Decided to start my own thread so as not to hi-jack Tom's any more.

My 360 has had x-clamp, Talismoon fans, and the shroud cooling mod all done to it, aswell as a mesh grill above the gpu's heatsink.

Got my second set of 3 red lights today, the first since the x-clamp replacement was done about a year ago. Took it apart, re-applied thermal paste, and did it back up. Still 3 red lights. Turned on for three minutes with no fans running, worked fine.

Now, it freezes, in under 10 minutes. First on DMC4, then PGR4. (spooky!) A press of the eject button does nothing, other than open the drive. Doesn't send me to the dash.

Am i right in thinking this is definitely a gpu problem? All i have left to do is the shim, then the heat gun. Should i try the shim first, then the heat gun if it still freezes?

The console is in a unit at the moment, could this cause the freezing, by way of overheating?

TIA.

Nick

You should post the sec code.
I have heard about the shims but what are they actually ?
In most of the cases the gpu is fine buth during the game play one of the ram bricks looses connection.
Do you have thermal pads at the underside of the mobo ?

Mine was a 0103. The shim is a small 2 mm thick area of copper or aluminium to sit between the gpu/cpu, and it's heat sink. Creates a better contact.

I don't have thermal pads, are they worth applying?

I have a similar problem. I replaced my x clamp last week and it worked fine for the first few hours of gameplay, now it freezes every few minutes, with flashing pixels over the screen, and i have to turn it on and off.

My red lights have just came back on, error code 0110 I think.

Please let me know if you find a way to fix it. I'll keep you updated on my progress as well.

Cheers

Try to tighten the screws a bit if it works but freezes, there will be a cold under the GPU...
If this still doesnt fix it reflow the solder under the GPU with a heatgun like shown in my tutorial.


0110 is a cold solder joint under the RAM if you want to get rid permanently you will have to reflow the solder under the RAM with a heatgun.
Some sort of penny fix might work temporarily...

Thanks Wilhelm.

My screws are as tight as they can be, i was fiddling with them yesterday.Do you think i should go straight to the heatgun, not bother with the shim?

Is it not possible that you have the screws too tight? Causing more pressure on the GPU or uneven pressure?

Maybe, although i was fiddling all day with them. This is the best it can manage, a quick 10 minutes.

Gonna try the heat gun i think, then the bin if that fails!

Do what I did.

I put the heatsink on and hand tighten screws, so the heatsink didn't move, but wasnt tight. Then I baked it. No fans left it for 2:30mins and two red lights came on. Then i quickly turned it off and tighted screws firmly and plugged it back in. I also added small bits of card around the gpu and cpu to even the pressure as offical clamp fix didnt work for me.

Tried that?

I have run it for 3 minutes with no fans, seemed to work.

Not done the card trick though, think i'll do that also. Did you do it like Wilhelm's guide?

Yes, I did. However for some reason my GPU is slightly different to his picture. So I didn't add card on the side of the GPU. Just corders and right and left sides not top and bottom sides if that makes sense?

Worked first time for me.

Mine's the same as yours i think, as it's different to Wilhelm's.


Just doing it now. Has yours been fixed for a good stint now, since that mod?

Well, I have to fix the cooling first. AS some idiot removed the old shrud that was there hence why the poor thing overheated.

So I will let you know soon, after a few days.

Let me know how you get on.

Well, did the bits of card. Cleaned bothe heatsinks and chips, applied fresh paste.

Left it for a bit with no fans.

The played ridge racer for half an hour, works a treat.

Thanks very much mate, the cards seem to of been it, although i have left the screws that hold the mobo to the metal case a lot looser than before, as the mobo seemed to bend on the xclamp replacement bolts.

Sod's law now though, the ethernet activity led i fitted has stopped working, do i go back, undo it all, and resolder it?

You're welcome bud

Since you overheated, maybe the LED needs to be resoldered.

Glad it worked out. Just hope it keeps on working.

It did yep, took the plunge, undid the whole thing, re soldered it.

Do you know if it's the done thing to leave the top half of the metal case off, to help get rid of the heat?

Seems odd to me that it's there.

This pretty much doesnt matter.
I have got mine off it is only a shield against electro smog.
If you remove it you get some additional ventilation holes as well(on the sides)

However I dont think both of your 360s will work for long since you only got it to work by overheating them not with the pressure...
Use the heatgun when it returns

Cheers for all your advice Wilhelm, and for those tutorials, very helpful.

Fingers crossed it lasts a while, then it's the heat gun.

Mine was overheated and pressured. I don't have a heat gun and they are expensive here. However I hope mine also lasts. Time will tell though.

As above, thanks for the helo with tutorials ect appreciated!

Hate to say it, but you were right. That's me gone again, had a 5 hour session on Saturday night, just turned it on, froze and 3 red lights.

Heat gun it is then.

Hopefully the heatgun works for you. I'm going to try heat gun tonight, my cousin got me a 2000W gun from his work so hopefully that will work.

I haven't tried the card fix on the chips but since I was getting error 0110 before freezing, I'm just gonna go straight for the heat gun.

Good luck

Concentrate on the RAM and GPU mate, the cold solder joint is somewhere there.
And follow my heatgunning tutorial thorughly, it will take like 2 hours in total but then it will be fixed for sure...
Take care that you dont flex the mainboard once you are done be very carefully while removing the isolation and putting it back in the case etc...

Okay will do, cheers for that mate. I had a read over your tutorial a few times and it looks good, I'll report back on my success.

Cheers