low TG underfill. Just as a note, the fixed GPU models were introduced in March 2008, so any xbox 360 repaired after March 2008 or made after ~May 2008 won't have a defective GPU.
I love these stories and the small technical explanation that accompanies them. Thanks for bringing this back. I was lucky to get into the X360 after the S model was out and fixed most of the RROD issues. Somehow, my cousin with a launch model never suffered from this. I assume it's because he kept his in a well ventilated area.
I remember I was so terrified to get the red ring. The moment I got it, I disconnected everything immediately and stopped playing my Xbox for a week. After a week, I turned on my Xbox and the red ring was gone. It never happened again lol
I got 2 red ring consoles, both went back in coffins both came back working though. Was one of those "It won't even happen to me things" until it did. Slim version was faultless through
I remember seeing white triangles on screen while playing Outrun Arcade. That was a Wednesday. On Thursday it gave me the RROD. On Friday i bought the Slim modell & spent all night transferring licenses and re-downloading games. Was playing again Saturday.
white traiangles is artifacting, I actually just seen a 360 Slim do exactly the same issue the other day on a livestream, it was on Black Ops 2, it appeared at the bottom of the screen, a white line of triangles appeared, it was scrapped I believe in the end as unrepairable.
And these random repairs are why I only have 360 Elites in my collection. No telling how much extra heat and stress was put on the board from poor attempts to fix a red ring
Or you can just buy the later models with the HDMI. Usually those were fixed. I think after around 2009. I still have an Arcade one that works great. Stock.
My 2007 launch Elite got the RROD, so Elites are not immune, my 1st one was broken out of the box, had a broken disc drive so swapped it for another which RROD's 2 years later, luckily Microsoft replaced it for me under the 3 year extended warranty.
@@RocketRenton the Elite launched in 2009. If you had the 20gb model from 2005 it was labeled as the Pro (the Arcade was the SKU without a HDD). Red Rings are definitely still possible on the Elites but should be much rarer because of the redesigns.
@@DaBigCheeso well tbh you’re confusing a slim with a 360 elite. 360 elites were falcon board and later inside a black fat case with swappable faceplates still and came with 120gb hard drives. So people replying to you are thinking you’re talking about that 360 when you’re talking about the later redesigned 360 slims, you likely got the 250gb model which had the shiny finish and built in WiFi.
3:18 One very important detail you missed out on is that the reason those solder bumps were cracking after thermal cycles was because of bad underfill which wasn't appropriate for the GPU as the GPU sillicon would regularly exceed the temperature that the underfill was designed to handle and would soften which should never ever happen and the underfill would start to push away the sillicon from the substrate causing the solder bumps to crack and lose connection. This was later fixed in consoles made in around April 2008 onwards where they used the correct underfill. 4:45 E74 error is NOT caused by the HANA chip. It is again caused by a faulty GPU, specifically the EDRAM has failed. The reason this would work was because the weight of the coins was enough to push the EDRAM to gain back a connection on the substrate.
John, perfect timing of this video. I just pulled out my Xbox360 with the original motherboard/no HDMI port. This one got the RROD probably 2011. My new passion is fixing old consoles. Fixed my OG Xbox a year ago and just bought a fat PS3 and upgraded the hard drive and flashed custom firmware. Well, just fixed my Xbox360. I cracked it opened and found 7 capacitors had burst, but lucky nothing dripped on the board. I removed those and replaced. I then used a heat gun at 450 degrees and re-flowed the solder on the board. I then added flux around the chips and heated again. Let the board cool for an hour and then re-applied thermal paste. I fired it up and no more RROD. I'm again enjoying playing this console!
I remember trying the penny trick and also removing the x-clamp mod. I finally bought the newer 360 version, I found it used for like $40 bucks and it never gave me any problems. That was my 3rd Xbox 360 console I purchased. 😂
The reason heat “works” is because you are flexing the board so any cracked or otherwise broken solder balls would make temporary contact again. Most Xbox 360’s had bad GPU, and a reflow would not fix it, only a replacement GPU would be a real fix. I recommend watching the documentary by RIP Felix.
Josh and Felix are regulars on Computer Booter's YT channel, Josh is the 360 expert who worked in the shop and Felix is the master PS3 guy who solved the YLOD issue which was the NEC Tokins, which have now been replaced by parts he has designed for frankys, which are PS3 A01 models, that have PS2 backwards compatibilty, the real rare models, they then have a 40nm Cell replacement of the original 90nm Cell as that is the cause of the YLOD as well. It costs about 650 and a franky will sell for about $1000.
I bought my first 360 from a friend for $40 it had RROD. His dad basically bought him a new one and I bought the old one knowing I just had to buy a shipping box and call microsoft and they'll pay for the label. I sent it in and about 2 weeks later I had a fresh 360 with some free Xbox live. This was 2007. That same xbox eventually got RROD too. So I did the classic Towel trick which worked for a bit. But what really worked is just taking the plastic case off and setting it on a box. Never overheated again after that.
@@Gawlakman You won't get great airflow, but you can't get much better ventilation than "no case". (You could also point a much larger fan directly at it.)
