Ok, maybe you guys have heard of this before but I haven't and I'm really surprised as hell that it actually works.

Let me preface this by saying that my wife bought me an XBox 360 for my birthday on the day that they came out. Since that day it's been in our bedroom and we also use it for a DVD player and with the kids using it, it probably hasn't gone a single day without being used since we got it and I've never had a problem with it until a few days ago. I'm not gonna complain.

Anyway, a few days ago it just stopped working. Wouldn't boot up and the LEDs around the power button turned red instead of the normal green. I tried several different things and nothing worked. I've had to do surgery on several playstations and an older XBox so that's what I was about to do, but I wanted to google instructions to take off the cover so I didn't break anything in the process.

During my search I found a curious little video about how to fix this exact problem. The fix consists of wrapping the 360 up in a couple of towels to block any airflow and turning it on for 10-15 minutes and let it overheat. Then to turn it off, unwrap the towels and turn it back on and it's fixed.

I didn't really believe it but I tried it anyway and no shit, it's playing The Empire Strikes Back right now when it wouldn't boot up 30 minutes ago. Funny thing is, I don't have a clue as to why this would make it work, doesn't make sense but I'm not going to dwell on it and look a gift horse in the mouth.

And that's all for todays XBox fixing lesson.

Or how bout for todays XBOX fixin lesson you just send in to Microsucks and have it fixed right?  It probably won't last with your fix.

(There are two boxes in our house. One has been flawless the other one has been replaced 4 times in about a year...so I feel your pain. )

Mine still works... knocks on wood*

I've heard that remedy as well. Had a buddy explain it, but can't remember the explanation.....so.....I guess my post has no value.

Glad to hear it's working again though.

Ah, the red ring of death.  Your fix may work for a little while, but your 360 is FUBAR.  It's a fairly quiet but big problem.  Although it can't be too bad, 1million+ were playing Halo Friday night, hehe.

When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now

Quoted: Ah, the red ring of death.  Your fix may work for a little while, but your 360 is FUBAR.  It's a fairly quiet but big problem.  Although it can't be too bad, 1million+ were playing Halo Friday night, hehe.

Some of the numbers you see in Matchmaking are pretty damned impressive.

cutting the airflow probably trips an overheat relay, causing some sort of "super reset"  (yes that is a technical term.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjjinHmEoss

Quoted: When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now

That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read...

Quoted: When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now

Just be aware that it is under warranty and they'll fix it for free.  If you wait too long they won't do anything for you.

Quoted: Quoted: When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read...

How about this, I've got more money than patience.

Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read... How about this, I've got more money than patience.

In that case send it to me when it tears up so i will have something to play.....

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read... How about this, I've got more money than patience.

If it dies again I will pay for shipping to have it sent to me. Does that sound good?

Quoted: Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections.

That would also mean that it causes enough heat to de-solder good ones. Honestly, if you get a cpu hot enough to melt solder, it's not going to just turn back on again.

Quoted: Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections.

It just makes the solder heat up and expand enough to make connections in the broken solder joints.  Send it back it is a very temporary fix.  Microsucks solder-fu is weak.

Quoted: Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections.

That sounds... questionable.

Hey, my old XBOX (not 360) just went bad - I get a screen saying I need to have it serviced.  Any easy way to fix it?

Quoted: Hey, my old XBOX (not 360) just went bad - I get a screen saying I need to have it serviced.  Any easy way to fix it?

www.microsoft.com or www.xbox.com

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read... How about this, I've got more money than patience. If it dies again I will pay for shipping to have it sent to me. Does that sound good?

If it dies to the point that I can't get it working again myself then you won't be able to either. I do robotics for a living and I enjoy working on shit, I have the patience for that, just not for returning stuff or shipping stuff back to the manufacturer..... I'd rather just buy another one.

Quoted: Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections.

Not possible.

It works by causing the board to warp enough to reconnect the bad connections. It only works sometimes, and is NOT a permanent fix.

BTW, last month I was working on improving yield and throughput on the XBOX 360 repair process. It's a high volume process.

