360 Three Rings of Death FIX -REAL

i would love to see the video of the cooking of the arctic silver, because i am pretty clueless

I tried three times using different video online yours was the most informative and the one that made it work.

For any gear heads the GPU-CPU is like a cars engine the thermal compound is like a radiator hose and the heat sinks are like the radiator.

All three have to be connected together correctly in order to work.

This is for the guys/gals like me that don't know what A GPU/CPU is from adam.

Thanks, great video.

We used all the recommended parts and it booted up with three lights, then to two as it got hot. We unhooked and re-assembled the box and it's working again. Time will tell.

Would you like to see a video of cooking the arctic silver? The video will be boring but it might help you see how i change the 3 red rings to green.

just post here if that is something you would like to see.

I did everything you said to do, the system booted to the xbox screen when it first comes on and then it overheats and locks up. I think i may have put to much thermal paste. I am going to cook it little bit longer and let it cool off.

I followed your step by step instruction and when i powered on the 360 3 red lights appeared then about 3 minutes went by 2 red light. Let on the 360 for 2 minutes and then turned it off. plugged everything up and turned on, still the 3 rings appeared then 2 rings but the fan automatically shut off. Could you tell me what i did wrong. Do i have to keep the 360 on longer when the 2 red lights appeared?

I bought a machine with 3rrod just for this and it worked perfectly. Thank you so much.

When I first turn on the xbox i get 4 red rings for a bit then goes straight to two red lights. Ive even let it sit for a while but it never physically heats up. Please Help

I have been very frustrated when the rings came up, since my xbox is out of warranty. Saw your video, and followed your instructions, and it worked perfectly. I do not know how this could not work for somebody. AS long as you follow EXACTLY what she says, this should work. I found that OSH, or ACE are other stores that all/most of the needed as shown in this video. Thank you.

hey, i've tried doing this probably 10 times with my xbox, every time i do it, it works for a while, then freezes up or starts getting lines down the screen and next thing you know it's RRoD again.at first i thought it was that i put too much of the thermal compound but now i used a rice size and it's still doing it. should i cook the arctic silver without the heat sinks on there to make sure it gets liquefied or what should i do. it's really frustrating me. thank you

did everything in the video,multiple times, but the 3 red lights keeps coming on

I did this and it seems like the xbox is performing fine, except for the fact that I can't see ANYTHING, but I can hear the startup and all.

I just wanted to say, this video worked.. out of all videos i have watched, yours was step by step when getting to the motherbord. My xbox has had the 3 rings of death for a yr now, and yours is the only one that helped me.. thanks so much!

i tried the video step by step and it really worked thank you

this definitely works. i did it on my friends xbox and it is working like new again.

P!nk's instructions works...thanx...360 now works. I have followed every step...didn't work the first time..the screws were loose connected video and power cable. Started with three flashing red lights then one went off and two were flashing...disconnected put everything together and didn't work so started back onto the cleaning...the thing is I had put too much thermal paste. I cleaned all the paste out even with the old dry residues on the sides. I used an old toothbrush plus Q tips plus microfiber cloth...anything as long as you do not damage the thing...it was all squicky clean...I then applied the thermal paste...this time just small amount enough to cover the surface...Note I didn't use arctic silver compound but ocz thermal extreme conductivity compound...so I think a good thermal compound can also work...I connected again...started with three red lights...within three or few more seconds one went off...had two flashing lights...I left it there for five minutes...disconnected...put everything together...connected again then !!!!bingo!!!Mr 360 WAS NOW WORKING...SO I GUESS DO NOT PUT TOO MUCH PASTE remember it's not mustard on a hotdog you hurry fellows. Again Thanx P!nk.

I have cleaned my xbox 360 about 3 times and did what the video said like a play by play but i still get 3 rings for some reason can you please help!!! thank you

I am unable to get the red ring of death to go away on two 360's. One has been 'fixed' before and one has not. Both had the x-clamp motherboard so I am not sure why your fix isn't working. Any suggestions?

I followed the tutorial and fixed my kid's Xbox 360 on December 23rd. Christmas morning would have been okay but not great as they unwrapped their Rock band 2 kit without a working console. Interestingly though, the three red rings wouldn't go away until I really tightened the screws, which goes against your advice but hey, it worked! Thanks again for making this video for free. You folks really made my day. Kids too.

