Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 08:10 am, by: Glen Muller(Doom_and_gloom)
I have the dreaded red ring of death going on, and I located a tutorial online which helped me dismantle my 360 safely and diagnose the problem. The thermal grease under the heatsinks has set rock hard like Araldite, so it's time to get rid of it and apply new grease.
Has anyone done this before? I haven't... but you gotta start somewhere! Just wondering if there are any tips or tricks I should be aware of. Thanks!
Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 10:16 am, by: Austen Menze(Mercyfulfate)
I've done a lot of this, but never on a 360, although I don't see how it can be any different.
Scrape the hard stuff off with a PLASTIC knife or something, clean the rest off with acetone on both the CPU and the heatsink. Keep cleaning until nothing comes off.
Apply a THIN film of the new thermal compound and throw the heatsink back on. The silver coloured compounds are a lot better than the white silicon based stuff.
A lot of people I've seen pile the thermal compound on thinking more is better, it's certainly not.
Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 04:24 pm, by: Warren Moore(Warreng)
getting an xbox repair shop to do it would cost $120 odd dollars, so doing it yourself is the way to go.
any thermal paste would work fine, i recommend arctic silver 5 or arctic mx-4.
the best way to do it is to apply to cpu, and not heatsink. i apply 4 or 5 blobs of paste on the cpu and spread it out with a small piece of cardboard. i leave about a 1mm gap on all sides so none of the paste seeps out the sides after application. make the layer thin, but thick enough for it to spread out all fill the 1mm gap but not seep out the sides.
my xbox has also just shat itself, could you please link this guide. does re applying thermal paste fix a rrod?
Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 06:59 pm, by: Wess McManus(Bar)
Why not just contact xbox customer service. This happened to my xbox, sent away, postage paid for by them . They're aware of the fault and weren't concerned as to whether still under warranty. Was gone for a month though.
Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 07:50 pm, by: Aaron Mead(Aaron)
Use RainX anti-fog as a cleaner to remove the thermal compound (not thernmal grease, its a bit different).
Squirt a few drops on it and let it sit for a few minutes. Then attack it with a tissue.
Apply the new thermal compund (Arctic Freeze/Ceramic/Silver etc...) using an old bankcard to get it covered evenly. Or wrap your finger in gladwrap and smear it around. Go nuts, it doesnt hurt. Its not like trying to line up the internal cores of multi core CPU. Just pray and spray. Wear gloves.
Monday, November 15, 2010 - 10:35 am, by: Leon Wright(Techman)
I normally use CRC Co Contact Cleaner for cleaning up thermal compound, but that's cause I keep a supply of it (Electronics/PC nerd, so it comes in handy).
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - 12:04 am, by: Warren Moore(Warreng)
when looking at guides, it says you need to replace the thermal pads on the RAM chips, is this compulsory? because on ebay, all the rrod repair kits don't include any thermal pads for the RAM chips..?
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