I remember Cutting a Square in one of my 360s with a hot Knife, and installing a Case Fan that had to be rigged to plug into a wall socket. The 360 is arguably my 1st PC Case Mod.😵
I got so hesitant to get a 360, that I actually bought the Elite model with a warranty just in case. I just wanted to play the backwards compatible library that only SOME PS3s could do. Incredible generation with that massive manufacturing/design defect aside
My first 360 was a refurbed unit that was guaranteed for 90 days. Not long afterward it RRoD'd on me. I had everything going on it at the end... Pennies, X-clamp fix, fan mod, additional 80mm fan that I cut into the case for, towel trick, oven trick. RIP Falcon 360
Great video man. This is why I watch your channel man. Videos like this save it for me. We never actually had to do mods like this. We would always send it back to Microsoft and find something else to do with our time. I still had the OG Xbox so firing up Halo was great. I think maybe we tried the towel one. I say we because my friend had the 360 @ launch. I think he went through like 3 systems before he got the Slim. The Slim is the way to go man.
i saw the pennies in the thumbnail and i got so much nostalgia, i was probably 10 years old fixing them with pennies and towels and changing the leds / rgh and jtag mods
I always love these videos when you talk about working in Gamestop and doing repairs etc. From my own perspective the Xbox 360 is still my favourite Xbox. When I got one on day 1 I think it lasted about 1-2 months and I had to return it due to RROD. Microsoft sent me a box to put it in prepaid for UPS and UPS collected it from my workplace. I think it took about a week for them to deliver me another one. That one lasted about 4-5 months and back it went again. Finally the one I got after that worked fine until I sold it to buy an Xbox One. I'm very interested now to buy a 360 again as the games and consoles are going up in price but deals can be had for a 360 with a bundle of games. I'll make sure its a later model though - maybe a slim.
I replaced the clamps with bolts on dozens of 360's, but I used the bolts to attach the heatsinks directly to the metal case of the 360 to reduce the flexing of the board. Most of these 360's are still working now a decade later.
8:42 this is the Pelican Xbox 360 cooler, my dad bought one from GameStop back in 2005. I still use it for that same Xbox 360 to this day. Unlike the NYKO Intercooler, It really works, and doesn't burn your power connector because it gets it's power from the back USBs, LAN, and the AV. But this means you couldn't use it with the HDMI consoles. Without the cooler my 360 would artifact and overheat. Plus it's just two extra exhaust fans so it's like a 12v fan mod without the crazy noise. Recently I replaced the old thermal paste with MX-6 and my old 360 runs cooler and quieter. the Pelican's 4 USBs, and multiple audio and input options are extremely useful too. If you have an AV only 360 this is a must have if you find an available one.
I’ve done the penny trick, third party fans, added two more intake fans, replaced the x-clamps with bolts and washers. I even played it horizontal with it raised from the bottom by an inch with stacks of quarters at each corner with a desk fan blowing across it. lol
The reason for RROD isnt really because of the solder balls, but really the underflow on the chip. The channel "Rip Felix" has a really good video on this.
Towel trick was all over the internet back then. Never had a 360, but I remember using the "Gilksy Method" on my YLOD'd phat PS3. Which involved using a heat gun on the back of the board to supposedly reflow the solder under the main chips. I did this after I had already sent it back to Sony for the same issue, and paid a non-trivial sum for it to be fixed. Only lasted a couple months after that. In hindsight I should have sent it back again with a stern letter, but I was dumb and desperate. Of course this was when we all thought it was bad solder joints, like on the Xbox, when in reality it was faulty tantalum caps (IIRC). It did work. Got another couple months out of it before it died again. Then I caved and bought a Slim. Was the 60GB Cadillac model with hardware PS2 back compat too. YLOD got a lot less press than the RRoD, but it was still a huge issue for those first gen PS3s. That triple beep still gives me nightmares.
I used to have the 4GB Xbox 360 White Console because my dad got it for me from his old job as a janitor for a private school, and it lasted me a while till I got the RROD. My friend actually helped me do the penny trick, and it would work for a long while till it fried on me. I never trusted those Xbox 360 attachable fans to "cool down" your console. Later on, my dad bought me the Xbox 360 Slim a week after release, and it still works now as of May 6th, 2024.
The Red Ring of Death saved the Playstation 3 out of Japan, I think. I wonder how many prospective customers heard horror stories and bought a PS3 instead.
I reballed more of these and ylod ps3's than i can count. Good times. The funniest home "repair" method i remember is when people tried to reflow the system using their oven. Saw that a few times.
I was in basic training at Fort Benning when COD 4 Modern Warfare came out. When I came home for holiday block leave my 360 had the red rings of death and had to send it to get fixed. Wasn’t a total loss. I just play Dawn of Sorrow on the DS for two and a half weeks.
The penny trick worked, I used to do this I was around 11 years old. My dad actually gave me square copper discs from his shop and they worked alot better. I did that and bought thermal paste from radio shack and replaced the paste on everything even removed the thermal pads and used the copper as a cheap heat sink.
I had completely disassembled my system, and had all the components laid put on a table, still connected to the board. I placed a fan next to it blowing across the components and that saved it for a few months.
