A simple fan shroud mod for Xbox 360

One reason why the Xbox 360 has so many problems is poor air circulation. When you open up an Xbox 360, you see 2 heat sinks and a white plastic "shroud" coordinating air flow.

What the Microsoft engineers seem to have forgotten is that air will travel in the path of least resistance. As a result, the heat sink on the left (for the GPU) receives a very small portion of the air flow to cool it off... this is why the GPU is where most problems occur on the Xbox 360.

To fix this, we're going to create a divider so that both heat sinks will receive equal air flow - greatly reducing the operating temperature of the GPU. I would highly recommend doing this to any 360 that is not under warranty, as it can prevent the RRoD.

Fix the RRoD with X-clamp replacement

Today I'll walk you through an easier way to fix the Red Ring of Death. This is commonly known as an X-clamp replacement because you replace the 2 x-shaped clamps holding the heat sinks onto the motherboard.

The theory behind this is that the clamps do not provide enough pressure to keep the heat sinks firmly attached to the board. Because of this, the heat causes the motherboard to warp and the CPU and GPU pull away from the board - causing the dreaded RRoD!

Fix the RRoD with a Heat Gun Reflow

So now you have your Xbox 360 completely taken apart and you want to fix your Red Ring of Death. The Red Rings of Death is usually caused by solder joints under the microchips that become weak and break as a result of the constantly fluctuating temperature.  What we are going to do is reflow the solder under the chip to reconnect the broken points.

Xbox 360 Error Codes

So you go the dreaded Red Ring of Death. Did you know that not all RRoDs are the same? Yes, each RRoD has a 4-digit secondary error code. In order to find your secondary error code, first power on the console. It should, obviously, be flashing 3 red lights.

Now what you'll want to do is hold the sync button (little round white button near memory slots) and tap the DVD eject key to cycle through the 4 digits in your error code.

 

Disassemble an Xbox 360

 Welcome to my first tutorial! Today I will be showing you guys how to open an Xbox 360. Once it's open you'll be able to flash custom firmware to play backups, fix errors, perform case mods, and so much more!

Microsoft decided to go with a "screwless" assembly on their console, so it's a little tricky to open. I happen to have a spare RRoD console (that I will be fixing in another tutorial) to demonstrate the process of cracking one of these open.

An introduction...

Hello readers!

I will be using this blog to post various tutorials on how to fix and/or modify your video games, game consoles, and other electronics. All of these tutorials will be written by myself and will include pictures of the processes. Hope you stick around and ask questions - I'm here to help!