AmIdYfReAk, 360 question

[Doombrain]

sup bro?

my elite finally RROD after two years, still in warranty so it's away to be swapped. Euro people get a new Jasper unit, not a refurbished unit.

question is, when it's back i'm going to do the x-clamp mod and swap the fans out for the upgrade quiet fans. X-clamp kits come in two flavours, metal washers or nylon washers. the metal washer kits claim to have 'precise' washers which will not short and eliminate the possibility of the xPUs from lifting again whereas some people claim the nylon kits still carry a risk of RROD but allow the PCB to flex with the heat.

What would your preference be and do you see many returns from the units you fix?

THX BRO

[AmIdYfReAk]

I've never seen or heard of anyone getting a new unit back..

people around here say they Canada is the one that gets new units, while everyone else gets referbs... etc etc on and on.

anyway, The Xclamp is not a Fix per say, what happened is the XClamps put pressure on the center of the Chip and eventually Making the board relax and raise the CPU/GPU up off of the board and severing the outer connections.

the Xclamp "fix" was a way to Fix this issue by putting the mass of the pressure on the OUTSIDE of the Chip and regaining the connections again.
The issue with that is simple, after quite a few more heat cycles the Center connections will Sever due to the outer force, and The ( stock )X-clamps will fix it again.

the only thing that i could suggest, is take the thing apart, and solder a resistor to the PNP Transistor that controls the Fans to speed them up.
In the Jasper consoles they have a single transistor for both fans,due to the cpu staying cool but the GPU get stupidly HOT.

i can post pics ( again ) to show you where to solder to if you'd like.

[Doombrain]

please, would be good to see.

upgrading the fans in a good idea? i've also seen smaller 'note book' type fans you can install within the 360 over the PCB

[AmIdYfReAk]

i would also recommend to use a 10% 15Kohm resistor, they are available at any electronic shop for cheap ( i used to buy 100 of them for a little over $5 canadian, or 10cents each )
that will get you a good fan speed, but be on par with the noise of the drive so you wont really notice it.

The small upgrade fans don't really make that much of a diff to be honest, this method will give you a MUCH better temp change, without the hassle of those noisy little things doing nothing

on a side note, by doing it this way, the console is still able to turn the fans up if there is an issue ( overheating, etc )

[Doombrain]

n1

[MKJ]

i got a new unit when my premium rrod

[Doombrain]

everyone i know that had rrod has a new unit

[Doombrain]

it even says on the UK 360 repair tracking site "repaired or replaced" and i should think it's cheaper to replace with a new unit at MAP cost than spend the time refurbing.

[AmIdYfReAk]

On these "new units" there is no referb by the serial number?

and on the motherboard itseelf, there is a yellow/red sticker stating that the board was repaired?

i've worked on a few box's that where in minty shape, and the dude said it was givin a new one, but after cutting the MS Stickers on it, and looking.. there where repair stickers on the board with signatures..

Doombrain, that is a loaded quote there... they will NOT spend the time to refurb your console and send it to you... they will Check the console for mod's and error.. then send you another refurbished unit as a replacement.

Things could have changed in the past ~4-5 since i stopped working at the shop repairing these.. but i somewhat doubt it.

[Fender]

I've sent 2 back. I got 1 new and 1 refurb.

[Doombrain]

Amid, it's more of a logistical question and the costs involved. MS Europe will have to pay another company to refurbish the units and at the amount failing that will be a very large bill. It’s often the case that a company such as MS on a product like the xbox would find it cheaper to buy the units at cost price (MAP). Returns logistics also plays a part as well as WEEE.

[Doombrain]

had the mail, should be back in a week. will post up new or refurb

[Doombrain]

BARKING, GB 28/01/2010 13:41 ARRIVAL SCAN
BRUSSELS, BE 28/01/2010 9:05 DEPARTURE SCAN
28/01/2010 8:42 ARRIVAL SCAN
FRANKFURT, DE 28/01/2010 2:45 DEPARTURE SCAN
FRANKFURT, DE 27/01/2010 18:46 ORIGIN SCAN
DE 27/01/2010 3:01 BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

That's a new unit.

[MKJ]

n1

[Doombrain]

brand new. made 16/1/2010. it's much quieter than the last one. going to add a better fan and dump the xclamp when the kit comes.

[Tormentius]

Bah, my old Xbox E74'ed so a refurb replacement arrived in Dec and has had intermittent issues recognizing discs since it from day one. As of yesterday it finally stopped recognizing any disc at all, whether DVD or game. Had to spend another hour on the phone to get them to agree to express shipping since they sent me a bunk unit. Oh well, at least a buddy of mine wasn't using his much so I have a replacement until the repair is done. I'm hoping they just send a new one but that seems unlikely in Canada.

[Doombrain]

they've done a great job of normalising what is a catastrophic fail in design.

[AmIdYfReAk]

i think the part that is fucking them is the ROHS Solder, rather than the design.

the heat causes it to crack overtime and separate from the chip/board, that would explain why "reflowing" the Board gets such good results.

[Doombrain]

you can't blame the solder when just cooling the units better produces improvements to fail rate

[AmIdYfReAk]

the beter cooling is removing the heat from the board, no xbox that I've tested got over 70ºC, and the solders melting point is ~160-200ºC.
there is No reason why it should crack, but it does.

Sony is having the same issues with their PS3, Micro cracks in the solder.

[Doombrain]

stuck the new green cooler fan in today. Not seen this cooler before.

[AmIdYfReAk]

What cooler?

The Heatsink?

[Doombrain]

don't make me layer an arrow on, yes the fucking heatsink.

also, the new fan will not fit flush ffs.

[AmIdYfReAk]

Getting on the bitchy side?

you've taken the information from this thread and tossed it out the window.. if anything, i'm the one that should be bitching at you.

Those fans will never fit flush, the retaining clip is useless on them, if anything you can bend the top of the cage down a bit to put a bit more pressure on the fan, Though, it wont do you much good.

[Doombrain]

if it lasts a year i'll be happy, which it will. new units are only £100.

not bitchy, just messing. i didn't want to increase the fan speed because i don't want the extra sound.

i'll shave down the fan unit next week.