I bought an early release Xbox 360 at a garage sale for $20 that was still functional a few years ago. To keep it that way I basically just smashed the case open with a pry bar (since that was quicker and easier than opening it the correct way and it is a POS anyway) and played it with a few desk fans set on high blowing directly onto the exposed motherboard. Crude, but effective considering it is still working. It's ugly, but I keep it hidden when it is not in use.
Owned my original arcade 360 from new for 8 years and it was used almost daily for the whole time, never had any issues with mine while friends went through at least one if not two or three units.
My first 360 red ringed after 2-3 years. My fix was to buy a used one on Craigslist for $80 (this was like 2008-09). I still have that 360 and it runs fine.
I wrapped the towel around and put 2 cotton buds(Qtip) in the back to stop the fan turning so as to get it working again. It worked long enough for me to get my save data off and onto a new console
The 360 was the first console I bought with my own money. I have to say, I was incredibly lucky regarding the RROD. Still have that same console, and it never ringed once. It even survived my cousin who mistook a can of WD40 for a can of compressed air.
I did the aluminum tape on the fan shroud and bought the whisper fans, I then jtag modded it and flashed the nand so the fans ran at 100% it still runs great after all these years and it was a falcon mobo so I'm proud of the lil bugger.
I towel modded soooo many 360s back then. I was literally living off the money. I also modded the fan to be 100% all the time so it would not overheat anymore. The cardboard mod was good too I did that on my personal one.
From my Facebook status in July of 2010: "...but I successfully repaired my old xbox 360. it seems the nylon washers plus addition tiny bit of thermal compound ceramic paste got it to work without reheating it again. Now to sell it but where..." So clearly I was one of them that used the screws and washers method, whoops. I sold it with the limited edition Halo 3 ODST controller at the time. After I got the Silm console, I had to sell it somewhere but not to Gamestop. Either way, it was a fun & learning experience in console tinkering & my silm still works to this day.
I didn't have to do any mods thankfully to mine, but I do remember letting my friends borrow The Last Remnant and them telling me it red ringed their systems 🤣.
Yep I remember getting the red ring at the worst time. The original warranty was already expired, but Microsoft hadn't yet extended all warranties for the issue, so I tried fixing it myself, voiding any chance of letting Microsoft fix it. Long story short I was not able to fix it and that was the end of the 360 era for me. It still has the original Blades UI and everything.
I didn’t get an Xbox 360 until around the launch of the Xbox One. I would get an Xbox 360 E for my birthday along with a copy of Sonic Generations and later Sonic Unleashed. I still own that console and games to this day.
Someone i knew at high school from this era took the entire casing off his Xbox 360, and then made a open mesh case out of that wire fencing made for chicken coops lol, it certainly improved the air flow!
Oh yeah I remember. That was a bad time. The red ring got me on three 360s. I was able to send the second one back to Microsoft to be repaired. It took a week. I was shocked it was that fast. In just a few weeks it gave me the red ring. At this point they had the revised black 360 come out. I bought it and I can still to this day play the console. My 7 year old son love playing the 360.
My 360 was the original FAT white model and it never got the RROD but did stop working exactly 1 year after purchase with the E74 error. Which was something to do with the graphics chip. Since it started getting artifacts before it stopped working. Got a new later revision console at the time and it's still working to this day with the RGH2 mod. Even though as you said the fans are quiet loud.
I've seen photos recently, of old consoles sold as "broken." The buyer opens them up and sees SEVERAL discs in the disc drive. PlayStation discs inside an Xbox, and vice versa. It's what happens if you don't supervise young children around consoles.
Hey John. So what i did to fix my 360 was open it up, with a hot air gun, i hovered it over the board for a few minutes, then after it cooled, i changed the thermal paste on it. Gave it the 5 hour test with Gears 2 playing and never RRoD. Could have been that changing the thermal paste was enough but it's working again. 👍
Me, and my buddies would just wrap it in a thick blanket. Let it run until it went into its overheat shutdown mode, and we'd get another 3-4 weeks out of it. Worked every time. Didn't need to disassemble it at all and then we got it warrantied lol. Idk where we even heard of that back then...
As someone who used to do 360 repairs, I can absolutely confirm thay those InterCooler systems are total garbage and absolutely melted to the 360s. We stopped carrying them at our store after the first melted Intercooler.
My first 360 red ringed 2 weeks after I got it for Christmas 2005. Got a replacement which worked for a good couple years before it too red ringed right after Microsoft's extended warranty ended
Hot towel trick was for E74 if I remember right. If you do it too many times it stopped working and for mine I would put a hair dryer in one end of the towel burrito to force hot air in the vent and overheat it more 🔥😅
I got the RROD and replacement from MS. I was still worried about it tho, and modified my entertainment system with 6” externally powered fan. Fun times
Holy shit talking about unlocking a core memory. I totally forgot about aftermarket attachable fans for the 360. I had one of these and completely forgot about them even existing.
Oh... I'm the towel guy! It never killed the system and it worked pretty damn well for me, as a broke high school kid. I wouldn't have been able to get it fixed, so I regret nothing ! XD
Yeah intercoolers I’ve known are bad to use on any console. I remember a GameStop employee telling me that any ps3 using an I tercooler would instantly void the warranty. Also the towel trick I learned from someone on a 360 subreddit and that’s good to know that it’s only a temporary fix.
