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SoCoder -> Blogs Home -> Blogs |
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spinal
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Dead xbox 360 lives! |
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Well, sort of. A few weeks ago, a friend's 360 died so he got a new one. He then kindly gave me his old dead one! Why Microsoft released such a buggy system is beyond me. Anyway the problem with this particular one, was that if kept freezing after about 5 minutes, even if it was just sitting in the dashboard. Then after a couple of days of me having it I got the dreaded three red led's, wouldn't even boot up. Yesterday I decided to pull it apart and see if there was anything obviously wrong with it, something not connected properly or something. That in itself took a while, not haveing a torx driver set I was reduced to filing down a screwdriver to fit those daft screws and later slicing a line in the smaller ones to use a regular flat screwdriver. After opening it I could find nothing wrong, not broken solder, no little 'thingys' that somehow might have got in and shorted something. nothing. I then connected the motherboard to the various cables and tried to boot it up again, still nothing. Just the three red led's and a blank tv screen. The for some crazy reason I tried switching it off by the plug, rather than the power switch or simply pulling out the cable from the back of the unit. I switched it back on again and would you believe it worked! I'm not going to suggest that this is a 'fix' for none booting 360's, but it did work, weird. But it still froze after about 5 minutes. What I did notice, having it all spread out on the floor the way I did, was that the fans both suck air out. I always assumed it was best to pull air into the heat sink... so I turned the fans around and it ran fine for ages, I switched it off, removed the plastic tunnel thing and sat the fan directly on top of the smaller heat sink (the one under the dvd drive) so that the air was pulled onto the sink, rather than away from. I set Bill & Ted's excellent adventure playing, went to the chip shop, came back, watched the simpsons, ate my fish & chips and the thing was still playing fine. My question it now, as the fans only fit one way round in the case, if I change the wires so that they run backwards, will this suck enough air into the system to keep it cool. Also is this likely to clog the system up with dust and cause it to overheat again? |
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Comments |
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| Sunday, 19 August 2007, 13:49 | |
JL235
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So your fix was to make the vans blow out air instead if suck air in? That (in theory) is better for the machine. With PC fan cooling there is a state called 'negative pressure' where the pressure inside the case is lower then the pressure in room around it. This is caused by blowing out more air then is being blown in (and why your out-take fans should always be more powerful then the in-take fans). Because of the slight vacuum effect inside it creates greater and more constant air flow inside the case. However it also means the system will be more dusty and dirtier, because it's pulling in dust from the edges and all the other little gaps around the case. The opposite effect is 'positive pressure', which is cleaner but not as cool. I've heard the main problem with 360's is that they overheat. Apparently the PS3 has amazing temperature control and has even been run perfectly in very hot saunas for hundreds of hours. I've also heard of people noticing extra fans turning on when the PS3 is under very hot conditions, fans they hadn't even noticed were there. I've heard another problem with the 360 is that if you pull out the video cable all four red lights come on, and many people mistake that for the ring of death. |
| Sunday, 19 August 2007, 14:18 | |
spinal
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isn't ring of death only 3 red lights? apparently is 'general hardware failure' very useful for diagnosing. I have just put the case back together, had to chip some of the edges off the fans to get them in the wrong way, but I have all except the bottom plastic back on (I left that off because it is a pain to remove, especially now that the clips are all chewed by previous removal attempts). It has been running fine for about ten minutes, so I think its doing ok. the dust is my only concern at the moment, perhaps I will just open it now and then to clean it. If it still overheats in the case, I'll just find a small PC case to put it in.
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| Sunday, 19 August 2007, 15:11 | |
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JL235
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Yes the ring of death is 3 red lights. I said many people mistake all 4 red lights as the ring of death, which happens when the video cable isn't plugged in (as I've heard, I don't own a 360), and so presume their 360 is broke when it isn't. The fans might be set up to blow air into the 360 deliberately to help keep it clean and so last longer, because you shouldn't ever have to open up any console. Because the pressure inside will be higher then room pressure, it will force air out around the edges and holes and so dust won't get in through them. I know someone who's on something like his 4th or 5th 360. He's got a warranty so he just sends it back when it's broke, but I'll tell him about this. It sounds like a really good fix. |
| Sunday, 19 August 2007, 15:15 | |
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spinal
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the fans default sucking air out, i thought it was a bit weird. the only thing is, to get the fans the wrong way round, you have to trim them a bit.
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| Sunday, 19 August 2007, 15:35 | |
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JL235
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Hmmm... well the negative pressure thing is true. Sucking air out is typically cooler then pumping air in. If it's now blowing air in it should also be pumping in less dust, as most dust is brought in through edges and holes. Besides if it was broke before, I wouldn't worry too much as to if your changes are good or bad. I'd just enjoy a free 360. |
| Sunday, 19 August 2007, 16:03 | |
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spinal
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just overheated, not bad though, went for a whole movie, thats way better than 5 minutes. gonna put it in a small pc case, cool it properly.
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| Monday, 20 August 2007, 04:11 | |
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spinal
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Dammit! 3 red lights again!  (
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| Monday, 20 August 2007, 04:22 | |
Jayenkai
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Get a Wii 
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| Monday, 20 August 2007, 04:36 | |
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spinal
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Got one, addicted to kororinpa. (probably spelled wrong)
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| Monday, 20 August 2007, 06:46 | |
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spinal
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3 red lights fixed!!! for now at least. It works fine if I remove it from the case, probably shorting something underneath. Also I have attached a fan to the heatsink so the dvd rive doesn't fit anymore. PC case it is then.
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| Monday, 20 August 2007, 07:25 | |
shroom_monk
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Couldn't you just remove the 3 red lights? That would stop them turning on. 
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| Tuesday, 21 August 2007, 03:15 | |
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spinal
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probably, but the error causing the t3 red lights was stopping it from booting up.
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| Tuesday, 21 August 2007, 16:11 | |
power mousey
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so....its alive! and all those games too.  but at what price!?? (the hassles of getting it to work, and also buying and playing the games) cheers power mousey |
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