Overheating Fix - Heatsink Modifications

[xX MaslaN Xx]

Xbox 360 Overheating May Be Caused by a Protective Foil on the Heatsink.

This applies to 360 suffering from the "three red lights of death," or red
lights from three o'clock to twelve o'clock around the power button. This
means "General Hardware Failure" and does not point to any one specific
item. This leads many to believe that the failure is due to Thermal Interface
Material (TIM) failure on the GPU heatsink.

INDIUM FOIL:
This protective layer is probably placed by the manufacturer of the heatsink,
and is used to protect the heat transfer pad from dust, but should normally
be removed just prior installing the heatsink on the GPU. The way it's
installed now by MS, the GPU chip makes contact with the protection foil
instead of the heat transfer pad. This can of course cause cooling issues for
the graphics chip. For optimal cooling performance, there should just be a
thin layer of thermal pad between the GPU chip and heatsink.

UPDATE:
This 'Indium' foil has probably been placed there intentionally, and is part
of the thermal pad and should not be removed. Apparently similar foil is
used some OEM PCs, P4 and some PC GPU chips. While it looks like most
people agree that normal thermal paste/compound without such a layer
usually works better, one of the advantage of this layer is that a heatsink
can easily be re-installed without re-applying thermal paste after you
removed it. If your warranty is up, and you want to remove the foil
and go without it, and use thermal compound only, you may do so. In any
case, opening the 360 will void tha warranty.

WHAT CAN BE DONE:
Replace the TIM with some Arctic Silver, and see what happens. So far,
this repair has worked. You should be racking up as much play time as
possible, with 2+ hours of play, with no lockups whatsoever. If your
stock console is not getting past 2-5 minutes of play time, and are seeing
symptoms of overheating, try this, or just thermal compound.

MY EXPERIENCES:
When using heatsinks with AMD processors, I have noticed better cooling
with the chip directly contacting the heatsink with minmul to no thermal
compound between the chip die, and the metal of the heatsink. I have
personally tested the temps with and without compound and found the
overall CPU temp to be lower with direct contact; DIE to HEATSINK.

CONCLUSION:
The information contained herin is for test and informational purposes
only. You can run your own tests, and experiments with the data given,
and form your own opinion. Caution should always be used when
experimening with things of this nature, and; damage is always possible
if you are not careful.


If you need have any questions please PM me :)

[PerpetualHeaven]

I use the Nyko Intercooler with my 360 in the wide open standing Vertical and I get about 7 hours straight and during the summer.. I used to get around 12+ hours straight in 7 consecutive days.. maybe i'm just lucky to have a good 360?

edit: I take it back. Intercooler sucks. Broke my 360. Nyko must become bankrupt.

[CrakkedOut56]

edit: I take it back. Intercooler sucks. Broke my 360. Nyko must become bankrupt.

Intercooler = Biggest waste of money.

MY tips for anyone worrying bout over heating is this

1- leave the 360 horiztonal since the Main air holes for flowing are on the sides. You'll just be cutting off air flow by a HUGE amount keeping it Vertical.

2- Keep the 360 AND the Power Supply OFF the floor. OFF the carpet. You do NOT want the 360 & Power Supply sucking in the lint from carpet and all the other dirt and dust from the ground.

3- Put the 360 and Power Supply in a well ventilated area.

If anyone is really wanting to try the original posters method here's a tutorial with pics that will provide a bit more info

Xbox 360 Thermal Upgrade/cooling Tutorial (http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=467045)

[Skillet]

You can also buy a small desktop fan and make your own intercooler...with a little duct tape in some inconspicuous place, you'll have the added boost of another fan keeping your 360 cool without the worry of an add-on that can melt inside your 360.

You could also sit one next to the intake on the said that you would stand it on to push cold air inside.

Overall, using the taped on fan idea AND one sitting next to intake, I had DR paused all night long while I slept (I was going for 7 day survivor until I died buy the convicts on day 5!!!!) and still had it running later today. I started playing at 11:33 PM and it stayed on until 7:14 PM and I had NO problems.

[xR33F3Rx]

Intercooler = Biggest waste of money.

MY tips for anyone worrying bout over heating is this

1- leave the 360 horiztonal since the Main air holes for flowing are on the sides. You'll just be cutting off air flow by a HUGE amount keeping it Vertical.

2- Keep the 360 AND the Power Supply OFF the floor. OFF the carpet. You do NOT want the 360 & Power Supply sucking in the lint from carpet and all the other dirt and dust from the ground.

3- Put the 360 and Power Supply in a well ventilated area.