Good god the towel trick, i did that on a friend's Xbox 360, letting me borrow it to try and fix it. Although i was able to play MX vs ATV Untamed during that weekend, the week after that my friend just told me it red ringed again.
I got a single red light error - red dot of death - which wasn't covered by the Microsoft repair warranty at the time, so I ended up having to wrap my 360 in towels to force a red ring of death error - it eventually did and I got a replacement console for free.
I remember as a kid, looking up vids and seeing the towel thing for "fixing" the xbox. At that point, I was already under the notion that "The internet lies." You can thank the zelda OoT triforce thing at the time lol. But yeh, when I saw that, I was like "nope, not doing it. Overheating electronics to make something work does not make sense to me."
I did one repair attempt on a core system and it did work for about another 6 months. When failed a second time I just picked up an arcade edition replacement. I forget what I did, but it was not the towel. Probably redid the paste kind of thing.
Yes, I remember, and I also remember doing the towel trick a couple times until I found out about Microsoft replacing Xboxes for free... but then the one I got sent also got the red ring of death... which I tried to replace too, but Microsoft wouldn't do it so I had to make due with my Wii until I won an R2D2 360 on a raffle.
I got an Xbox 360 falcon last year and it had screws and washers so I stole the xclamps off a red ringed 360 and put them on it’s still working perfectly with the correct components
I still currently have my pre order launch xbox 360 from 2005. No red ring yet but i didn’t play it as heavily since i had my launch 60gb ps3. I still currently own both of them still. Best generation in my opinion
I got the red ring on mine and called Microsoft. Apparently, I had one day left on my warranty to get it fixed. I was lucky. Sadly, as you mentioned, I had to wait almost a month to get it back. Thankfully, it never happened again!
My RROD exchange with Microsoft, from when I got the box to when I got a system back in the mail...probably 3 or 4 days. It was INSANE, everyone told me it would take 2+ weeks.
All I did to protect my Xbox 360 from the red rings of death was buying the replacement warranty from Best Buy for 50 bucks. I'll get a brand new one, it worked pretty well with TVs too...lol.
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The BestBuy extended warranty was the best thing ever for the RROD, not only did they replace the console but they replaced it with the latest model available. I ended up getting 3 replacements and finally ended up with an Elite console that didn't Red Ring.
and now only that has folded onto Geeksquad warranty
That's awesome !
Bestbuy has the best warranties for everything. I did the exact same. I ended up getting the last elite series with the new chip set before they refreshed the console.
I had a best buy warranty for a PS3 and got a newer system with a game and $100 back from it, best $30 I've spent.
Hmm, My Elite console did RROD so I sent it in to MS for warranty repair, and it RROD again a decade later.
I did the towel trick to finish ODST because my 360 died overnight between sessions, lol. Finished playing, went to sleep, next day turn my 360 on to be greeted to the red ring. Got the job done to finish the game but yeah, very temporary fix. Less than 24 hours later it was dead again. That was my 3rd 360, so I didn't even bother shipping it back. A year later I got the Reach edition 360S and it's still trucking.
Slims are much better but do still have there own issues, they are mainly the ones that people now RGH.
I worked in ms xbox support back in 2009/2010. The amount of crying/sad teens/grown ups who called me with rrod was huge.. but we were instructed to never agree that xbox is a poorly designed console with flaws, but to read the script instead..and issue post labels to the customer, if their xbox was eligible for repairs.
The 360 will live forever as long as it doesn’t get a red ring
I just turned mine on last week after a few years and right away the red ring popped up. 😂
I’m praying that my 2007 arcade model doesn’t have this issue
Ah yes it lives forever if it doesnt die
@@user-z8hdhdjeibI haven’t really seen a widespread issue like this at all.
@@ramrodbldm9876
We were fortunate with our 360. (Toy's R Us preorder; got it on release day.) Ours lasted a good 2 years before it finally got the RRoD. By that time, the exchange program was in full swing, but with quite a backlog. In return, we got a brand new Falcon unit, which is running fine to this day. (Not that it gets much use these days...)
Yeah mine lasted 2 years then RROD, it was a 360 Slim Elite model.
So the actual cause for the RROD, is the seal between the Substrate and dies, also called TG. Early RROD GPUs had a Low TG that would get soft at 70C allowing the GPU to bend and break those connections. When they figured it out, they started making fixed Xbox 360 Versions known as Late Falcons, Jaspers and Tonaskets. Older models also could have a fixed GPU if they were sent to repair back then in 2008.
The material is called underfill, which is a special sort of epoxy. TG means temperature of glassification, which is very relevant -- the defective GPU models used low TG underfill. Just as a note, the fixed GPU models were introduced in March 2008, so any xbox 360 repaired after March 2008 or made after ~May 2008 won't have a defective GPU.
I love these stories and the small technical explanation that accompanies them. Thanks for bringing this back.
I was lucky to get into the X360 after the S model was out and fixed most of the RROD issues. Somehow, my cousin with a launch model never suffered from this. I assume it's because he kept his in a well ventilated area.
