Introduction

So your Xbox360 has suffered the infamous 3 Red Rings, also known as the Red Rings Of Death. First lets discuss what the causes of this error are. The Red Rings Of Death are a Xbox360 error display dictating a general hardware failure. The most common issue that causes this error is overheating, causing either parts to shut off or the cheap lead-free solder to crack in places. There are many way said to fix this error such as the famous “towel” trick, in which you wrap a towel round the box, causing it to overheat and hopefully rejoin the solder. Although this will usually end up doing more harm than good. In this guide I'm going to show you how to correct the issue without damaging the other parts of your Xbox, however this will void any warranty you have so if your not happy with that or do not feel confident you will be able to complete this repair DO NOT CONTINUE. Also bear in mind M$ extend the standard warranty to three years for any RRoD error as a goodwill gesture, so you still may be covered for a free repair by them.

Please also note that this fix is not guarenteed to work on all Xbox 360's but it should work on most.

Preparation

First off make sure you have a clear area to work on the box, preferably with power connectors etc to test the system when finished the repair without having to move it.

Tools you'll need:-

Set of “security” screw driver heads
Flat headed screwdriver.
Something sharp and pointed (I used a lock picking kit)
Screwdriver with changeable heads
Permanent Marker (Not needed but useful to mark position of screws)
CPU Thermal Paste Remover
Highly quality Thermal Paste.
Cotton Buds (Those things to clean your ears.)
Kitchen Roll
8 M5 sized washers.
Plasters (lots of these. The Xbox 360 has a taste for blood )



Disassemble The Xbox

To start the disassembly process, you first need to remove the face plate from the Xbox. This can be done by inserting your flat head driver into and small slot on the bottom plate of the Xbox. The face plate should just pop right off.



Next you need to remove the top and bottom plates from the Xbox. This can be done by inserting your sharp and pointed thing into the holes along the side of the Xbox to hit the pressure clips and release them. Note: One is hidden under the left rubber foot so you will need to remove this to get at it



Do this with both the top and bottom plate.

Next you need to open the clips at the front of the box. These will try to pop close again but if you pull the case apart slightly they will stay open.



To complete remove the outer casing you now need to release the pressure pins on the back of the Xbox. This can be done by inserting a flat head screwdriver into the small holes until you hear a loud click and the top lifts off the case.



This will leave you with a metal plate and half the plastic, which is screwed into place. You need to remove 6 main screws at this point. It is a good idea to mark the positions of these screws as when reassembling it can get confusing what goes where. Remove the highlighted screws.



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This will now let you remove the rest of the plastic casing and see the internals of the Xbox. Note: When removing the last plastic casing you need to edge the button for the DVD drive off.



Now take out the DVD drive. The connectors at the back can sometimes be a bit stuck so you might have to apply a bit of force.

Your console should now look like this.



Next you need to remove the front power plate. The white plate just hooks on top and bottom and can just be popped off. You will then be presented with three screws. These needed removed, then the plate just un-plugs.



It should now look like this.



Next you need to remove the white plastic case around the fans. This just clicks out of place. After you have removed that turn the console over and remove the screws holding the motherboard in place.



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After these have been removed take out the 8 screws holding in the X-Clamps.



Now the motherboard should lift free of the Xbox. It may be tight to get out, but just be careful and lift gently and it will come out. After the motherboard has been removed you will need to remove the X-Clamps on the bottom of the motherboard. This can be done be inserting a small flat headed screwdriver into the gap between the clamp and the bolts and gently pushing off. Be very careful not to damage the board.




The Repair

The heatsinks should now lift off from the motherboard. They may stick slightly from the thermal paste. After you have removed the heatsinks, use your cleaning solution, cotton buds, and kitchen roll to clean the thermal paste off the chips and the heatsinks, being very careful not to damage any component.

After removal of the thermal paste is complete, even apply your high rated paste to all three chips on the board, being sure to spread evenly.



You can now replace the heatsinks onto the board. After replacing the heatsinks very carefully turn the board upside down and place a M5 washer on each bolt from the heat sinks.



