I have come across many different ways to fix this nagging 3 red lights of death and of course it seems that many different pieces of failing hardware cause this. I have, on the other hand, created a way to fix this issue with one simple fix. REMEMBER: opening your 360 and doing this fix will void your warranty always make sure your 360 is out of warranty before trying.
Things you'll need:
12 pennies
Electrical tape
Hot glue gun

First you open your 360 up (see tutorial on how to)
Take out the mother board
Flip the motherboard upside down
Locate the 4 Ram chip that are black and around the GPU
Take 3 pennies, stack them on top of each other so it looks 3 pennies thick
With the electrical tap wrap the pennies so no copper is showing (make 4 seperate stacks of pennies)
On each ram chip use a very small amount of hot glue to stick the stack of wrapped pennies to the ram
now when you flip the motherboard upside down the pennies should sick to the ram
When putting the screws back in do not screw the black screws that hold the CPU and GPU- leave them off
Screw all the other screws on slow and tight and observe the inputs so that they match up with the holes in the metal casing (example USB ports, AV, Power etc)
You will notice the front USB ports seem to be just barely showing through the casing holes, thats fine
Make sure the fans are reconnected etc and test before putting back together

The reason this works as apposed to alot of other methods is because it kills mulitple birds with one stone
over heating-> there is now some space under the board so the board doesnt get as hot
bad Ram connection->obvisouly the ram is getting pressured back on to the motherboard
GPU/CPU issues-> with the released unneeded tension off the x clamps they dont seems to come unsolderd

I have waiting 11months to post this fix anywhere till i have tested it for a long period of time. I have done about 40 with this method and only on one did it fail to help.
Please post with reponses on how this worked for you, thanks

It sounds like a very short term fix (if it really works) It's pretty much the same thing as the eraser mod, right?

Very similar except the 3 pennies give the perfect hight and is alot more sterdy. also the heat off the pennies is obsorbed and keep it the optimal tempeture- not temperary fix like the earser/rubber fix (5months etc) havent seen a failure afterwards. try and and let me know what you think man

How many mm high are the pennies? (we don't have pennies in Australia. i did the eraser mod last night and it fixed the problem. I'm just worried that its not a permenant fix. (rubber mod)
Maybe if I added some cooling fan at the back it might be okay.

Bit OT but I don't think I did this bit when I did my first (not yet tested) X-Clamp fix. Bugger.

Slam

a penny is about 1.5 mm thick so the end result should be 4.5mm thick and use copper equivelant. VERY important to reconnect the fans and also very important to tighten slowly and to leave the black screws out of the two x-clamps on the back. like i said before this sounds like a temp fix but non have failed even after 11 months of playing (gears of war, dead rising etc)

Innnteresting... I'm going to try this on my motherboard. About this "rubber/eraser mod" I've been reading about; do Xbox 360's come from the factory with anything on the RAM chips? Because I'm working on my Xbox 360 that has already taken a trip to the Microsoft repair factory, and there are four white sticky pads on the RAM chips

Thanks for the tip

Well thats a good indication that microsoft knows where the flaw is....and so do I/We now. Thanks for the heads up

I think putting some copper blocks under it will do the same but better. It conducts heat better. Or some VGA ramsinks. Anything else is just a workaround as the heat stays trapped and is not diverted from the board.

Out of curiousity. Has anyone tried placing erasers/pennies or anything else next to the ramsinks instead on of the ram?

I agree copper blocks would work great but a couple things. 1. who has copper blocks 2. the 3 pennies are the ideal size 3. next to the ram would defeat the purpuse of the pressure needed to be applied to the faulty ram. and like stated earlier even microsoft has found the fault in the board and places something to apply the pressure. they, how ever, do not account for the heat problem so thats why the copper seems to be more effective. try and and see what you think.

Sounds like a great idea to me, just one question, you mention to wrap the pennies so no copper is showing, where/how does the heat dissapate? Would it not be better to leave both ends of the pennies open, therefore creating a good heat transfer? Great find by the way.....

Also, is these latest finds starting to rule out the gpu and cpu as being the problem with the red lights?

I done the eraser fix + which didn't work for me until I put extra pressure on the gpu heatsink, (Now using another rubber below the dvd drive to that) which has worked ok for a few days now.

So far no problems of overheating, even with extended game sessions, (also using an intercooler) but the insulation effect of the rubber does slightly concern me that it may cause the unit to fail long term.

I was thinking of wrapping the ram eraser in alu foil to help transfer heat out to the case.

Maybe worth looking at when the x-clamp replacement does not work.

that extra pressur eon the gpu is not needed when you do this fix (3 penny) you release the pressure by undoing the screws and apply the pressure on the actual failure the ram- its was thought that the heat sink was the cause of the majority of problems when in fact %99 of the time its the ram chips- trust me apply the pressure with a hard substance (not rubber) like the pennies to the ram halpes in mulitple areas on your board. by doing whats stated above with rubber in multiple areas and putting rubber under the dvd drive is doing the same as this fix- but your just adding work thats not needed. when you put rubber under the drive your applying pressure (from the top) to the ram...but in turn yoiur also pushing on your dvd drive in a spot that should be pushed inturn could mess up your drive. anyway yeah you could take the electric tape off but i have seen that one wrap of tape does the trick. thanks for posting guys- let me know the results

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the reason this works is by keeping pressure on the chips, and not so much for heat transfer to the case.