I remember I was so terrified to get the red ring. The moment I got it, I disconnected everything immediately and stopped playing my Xbox for a week. After a week, I turned on my Xbox and the red ring was gone. It never happened again lol
Wow you were very lucky.
I mean it was possible you got a non-threatening red ring, like a disconnected video cable will cause a red ring, stuff like that.
I got 2 red ring consoles, both went back in coffins both came back working though. Was one of those "It won't even happen to me things" until it did. Slim version was faultless through
I had a bad harddrive on a 06 model. Only time I ever saw a red ring in real life.
I remember seeing white triangles on screen while playing Outrun Arcade. That was a Wednesday. On Thursday it gave me the RROD. On Friday i bought the Slim modell & spent all night transferring licenses and re-downloading games. Was playing again Saturday.
white traiangles is artifacting, I actually just seen a 360 Slim do exactly the same issue the other day on a livestream, it was on Black Ops 2, it appeared at the bottom of the screen, a white line of triangles appeared, it was scrapped I believe in the end as unrepairable.
And these random repairs are why I only have 360 Elites in my collection. No telling how much extra heat and stress was put on the board from poor attempts to fix a red ring
Or you can just buy the later models with the HDMI. Usually those were fixed. I think after around 2009. I still have an Arcade one that works great. Stock.
@@BrD4GOD that's the Elite I'm talking about. Also has built in WiFi but it's not the greatest so I ended up running cables anyway
My 2007 launch Elite got the RROD, so Elites are not immune, my 1st one was broken out of the box, had a broken disc drive so swapped it for another which RROD's 2 years later, luckily Microsoft replaced it for me under the 3 year extended warranty.
@@RocketRenton the Elite launched in 2009. If you had the 20gb model from 2005 it was labeled as the Pro (the Arcade was the SKU without a HDD). Red Rings are definitely still possible on the Elites but should be much rarer because of the redesigns.
@@DaBigCheeso well tbh you’re confusing a slim with a 360 elite. 360 elites were falcon board and later inside a black fat case with swappable faceplates still and came with 120gb hard drives. So people replying to you are thinking you’re talking about that 360 when you’re talking about the later redesigned 360 slims, you likely got the 250gb model which had the shiny finish and built in WiFi.
3:18
One very important detail you missed out on is that the reason those solder bumps were cracking after thermal cycles was because of bad underfill which wasn't appropriate for the GPU as the GPU sillicon would regularly exceed the temperature that the underfill was designed to handle and would soften which should never ever happen and the underfill would start to push away the sillicon from the substrate causing the solder bumps to crack and lose connection. This was later fixed in consoles made in around April 2008 onwards where they used the correct underfill.
4:45
E74 error is NOT caused by the HANA chip. It is again caused by a faulty GPU, specifically the EDRAM has failed. The reason this would work was because the weight of the coins was enough to push the EDRAM to gain back a connection on the substrate.
I baked mine in the oven for about 20 minutes. Worked great!
John, perfect timing of this video. I just pulled out my Xbox360 with the original motherboard/no HDMI port. This one got the RROD probably 2011. My new passion is fixing old consoles. Fixed my OG Xbox a year ago and just bought a fat PS3 and upgraded the hard drive and flashed custom firmware. Well, just fixed my Xbox360. I cracked it opened and found 7 capacitors had burst, but lucky nothing dripped on the board. I removed those and replaced. I then used a heat gun at 450 degrees and re-flowed the solder on the board. I then added flux around the chips and heated again. Let the board cool for an hour and then re-applied thermal paste. I fired it up and no more RROD. I'm again enjoying playing this console!
I remember trying the penny trick and also removing the x-clamp mod. I finally bought the newer 360 version, I found it used for like $40 bucks and it never gave me any problems. That was my 3rd Xbox 360 console I purchased. 😂
The reason heat “works” is because you are flexing the board so any cracked or otherwise broken solder balls would make temporary contact again. Most Xbox 360’s had bad GPU, and a reflow would not fix it, only a replacement GPU would be a real fix.
I recommend watching the documentary by RIP Felix.
nowadays the ps5 flexes its own plastic on heat intensive games, yet the console design is astounding in exhausting heat
Josh and Felix are regulars on Computer Booter's YT channel, Josh is the 360 expert who worked in the shop and Felix is the master PS3 guy who solved the YLOD issue which was the NEC Tokins, which have now been replaced by parts he has designed for frankys, which are PS3 A01 models, that have PS2 backwards compatibilty, the real rare models, they then have a 40nm Cell replacement of the original 90nm Cell as that is the cause of the YLOD as well. It costs about 650 and a franky will sell for about $1000.
So for the other ps3 models not BC you cant replace there rsx chip? @RocketRenton
@@dazamad You can, but it's not worth it as there are no benefits of doing the swap on a non backwards compatible system as it is quite expensive.
I bought my first 360 from a friend for $40 it had RROD. His dad basically bought him a new one and I bought the old one knowing I just had to buy a shipping box and call microsoft and they'll pay for the label. I sent it in and about 2 weeks later I had a fresh 360 with some free Xbox live. This was 2007.