Quoted: Hey, my old XBOX (not 360) just went bad - I get a screen saying I need to have it serviced.  Any easy way to fix it?

Only problem I had with the old XBox is the laser getting dirty in the drive so that it wouldn't read or would skip. Don't know about your problem.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read... How about this, I've got more money than patience. If it dies again I will pay for shipping to have it sent to me. Does that sound good? If it dies to the point that I can't get it working again myself then you won't be able to either. I do robotics for a living and I enjoy working on shit, I have the patience for that, just not for returning stuff or shipping stuff back to the manufacturer..... I'd rather just buy another one.

Usual failure mode is a bad graphics processor chip. It's a BGA component, so I doubt you can fix it yourself.

Quoted: Quoted: Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections. That sounds... questionable.

If the xbox could generate that much heat by wrapping it in towels I wouldn't want that fucker in my house.

Anybody think I could fix one if I just set it on fire?

The best way to make the red leds turn green is to move the XBOX360 towards you at nearly the speed of light

that would be the most unbelievable way to do that.

Quoted: Anybody think I could fix one if I just set it on fire?

No, that fix is only good for Playstation2's.

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=622274

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: When it finally crashes I'll just buy another one. In the time it would take me to mess with the hassle of sending it back to MS I could just go to work and make enough to pay for another one, so any time this fix buys me is better than nothing. At least I've got Star Wars on right now That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read... How about this, I've got more money than patience. If it dies again I will pay for shipping to have it sent to me. Does that sound good? If it dies to the point that I can't get it working again myself then you won't be able to either. I do robotics for a living and I enjoy working on shit, I have the patience for that, just not for returning stuff or shipping stuff back to the manufacturer..... I'd rather just buy another one.

OKAY.  If it dies, and you can be bothered enough to post or send an IM, I will:

1) Pay for shipping.
2) Send you a slip-over packing crate with spring loaded latches.  You just drop it in the box and it seals itself up.
3)  I WILL INCLUDE an illegal mexican midget in the packing crate when I send it to you.  In fact HE can make the disconnections, drop it in the box, carry it to the post office and mail it, and then head off to look for a baby carrot field to pick.

NO EFFORT ON YOUR PART!!!  Now what do you say?

Quoted: If it dies to the point that I can't get it working again myself then you won't be able to either. I do robotics for a living and I enjoy working on shit, I have the patience for that, just not for returning stuff or shipping stuff back to the manufacturer..... I'd rather just buy another one. OKAY.  If it dies, and you can be bothered enough to post or send an IM, I will: 1) Pay for shipping. 2) Send you a slip-over packing crate with spring loaded latches.  You just drop it in the box and it seals itself up. 3)  I WILL INCLUDE an illegal mexican midget in the packing crate when I send it to you.  In fact HE can make the disconnections, drop it in the box, carry it to the post office and mail it, and then head off to look for a baby carrot field to pick. NO EFFORT ON YOUR PART!!!  Now what do you say?

Dude...who are you John Grisham?  I'm not reading that novel up there.

Quoted: Dude...who are you John Grisham?  I'm not reading that novel up there.

What?  you wrote half of that repeated copy string...

No, don't ship your Xbox.  When it dies, shoot it in the ass and post pics.

Quoted: Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections.

Yup, that's what it does

Quoted: Quoted: Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections. Yup, that's what it does

No it does NOT. If it generated enough heat to reflow solder, the components on the board would move out of position. BTW, I work for the company that builds AND repairs the XBOX 360 for Microsoft.

Quoted: Quoted: Wrapping in towels supposedly causes enough heat to re-solder bad connections. Yup, that's what it does

I'm an SMT Process Engineer for a company building and repairing this console.

Lead free solder reflows at 217 degrees C.  Creating an adequate solder joint requires sustained heat peaking over 235 degrees C and 65-75 seconds above 217C.  Wrapping a towel around the board doesn't do this.  

The towel allows the board to expand and the chip recontacts the broken joints.   This is, at best, a temporary fix.  If you really want to repair this yourself, I can get you in touch with a man that will sell you a $95,000 machine.   Good luck reballing the BGA.

Or you can use your warranty....