Worth trying to fix a RROD Xbox?

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AMD_Gamer

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Some guy is selling a RROD with 3 redrings on craigslist, what are the chances that I would be able to fix it?
 
Not a good risk... is it under warranty? If it is, grab it and send it in. If it's not, pass.
 
Nox fixes are guarnteed to work or to keep working. Once a console RRODs its best to leave it as is, unless you can get it dirt cheap and enjoy fixing consoles.
 
My 360 RROD'd 3 weeks after the 3year guarantee ran out :mad: and rather than have to pay for repair i decided to do it myself using the following youtube guides.

The Penny Trick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsz0lNJ6JrQ&feature=related

then the Towel Trick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31tvXu34T8Q

My 360 has worked perfectly since i fixed it 2 months ago. Doesnt even get as warm as it used to either I imagine the heat is transferring much better throughout the case. Wether this is a permanent fix, time will tell. But i went from one dead 360 to a fully working one in less than an hour and all it cost me was 8 pence :D

Of course everything depends on the severity of the fault as to wether the 360 is repairable. But its worth a shot in my opinion if the price is right.
 
the one this guy is selling is $40 but without power brick and i would need converter cables to hook up to my LCD screen as I don't have a TV so im not sure if the investment is worth it.
 
you could try using the HDMI to DVI coverter cable but then you would be screwed on the audio part of it..

if the warranty is still good on it.. then you can just send it to microsoft.. if its a full RROD they will ship a new one in 2-3 weeks.. if its only a partial RROD it can take up to 6 weeks since they will usually try to repair it and send it back..

i did this with a few 360's i got off ebay for 25-30 dollars with full RROD's.. took 3 weeks for each of them to get shipped back and then resold them for 150 each.. well below cost for a new one.. but at least i made some money to afford buying more games..
 
The video for ihacked shows them using new hardware. I've heard this before. I thought the problem was the thermal paste being non-lead so it cracked and separated from the gpu. Why is not simply cleaning the surface, reapplying proper paste and reattaching the old heat sink with the same bolts, not a good fix? If the paste you use will not go away, the cracking shouldn't occur, meaning the bolts that came with it should be good enough.

Also, the 'penny trick'. I don't see how they are fixing it other than using the towel trick at the end. What are the penny's supposed to be doing? Make your console worth $.08 more?
 
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my rrod xbox died about 1 - 2months after i fixed it. i gave up and bought an arcade xbox.
 
Catch22sk8r said:
my rrod xbox died about 1 - 2months after i fixed it. i gave up and bought an arcade xbox.
Click to expand...

Haha I did the same thing but I bought Best Buy's extended warranty crap. That turned out to be a good thing because I had to take that arcade unit back after getting freezes within 2 months after I bought it. Everything is good now though.
 
Your still looking at a $25 power brick and I have no idea the cost of cables. I've contemplated this samething before but since there are so many how-to's widely available on the internet I figured the seller has already attempted this since they aren't including any of the extras (controllers, cables etc) that the box origionally came with. At least here in SoCal - Los Angeles area, people buy just the broken box, fix what they can for a profit or unload what they cant for the same price they bought it for, which is about $40-50.

Good luck though, maybe another success story will encourage me to try and buy a RRoD one.
 
A guy I worked with gave me his RROD Xbox since he bought a new one, I gave it to a guy that fixes 360s all the time and he couldn't get it to work so be careful cause you never know.
 
If the person selling it to you tried to fix the RROD, then there's a very good chance that Box is pooched.
If they never tried, the RROD fix is pretty simple, it's just the PITA of taking the box apart.

If you do buy the Box, get a tool kit off EBay for 7 bucks. It will have the Torx wrenches and the disassembly tool........the rest is just reapplying TIM to the CPU and the GPU.

http://cgi.ebay.com/XBOX-360-Repair...ash=item5882704b7d&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262
this guy has a very nice online tutorial as well.
 
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I am trying to get a power brick but people are asking about the wattage needed, would I have to look at the Xbox to figure it out?
 
I fixed my 360 with a heat gun I bought for 10 bucks at harbor freight. Basically tear down a 360 to the motherboard and remove heatsinks on the cpu and gpu. Then cover all the outer edges electronics components with foil, then aplly heat in circualr motion around the chips for like 3 minutes each top and bottom sides to melt the solder then let it cool for about an hour.
 
Yeh the heat gun method ive seen most commenly before on the PS3, i meen really there is nothing to stop it from breaking again.

So if the console is in it's 3 year warantee i would just send it back to microsoft, if not then Good luck but dont do the towel trick.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
I am trying to get a power brick but people are asking about the wattage needed, would I have to look at the Xbox to figure it out?
Click to expand...

Get serial number.
Call MS customer service and tell them something like you lost your brick in a move or something.
They will tell you what you need and then you can go on to finding the correct model.

Quote from support: "Use only the power supply unit and AC power cord that came with your console or that you received from an authorized repair center. If you are not sure if you have the correct power supply unit, compare the model number on the power supply unit with the model number specified on your console. If you need a replacement power supply unit or AC power cord, contact Xbox Customer Support."
 
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bigdogchris said:
Also, the 'penny trick'. I don't see how they are fixing it other than using the towel trick at the end. What are the penny's supposed to be doing? Make your console worth $.08 more?
Click to expand...

The penny trick keeps the memory chips pushed against the motherboard a lot better than the squishy pads that MS use. In combination with the towel trick, it resolders the chips in place and prevents them from loosening again. The pennies also transfer the heat a hell of a lot better than the pads. Works for me anyway. That £.08 has saved me £85.92 in repair fees so i can't complain :D
 
My launch arcade died a couple months ago and I was thinking about getting the new Modern Warfare 2 xbox, but after this thread i think i will try the penny/towel combo trick this weekend.

I'll let you guys know the results.
 
Well, I did the x-clamp fix and it worked great.
Back up and running, we'll see for how long.

That x-clamp design is so stupid it is almost funny.
Now I will put another fan in over the heatsinks and hopefully it will last forever and ever and ever!!!
 
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