Wasn't sure this was going to work but figured it would only cost a few bucks so what the heck give it a try. I didn't use the bolts or washers suggested in the video I just used the same hardware, cleaned the chips (took forever didn't have artic silver cleaner), applied the new silver and waited. It did take some time to heat but once it did got the 2 lights and put it back together. My son was so excited! Go mom!

I watched this video about a month ago and i have sucessfully fixed 4 but the fifth one still gets two red rings and still plays great with no problems. I can turn it off after about ten minutes turn back on and no 2 red rings. Seems weird. anything to fix this?????? Good job explaining in detail on your video.

This is possibly the best tutorial. I had paid someone to fix my xbox ($40) and i got it back and it booted once! I couldnt get ahold of that person when they were home and decided to do it myself. Spent $6 at Lowes and BAM!! My xbox is online.

i got all of the stuff she did! GOOD VIDEO!!!
but what do i put on the back of the motherboard where the four spots are?

Thanks

Thanks heaps for this very informative video. My xbox is fixed from the red rings of death!!!! Thank you very much.

Is there a way i can hire of you to fix mine? Im in hawaii so if you have any sources out there, that would be awesome. I would do it myself but to be quite honest i dont have the funds to really take chances

thanks

Let me first start out by saying, I dont use meta cafe, I signed up JUST to make a comment about this DIY tutorial.

It worked but with a few hiccups on the way. Like rgtsc01, I too was getting the 3 red lights after reassembly but when letting it cook for about 5 minutes it went from 3 rings to 2 rings and worked after hooking everything back up. Thanks again and I recommend anyone with 3 rings to try this out first.

i followed your advise and and it work but couple days it came back to three rings of death i fix it again and it still caming back what did do wrong

I am almost there, I just realized lowes gave me a wrong screw so when they open I am going to get it, and then I will finish this process with the thermal paste and new hardware. I will let u know in a few hours of my success.

ya it works great if you cant get it to work then your box must be shot, i tried it on two diff x-boxes and first one didnt work cause i fucked it up but second time worked great i must have scratch the motherboard on the first one. good luck to all who have broke boxes

I followed the process per the video and this worked perfectly for me and saved me a ton of cash....thanks to all the posts and info!! If anyone needs help I could answer questions maybe?

I decided after much thinking to try this. I've never tried anything like this but oh well. I did everthing as exlained as well as lowering the CPUs but I never got the thing to boot up again with a green light. No clue why.

After you rehook the few things back up to power it on the first time its supposed to be green as if you could play it but then overheats. First it never got green and was either two red lights straight away and not hot, or the three that I'm trying to fix.

Any idea why? I could get the xbox to go from three to two, but it still, after turning it off and letting it cool, turned green.

Hello, thank you for the video. It has helped me get rid of the '3 lights'. But I am stumped on the last part... : Is "cooking the compound" a separate process? For over heating it did NOT cook it. Maybe I did something wrong, but I'm not sure. Any help on my issue would be much appreciated, thanks!

do i have to put washers on both sides of the mother board?

So I was skeptical, as most. I went and did it anyways, because i was desperate. But lo and behold, I followed it step by step, and it started back up. Thank you guys!

Yes this trick might work...
but dont be an idiot like this girl and take your xbox apart on your CARPET!
You'll fix your RROD problem... just short of sending static electricity through the mainboard!
Wear anti static bracelet and work on a work bench, or if it comes down to it, your kitchen... never on carpet!

i bought an elite system 10 months ago brand new,now i got the rrod, can i follow your guide as i havent seen anyone do this with an elite system or do you know if xbox designed these elite systems so it woulnt be possible to fix myself, cheers

I did everything to the letter and when I pluged it in to overheat it never even got warm. no fans plugged in, made no sound nothing. I tried plugging the fan in and that didnt even turn on. I read other places that the rrod could be a mechanical problem not just the normal rrod problem. Anyone think that maybe my fan crapped out and caused this entirely?

It worked! 100% it worked! Unbelievable!

You have no idea how amazingly helpful this was.

I bought my 360 the day it came out (Nov. '05)and out of the box it didn't work. Sent it in (Dec. '05), got lost at distribution, didn't get a replacement until June/July '06!