That same xbox eventually got RROD too. So I did the classic Towel trick which worked for a bit. But what really worked is just taking the plastic case off and setting it on a box. Never overheated again after that.
You mean you just took off the shell and played it with all the internal stuff exposed?
@@Gawlakman You won't get great airflow, but you can't get much better ventilation than "no case". (You could also point a much larger fan directly at it.)
@@m2pt5 yeah those are good ideas as a last resort type thing I guess
I remember Cutting a Square in one of my 360s with a hot Knife, and installing a Case Fan that had to be rigged to plug into a wall socket. The 360 is arguably my 1st PC Case Mod.😵
I got lucky. I have a Xenon board manufactured in December 2005 and it's still running strong.
I got so hesitant to get a 360, that I actually bought the Elite model with a warranty just in case. I just wanted to play the backwards compatible library that only SOME PS3s could do.
Incredible generation with that massive manufacturing/design defect aside
I used the towel trick so many times before I finally sent it in. It definitely worked lol.
Brilliant video. More like these please. The clips from the old youtube channels were awesome too.
My first 360 was a refurbed unit that was guaranteed for 90 days. Not long afterward it RRoD'd on me. I had everything going on it at the end... Pennies, X-clamp fix, fan mod, additional 80mm fan that I cut into the case for, towel trick, oven trick. RIP Falcon 360
Great video man. This is why I watch your channel man. Videos like this save it for me.
We never actually had to do mods like this. We would always send it back to Microsoft and find something else to do with our time. I still had the OG Xbox so firing up Halo was great.
I think maybe we tried the towel one. I say we because my friend had the 360 @ launch. I think he went through like 3 systems before he got the Slim. The Slim is the way to go man.
Yeah I lost my second 360 to that exact Nyko intercooler fan 😢
I had one but only used it briefly on my 1st 20gb white Premium, took it off in the end after I read about the issues it caused.
i saw the pennies in the thumbnail and i got so much nostalgia, i was probably 10 years old fixing them with pennies and towels and changing the leds / rgh and jtag mods
I always love these videos when you talk about working in Gamestop and doing repairs etc. From my own perspective the Xbox 360 is still my favourite Xbox. When I got one on day 1 I think it lasted about 1-2 months and I had to return it due to RROD. Microsoft sent me a box to put it in prepaid for UPS and UPS collected it from my workplace. I think it took about a week for them to deliver me another one. That one lasted about 4-5 months and back it went again. Finally the one I got after that worked fine until I sold it to buy an Xbox One. I'm very interested now to buy a 360 again as the games and consoles are going up in price but deals can be had for a 360 with a bundle of games. I'll make sure its a later model though - maybe a slim.
This is a great old school spawn wave video!
I replaced the clamps with bolts on dozens of 360's, but I used the bolts to attach the heatsinks directly to the metal case of the 360 to reduce the flexing of the board. Most of these 360's are still working now a decade later.
That was very interesting. More videos like this please. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.
8:42 this is the Pelican Xbox 360 cooler, my dad bought one from GameStop back in 2005. I still use it for that same Xbox 360 to this day. Unlike the NYKO Intercooler, It really works, and doesn't burn your power connector because it gets it's power from the back USBs, LAN, and the AV. But this means you couldn't use it with the HDMI consoles. Without the cooler my 360 would artifact and overheat. Plus it's just two extra exhaust fans so it's like a 12v fan mod without the crazy noise. Recently I replaced the old thermal paste with MX-6 and my old 360 runs cooler and quieter. the Pelican's 4 USBs, and multiple audio and input options are extremely useful too. If you have an AV only 360 this is a must have if you find an available one.
The Microsoft documentary on Xbox is actually pretty interesting
I’ve done the penny trick, third party fans, added two more intake fans, replaced the x-clamps with bolts and washers. I even played it horizontal with it raised from the bottom by an inch with stacks of quarters at each corner with a desk fan blowing across it. lol
These videos are so fun, love seeing them
I went through 3, 360’s before I gave up on getting a 4th one.
The reason for RROD isnt really because of the solder balls, but really the underflow on the chip. The channel "Rip Felix" has a really good video on this.
Towel trick was all over the internet back then. Never had a 360, but I remember using the "Gilksy Method" on my YLOD'd phat PS3. Which involved using a heat gun on the back of the board to supposedly reflow the solder under the main chips. I did this after I had already sent it back to Sony for the same issue, and paid a non-trivial sum for it to be fixed. Only lasted a couple months after that. In hindsight I should have sent it back again with a stern letter, but I was dumb and desperate. Of course this was when we all thought it was bad solder joints, like on the Xbox, when in reality it was faulty tantalum caps (IIRC). It did work. Got another couple months out of it before it died again. Then I caved and bought a Slim. Was the 60GB Cadillac model with hardware PS2 back compat too. YLOD got a lot less press than the RRoD, but it was still a huge issue for those first gen PS3s. That triple beep still gives me nightmares.
I used to have the 4GB Xbox 360 White Console because my dad got it for me from his old job as a janitor for a private school, and it lasted me a while till I got the RROD. My friend actually helped me do the penny trick, and it would work for a long while till it fried on me.