Now replace the X-Clamps back onto the board. Make sure to apply a reasonable amount of pressure to secure them in place and prevent them from falling off at a later date.


After you have done this, re-fit the motherboard into the case, screw together, and replace the front control plate, and refit the DVD drive, however DO NOT at this stage replace any of the outer casing.

Now you can test your console. If the 3 Ring error still appears, then follow this process.

Turn the console off, Disconnect the fan, Turn console on, Wait for it to overheat and two red lights to appear. After this has happened turn console off again, wait about 15 – 20 minutes for it to cool down and then re-connect fan and re-try. This step is usually necessary in order to knock the Xbox out of 3 Red Ring Error code message. Microsoft can do this with a diagnostic tool, however due to us not having one we need to induce another error, one that can be fixed such as overheating. This will cause the Xbox to flag the overheat error, but then when cooled it will clear the error memory and try to boot.



Your Xbox should now be fully functional. If it still is not, re-check all the screws and connections, and finally keep in mind that this may not work on all consoles. Although it should work on most.

After testing to make sure everything is working correctly, re-assemble the outer casing, which goes back just in the reverse order you dismantled it.

Thanks Flatline good guide that may well help some people

I've heard that if you wrap a towel around your system while the power is on this will also cause it to overheat and could possibly be a fix. Do you think that the towel thing should be the 1st step to try before trying to take it apart?

I would never recommend baking an xbox

I understand but in Flatelines last paragraph he/she says "Turn the console off, Disconnect the fan, Turn console on, Wait for it to overheat and two red lights to appear. After this has happened turn console off again, wait about 15 – 20 minutes for it to cool down and then re-connect fan and re-try. This step is usually necessary in order to knock the Xbox out of 3 Red Ring Error code message. Microsoft can do this with a diagnostic tool, however due to us not having one we need to induce another error, one that can be fixed such as overheating. This will cause the Xbox to flag the overheat error, but then when cooled it will clear the error memory and try to boot"

The towel trick is done with all the casing on and works on the assumption that it heats the entire box and resolder the cracks. In the over heat step there it is done with no covers on the box, enabling it to "breath" and only causes the heatsink to heat up and trigger the heat sensor, not heating or damaging any other components.

What could happen if I tried the towel trick? Could I screw the system up even more?

It usually does fix the solder problem making it appear that the issue is fixed, however A) It does not deal with the core issue with the Thermal Paste and X-Clamps that cause the solder issue, and B) It will most definitely damage various other components in your Xbox 360 which will eventually mess the system up even more.

Thank you so much for your help. I do have my machine modded so I doubt Microsoft will touch it lol
I'll give your method a try with hopes I don't mess it up for good. <<< This was the main reason why I asked about the towel trick lol
Thanks again.

sounds like an ez guide, any advice on where to pick up these supplies?


CPU Thermal Paste Remover
Highly quality Thermal Paste.
8 M5 sized washers.
Plasters [i dont know what these are]

thanks again flatline!

OK - something I do know... Plasters are Band-Aids or adhesive bandages...

Thermal Paste

Thermal Paste Remover (or you can use acetone and/or alchohol rub)

M5 washers are a specfic size of metal washer that you should be able to pick up from you local DIY store, same with the "security" screw driver heads, which look like these, just for reference. I can't remember the exact size I used as I just picked out the one that looked like it would fit and it did but apparently it's a T8 Star Piece you need.

Plasters

thanks for the info guys.

when i fixed mine instead of replacing those damn xclamps i just used screws (M5 10mm - just goto lowes/home depot) with 1 washer on the each screw and 2 between the motherboard and heatsink. i haven't tested the 360 extensively but so far it seems to have worked perfectly. if you do this the 8 tiny black screws that held the motherboard to the tray become unnecessary, so you don't need to (and wont be able to) put them back in

i've did this on about 40/50 machines but i bulk order my stuff from ebay coz ima lazy shit wen it comes to moving :))
just look for X clamp repair kit and most sellers will give you a guide and nessecary stuff
Ebay Linky
and if your outside the uk just buy the same stuff he is selling from your local hardware shop

Yes you can order them from Ebay but from experience the kits from Ebay are usually over-priced. Even the ones that are roughly the right price contain cheapo thermal paste and a main part of the repair is using high quality thermal paste to help improve the Xbox's heat conductivity. It's easy to go buy parts yourself at your local store, you can just never be sure what your getting from Ebay.

