i have a major problem with my 360. when i turn it on within seconds the fans get really loud and i get two flashing red lights. the fans stop after a few seconds but the red lights stay there and the 360 will not work. I have tried opening it up giving it some air letting it cool down and nothing seems to be working. I am in need of some help here i dont know what else to do.

You call MS if it's under warranty and tell them you have RROD (although it's just 2).

no i no longer have a warranty

You could check to see if it's a heat sink lose from a chip, if it's not in full contact it could send a signal to the fans to cool them down but still fail. The system is only shutting off to prevent a fried chip.

If that isn't the case then it could be a short circuit somewhere, but that'd be a complete guess. Check traces with a multimeter to make sure everything is fine.

If you have too, just pay the money to send it to MS and extend your warranty a year.

If sending it to MS is no longer an option best thing to do is completely disassemble it and then reassemble it.

I opened my 360 and it started screwing up and I thought I fried it but with reassembling it completely it started working.

I'm assuming something was out of place somewhere and by putting it together again I fixed it.

well i completely disassembled it heatsink and everything then i put it back together. Now i still get a loud kind of fan but i can now get to the dashboard.I can do stuff there but as soon as i start playin a game in about a minute it over heats. What can i do to fix this? hmm nope now its just overheating in a few seconds again. the secret error code on it is 4413 if that helps

Originally posted by IcyChill:

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well i completely disassembled it heatsink and everything then i put it back together. Now i still get a loud kind of fan but i can now get to the dashboard.I can do stuff there but as soon as i start playin a game in about a minute it over heats. What can i do to fix this? hmm nope now its just overheating in a few seconds again. the secret error code on it is 4413 if that helps

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Replace the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU with artic silver 5.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=467045

That should help.

Most likely the thermal paste that MS uses has wore thin and is no longer doing it's job. Replacing it with AS5 can breathe new life in an overheating 360. ;)

Personally if you are in there already, i would serch the internet for a good, reliable RROD fix. The one i read a while back involved replacing the X-Clamp, thermal paste with Arctic Silver (mentioned above) and also placing some pennies under certain pads.

If you are in there already and have no plans to send it back to MS then why no just go all the way. It already does not work so what harm can you possible do?

PS there are other online gaming sites that fix RROD problems.

Originally posted by steimy:

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Personally if you are in there already, i would serch the internet for a good, reliable RROD fix. The one i read a while back involved replacing the X-Clamp, thermal paste with Arctic Silver (mentioned above) and also placing some pennies under certain pads.

If you are in there already and have no plans to send it back to MS then why no just go all the way. It already does not work so what harm can you possible do?

PS there are other online gaming sites that fix RROD problems.

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I agree.

Since you are in there already, do the penny fix and as5 thermal replacement atleast.

The xclamp thing...imo is a last resort. But that's just how I do it. I don't mind getting back in there and doing it all over again.

So far I haven't had any returns after replacing the thermal paste and adding the pennies. Well, there was one, but even the xclamp fix wouldn't revive it again lol.

ok well im going to buy that thermal paste and the remover. but i have never heard of anything about pennies. what is that supposed to do?

Originally posted by IcyChill:

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ok well im going to buy that thermal paste and the remover. but i have never heard of anything about pennies. what is that supposed to do?

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Read this it might answer your questions.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=606431

well im at the point where i am about to give up. I replaced the thermal compound, it turns on and i am now able to play but for only about 6 minutes then it shuts off and i get 2 red lights. I put on a little bit of the A5, that didn't, work, i used a little more and still the same thing. I tried the penny thing as well and that didn't help. is there anything else i can do?

You should upgrade to the talismoon fan or even the talismoon max. You might want to check the board under a magnifying glass to see if you broke any micro-transistors off the bottom of the board. There's also a place on ebay that will fix your board for you, just don't go doing the xclamp fix if you have broken transistors.

The penny trick sounds like what ms does after the console has been refurbished, I've taken apart 3 or 4 xbox's and 2 of them have been refurbished. They have like a hardened cotton pad that has a pink cover on it kinda like a bandaid. i'm sure this works the same way as the penny trick so it sounds legit to me.