I never trusted those Xbox 360 attachable fans to "cool down" your console.
Later on, my dad bought me the Xbox 360 Slim a week after release, and it still works now as of May 6th, 2024.
The Red Ring of Death saved the Playstation 3 out of Japan, I think. I wonder how many prospective customers heard horror stories and bought a PS3 instead.
I reballed more of these and ylod ps3's than i can count. Good times. The funniest home "repair" method i remember is when people tried to reflow the system using their oven. Saw that a few times.
I was in basic training at Fort Benning when COD 4 Modern Warfare came out. When I came home for holiday block leave my 360 had the red rings of death and had to send it to get fixed. Wasn’t a total loss. I just play Dawn of Sorrow on the DS for two and a half weeks.
Really enjoyed this one. Thank you
I remember i wrapped my 360 in a towel and it worked lol
The penny trick worked, I used to do this I was around 11 years old.
My dad actually gave me square copper discs from his shop and they worked alot better.
I did that and bought thermal paste from radio shack and replaced the paste on everything even removed the thermal pads and used the copper as a cheap heat sink.
I had completely disassembled my system, and had all the components laid put on a table, still connected to the board. I placed a fan next to it blowing across the components and that saved it for a few months.
I bought an early release Xbox 360 at a garage sale for $20 that was still functional a few years ago. To keep it that way I basically just smashed the case open with a pry bar (since that was quicker and easier than opening it the correct way and it is a POS anyway) and played it with a few desk fans set on high blowing directly onto the exposed motherboard. Crude, but effective considering it is still working. It's ugly, but I keep it hidden when it is not in use.
My first Xbox was the Xbox Xbox one X.
Owned my original arcade 360 from new for 8 years and it was used almost daily for the whole time, never had any issues with mine while friends went through at least one if not two or three units.
I loved doing cooling mods back then. I got a ton of my early experience in modding with this and the Dreamcast and ps3.
My first 360 red ringed after 2-3 years. My fix was to buy a used one on Craigslist for $80 (this was like 2008-09). I still have that 360 and it runs fine.
I wrapped the towel around and put 2 cotton buds(Qtip) in the back to stop the fan turning so as to get it working again. It worked long enough for me to get my save data off and onto a new console
The 360 was the first console I bought with my own money. I have to say, I was incredibly lucky regarding the RROD. Still have that same console, and it never ringed once. It even survived my cousin who mistook a can of WD40 for a can of compressed air.
My penny trick has served my og 360 for over a decade now
I did the aluminum tape on the fan shroud and bought the whisper fans, I then jtag modded it and flashed the nand so the fans ran at 100% it still runs great after all these years and it was a falcon mobo so I'm proud of the lil bugger.
I towel modded soooo many 360s back then. I was literally living off the money.
I also modded the fan to be 100% all the time so it would not overheat anymore.
The cardboard mod was good too I did that on my personal one.
I did the towel trick and it worked, and I still have that 360 to this day. It never got the red ring again. Played on it all the time too.
This is better content than going over heresay
From my Facebook status in July of 2010:
"...but I successfully repaired my old xbox 360. it seems the nylon washers plus addition tiny bit of thermal compound ceramic paste got it to work without reheating it again. Now to sell it but where..."
So clearly I was one of them that used the screws and washers method, whoops. I sold it with the limited edition Halo 3 ODST controller at the time. After I got the Silm console, I had to sell it somewhere but not to Gamestop. Either way, it was a fun & learning experience in console tinkering & my silm still works to this day.
I didn't have to do any mods thankfully to mine, but I do remember letting my friends borrow The Last Remnant and them telling me it red ringed their systems 🤣.
Yep I remember getting the red ring at the worst time. The original warranty was already expired, but Microsoft hadn't yet extended all warranties for the issue, so I tried fixing it myself, voiding any chance of letting Microsoft fix it. Long story short I was not able to fix it and that was the end of the 360 era for me. It still has the original Blades UI and everything.
I forgot how much I enjoyed your tech videos🦧
I didn’t get an Xbox 360 until around the launch of the Xbox One. I would get an Xbox 360 E for my birthday along with a copy of Sonic Generations and later Sonic Unleashed. I still own that console and games to this day.
I'm glad my old 360 never had any problems when I was a kid
I’ve never felt a power cord brick more hot than the 360 power brick 😂
One year at Best Buy our Christmas bundle for 360 had 3rd party controller & the external fan included!!
Me and my friend would wrap
3 blankets around the 360 to get it working oh the struggle lol
They were the days lol.
Someone i knew at high school from this era took the entire casing off his Xbox 360, and then made a open mesh case out of that wire fencing made for chicken coops lol, it certainly improved the air flow!
Wow
Oh yeah I remember. That was a bad time. The red ring got me on three 360s. I was able to send the second one back to Microsoft to be repaired. It took a week. I was shocked it was that fast. In just a few weeks it gave me the red ring. At this point they had the revised black 360 come out. I bought it and I can still to this day play the console. My 7 year old son love playing the 360.
I love these story videos.
My 360 was the original FAT white model and it never got the RROD but did stop working exactly 1 year after purchase with the E74 error. Which was something to do with the graphics chip. Since it started getting artifacts before it stopped working. Got a new later revision console at the time and it's still working to this day with the RGH2 mod. Even though as you said the fans are quiet loud.
