1st Xbox reflow - success!

[Skyhooker]

I did my first "Red Ring of Death" repair on an Xbox someone gave me this weekend, and it fired right up! I played on it for several hours yesterday, but I think it still has a heat problem, as it froze twice during play. The original owner had done a hardware mod to it already in an attempt to repair the RROD, but like many, it was sorta half-assed. He discarded the X-clamp and instead tapped the holes in the heat sinks for machine screws, but I think it's warping the board and creating a bad seal between the chips and the heat sinks. I'm going to stack some washers to fill the gap where the X-clamp standoffs used to be, and I think that will solve it.

Anyway, I'm calling this a successful fix, and I now have my own Xbox! Thanks to "arrow_runner" for a tip he sent me - that helped. Thanks also to the creator of this video:

XBox 360 GPU permanent reflow

I followed it as closely as possible, with two exceptions: I didn't have a fancy USB thermocouple temp. probe, but used my multimeter instead, and I made some corrugated cardboard standoffs so the board wouldn't be in direct contact with the electric griddle.

 

[basic]

Just did my first xbox reflow, as well. I did mine with a heat gun and it worked like a charm.

 

[Corbin]

I just fixed a xbox that the original owner thought it was having a RROD because the games/movies kept skipping and saying unable to read, but it was just needing to have a cleaning disc poped in the clean off the lense. does this count?

It was more just a color blind stupid person.

 

[PBComputer]

I'm planning on trying to fix one this weekend, does anyone have any good tips i can use?

Paul

 

[MrUnknown]

I'm planning on trying to fix one this weekend, does anyone have any good tips i can use?

Paul

take your time, there is no reason to rush and do not hit the motherboard while heating it up.

I did a reflow a while back for someone using only my heat gun. Works fine. But to everyone: a reflow is only a temporary fix. It will not last forever or even as long as the original 360, so maybe a max of a week, give or take 7 days.

(before I get a "booo!" response, I did a reflow on my ps3 not too long ago due to YLOD)

 

[TechguyUK]

Correct. The concensus seems to be that reflows generally don't last more than a few months. I;ve actually stopped doing reflows for paying clients on consoles and laptop graphics chips due to the number that end up comming back with repeat faults...they then want it doing again FoC or request a refund

Unless you are totally clear with customers up front that its not going to be a permanent fix and make no offer of warranty, then I reckon its not really a viable service for most.