That replacement is the one that crapped out on me a couple of weeks ago. After a call to "Xbox" they said my unit wasn't covered because it was out of warranty. I tried to debate logic about how the 3 years should have started from when I actually had a working unit.

Of course...Many phone calls, no returned calls, failed attempt through the Better Business Bureau. Finally, I gave up...Check out the vid. Went to Lowe's and "the Shack" got everything I needed and went to town.

In less than one day I resurrected by 360.

Thanks to all who helped figure this problem out. You really saved me on this one!

If you dont use the artic silver will it still work with all the other steps given? And can you use diffent screw or do they have to be medal? Because so far its not workin could these be the reasons why?

First, always use an ESD strap. Just in case. Second, dont ever open electronics on carpet, get a table. All it takes is one little electrical arc.

I followed the steps exactly and when it gets to the part where you plug in the xbox to let it over heat...my xbox doesn't overheat I left it on for 10 min and I could still touch the heatsinks and they were cold. I did notice that when turning on the xbox my power supply goes from green to orange after 30 seconds or so. Can someone out there help? PLEASE!!

So i watched the vid cause my elite has this problem and i dont want to pay microsoft anymore of my money as ive already put thousands into the xbox. But in watching it the music caught me and i have no idea who it is. So who is it?

I let the XBOX 360 overheat as instructed and then reassembled the xbox 360. For this I was rewarded with the same 3 RROD problem I had before. Fearing that I had done the fix wrong I REDID the instructions starting from scratch. I performed the fix and when I reassambled the XBOX it started up and began to run, and then right after dashboard loaded, the video output cutoff and I had two blinking red lights. I know that two blinking lights means the xbox is overheating and I assumed that I had not properly tightened the heatsinks as I had put them on pretty loose. So I retightened the heatsink let the xbox cool down and tried to boot it again and I got the SAME 3 RROD problem I had before. So just on an off chance, I loosened the heatsink back up and turned it on and the xbox booted to dashboard and then cutoff going to the 2 light overheating problem. SO when my heatsink is tight I get 3RROD, when it is loose it appears to over heat. I am thinking I might have put to little thermal paste on it but was wondering if anybody had any suggestions before I take the thing apart again.

my xbox froze up multiple times untill i got the red ring. i followed this walkthrough and it works!!! THANKS!!!!

I follewed the video, but it didn't work. Got 2 red lights that wouldn't go away. I took it apart and looked at the bottom of the 2 heatsinks and noticed that there wasn't any artic 5 on them when I screwed them over the gpu and cpu. I concluded that the washers between the heatsink and the motherboard maybe were too thick so I took out the metal ones so only the nylon ones remained. Now there was definite contact betweem heatsinks and the 2 chips. I I re-installed everything once more and turned on the xbox360 to heat up the artic 5 between the chips and heatsinks. Got the 2 red lights and turned off the machine to let it cool and retighten the screws holding the heatsinks on. I put everything back together and "Alright!" the unit worked all the green lights lit up and the unit is working fine so far!
My questions is - do I need the metal washer between the nylon one and the heatsink? By me using only the nylon one cause it too melt if it gets too hot? Need answer so I don't have to worry about my xbox catching on fire one day. thanks

My friend has a launch 360 that rrod' a few months ago. He got me to come help him so I looked up a bunch of videos/instructions. I ended up using this video because of the lack of drilling or other over the top stuff. I followed the directions and the fix worked 100%. It's been a few days since it's been fixed and it still works great...

The fix was really easy for me, but I have experience repairing laptops so ymmv, and remember get that thermal paste remover! Taking thermal paste off without it is an exercise in frustration.

Thanks p!nk. Keep it realz!

unfortunatly i was not able to obtain rubbing alchol (i live in a small town) but discovered paint thinner worked rather well in removing the old artic silver compound. please let me know if this is a bad solvent to use. thank you

Ran through this using the exact hardware and Artic silver. All went fine untill i tightened the bolts and reassembled. When i power on now system boots fine (no 3 red lights anymore) but after about 10-15 seconds i hear the fan speed up then cut off all together, screen goes black and i have 2 red lights in the upper and lower left quadrant. Any clue whats up? I let it sit at the dashboard for a good 30-45 seconds before i powered down to put the case back on, and it was working fine.

