Mod my Xbox 360 or not?

[Jeff7181]

My Xbox 360 was manufactured over a year ago. I won it in a contest so it was free. I never registered it and never purchased the extended warranty. Now that I have Forza 2 and use it quite a bit, I'm experiencing what I believe to be heat related issues.

After playing Forza 2 for about an hour, I start to see problems, mostly with the disc being read. The disc will spin down frequently and it sometimes results in a dirty disc error. I've never seen a red light on the ring, so I don't think any hardware is failing, I think it's just overheating because aiming a fan into the largest air intake point (the right side, or bottom if standing on end) puts an end to these issues I'm having.

So I'm considering my options...

Continue as I have been and hope the hardware doesn't fail until the new 65nm CPU's are being used and I buy a new one with HDMI and the 120 GB drive.

Attempt to buy an extended warranty and send it in for service immediately.

Fek the warranty and open it up and perform some cooling mods like cutting out some of the case that resitrcts airflow, improve the air duct so more air flows over the heatsinks, and add an intake fan to help move more air.

 

[CKDragon]

IMHO, the 360 is still too expensive to risk permanently screwing it up. I think I would look for a 3rd party cooler if I was in your situation.

Once we get further in the product life cycle I imagine I may buy a separate console just to see what cool software mods I can perform. Like I did when the original xbox's hit ~$150 around 2004.

 

[RaiderJ]

I fixed my friend's 360 with the RRoD and it works fine now. If it was my 360, I'd open it up and do the cooling mods - done right I think they will provide a better long-term fix than anything M$ will do for you.

If you replace the cooling fans with the Talismoon ones, you'll increase airflow and reduce noise. Worth the $25. I added aluminum tape over the GPU heatsink so that the fan shroud pulls air over the entire heatsink, not just the one side. Optionally, you can add a fan baffle to pull more air over the GPU, and some tape over the CPU heatsink much the same way as the GPU. And if you replace the X-Clamps, tighten the crap out of the bolts.

PM me if you need any help.

 

[Jeff7181]

The only reservation I have about opening the 360 up is that once the seal is broken, Microsoft won't touch it even if you pay them. So if something happens to it afterwards it turns into a very hot paperweight.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
The only reservation I have about opening the 360 up is that once the seal is broken, Microsoft won't touch it even if you pay them. So if something happens to it afterwards it turns into a very hot paperweight.

That's why I'm not touching mine until they go out of warranty. After that, I'll be doing cooling mods immediately.

 

[opticalmace]

I would say stop playing Forza 2.

Reason why

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: opticalmace
I would say stop playing Forza 2.

Reason why

Doubtful. Just another case of "OMG! Game X borked my 360!" when more than likely it is just the 360 failing. This seems to happen every time a popular game comes out and is the most likely game to be in the console at the time of failure. Happened with GHII and GoW.

 

[Cellulose]

But Forza is the one causing it to fail - don't play Forza - and it won't cause a borked Xbox 360 - the chance of failure in this case is high compared to other games!

 

[R Nilla]

I've had a lot of instances while playing Forza 2 where textures would not load (driving on empty blackness!), or would be rendered late (all of a sudden the detail appears). This is in career mode, as I have yet to try online racing.

Also, I experienced this a lot playing GoW online co-op (sometimes it would be pitch black other than my character), but I don't recall ever experiencing it offline.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Queasy
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: opticalmace
I would say stop playing Forza 2.

Reason why</end quote></div>

Doubtful. Just another case of "OMG! Game X borked my 360!" when more than likely it is just the 360 failing. This seems to happen every time a popular game comes out and is the most likely game to be in the console at the time of failure. Happened with GHII and GoW.

Yeah, people said the same thing about Oblivion and Gears of War for the 360. These intense games stress the hardware and then instabilities can't go unnoticed. Same thing happened when Doom 3 was released on the PC... a lot of people learned that their overclocked video cards weren't 100% stable.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If you can live without it for the time it takes to get repaired/replaced then don't crack it open. Otherwise get in there and get things squared away.

My first 360 made it almost 6months before going belly up, the refurb they sent out *10 biz day turn around was nice considering stories I've read from others* is about 3 months in now. My bro's made it past the 1yr warranty and then died just last month. He used a nyko cooler and thought he wouldn't have any issues due the fact. That, combined with all the user feedback I see everywhere, stopped me from picking up the HD-DVD for mine. Not going to lose the ability to watch HD movies if it bricks again. So, I'm going to have a PS3 or stand alone player soon. BR seems to have better exclusives IMO, and since the PS3 seems to be a solid unit from most accounts, I'll be able to game if my 360 dies again too.

Like yourself, when the 65nm hits, I'll buy the new, improved, model. I'll sell this one or whichever number I'm on by then for whatever I can get for it at that time.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
If you can live without it for the time it takes to get repaired/replaced then don't crack it open. Otherwise get in there and get things squared away.

My first 360 made it almost 6months before going belly up, the refurb they sent out *10 biz day turn around was nice considering stories I've read from others* is about 3 months in now. My bro's made it past the 1yr warranty and then died just last month. He used a nyko cooler and thought he wouldn't have any issues due the fact. That, combined with all the user feedback I see everywhere, stopped me from picking up the HD-DVD for mine. Not going to lose the ability to watch HD movies if it bricks again. So, I'm going to have a PS3 or stand alone player soon. BR seems to have better exclusives IMO, and since the PS3 seems to be a solid unit from most accounts, I'll be able to game if my 360 dies again too.

Like yourself, when the 65nm hits, I'll buy the new, improved, model. I'll sell this one or whichever number I'm on by then for whatever I can get for it at that time.

It's out of warranty... so unless they let me buy the extended warranty now, I'd have to pay them a shitload to repair it... $150 from what I hear.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
It's out of warranty... so unless they let me buy the extended warranty now, I'd have to pay them a shitload to repair it... $150 from what I hear.

If it is out of warranty, mod away!!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Yeah, I think my bro paid $140, so get that patient on the table STAT! Don't forget the :camera: of your handiwork either.

 

[Jeff7181]

Anyone know if I can tap the power to the existing fans to power a 3rd fan? I'm thinking of using an 80mm case fan as an intake fan.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Anyone know if I can tap the power to the existing fans to power a 3rd fan? I'm thinking of using an 80mm case fan as an intake fan.

I think there was a tutorial over at xbox-scene.com either in the tutorial section or the forums section doing something similar. I think they soldered on to the motherboard though.

 

[Kirby64]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Anyone know if I can tap the power to the existing fans to power a 3rd fan? I'm thinking of using an 80mm case fan as an intake fan.

Don't use power from the fan connector. It has just enough to run the existing 2 fans. Just add a front fan header like here(just don't drill out the holes... desolder em):

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=549063

 

[Jeff7181]

Ahhh, nice tutorial on the fan header.

 

[Jeff7181]

I decide to see if adding a fan would make any difference without any other modifications so I rigged this up...

picture

It's portable, and the batteries are rechargable. I played for about 2 hours and it didn't even make a dent in the life of the batteries... no freezing or frame rate drops either. It's a cool night, so I'll test it sometime when it's hot... I guess I could add more batteries to get the fan speed up if it needed more cooling. Those 4 AA's are right around 5 volts so... I could find a bigger thing to hold more batteries... then wire it up cleanly rather than pins and alligator clips.

 

[Jeff7181]

So happy I didn't break it open yet...

http://arstechnica.com/journal...s-of-death-for-3-years