This is something i heard from a technician, im not sure if its true, but hell it definitely wont hurt to do,
Since the problem is mostly the soldering on the xbox wasnt done well so leaving the xbox standing (vertically) might give you a higher chance of something moving thus the RRoD might occur, leaving horizontaly might stop the parts from moving around too much and give you just a little while longer with old faithful. But then again this isnt any assurance that you wont get it, its just a pointer. All i can say is i had mine standing vertically and 1 year later i got to say goodbye to it when it caught the RRoD...

yeah i've been through 2 of them and they were left horizontally the new one is kept vertical as to let it breath better. Don't know if it will make a difference but I guess it can't hurt.

The problem occurs with the soldering cracking due to it being low quality solder they used so the position of the Xbox won't make a difference to the issue. As cracker said vertical is actually the best position as the Xbox has vents to breath at the back, and two big sides but none on the ends so standing it on the end doesn't block any airflow but does allow the big sides vents to breath fully however standing horizontally restricts the breathing on a side.

This is quite a good guide, but there are a few things that i will clear up on. Firstly dont put the xclamps back on, go on ebay get the 360 screw/washer kits. I find that teh RROD can be caused by the ram over heating too, when the heatsinks are off and you are looking at the board you should see a white box around each chip, within one of these boxes (apart from the chip) you should see 2 Ram chips, get some thermal paste and dab it on each RAM chip then get a washer and with a pair of tweezers just wipe it around the top getting it covered with paste and getting good paste coverage on each chip. This means that the heatsinks work well with teh washers and paste to help cool these down. As someone said above i would put 2 washers between the board and heatsinks and one between the board and the screw, but dont turn your board upside down when doing all this, try to keep everything level. i find the easiest way to assemble it again after applying the new paste is to align each set of two washers on each hole then carefully put teh heatsink ontop, then move teh board to the edge of teh desk and pop the screw up with the washer on and tighten slightly. Once all screws are in make sure they are not too tight or the fix wont work properly, it comes easier with more practice but dont add to much pressure when tightening. Then as this guide says, put the board back in, attach front plate and dvd drive but dont connect the fans or attach airflow piece, turn 360 on but make sure the AV cable is in teh back of the 360 even if it isnt plugged into a TV or you get another error, and leave to overheat.

Hope this helped and kudos to this guide maker.

Very nice guide! I have done this before and it did the trick for my xbox. I left it on for a few weeks straight again to see how long it would last and it got another RROD which was not fixable by using this tutorial. I took the mainboard out and borrowed a heat gun from one of my coworkers. Using a tutorial you can find from searching google for "heat gun xbox 360 fix" I was able to fix my RROD again.

Nice guide. I'd especially like to stress about removing the X-Clamps, as after a few times trying the fix on my first box, a slip of the driver ended up popping a resistor off the board - the tiny kind about 1/4 the size of a fingernail clipping - that totally kludged out the box.

For the record I do not condone leaving your Xbox on for weeks at a time to "test". To be honest your lucky it lasted that long, even a brand new Xbox (with the heating issue resovled) would be lucky to last weeks of permenantly being on. Unlike PC's they just arn't designed for that. I'd say 6 - 8 hours is the absolute max before you should turn it off for a couple of hours to cool. Most will power off after 6 hours of non-use anyway though so this prevents accidentally leaving it on.

I tryed this.. It didnt fix the rrod i must have done it wrong plus it was a very early xbox that had a good life

I wish there was a guide like this one posted about the ylod for PS3...

Just like 2 say its a perfect guide.
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just make sure your OOW before doin this
you get a 3yr warranty for the RRoD and E74 error