I went thru the procedure, even substituted some 5 mm hex head screws and generic washers. Local Lowe's hardware S**ks . Even left the artic silver ($9.95 Radio shack) on overnite before attaching one of the heat sinks (Didn't buy enough washers first time). Eureka ! One green light. Now if I could just get the freakin tray to open. Cleaning the chip with alcohol took a while, even tried acetone, didn't help.

Looks and brains apparently :)
Ur video was the most efficant and explanatory out of all the others I searched up on the net.
Unfortunately my Ps3 and 360 both crashed on the same week, and no just like my women I dont abuse my machines. lol Their hot and they can bring lots of joy.
But no seriously I can't thank u for that video enough. Where did u guys find this girl ...:)

Looks and brains apparently :D
My PS3 and 360 both crashed on the same week, and no I do not abuse my machines.
I had to replace my ps3 but I'm so happy I fixed my 360. I was ready to sell it for almost anything. I used this video almost the entire time while I was fixing it. Best video I found on the net. Dam where did u guys find this girl :)

I followed this tutorial to the t and when I finally hit the on button and it turned on I felt a sense of accomplishment. Thank you so much, I have two kids and I don't have a lot of money and this enabled me to fix my 360 for about twenty bucks and a few hours after the kids fell asleep. It works people!!!!!!!!!

would it work if i dont apply the artyc silver?

My 12 year old son was able to fix his XBOX 360 using this instructional video. I helped a little bit, but for less than $20, he was able to disassemble, clean, cook and reassemble. You guys rock!!!
Thanks again!!

I did this fix on two 360's so far, and they both were a complete success! Thanks alot! And P!ink Thr3at.. you're hotter than my gpu! lol ;) Thanks again!! If M$ would have only applied this same heatsink mount system, they'd have saved themselves millions, I'm sure!

I did all of it in order butt when i got to the last part i turned it on and it had no video and its was blinking 3 light like it did before??

Excellent video! Simple and concise.

but... I followed the instructions and I'm still getting the issue.

The xbox doesn't POST at all. No fans spinning can't open the cd drive. I've let it sit of an hour or more plugged in and I don't get the over heating lights nor do I get any heat from the heatsinks. Maybe I fixed the overheating issue better than I thought?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks for the advice!Worked like a charm. Less than $15 Bucks and no wait. Took me 4 hours though. Most of the time spent cleaning the processors with rubbing alchohol. :( Buy the Arctic 5 remover, or use denatured alchohol.

I did everything as told and the three red lights come on but it dont heat up for the overheat process. any ideas?

...to screw you on poor design trying to rush production to beat the PS3. And this is what happens. The xclamps don't hold up to heat very well and start to loosen their grip over time. Once they lose enough grip on the heatsinks, the thermal compound joints are severed and cannot do their job in transferring the heat out of the cpu and gpu. this in itself causes the overheat problem and produced the general hardware failure error (LEDs 1, 3, 4 blinking red).

At this point, once your warranty's void, you're either SOL and have to buy a new box or resort to I-hacked's wonderful tutorial on replacing the stupid x-clamps with machine screws and washers.

Tutorial worked for me as my warranty was already void.

Took a few hours to finish, but it worked nicely. The only step I suggest to add is that you should power your box on after the heatsink mod with the fan plugged in laying over the dvd drive and cpu heatsink to draw heat away from the cpu as the gpu overheats. you don't wanna stress the cpu as the overheat problem is inherent to the gpu itself. you want to cool the cpu as you work the gpu. I actually booted a game while overheating the gpu. It worked the first time. I didnt have to tighten the screws anymore after initially removing the x-brackets and re-attaching the heatsinks.

A note about hardware:

I was able to pick up Arctic Silver 5 at RadioShack

Parts list:
# a) 8 M5-.80 x 10 Machine Screws #138433
# b) 16 #10 Flat Washers – Nylon #139065
# c) 16 5mm Flat Washers – Metal #138319

Parts a and c were unavailable at my local Lowe's in Brooklyn. I was able to substitute the M5 flathead screws with oval-head philips screws with the same dimensions (M5-.80 x 10) the part is #138560. The washers I substituted were brass washers #10S (part#490712)

Thanks for the tutorial I-hacked, this worked great. I'm thinking of buying RRoD xboxes on ebay fixing and selling them. This was pretty easy other than removing the x-bracket.

