Tech | February 28, 2009 | 25 comments

Red Ring of Death solved?

source: http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/playback/playback-34/1292808

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Jiji_Kero
So, Xbox thinks they finally solved the 3 Red Lights of Doom and should happen less frequently. I have had my box repaired 3 times since I've bought it, and I know I'm not the only one. So, does anyone else think this problem is going to fade away or will time only tell?
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25 comments // Red Ring of Death solved?

  • Maeveeo
  • Maeveeo
  • Maeveeo
  • Snails
    • 0
      Snails  

    • here is a visual of the problem-
      http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/images/x-clamp/xclamp%20029.jpg

      There are two clamps, 1 for gpu, 1 for cpu. Each heatsink has four posts that pass through the motherboard and connect to the clamp on the other side. You can see them at the tips of the "X". Under the middle of the X is a metal fulcrum, mounted on the mobo. When locked together it forms a tension lock.

      The problem is that when the tension is broke, by jarring, dropping, heat/metal expansion, or the tension itself could be the catalyst, the heat sink on top looses contact with the processor it should be cooling and the xbox protects itself from severe overheating and goes RROD.

      It was a bad design, they know it, that's why everyone got the free extended warranty. I think for awhile MS was really struggling, and were repairing the same boxes with bad parts over and over again. It seems they have finally caught up and are actually dealing w/ the problem and not just bandaging the wound.

    • 3 years ago
  • CtrlShiftZ
    • 0
      CtrlShiftZ  

    • Wasn't the problem solved a LONG time ago?

      I was under the impression they've always known the problem, and have been fixing it. I got mine sometime back in 06, after a month, or two of playing it I got the RROD. I sent it in for repair, and have never had the problem since. Then again I don't play the thing for ten hours straight...

      My brother, who has had his console for a little over a year, has never had the problem.

    • 3 years ago
  • RoBot_rOcKer
    • 0
      RoBot_rOcKer  

    • this happened to my friend and he managed to fix it with a towel! a towel no joke! some dude told him to keep his xbox wraped up in a towel and it actually worked like some strange juju magic. it was nuts.

    • 3 years ago
  • Snails
    • 0
      Snails  
    • RoBot_rOcKer:

      lol, no its not juju magic, thats one of the ways you can cause the 360 to reset itself. You force it to really overheat. Using a towel really isn't the advised way to do it though. It is the only way to do it w/o opening it, which of coarse voids the warranty.

      Even though this resets it, it still doesn't repair the bad clamp, i imagine you will get rrod again.

    • 3 years ago
  • codymorgan90
  • morirjedi
    • 0
      morirjedi  

    • the same old cover up as the past. there should have been a token gift to smooth out the bad feelings. instead you just send out your system and "hope", things work out.

    • 3 years ago
  • ZombiePhil23
  • Jiji_Kero
    • 0
      Jiji_Kero  
    • ZombiePhil23:

      I wish it were that easy, this computer I'm typing is the 4th computer I've own in span of 10 years. All of them just ceased to work and guess what? It costs a lot more to buy a new computer (about 900$ for me) than paying 25-50$ for an extended warranty on the xbox or even 125$ for repair without warranty.

      The Playstation 3 may be a saint compared to the xbox, but it's not perfect either (game freezes, messed up colors, failure to load games, etc.).

      I personally own a Xbox 360, PS3 (which has frozen on me twice and it's only 2 months old), and previously a Wii. Out of all those three, the Wii functioned the best (but had the least amount of games I enjoyed).

      This is just the price consumers play when they want an all-in-one system (DVD/CD player, Picture Viewing, PC Connecting, Internet, etc.)

    • 3 years ago
  • ZombiePhil23
  • rudys88
    • 0
      rudys88  

    • i currently have two 360s with RROD and both are out of warranty and i currently dont have a job to pay to get them fixED!!

    • 3 years ago
  • Snails
  • extremity
    • 0
      extremity  

    • Yet, once again, this is a beautiful lesson for our country on the value of investing more in design and development and actually putting out the best made products on the market. The Apple model may not be perfect, but its the best thing we have going for innovation and we need more. Microsoft just seems to be willing to pay to fix things and get to market faster versus taking more time to do them right at the start.

      When will we ever learn?

    • 3 years ago
  • ETmusic310
  • mario_a
    • 0
      mario_a  

    • nice story. i'm featuring you on the homepage of the gaming channel, and on the current.com homepage. i hope you don't mind, i changed the image to one of a red ring (it looks much better when featured).

      you can do this in the future by hitting "edit" and then clicking "choose new media." once there you can pick from images pulled from the source, or use a link or embed to point to a different one.

      thanks for contributing!

    • 3 years ago
  • Jiji_Kero
  • Snails
    • 0
      Snails  

    • I repair consoles and computers, the reason for the RROD has been known for some time in the modder forums.

      The heat sink clamp, or "x-clamp" as its called because of its shape, slips off or loosens, causing the gpu/cpu to overheat. The xbox then goes into service mode(RROD) until its repaired and reset.

      The thing is, if your sending your system to microsoft for repair, they just send you a different refurbished box. I don't know exactly what they do now, but it seemed for awhile they just repaired the boxes with the same bad clamps. I think now they have redesigned it and all newer boxes have an upgraded heatsink and clamp.

      There are places online that sell a replacement clamp kit, that is far Superior to the old style. If your warranty is up, it can still be repaired.

    • 3 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • 0
      DeliaTheArtist  
    • Snails:

      "The thing is, if your sending your system to microsoft for repair, they just send you a different refurbished box." Not mine; I had some basass Halo3 stickers on it so I knew I got the original one back. Very informative post though, thanks!

    • 3 years ago
  • johnnyEXCELLENT
    • 0
      johnnyEXCELLENT  
    • Snails:

      "
      "The thing is, if your sending your system to microsoft for repair, they just send you a different refurbished box." Not mine; I had some basass Halo3 stickers on it so I knew I got the original one back. Very informative post though, thanks! "

      so you're agreeing, you sent yours in and got a different one back, that is what snails is saying.

    • 3 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
  • Snails
    • 0
      Snails  
    • Snails:

      several of my friends got a different one back, many people had issues w/ their arcade purchases because of this. Some may remember this issue, people getting their boxes back and their arcade games wouldn't work. when you buy arcade games, its sold to your specific box, if you put your hdd on another box, your games revert to trial copies.

      I'm sure microsoft has improved the whole process, but it was a total clusterfek for awhile.

    • 3 years ago
  • squeege
    • 0
      squeege  
    • Snails:

      I also had/have the Halo edition Xbox that RRODed. They sent me back my original console (just a few weeks ago), but now it is much much quieter, and much much cooler, temperature wise. That said, I still have problems with Braid and Worms. Arrrrgh!

    • 3 years ago
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