If anyone is really wanting to try the original posters method here's a tutorial with pics that will provide a bit more info

Xbox 360 Thermal Upgrade/cooling Tutorial (http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=467045)

I'd like to thank you very much for these tips. I thought that vertical gave it more air but now I will be sure to put it horizontal!

[MikeS437]

you guys should buy this: http://secure.llamma.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=714

Try this out, although this requires modifying your xbox it reallys keeps your xbox cool and the fan isnt as loud. I put this in my modded xbox and it not only looks great it works great too!

[Rebel_INS]

I use the Nyko Intercooler with my 360 in the wide open standing Vertical and I get about 7 hours straight and during the summer.. I used to get around 12+ hours straight in 7 consecutive days.. maybe i'm just lucky to have a good 360?

edit: I take it back. Intercooler sucks. Broke my 360. Nyko must become bankrupt.

Yea man I heard some bad things about that one. I dont use any coolers right now, just leave it how it is lol.

[Software2]

One of my 360s was generating an extreme amount of heat (This was a new one recently given to me from the MS Repair Center because they couldn't fix mine). So much heat that I was geating read errors after only 20 minutes of play (The discs were getting so hot they were warping). I opened that puppy up and after a long struggle to get the the heatsinks off, I put my own thermal paste on.

That thing doesn't even blow warm air now. It's almost room temp!!! :D

[GrHaM kRaCkA]

I heard with those Nyko Intercoolers take out your warenty becasue its not a 1st party item...some people say they work wounders and the others say they are crap well ima believe that they suck(not gonna take a chance)
Thanks for the tip i will be sure to use them for sure thats the only problem i have with my 360 is that it just overheats it hasn't froze in a while lucky me

[jimmyk05]

when i use mine a use a combo of the fan stand and thee intercooler and it works good, i play for about 4 hours a day and havent had a problem

[whatthefucxup]

Well my 360 used to do that. Screw the warranty,if it don't overheat,no need for warranty. What I did was this:
Purchased the XCM High speed fan with lcd and the 3rd add-on fan. Put them in a what a difference. No lockups!! My apt is like 80(winter here and wife like place like the Bahamas!!) and my 360 is warm but not hot. Play for hours with no lockups. Spent about 65 for everything,so small price for a little insurance. The XCM fan has an auto mode and a manual mode so you can set each of the 2 main fans at whatever speed you like. The LCD monitor tells me the temp of both the cPU and GPU,and if temps rise,I hit manual and up the rpm's on the fan and all is well. Just another option.

[Walcherina]

I just sent my 360 because it got the 3 red lights. Do they send you back the same 360 you sent in, or do they give you a different refurbished one or a brand new one? If they send you the same one back, is it more likely to overheat/break down in the future?

[xX MaslaN Xx]

My friend got a new one when he sent it in...but on the other my brother got the same one back so I dont really know, but if they do send you the same one back I dont think it will fuck up cuz well...they fixed it ;)

[Rashaka1]

I'm really surprised at the amount of problems people are having with the 360, I consider myself very lucky and should probably take better care of my system, but I was working on dead or alive and wanted the 100 hours of playtime achievement, so I was playing my xbox all day long and then leaving it running in a match on DoA4 all night long and then playing again all the next day, I did this for several days straight and my machine was never turned off. I never had any problems with the system overheating or having any other problems.

I keep my system on a table about 3 feet from the TV and it's the only thing on the table, well... it's more like a dinner tray. There is an AC vent below it and it's sitting infront of a window that gets all the afternoon sun. I guess I just got lucky with my machine. I hope that MS will work on the development of these systems a little better with the release of the Elite and the talks of 65nm processors coming in the near future. I'd hate to have something happen to my current machine and then replace it with a new one of lesser quality. =-/

[matthewmcg360]

i got the thermal paste replaced and the x-clamps mod done on mine and the 360 couldnt be in a better ventalated area as its practicaly outside.

i keep mine horizontal because you will get dvd reading problems if you stand vertically.

[Parksy87]

I had my old xbox for a few months as it was off ebay and got error 74 i didnt have the patience to fix it so sold it and bought a new one, then within hours i got audio but no video, after tinkering with it i found that if u use the type of washers that come with a new pc case and place 2 under everyhole in the motherboard then use the screws to fix it in place it raises the board a bit and also if u put 2 more under each of the 8 black screws that hold the x-clamps it causes the heatsinks to be held closer to the board which means a tighter connection between the gpu cpu and motherboard..

sorry if this isnt very clear any questions feel free to ask

Parksy - Can u prove it .. NO!

