Xbox Dead For The Third Time.

[Richb2004v2]

My Xbox has just died for the third time since I bought it three or four years ago. The first time it cost me 2500 baht and was sent away for a couple of weeks. The second time the guy sorted it in an hour for about 1000 baht, and fitted a bigger hard drive too. That was only a couple of months ago. When he took it he initially seemed to try pressing the button in some sort of sequence to unlock it or something. I just wonder is there something like this that I can do myself before taking it in. Also does anyone have any tips for preventing this happening again. If it wasn't for the fact I payed for the new hard drive and a new controller I would probably not bother having it fixed to be honest even though I do like playing it.

When I say dead I do of course mean the three red rings.

[Spoonman]

Ive never heard of a "button unlock sequence" as the RROD is a hardware issue (heat).

Google Xclamp mod, this is about the only way to fix it, even then its not a long term fix.

Ive also heard of people wrapping them in a wet towel, sounds dodgy but google it too !!!

[Daren]

I've heard of a few people water cooling their cooling their xbox 360, and that is a permanent fix. Would definitely be worth a look if you're having repeated issues. This should be quite possible to do in Thailand as well.

Good luck!

[garyh]

Buy a new one, someone just put one on TV classifieds. The newer ones run much cooler and are a lot netter.

[Richb2004v2]

How much are they now new?

[Daren]

Around 10 - 11k for an "Pro". Check Nadzproject.com - although they're listed as "out of stock" currently.

Edited April 21, 2010 by Daren

[Spoonman]

before you purchase a new one, google Xbox jasper, these are the latest ones and they use the least power, hence they run cooler.

They sell for approx 11k here, beware though its difficult to purchase one that has not bee modded to play "cheap" games....these ones will get banned by Microsoft which basically renders them useless (can still play dodgy games but nothing else, no more online and all media player capabilities are disabled.... I have 1 of these !!!

Best to buy offshore, I just picked up a second in OZ on my last trip home a few weeks back... New elite bundle for 4500b.

[griser]

Actually, if you look around you'll find the xbox jasper with HD and 10 free games (doubt they are REAL games) for about 8k-9k

The price has come down a lot in the last few months.

Greg

[phazey]

first of all, drop the "wet towel" idea, it's dangerous to play with water near electricity.

The towel mod works though, get a thick bath towel or two, wrap your xbox with it, making sure you remove the HDD, and have the PSU plugged into the socket on the console.

Turn the console on and wai for 20-30 minutes it will RROD at this point. Turn the console off, and wait until it's completely cooled down - a few hours.

assemble back and with luck, you've a working console for a few more weeks maybe - worked for me several times before i did the home brew x-clamp mod (this gave me another 3 months before my dvd drive went (even then i got another month by putting in a new dvd (swapping pcb's)).

All these tips work by either melting the solder around the GPU chip, or as with the x-clamp - removing the flexibility of the heatsink.

If you buy a new one, make sure it's a Jasper motherboard. there are two ways to check this out, 1) buillt in HDMI. 2) PSU us rated for 140 odd watts. Xenon and Falcon PSU's were 203x/174w respectively.

[NHJ]

beware of the region, they sell only japanese machines here and there aren't much japanese games.

[phazey]

beware of the region, they sell only japanese machines here and there aren't much japanese games.

Uh......they actually sell NTSC/J machines from Hong Kong or Singapore - which have pretty much the same releases as Europe or North America. That being said, it's only a few A List titles I've seen that are region locked.

Rough guide here.

[NHJ]

actually it's the opposite 95% of games are region lock, japanese machines will be stuck with few titles released and often very late compare to europe or america.

not to mention the fact that most region free games are region free only on pal and ntsc/U machines, have a look at this chart :

http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Region_Free_Xbox_360_Games

your best bet is to ask a friend to bring you a european xbox or an american xbox like i did.

Edited April 22, 2010 by NHJ

[welo]

The towel mod works though, get a thick bath towel or two, wrap your xbox with it, making sure you remove the HDD, and have the PSU plugged into the socket on the console.

[...]

All these tips work by either melting the solder around the GPU chip, or as with the x-clamp - removing the flexibility of the heatsink.

Applied this trick not to a XBOX but to a Compaq Laptop (v3000 series) with a Nvidia Geforce 7 GPU - obviously the same problem of bad soldering material and overheating. I used a dry towel though, maybe it is easier to heat up a Laptop than the XBOX.

Worked for about 4-6 weeks then the problem returned. Had it fixed by a 'professional' at Pantip who opened the laptop to re-heat the GPU soldering directly, worked for another 4-6 weeks and problem returned just a couple of days ago.

I wonder if water cooling keeps the XBOX GPU cool enough for a long term fix. Water cooling is obviously not really applicable to a laptop

welo

[Richb2004v2]

I took my Xbox back to the guy that fixed it last time, but as is often the case here in Thailand the shop had disappeared. There are other shops there but they either sent me on a wild goose chase or claimed that it could not be fixed. Yet another annoying shopping trip. So I will take it to Pattaya where hopefully I will get some sense from some one.