If i were you i'd blow out the heatsinks and clean them really good, upgrade the fan and put the fan shroud back on it and see how hot that cpu heatsink gets. Then if that doesn't work check the board for broken micro-transistors.

Good luck

Yes def try a different fan.I just installed new taisman fan and started getting that 2 red lights, in here it was one of the fans wasn't running up to par,So I switched back to stock fan and it's been running 14 hrs straight for the last week no probs.Just smell the fan motors and see if it smells burnt out.

nope its not the fan. just put a different stock fan on and still overheating. o and the person i bought it from had already replaced the xclamps with screws so at this point there is nothing else to try. maybe im better off buying yet another 360.

If i were you i'd actually follow the suggestions submitted. Don't use the stock fan it's retarded.

First - you know you have a heat problem

Second - you know the only way to solve the heat problem is with more airflow.

Third - the stock fan doesn't flow that much air just look at the stats compared to the talismoon fan.

Specifications (behind are the standard Xbox 360 fan specifications):

DC Power: 12V (at 5v)- Original Fan: 12V (at 5v)
Current: 160mA - Original Fan: 250mA
Speed: 4100RPM - Original Fan: 4600RPM
Air flow: 46CFM - Original Fan: 29CFM
Loudness: 38d(B)a - Original Fan: 41d(B)a

It's more quiet and it flows more air at a lower rpm.

If you still have a problem you should monitor the temps and post your results.

Did you get ALL of the thermal paste that MS puts on there off? Those chips (gpu and cpu) MUST be clean of all residue before applying more thermal compound. They have a mirror finish and that's what it should look like before applying the AS5. Make sure you get it all off the heatsinks as well.

Also, a rice grain (maybe a tad more) is enough to do the trick. Spread it out evenly over the chips with a business card or something similar.

Too much thermal paste has the same effect as not enough btw.

quick question does the talismoon fan get u banned from live? O and i dont see why i need to get another fan. my 360 was working fine when i bought it. what can cause it to need a new fan. just curious.

Originally posted by IcyChill:

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quick question does the talismoon fan get u banned from live? O and i dont see why i need to get another fan. my 360 was working fine when i bought it. what can cause it to need a new fan. just curious.

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Its a hardware mod, not hacking so your fine for two reasons. 1.) There's no way for them to tell that you did it; 2.) Even if they did there's no problem with it.

And that fan is definitely a good idea but it's not going to be sufficient to fix your issue.

Just thought of something, you could get one of those oven thermometers from walmart that has the sensor on the end of a cord to measure the heat of the heatsinks so you can figure out whether it's the CPU or GPU that is overheating on you. Then just return it to walmart when you're done. Or you could just use your hand but I'm not quite that adventurous.

They look like this:

Yeah that's exactly what i mean, i use a digital thermometer from coolpc.com cost me 8 bux. I only use it maybe 2 minutes or so to monitor the temps, but it works great.

I'm guessing it's a combination of insufficient airflow and either not enough or too much thermal paste.

Pasted from llamma.com
"Silver based compounds can have adverse effects when in contact with electrical components not to mention the thermal compounds efficiency is greatly reduced when too much is applied."

This is what your processor die should look like when it's clean. (with exception to the camera)




check those things and don't give up, it's a lot easier problem to solve than the rrod.

this might be a stupid question but are the fans supposed to feel like its cooling the outside part of the 360 and not the inside? As in when you put your hand by the back of the 360 you feel cool air but when you try to feel the other side(inside) of the fan while the 360 is on you dont feel any cool air at all

The fans are set up so they pull the hot air out and to pull the cold air in through the vents in the sides.

ok icy chill your xbox is gone but you can play the xbox an hour at a time just follow these instruction you could probly find this open you tube..... OK take your xbox unplug everything except the power chord and get 2 towels and wrap them around it so the heat will stay in the towel turn it on let sit for approximately 30 minutes no more unless you have a distinguisher ready. then take the towels off and let it cool for about 20 minutes then you can play for a few days before it does it again you can repeat this over and over until you get the paste or a new xbox i did this to my old xbox it work good. i played one time for 4 days is the maximum i got

Again.....the towel trick.....:/

Thats a rrod fix not nessarily an overheating fix and its a last resort.