Hi, Very well done video btw. Unfortunately, after following all instructions to a T, I am still getting the three rings of death. Do I need to let it cook longer?

Pat

Thanks so much for the help! Saved me cash! I learned a new thing to to do and now I can help others! You all are the best seriuosly!

i did everything but the mother board doesnt get hot even without the fan. i used a heat gun then the heat-sinks got really hot then i tried again but still it didnt work. what went wrong? is it cause mine is an elite? im lost.

I'm just gonna say what I've been told:
People had told me that there are sensors that turn the console off when it over heats, which causes the red rings, over heating it more to try to fix it would fry up the sensors so that it can't detect it anymore, which causes more harm to the motherboard.

Wonder if its true.

So I have 2 questions. First, do you put each set of washers on both sides of the screw? And the 2nd question is, why do we need to replace the X clamps for the washers. Whats the diffrence?

i watched like 15 videos and tried everything i followed these steps and it worked before i even over heated it! make sure you use the nylon washers there very impotent. also make sure you really take your time when it comes to cleaning the chips. Don't just clean the chips clean everything around them and get as much as the Silver off after that put new compound on the chips just enough to cover the chip put the heatsinks back and you should be golden if not let it over heat mine worked before i even overheated it. good luck guys if you have any questions you can email me at jnorris916@gmail.com [= happy gaming!

once you have the heat-sinks on and you are at the step where you wait for the chips to get hot, the process can be sped up by applying heat from 2-3 inches away with a blow dryer (for hair). This also work while the case is still on if you hold the dryer to the rear vent on the console. the downside to doing this with the case on is that it melts and can possibly catch fire. I haven't opened up the system yet to see about the fans but they possibly could have melted also. The upside, the system works good as new.

I read a lot on the RROD and it says every type of error is a result of overheating. I had the one light E74 message. I did everything in the video, I booted it up and it was one red light, it then overheated and went to 2 lights. I reassembled everything and now I'm back to 1 red light. What do I do??? My warranty is up, so I really don't give a hoot about what I do to this thing. Help me please.....

My Xbox is an original, and just died a month ago. I didn't play it nearly as much as the average person does, but I just got the 3 rings a couple weeks ago. I fixed it today thanks to this video.

Flawless victory.

I did the whole fix and my console even if the air coming out of it seems cooler... still freezes up from time to time.

At first I was scared to try it. But it paid off and worked. I was soo happy i was jumping up and down ! I got all the hardware she said, clean the chips with laquer thinner in order to take the old thermal grease off. worked fine, i was second guessing letting the 360 over heat till i seen the two red lights because iw as scared without the fans in the chips would fry. but i seen the 2 red lights after4 mins of letting it run and then threw in the fans. Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!

When I turn the 360 on with the heatsinks snugged, all I get is 2 lights. I don't get 4 green lights; I get the center green and then 2 red. I tighten the heatsinks and reassemble and I get nothing on the TV and I get 2 red lights and the fan S**ts off in about 10 seconds. I reapplied the Artic Silver and I get the same thing. Any ideas?

followed directions exactly, got to part where you plug in and get 2 red lights...gpu-cpu are not heating up. how long should this take?

I got this error: E 73 (1 Red Light) the fourth controller light is flashing red. Will this fix the problem also?

Thanks in advance.

Now that all the time and $ was spent fixing it to no avail..can the thing still be sent into Xbox and have those guys fix it for a fee. Or did voiding the warranty cut me off from ever using the thing as something other than scrap metal. I will pay. Gonna have to replace the thing now anyhow, so why not just pay 150 and have two in the house. Let the kids destroy the old one.

I bought the parts, got the Arctic Silver, and it came out to be about 20 bucks. I red ringed back in August and I was one month out of warranty.

I did this a couple weeks ago and it worked out great, you just have to do everything she tells you to and have the exactly the right parts.

However, just now after playing a few games of Bad Company, my Xbox froze up. I turned it off, let it sit and the three red rings were back again when I powered it back on. Might have to open it up again to re-apply new Arctic Silver. I'm hoping it's just an overheat so I don't have to go through all that trouble...

Note: Always keep your Xbox in a cool environment, and let it sit and cool off once in a while!

Great video, thanks!