If were looking to dissapate heat, will we be looking for a better transfer to the pennies other than hot glue, maybe articsilver adhesive. Just brainstorming

ArticSilver wont keep the pennies in place but that would be great. there is silver tape (not sure of the name) that is used in laptops that would work great. but anyway this tutorial is made so its a permanent fix and with stuff everyone shoudl have. would could start sayin stuff like why dont we just resolder the chips on better but only 7 of use would end up be able to do it you know. so everyone should have 12 pennies (if you dont email me and i'll send you them haha)and everyone should have electrical tape and a hopefully a glue gun. i tried taping the pennies to the case but didnt work as well as the hot glue. anyway keep brainstorming , but with everyday items and make sure you test first!! thanks guys

More likely you're just countering warping caused by the pressure from the gpu. I believe this works about the same as my nutfix (and any other X-clamp replacement for that matter). The board has something to rest on. But don't forget that X-clamp. There is a lot of pressure from that thing. Way too much which could cause trouble in the future. Loosening the screws can cause more warping because the board is free to bounce up and down with the heatsink.

some good points, when doing this fix you dont want to loose your screws. and also any pressure from metal can cause warping for the course of a couple years-and anytime you alter the inside of a console it means do not move the console around alot anymore. and of course play your 360 horizontally not vertically. thanks doctor

Did this mod tonight, Double sided electrical tape to stick pennies to ram chips rather than use glue. All seems well waiting for the thing to cool down now getting 2 red lights. Had to towel trick intially to get it back to life, Its a good sign that it is working at all as it has been dead for a couple days. Nothing would get it working so hopefully this is a good sign

Was about to do a full gpu heatsink x-clamp replacement so kidderboots if this works mate i will love you lol saves me a lot of hassle.

Not getting my hopes up just yet (well not to much)

Will update 2moro...

Electrical tape holds heat... doesn't 'transfer' it very well at all. If you're wanting to fix the 3RLOD error, just go all the way with Lawdawg0931's tutorial or RBJTech's method. <--- They're the most effective. The eraser way and this are just cheapskate temporary fixes that in the long run aren't good for the xbox 360.

Cheers.

Awesome! It works just played gears of war for 30 minutes cant play it any longer gotta go out damn! that is the longest it has worked for weeks! I found that with no screws in the gpu or cpu x clamps via base of console it would overheat getting 2 red light error. So i managed to screw 7 of them back in the 8th wouldn't connect with the mobo becausce it is raised. I know the board is probably scewed now at an angle but dont give a s**t becausce this things works now!

I hope it will keep going long enough for me to save some extra cash to buy a new (Unbanned live) console and sell mine for spares or what not

AWESOME!



kidderboots =

Update the fans spin faster and the base of the console (metal case) is no longer scorching hot like it used to be? weird!

Hope this fix lasts...

at least until mass effect

The prankster check out Boomsticks test- I am telling you i'm not making this up- i tested all the other methods and tried my method (3penny fix) and its worked for 11months and counting. Thanks for the update boomstick! should last you for awhile - dont know ho wlong after all the methods you've done...but still obviously a success. Thanks everyone. please continue to test and leave feedback- and pranksters i urge you to try it if you get the chance

Which error codes has it fixed so far?

@DrJeckyll
Almost 99% of 3RLOD errors, whatever the 'hidden' error code be, can be fixed with these methods, penny, eraser, lawdawg, rbjtech etc. Don't take my 99% seriously though lol, but a lot of them are easily fixed with these methods.

@kidderboots
Yeah sorry, that was my bad, I've already fixed one of my xbox 360's with 3RLOD, with lawdawg0931's method, I'm not saying anything of the nature that this won't work, the simple problem is the flexing of the motherboard, so all that needs to be done is have 'things' to correctly align the motherboard with the metal chassis... pennies in your case, erasers in another, but screws that are the correct size in my case.


I'm not against this, and certainly it will work. It's just kind of ironic the 'Twelve Cent Fix' lol. Goodluck with your 360.

Cheers.

well Id like to add one thing @Prankster the one thing the pennies do seem to help that the eraser does not is the heat issue....this is very important for these lights not to come back.. the eraser fixes seem to come back after 5months etc....Thats why i would inccourage people to try this one first....but your right obviously those other fixes do help greatly. I just named it 12 cents cause 3 pennies high and 4 sets are needed, sounds catchy and needed a name. we can call it the penny fix....doesnt matter. THANKS for posting. keep giving feed back on other units !

kidderboots showed me this fix in person. it works great. So far i have 2 360's that have worked flawless since. the ram on the 360 does not get that hot so heat trasfer between pennies and ram is not important. the underlaying problem most of the time is the GPU is not getting a good connection to the motherboard, meaning some joints are cold solder or disconnected. the 12 cent fix in my opinion flexs the board enough to cause all the contacts to remain in place between the gpu and the pcb.

