The RROD will NOT go away....

[Deadman]

So I took my "just slightly out of warranty" Xbox 360 that RROD'd and did the X-clamp replacement trick. It worked for about 1-2 hours of total play time before it locked up and RROD'd again. Thinking it might be a problem with the thermal paste layer or something equally dumb, I took it apart and did it again. I let it sit for 2 days before trying it a few minutes ago. I got about 10 minutes of life before it froze up again, so I rebooted it and it went to the 3 red lights.

I know that a local gaming store will fix it for $60, but they only guarantee it for 30 days. I'm just wondering if there's something else I can try to do before I just go buy a new 360 Arcade for $130.

I'm thinking of buying some Arctic silver and give it one more try. Now that I've taken it apart so many times, it really is quick to do and not very difficult to disassemble and reassemble. Here are the steps that I've done based on online tutorials to fix my 360:

1. Bought a "kit" of bolts, washers, and vinyl washers.
2. Removed the heat sinks, discarded the X-clamps
3. cleaned off the old thermal paste and polished the surfaces smooth.
4. Apply a thin layer of thermal paste and set the heat sinks back in place
5. Tighten the sinks down, but not torque them down.
6. Turn on the unit, see the RROD still, let it heat up for a few minutes.
7. Turn it off, torque down the screws all the way.
8. Put it all back together, let it sit for 2 days.

Anything else I should be doing here?

[Oldskool]

I dunno, I did the same exact thing that you did, AND used Arctic Silver and it still was locking up on me. I have heard that you need a heat gun or an oven to reflow the processor/gpu/motherboard and that's the secret trick, but I didn't attempt that. I just got rid of the piece of crap. Xbox 360 sucks. It's a good thing I got it for free.

[understatement]

I did the over heat to reflow the solder before removing the heat sinks and adding new thermal paste if you do it after adding new paste the heat can mess-up the paste (I powered the 360 for 25 min. with the fan sitting on top of the two heat sinks blowing the air up IIRC then let it cool for an hour or two). Also I never heard to "torque down" the screws that would either cause the board to bow or it would squeeze all the thermal paste off the chips you don’t want it to tight. Are you screwing it down in the right sequence? You want to get all the screws even rotating every turn or so till it gets to the end then go with a quarter or less per turn like this.
1 3
.X
4 2
(Ignorer the . needed it to space the X)

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

You probably need to have the solder re-flowed. Even then it may not be a permanent fix, or a sure bet. If it was me, I would gun for a newer better hardware revision instead of sinking money into the current unit paying someone to fix it when they are not offering more then 30 days warranty on their fix. You could find yourself in the same spot you're in now a few weeks after the warranty on their work expires. If you had your own reflow station wouldn't be such a big deal though, just keep fixing it on your own.

[Deadman]

I agree with everything you guys are saying so I went ahead and fixed the problem myself. After searching local craigslist, I found a Brand new factory sealed 360 Arcade unit for sale at $150 (the current retail price) so I offered $100 cash, and we negotiated to $120 cash. Then it turns out the guys literally lives 1/2 mile from me! So, no travel costs, no tax, just a great deal and I'm moving on.

Not sure how to register the machine for it's 3 year MS warranty though, since I don't have an original store receipt. I've emailed the guy about it, but that's the reason he didn't return it to the store in the first place - lost the receipt.

[megasdkirby]

If you had your own reflow station wouldn't be such a big deal though, just keep fixing it on your own.

What's a good, economical, reflow station? I've seen some over $1,000+ and I was hoping to find one that is a bit more...affordable. And good, of course.

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

What's a good, economical, reflow station? I've seen some over $1,000+ and I was hoping to find one that is a bit more...affordable. And good, of course.

None of the decent ones are even remotely cheap. Its not worth investing in unless you plan to do a lot of repairs, possibly to turn a buck or two offering services to people. If you are just interested in one for self service and minor work, google how to make your own. There are pages up on how to do it. Here is a link to a seller that sells most of what you need to get started on major repairs on PS3 and 360 units:
http://stores.ebay.com/dragonsoulchina