I followed the ideo step by step but I have a problem. The 3 red lights flahs when I turn on the 360, but I can't get any power to the console for it to heat up the arctic silver and the light on my power supply is orange. Can anyone help me out? Thanks.

For those of you that got this to work, does your box still work and for how long? I just don't want to do this to find out it only lasts a couple months.

I have noticed, after doing all the video said step by step, that neither the CPU or GPU is generating any heat at all, and I am getting the two red lights on the left when I turn the machine on. Any thoughts? This is a machine apparently manufactured in 2007.

great video it worked for me now its running better than ever

I followed the directions perfectly and after completion, I still get the 3 red lights. What a waste of $15.00.

Good tutorial though. Hats off to the people that it worked for.

can i use this fix for error 0110?

This doesn't work, look at the end of vid she has to frienken xbox 360's. She made me take it apart and now it don't work!!!

i did exactly what you said, the screws i got have a large head though and raise the xbox off the case if that would make a difference, and i didnt't use one set of washers on the large heatsink because it did not touch, and i am using something called heatsink grease (2grams for $5.99) instead of arctic silver. When i try to overheat the xbox it starts up and 3 lights come on, after about 5 min the 2 lights come on then i wait a min and a half. both heatsinks are very hot. tighten them up then put it all back together, then turn it on and get three lights again.

i would surely try this when i get home from school. my 360 just got 3rled yesterday

DO NOT do this on carpet, use a static free environment so you do not fry any components in your xbox!!!!! She should add this to her video, she is lucky she didn't ruin hers (it doesn't always happen but you don't want it to happen to you so take precautions)

I tried using this method and It did not work for me. I am now getting the error code 0022, which is GPU related. So what do I do now? I tried over heating it and stuff.

I just need to know if both of the fans are supposed to be running at the same time, and if so are there after-market fans i can buy? only one of mine comes on at a time.

You just made my son & I happy. I cannot believe microsoft so stupid to setup there motherboard with the floating heat sinks. I do not understand why they didnt just use a computer heatsink setup. Now I understand under warranty they will cover the same. But is it worth it. I just completed following your direction worked great, Will see with time, my sons xbox is 3yrs old. Thank You. My sons friend has sent his back 3x. Again Thank you :-)

It worked for me, so thank you very much and it saved me a load of cash

so when u do all this process...your 360 shouldnt get the rings of death anymore? is it completely fixed?..do i have to open it back up again?

I did as shown
and when i turned it back on 3 rings still!

However!!!! stay cool put everything back together and turn on the xbox, now just walk away and go make a tea or coffee or something
go back 15 minutes or so later turn it off

With fingers crossed turn it back on again and Hey presto !!!

works fine (for me)

Total fix time 1.5 hours imcluding going to get the thermal compound (Artic Silver)

Oh Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

After doing this i get the 1 red ring of death what should i do???

i did all the steps and and when i was to plug in and power on and wait till it got hot for 2 red lights, as soon as i plugged it in and powered it on in 2 sec it began flashing 2 red lights (not 3) and it goes to sleep mode just blinking it wont heat up or nothing

i too am having the difficulty with overheating after i followed the tutorial. the only difference i noticed is my 360 has a little copper pipe to another small heatsink from the gpu the unit im your video didn't have that.i doubt that has anything to do with the issue.i had no problem for almost 1/2 hr then 2 lights. what about attaching additional fans to the heatsinks? maybe a case mod to incorporate one on the side?poor contact btwn the heatsink and chips?any guess? thanks ahead of time ~Kris

i followed this fix and everything went fine until the 3 red rings turned into 2 and it overheated so i put everything back 2gether and i get the 2 red rings and the fan stops i have let it cool down for a full day but i get the red rings right away what did i do wrong? googled it nothing on how to fix 2 red ring plz help

i think you forgot to apply thermal grease

No Luck I follow this to the T I even lapped my heat sinks still nothing. It works for a min then back to RROD please if someone can help I would appreciate it.

Hi, Great Vid Here. Very in depth. I Have used this process on my 360 and a friends. My friends worked great, on mine though i go thru the proccess and then a week somtimes the next day after 3-4 hours of play my 360 starts to freeze up and when i take my 360 apart the friggin thermal paste is all burn off again. I have no idea what to do. Any help would be great. Thanks

I have removed the pads at the bottom and now it will not work need help