[Tatanko]

For what it's worth, some of the tips given are quite good. My roommate's 360 (the one I use) had the rings at one point and he was sent a whole new box when it happened. Since then, it used to overheat and freeze occasionally. We now have it sitting on top of a box rather than on the floor, keep it horizontal, and keep a smaller fan directly behind it for extra airflow. It has not overheated since we made those changes.

[GameFreak47]

Actually, a few days ago while playing Gears online I got RRoD, but afterwards when I turned it on it played just fine. The wrost my 360 ever did was one lockup while I was playing the GH3 demo. Nothing else before the RRoD and nothing after except that.

Really hope this is my last.....

[alpha305]

Remove x clamps and replace thermal compound with (arctic silver) on GPU and CPU. My 360 doesn't even heat up or make a sound now.be careful. By microsoft standards this could qualify as modding. So know what you are doing first. If anyone has anymore questions about this just let me know.

[Tonggi]

do you know if I can connect a laptop cooler to the USB for the xbox and keep it under there. I normally wouldnt do it but my 360 sits on top of my DVD player/entertainment receiver

[alpha305]

do you know if I can connect a laptop cooler to the USB for the xbox and keep it under there. I normally wouldnt do it but my 360 sits on top of my DVD player/entertainment receiver
You can try. I am not sure if it would work or not. The cooling fans that are made for the 360 are normally usb connected so you can try yours at your own risk. Are you having the three rings of death problem?

[Kmoney roc]

Does anyone have the internal diagrams for the 360 so i can attempt a repair on my 360.

[ThaMissinLink]

Did a Xclamp fix, replaced old fans with twilights and tossed some arctic silver compound on the cpu/gpu, cut out the bottom of the metal case and cut the metal between the case and the fan, to allow for smooth airflow...

[martnic]

If your looking for some advice or tuts on cooling your 360 I'd advise you all to go either here - http://www.rbjtech.net/

Or do a seach at Xbox Scene here - http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?c=149,161,137,140,166,141,145,177


There's lots of advice, tips and for the more technical of you lots of Mods for repairing and customising your 360.

[ThaMissinLink]

If your looking for some advice or tuts on cooling your 360 I'd advise you all to go either here - http://www.rbjtech.net/

Or do a seach at Xbox Scene here - http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?c=149,161,137,140,166,141,145,177


There's lots of advice, tips and for the more technical of you lots of Mods for repairing and customising your 360.


Yup, that's where I've migrated from...I've been going to that site for a long time now...

Any cooling mods you need are in the tutorial section..also the x-clamp fixes are in the forums...

[nfgmusicPaul]

I've got the 2 rings of death and waiting for that box to come. Anything i can do for just 2 rings?

[loudjake]

i have never had the two rred rings but had 3 and 4. annoyed me realy. if you speand alot of money on something then why shoudl it break. anybody agree with me?

[Kmoney roc]

Xbox 360 - DOB 25/11/05 - Died on 04/06/07 - Cause Of Death OverHeating.

Xbox has been bought back to life using the heat sink modifications. hooray!!!

Thanks for all the advice.

[elcash]

I was a later adopter than most: my xbox born-on date is 9/27/2007.

I am receiving 2 red rings, indicating overheating. Secondary error code (holding synch and pressing eject) gives 0013-- also overheating. What's interesting is that the rings showed up within about 1 minute of turning on the system after a period of over 24 hrs. inactivity.

I have tried everything from letting the box (including power supply) cool for 24 hrs.; positioning fans around the unit; upright and horizontal positions; remove hard drive; the 2 red rings always show instantly and the xbox fails to boot.

My question is: are the problems mentioned everywhere on the net about RRoD still applicable to later consoles? It seems like every time someone has success with replacing heatsinks or thermal paste, their xbox's born on dates are either 2005 or 2006. Mine is LATE 2007.

Since mine won't boot, I will probably try to send it in for a replace/refurbish. If anyone knows, though, what kind of changes they've made since the early slew of problems I'd be interested to know. (Anybody opened up a holiday 2007 xbox console? Does it have the foil? Thermal paste on the cpu? The x-clips problems?)

[Sinister5]

Yup, that's where I've migrated from...I've been going to that site for a long time now...

Any cooling mods you need are in the tutorial section..also the x-clamp fixes are in the forums...

Awesome links to that page. I used the xclamp fix on my 0022 RROD 360 last May and I have gotten hundreds of hours of use on it since.

Other good stuff their include pot tweaks for lasers to stop that "Put this disc on in a 360" error.