PC Game Cheats: XBOX 360 Red Ring of Death Jammed DVD Tray

This repair is for the famous XBOX Red Ring of Death (RROD). When there are three red lights lit up, it is code for a general hardware failure of more then one component. In most cases this is caused from the motherboard warping under heat and causing circuits to open. Microsoft decided to go the cheap route when manufacturing the XBOX 360 and provide an inadequate means of mounting the heat sinks to the CPU and GPU. The “X Clamps” used to mount the heat sink down on top of the processor die are too flimsy and weak to really keep the board from warping when combined with heat.

An easy fix to this is to simply remove those cheap x clamps and replace them with much stronger bolts and nylon washers for spacing.

The first thing that has to be done, is the external casing needs to be removed. Everything is of “snap” together fashion when it comes to the Xbox 360. First remove the face plate. and then the gray sides, and then the top and bottom shell. I won’t go into detail on how to remove them as it can be found all over the internet. Once all of the plastic is removed and you are down to the metal shell, work can be done. First all of the screws need to be removed from the underside holding the motherboard in place as well as the x clamps. The motherboard screws require a T10 torx and the x clamps require a T8 torx to remove properly. The rear cooling fan can be removed by prying up n the back metal housing. Once all the screws and cooling fans are removed the motherboard can be pulled up and out of the metal housing.

Once the board is removed, those x clamps need to come off. Put a small flat head screw driver in between the clamp and the stud sticking up. Gently turn the screw driver back and forth and eventually the clamp will come off. By the time you get to the third side, it will fall off very easily. Do this for both of the clamps as their is one on the CPU and GPU.

We had some old baked on thermal paste that was tough to remove. The old thermal compound will need to be completely removed from both the top of the processor die and heat sinks. Rubbing alcohol does the job normally and will result in a nice shiny surface to apply fresh new thermal paste.

Eight M5 10mm cheese head/pan screws will be needed to remount the heat sinks to the CPU and GPU, four for each. You will also need 16 washers, preferably nylon, for proper spacing. Put one nylon washer onto each screw to start and place each screw threw the motherboards mounting holes.

Once each screw is through, place another washer on the inside to provide spacing between the heat sinks and the motherboard. Then tighten each screw in a criss-cross fashion, taking care not to put too much stress on one side. Get each screw to the point of where it just starts to feel snug, and move on to the next. Once all of the screws have some resistance, tighten them all down a little bit more and evenly. Take note of the motherboard and make sure no warping is occurring from over tightening.

With the x clamps replaced, their should be no more red ring of death in the future!

Another problem this particular XBOX 360 had, was the DVD drawer would not open anymore. This is typical off pretty much any CD/DVD drive and happens after parts get dirtied up inside over the years. Excessive hair, dust and other debris will cause the tray to not open, but usually a good tap with your hand will get it to pop open.

The center wheel inside of the optical drive has a rubber band on it and needs to be cleaned off. Use something like a pair of tweezers to reach inside and remove the rubber band from the large wheel and the small wheel right next to it.

Clean the rubber band with some rubbing alcohol and paper towel to remove any debris from it. Most likely the paper towel will become very dirty in the spot used to clean it as a lot builds up over time. Then use a cue tip and rubbing alcohol to clean the gears inside as well as the track on the bottom side of the DVD tray. You can hold the cue tip up against each gear and open/close the tray by hand to spin the gears around and give them a good clean. Just be sure to not close the drawer all the way and lock it shut.

Once that was cleaned, everything could be put back together and plugged in for a test run. With success the DVD tray will open and close again without physical force, and there will be no more annoying red lights to greet you on the front of the XBOX 360!