360 question

[trag]

I know this is a mod forum, but I have a question about a friends' xbox 360.
He started getting the overheat error(red lights 1 and 3) and asked me to look at it. There was a piece on the underside of the motherboard below the gpu that had came loose from the board. It came completely loose upon contact. I don't know what it was, but the solder had let loose. Now it has the 3 red light error.
Any hope?

[SHADOWZONE]

I know this is a mod forum, but I have a question about a friends' xbox 360.
He started getting the overheat error(red lights 1 and 3) and asked me to look at it. There was a piece on the underside of the motherboard below the gpu that had came loose from the board. It came completely loose upon contact. I don't know what it was, but the solder had let loose. Now it has the 3 red light error.
Any hope?


Red ring od death almost invariably is processor, can not think of anything on underside that could of come loose, except soilder or screws that hold heatsink on. Anyway, repair any soilder connections on or near CPU, Lift heatsink apply sillicon, tighten securely. First Gen xbox360's were shipped with inadequite heatsink. Easy Fix, just use small tipped iron and magnifing glass.

[trag]

Attached is pic of suspicious area, located on underside of motherboard. The two pieces(?) are missing from the corner near the print "C7T12", upper right-hand corner.

[BigDawg]

Need a clearer pic!!

[JT]

Try using a flat bed scanner to take the image. That works a lot better than a camera most of the time.

[trag]

Did the llama rrod fix, but now its giving the three lights instead of two. Im gonna ask him if he wants to spend any more money and, if so, hunt another mobo.
Thanks!

[Psychop1]

It's effed. When the 360 gets too hot, the the solder melts, and under extreme circumstances (but it does happen), the motherboard warps. What has happened here is that your friend repeatedly let the motherboard get too hot, solder melted, and capacitors fell of the gpu - I counted at least ten. Now, if you can get somebody with crazy soldering skills to identify the capacitors, replace them, and solder them into place, it can be saved. You have to remember though... these are put in by machine; not an easy job. It may be easier to replace the motherboard, and find someone who programs the motherboards (keys on the DVD drive have to match keys on the motherboard) to repair this.

Generally, if you see capacitors missing, it's bad news. It's not enough to reflow your 360 to get rid of the three lights. It doesn't stop the problem - overheating. IMO the 12 volt fan mod is the best mod to put overheating to rest, and it's really easy to do.

[Psychop1]

Something you MAY try, seeing as how it's effed anyway. For each capacitor missing, you may try to spread solder each contact to its corresponding contact. AGAIN, not an easy job. You're more likely to heat up the other capacitors, and cause a traffic jam and really eff things up, and if you don't know what a traffic jam is, you'll recognize it when you cause one. Even if you successfully do this, there's no guarantee it will work. This would be a last resort, and should only be tried if you decide to just get a new motherboard.

[Psychop1]

Just happened to think, you could also try a different method to bridge the contacts. You could take a small strand of wire and place it on top of some putty (about half the size of a grain of rice), position it to where the contact is bridged, and press it on so it stays in place. This would be much cleaner, and safer than trying to spread solder those small contacts.