[anothertorres]

modded japanese XBOX360 (assuming we are all talking about 360, not XBOX1) is now going for 9000baht, you should get at least 8-10 free games with that and have them throw in an HDMI cable. you won't get a HDD with that, but you will be able to use your old HDD.

now about "japanese" (NTSC-J). if you are buying a modded box, then you can play just about every game (except some of the sport games that are NOT "region free"). i have amassed a collection of around 45 games. it's all very simple once you buy an already modded 360. you can either buy games at the shops for 120baht or just download them free using either torrent or xbox360iso . com

modded XBOX360 an play NTSC-J or any "Region Free" game. region free means that it's not NTSC-U or NTSC-J or PAL specific. most games can be found as either 'Region Free' or 'NTSC-J'. in fact, you get to download all the cool japanese games that no one else can play. the only games that can not be found as 'Region Free' are certain sports games. for example, you will not find a 'region free' version of NHL10. but, certainly any FIFA will be region free. that's because there is no point in trying to sell a tanning booth to a thai person. so, why make NHL region free when no one outside N.America and Europe gives a shit about hockey.

also, the mod they are currently using here in Thailand are extremely up to date. that means, you can play any new releases because the new mod can recognize MS's latest work around. you can even update your console as MS comes out with updates periodically.

after losing my US (NTSC-U) XBOX to a lightning storm i finally broke down and went to TukCom and bought a new but modded japanese xbox360. it was the best decision i have ever made. please PM me if you need any help or info on what a modded XBOX360 is all about. i've learned so much and i'd love to help anyone else who is just getting into owned a modded box.

and yes, you can play online with a modded XBOX360, but you just have to make sure the game you are playing is 'stealth patched'. and even that is risky. so, if you cherish your XBL account, don't mess around with a modded box unless you are very well-versed with the ins and outs of running stealth.

[anothertorres]

not to mention the fact that most region free games are region free only on pal and ntsc/U machines, have a look at this chart

that's incorrect. region free means it can play on either NTSC-U, NTSC-J and PAL. region free means... region free. and most games that anyone would want to even bother playing are Region Free or can be found in NTSC-J region. take a look at the top 25 game releases in the last year and you'll find all of them as either RF or NTSC-J. again, except for hockey (NHL10). however, you *can* get NHL2K10 in region free if you really need a hockey game

as far as Japanese release dates being behind, i sorta agree. but, for example, Nier is coming out in the next day or so, but it's been up for download for a week now and the NTSC-J version (there is no Region Free version of this game) just came out for download 2-3 days ago. so, for major releases, Japan is never far behind.

[anothertorres]

Buy a new one, someone just put one on TV classifieds. The newer ones run much cooler and are a lot netter.

the only one i can find on Classifieds is the same guy that's been selling his XBOX1. do you have a link to the one you are referring to? i'd buy it from him in a heartbeat if it's an american or european model.

[anothertorres]

Ive never heard of a "button unlock sequence" as the RROD is a hardware issue (heat).

that's because there isn't such a sequence. in fact, nothing is "locked". it's just f'ed up.

[anothertorres]

The towel mod works though, get a thick bath towel or two, wrap your xbox with it, making sure you remove the HDD, and have the PSU plugged into the socket on the console.

the towel mod absolutely can fix a case of RROD on *some* machines. an even safer way than using a towel (and certainly don't use a wet towel) is to stick 2 q-tips into the fan louvers to prevent the fan from spinning and cooling the board down. some say it even works faster than the towel trick.

alas, neither worked for me and i let that bitch heat up for well over 60 minutes each time. both times the "alert" lights lit up and still upon cooling it down for some time, it powered up to the RROD. that's when i went rogue...

[garyh]

The towel mod works though, get a thick bath towel or two, wrap your xbox with it, making sure you remove the HDD, and have the PSU plugged into the socket on the console.

the towel mod absolutely can fix a case of RROD on *some* machines. an even safer way than using a towel (and certainly don't use a wet towel) is to stick 2 q-tips into the fan louvers to prevent the fan from spinning and cooling the board down. some say it even works faster than the towel trick.

alas, neither worked for me and i let that bitch heat up for well over 60 minutes each time. both times the "alert" lights lit up and still upon cooling it down for some time, it powered up to the RROD. that's when i went rogue...

A far better way is to take it apart and take the fan out and rest it on the cpu cooler only and let it run like that for 30 minutes, also there are mods to make the fans run at full speed all the time which is far better for the unit.

[garyh]

Buy a new one, someone just put one on TV classifieds. The newer ones run much cooler and are a lot netter.

the only one i can find on Classifieds is the same guy that's been selling his XBOX1. do you have a link to the one you are referring to? i'd buy it from him in a heartbeat if it's an american or european model.

I looked but the ad is gone, looks like someone had the same idea as you.

[garyh]

This site is very good for how to repair the Xbox http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/repairs.htm they sell a kit for rrod repair but if you shop around the screws and washers needed are readily available.