I've seen photos recently, of old consoles sold as "broken." The buyer opens them up and sees SEVERAL discs in the disc drive. PlayStation discs inside an Xbox, and vice versa. It's what happens if you don't supervise young children around consoles.
The towel trick worked for me to sell my console at GameStop 😂
These are my favorite SW videos
Hey John. So what i did to fix my 360 was open it up, with a hot air gun, i hovered it over the board for a few minutes, then after it cooled, i changed the thermal paste on it. Gave it the 5 hour test with Gears 2 playing and never RRoD. Could have been that changing the thermal paste was enough but it's working again. 👍
Towel trick worked for me lol
Got my system working just long enough to get my Mass Effect save so I could keep playing on my new system =)
Me, and my buddies would just wrap it in a thick blanket. Let it run until it went into its overheat shutdown mode, and we'd get another 3-4 weeks out of it. Worked every time. Didn't need to disassemble it at all and then we got it warrantied lol. Idk where we even heard of that back then...
As someone who used to do 360 repairs, I can absolutely confirm thay those InterCooler systems are total garbage and absolutely melted to the 360s. We stopped carrying them at our store after the first melted Intercooler.
Proudly fixed mine twice with the towel trick!
My first 360 red ringed 2 weeks after I got it for Christmas 2005. Got a replacement which worked for a good couple years before it too red ringed right after Microsoft's extended warranty ended
Never had a 360, but remember hearing about the towel trick and about that fan attachment. The other stuff is new to me... or maybe forgot.
My go to was to put Q-tips through the back to stop the fans to overheat it!
Hot towel trick was for E74 if I remember right. If you do it too many times it stopped working and for mine I would put a hair dryer in one end of the towel burrito to force hot air in the vent and overheat it more 🔥😅
Luckily, I got a 360 post Red Ring, but I did do the makeshift battery pack controller trick with pennies and tape
My friend ended up giving me one of his red ringed, he had 2, 3rd was finally working. Getting it repaired and customized was cheaper than buying one
the thumbnail is hilarious because I broke my brother's PS2 when I was a kid by putting a penny in the disc drive
I got the RROD and replacement from MS. I was still worried about it tho, and modified my entertainment system with 6” externally powered fan. Fun times
Holy shit talking about unlocking a core memory. I totally forgot about aftermarket attachable fans for the 360. I had one of these and completely forgot about them even existing.
Oh... I'm the towel guy! It never killed the system and it worked pretty damn well for me, as a broke high school kid. I wouldn't have been able to get it fixed, so I regret nothing ! XD
Yeah intercoolers I’ve known are bad to use on any console. I remember a GameStop employee telling me that any ps3 using an I tercooler would instantly void the warranty. Also the towel trick I learned from someone on a 360 subreddit and that’s good to know that it’s only a temporary fix.
Good god the towel trick, i did that on a friend's Xbox 360, letting me borrow it to try and fix it.
Although i was able to play MX vs ATV Untamed during that weekend, the week after that my friend just told me it red ringed again.
I got a single red light error - red dot of death - which wasn't covered by the Microsoft repair warranty at the time, so I ended up having to wrap my 360 in towels to force a red ring of death error - it eventually did and I got a replacement console for free.
I remember as a kid, looking up vids and seeing the towel thing for "fixing" the xbox. At that point, I was already under the notion that "The internet lies." You can thank the zelda OoT triforce thing at the time lol. But yeh, when I saw that, I was like "nope, not doing it. Overheating electronics to make something work does not make sense to me."
I did one repair attempt on a core system and it did work for about another 6 months. When failed a second time I just picked up an arcade edition replacement. I forget what I did, but it was not the towel. Probably redid the paste kind of thing.
Wow the back of that 360- component, vga, s-video, 4 usb ports
Yes, I remember, and I also remember doing the towel trick a couple times until I found out about Microsoft replacing Xboxes for free... but then the one I got sent also got the red ring of death... which I tried to replace too, but Microsoft wouldn't do it so I had to make due with my Wii until I won an R2D2 360 on a raffle.
I hope you are planning on making a couple of videos where you go over games worth a pickup before the Xbox 360 store closes.
I got an Xbox 360 falcon last year and it had screws and washers so I stole the xclamps off a red ringed 360 and put them on it’s still working perfectly with the correct components
I still currently have my pre order launch xbox 360 from 2005. No red ring yet but i didn’t play it as heavily since i had my launch 60gb ps3. I still currently own both of them still. Best generation in my opinion
I got the red ring on mine and called Microsoft. Apparently, I had one day left on my warranty to get it fixed. I was lucky. Sadly, as you mentioned, I had to wait almost a month to get it back. Thankfully, it never happened again!
My RROD exchange with Microsoft, from when I got the box to when I got a system back in the mail...probably 3 or 4 days. It was INSANE, everyone told me it would take 2+ weeks.
All I did to protect my Xbox 360 from the red rings of death was buying the replacement warranty from Best Buy for 50 bucks. I'll get a brand new one, it worked pretty well with TVs too...lol.