This is a excellent cheap fix.
In the end i am not touting that this is the best fix, but for the dad and son who just had enough to get there own shiny new 360 and now its not working, this is worth a shot for them!

Are there any new consoles tested? Keep on posting with results, I;m sure there wont be a failed fixes for awhile. Let us all know!

The RAM gets very hot. Actually the hottest spot in the 360 is in front of the GPU next to the RAM.


Definately a cheap spacer trick. Good job!

Looks like all these fixes do the same. They support the board so the gpu is on an equal level with the board.

thanks but any picture please ?????

i was gonna try the xclamp method but then seen this, i tried it, worked for 30 mins then a hazy screen, and now i get 3 red lights again, dont waste ur money on this one guys, nice try thou

I am immediately reminded of afrotech.

http://www.afrotechmods.com/ram.htm

If you get copper pennies, they dissipate heat very well.

Actually a paper airduct would be great for getting air under the dvd-drive

Good find throwingks I never read that artical but its a good example of why all around this is the best of the cheap fixes. its takes care of heat, pressure on the ram and leverage on the board. Thanks throwingks for that find!

PICTURES!

Im might try this, then I might not have to sell my 360

Not the best, but still the cheapest imo.

Ok guys Some pics from when I did this mod, My 360 was dead wouldn't boot. After doing this mod and applying heat it has worked perfect since..

Bear in mind I was happy to try this mod had no warranty, Didn't want to try the x-clamps first in case it didn't work after all the effort. I am personally gonna try x-clamp replacement 2 when rjbtech has an updated guide for it. This mod (penny trick) is for the in between and hey if it keeps working I may just leave it like this..

Thanks to kidderboots for the idea, Just changed it slightly..

Ok you will need

A roll of electrical tape
8 or 12 pennies depending on how much pressure you want to apply (I used 8)
Kit to open an xbox360

I was getting these freezing crashes, With a nice checkered pattern and crackling sound effect to go with it.

After a these crashes became more frequent eventually it would no longer boot up just red lights of death

So what to do is get your self some electrical tape and some pennies I used 8 pennies = 2 pennies for each replacement thermal pad for the ram


So cut the electrical tape long enough to wrap around the pennies. I wrapped 2 bits of tape around each twice


When you have your 4 replacement pads, Double up some tape i.e so its sticky both sides then attach them to your motherboard


When you have finished that re assemble your xbox360. Put back all of the screws including the gpu and cpu heatsink (x-clamp) screws and do them all up nice and tight


When you have fully re asembled your xbox360 try starting it up. If it doesnt work and you still have 3 red lights don't worry (yet). This is when you need to apply heat, I used towel trick for 18 mins.

And then hey presto its working again!

Pics/guide here http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=607281

Exactly right. this fix again should work for almost all red lights of death problems but also may need ot be alterd just a bit like boomstick indicates. My initial tutorial is general and should work as is but depending on how many other fixes have been tried previously, may need ot be alterd/redone. Thanks again boomstick

Thanks for the pics Boomstick, I was makin a huge tutorial mockup and prob dont need to now, thats seems good enough. If anyone wants a different pictured tutorial let me know, i'll do one as well. thanks

just play 10min of cod2 and fine so far, was crashing on boot or gettings 3 rod but this seems to work

Been fine for over 30min now

What if you can't afford to get these pennies?

good to hear LiGhTfasT - SPider go to your local gas station and grab some give-a-penny take-a-pennies...just dont give! good luck finding 12, maybe 2 or 3 gas stations and you'll make it

I did the xclamp replacement method and that fixed my xbox for about 2 months, but now its freezing again and sometimes has weird graphic glitches. Will try this method and give an update. hope it works i love my xbox

electrical tape is a horrible idea.. it will reflect the heat back onto the chip... find some thermal double sided tape and stick the pennies down onto the chip and then onto each other

pimpmaul69 Don't knock it til you try it. as long as you keep it NO thicker then 2 layers thick it works perfectly. Idealy youd could use different tape of course but this works and is for the everyday 3RLOD sufferer.
The little amount of heat the pennies disepate is more then enough to correct this accurance. We are not trying to replace the motherboard here we are just fixing the flaws. This Fix works. Thanks everyone and keep fixing and posting

Halo3 Beta almost gone - if you want to add and play my Live account is DiCTheGreaT also willing to answer questions on there.

Thanks for posting this

I'll give it a shot as I don't have all the materials for the x-clamp mod.

I used the penny fix,
Nothing,
Currently doing the Towel thing to see if that helps.

Ok well I've done it but the fans are really really loud and i'm getting two red lights which according to the error codes means its overheating :S

DO NOT attempt the Towel Trick. It can only damage your console.