The Towel Trick.

[Stewart]

It does work, you know?

My Elite brokeneded the other day (RROD of course), but because it brokeneded about a year ago and came back to life when I stood it on its end, I thought I'd try a few things before I sent it back to MSoft.

So I took everything out cept the power lead, wrapped it up, and left it on for 15 minutes. Unwrapped it, left it to cool for an hour, fired it up and its been working for 2 days.

300 notes worth of console and I have to use a towel to get it working again.

Fair enough it might only last a few days, but the last time this console RROD on me and I fixed it, it lasted about a year, so who knows how long it might last now?

I can't bring myself to send it to Microsoft until its completely dead, its came back from the dead twice now, and its still going strong, I have to stick with it.

[TAKTAK]

Originally Posted by Stewart

300 notes worth of console and I have to use a towel to get it working again.

isn't it obvious?

it's a Vogon....

[Hicks12]

em, it works but your killing your 360 in the mean time. Melting its insides is not a good thing when you think about it, its a quick fix which is good but id rather send it to MS and get a free repair than have the chance of them saying i damaged it by melting it.

Glad yours worked though.

[TAKTAK]

well... hang on... is it not the fact that the 360 is so rubbish at dissipating heat that causes the RROD in the first place...

as the heat causes the Solder (with tin in it) to heat slightly and degrade and separate causing a dodgey connection

and all heating it up (with a towel) does is re-solder the joints that the 360 has b0rked in the first place... (because it heats the solder further than the 360 does normally)

(of course i could easily be wrong and be miss-informed on this point)

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by Hicks12

em, it works but your killing your 360 in the mean time. Melting its insides is not a good thing when you think about it, its a quick fix which is good but id rather send it to MS and get a free repair than have the chance of them saying i damaged it by melting it.

Glad yours worked though.

Erm... it was already broken, after the towel trick it wasn't broken. How this can be seen as making it worse, or killing it I don't see.

Nothing is going to melt in 15 minutes of higher temps. If anything melted it wouldn't spring back into life, it would stay brokenedededed.

Do you see?

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by TAKTAK

well... hang on... is it not the fact that the 360 is so rubbish at dissipating heat that causes the RROD in the first place...

as the heat causes the Solder (with tin in it) to heat slightly and degrade and separate causing a dodgey connection

and all heating it up (with a towel) does is re-solder the joints that the 360 has b0rked in the first place... (because it heats the solder further than the 360 does normally)

(of course i could easily be wrong and be miss-informed on this point)

You are neither wrong nor misinformed.

As I said to the other poster, it was broken, I did this, and then it worked.

This is a bad thing?

Anyway, just passing on information. If you get an RROD, take everything out, HD, HDMI lead, internet cable, then wrap it up for 15, then leave to cool for an hour, CAFREFULLY removing the towel, don't move the console. After an hour, turn it on and it should work... for how long is anyones guess, I've heard of them lasting for months.

[beanbandit]

As much as the trick may work for now, it won't be long before its permanent. Reheating solder, and lead free at that (bloody hot if its true) is never good as it ends up brittle, adding flux would help matters, but there's no chance of that happening.

I've said it before, the 360 is one serious ****up.

[Stewart]

Oh yeah, it will still need fixing at some point. Thing is, I've had my 360 for about a year and a half now, and it first RROD on me after 3 days. So 99.99999999% of its time with me its been 'broken', but it always comes back to life with a bit of a shove.

[nadnerb]

surely its best to send it back while its still in warranty as the towel trick won't last forever. Besides you may get a falcon which shouldn't have this problem.

[Stewart]

I will, soon. 3 years isn't it, the warranty?

[beanbandit]

Originally Posted by nadnerb

surely its best to send it back while its still in warranty as the towel trick won't last forever. Besides you may get a falcon which shouldn't have this problem.

It still has the potential to rrod at any stage. Until they put in a newer smaller GPU this problem will still exist.

[beanbandit]

Originally Posted by Stewart

I will, soon. 3 years isn't it, the warranty?

Yep

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by beanbandit

It still has the potential to rrod at any stage. Until they put in a newer smaller GPU this problem will still exist.

True, but the Falcons are less likely to do so.
Besides, surely getting a new xbox is better anyway, less usage on it etc.

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by Stewart

I will, soon. 3 years isn't it, the warranty?

I think it's 3 years for RRODing and 1 year for anything else.

[Stewart]

I sort of feel the need to keep it until it dies though, as its a fighter this one.

And it is RRODing, or will. And I could make it if I needed to, so plenty of warranty time left.

Might get the last few single player GTAIV achievements and then send it for repair.

[samcross]

My 360 is still freezing on some games (GH3, GTA4) but not RRODing. I'll just take it back to the shop I got it from this weekend and pray they can fix it quick