Stumped on XBox 360 2 Red Rings

[xbrav]

Hello all,

Been doing tons of work this week trying to fix this 360. Initially it was an error with the overheating, fixed that 23 times.

Now, I am getting overheating IMMEDIATELY on start up. I haven't taken my gauge to the chips yet, but all are cool enough to touch (even the CPU without a heatsink).

The unit powers briefly, but never makes it to the point to initialize video. The fans will power on full for a brief second then shut off. The power supply starts off green but goes amber, yet the red lights continue to stay on on the unit. Cannot obtain any error code either.

Because the power brick goes amber, no power appears to be going to the CPU or the GPU, as they remain at room temperature with no fans. The RAM is cool on the underbody as well.

Any ideas? Let me know if you need any more info. Thanks in advance for the help!

-Bryan

EDIT: Image:

http://www.xbrav.net/HPIM0634.JPG

[gigabite]

ha ha 23 times...(yes I have looked at the picture) BUT...you will get 2 Red Lights due to bad grounding (also) if the motherboard is not screwed into the grounding shield properly (which means using all the motherboard screws and the black torx ones unless you have the x-clamp mod done).

If you already tried that then you have a short somewhere and it will need to be re-flowed (properly, none of this heatgun take the fans off $#!t...) PM me if interested

gigabite

[xbrav]

See that's where I'm confused on the grounding issue. As hilarious as it sounds, I've had it running with no screws mounting it at all. It would run, but the video would freeze after 15 mins, followed by a restart and a 3 RRoD.

Reflowing might be an option. Unfortunately, I don't currently have access to a chip extractor (they're all up at the college in my fabrication lab >.>). All I have on me is my weller iron.

P.S. I apologize for the really crappy photo. Honestly, I couldn't remember originally if the unit's power supply light normally stayed green when overheating or if it went amber. If it always goes amber, the picture is totally pointless.

Now, working with electronics, I was a total idiot and misplaced not one, or two, but all the damn screws >.>. From what I've read, the mainboard uses the case as a global ground, linked together by the screws. Are there any ones in particular I could temporarily jump to see if that will suffice?

Btw, this unit I have put through hell so far trying to get it to work. So if we somehow pooch it in the process, I'm not out anything really.

So reflowing may be an option, however, I won't have access to my great hardware until September. Great to know it isn't overheating in some magical corner of the mobo I can't see. More details and updates to follow.

[Lokgolo]

Yeah I'm with Gigabite on this one. I bought my 360 off ebay refurbished and came to find out it had already had the x-clamp mod done to it. If you don't have just the right amount of tension on both of processors, it will either give you two red lights or three. Three will mean the screws are too tight and two means too loose. I went through this right before my drive gave out on me.

[xbrav]

Interesting how you mentioned the light patterns... mine are opposite.

When I have nothing on them, it 3 red rings. If I put too much tension on it, it gives me 2 red rings.

Unfortunately, I have no cash for an x clamp. I've been tampering with the shipped clamp. I might just try replacing the cooler with a pentium 4, since the width is exact. Might be worth a shot.

It seems this unit is failing due to the GPU, as before the red rings, the image will freeze on the screen.

[Arakon]

just cooling it better won't do anything. the solder balls are already broken, only a reflow can re-attach them right.