hey guys,

i've joined this forum out of desperation. my 360 first messed up by messing up video, then i could hear audio and then had no video. so i tore the bitch apart and changed the xclamps with regular bolts and new thermal compound. i read it doesnt matter how tight the heatsink is as long as it doesnt crack the die, sooo i tightened the hell out of it. my 360 then worked flawlessly... for about 2 months.

after that, it started overheating (2 rings). i reapplied the TC and tightened the heat sinks again. still started overheating. so i left it alone for about a year then decided to try something crazy. i layed a 12" oscillating fan on top of my open 360 about an inch above the cpu heatsink and the dvd tray out (exposing the gpu) sure it was ghetto, but i had my 360 back and it lasted hours and hours and never failed.

THEN i decided to swap out my fans from a friends busted xbox and with the new rear fans it worked without a fan sitting on top of the box. worked just as well, fans ran quietly and the box didnt shut off after hours of gears of war 2, forza 2 and dvd movies. i was bored a few days ago and decided i was going to flash my firmware so i could play back-up games. copied DiRT and played it for about 40 minutes then all of the sudden the 2 rings came back to bite me in the ass.

now im here looking for a solution to my problem. i reapplied the thermal compound and still get the rings. the weird thing is ill let my 360 cool down for hours and turn it back on and before i get out of the dashboard (within ~ 2 mins.) the fans sound like a jet taking off and it shuts off. my heat sinks are cool as a cucumber and no signs of overheating. so im pretty confused, just ready to toss the bitch out of the window.

so im left with only a few ideas.

- replace my gpu heat sink with the newest heatsink from m$ that has the additional heatsink that is placed in front of the cpu by a copper tube. the reason i havent done this yet is because i lost my t8 bit (i recently moved and cant find it for the life of me in all the boxes).

- cut the temp sensor to my cpu because im confident it really isnt overheating because it goes bat shit crazy with no load what so ever.

- buy a 120mm fan and cut a circular hole in my case and stick it where the updated gpu heatsink sits. only problem is im not sure where to tap for a power source. id like not to solder anything because well i dont have a soldering pen.

i thought of doing it all; adding an additional fan to my case, modding both my rear fans to run constant 12 volt, add the updated gpu heatsink, and cut the temp sensor to my cpu. this would require me making a trip to the hardware store and buying a soldering pen, solder, and a t8 bit. which im ready to do at this point.

please guys, help me out. ive had my xbox since the spring of 06 and dont really want to let it go. im also making an example to my friends i can keep my 360 alive, it has some sentimental value to me. if nothing else works it looks like a new arcade box is in my future even though id hate to spending $200 if i can fix this with $75 in additional parts and modding.

okay i checked the error code. 0013. the ram bricks are fucked im guessing. i turned on my 360 and it operated fine, i opend my dvd tray, inserted a dvd, closed tray and before the tray made it closed, BAM, two red lights. ideas on how to get them to operate correctly? i dont like the heat gun idea. mainly because theyre expensive. stack of pennies? heat sinks? ideas would be appreciated.

Heatgun is the only way to go. I am sorry

I had a similiar problem once and fixed it using the ovenfix.

I don't know why people on this forum hate the ovenfix so much.. but it is the only method i've ever used (I don't want to go buy a heatgun like yourself).

I've done the ovenfix 15+ times and it has worked flawlessly everytime.

When I had the problem you have it was because the motherboard is flexed and the chips aren't making a good enough connection to the heatsinks. When you take the heatsinks off you should see a perfect square where the TC was touching the heatsink.. but my guess is that you dont! How did I fix this? I used the ovenfix.

Ovenfix:

Take both heatsinks off and clean the chips. Wrap the motherboard in a tshirt or towel leaving the H/ANA GPU and CPU exposed and much as possible. Then wrap the mb again in aluminum foil (to shield the capasitators from heat and exploding). Preheat your oven to 425 F and put your 360 in for 10 minutes. When time is up open the door and turn off the heat, let it sit for 15 more minutes before you touch it.

Reapply TC and heatsinks and pray!

that sounds insanely risky. lol my xbox is dead as of now anyway, and i have another broken box with RRoD so i have a back up to fix if this goes wrong. is there a picture tutorial anywhere?

Note: To make the ovenfix it might cost you the same or even much more than buying a good cheap heatgun. Imagine that the clothes you are going to use are useless after the "fix". I still don't recommend the ovenfix as many other experienced ppl in this forum.

Yup I've had trouble refraining on commenting on the oven fix as I didn't think it was a great idea myself. For me its like recklessly just heat gunning the whole system board top and bottom and hoping its going to work. Now I know they are using shielding but if it causes other issues how do you fix it??? Where as if you just heat gun a small section at a time you have a starting point if the error changes.

Heatsinks being cold is not a good thing; that means the heatsinks are not doing their job of taking heat from the CPU/GPU. Make sure you have two metal washers between the heatsink and board on each bolt. The wrong spacing between the board and heatsink.

I like to suggest on thickness of the two metal washer between MOB and heat sink.
Those two total thickness can't be more then 2.1 mm and not less than 1.9 mm.
If 2.2 mm, heat will not transfer properly and less than 1.9 mm, you will start bending MOB.
If washer is thicker than 2.1 mm, Just slam with hammer to flaten.
Not all washer are geting 2 mm in total thickness. CPU and GPU total hight from MOB was only 2 mm.