A-Thon X has 32 chronicles

1. X-Box 360 Towel Trick
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Sep 10 2009

   I first learned about this nifty little trick about 6-8 months ago. A friends X-Box had red ringed during a Lan party. He then preceded to pull a towel from his X-Box carrying case (in other words, an old duffel bag) and wrap it around his X-Box.
   
   Of, course i asked what he was doing and he replyed he was doing a little trick to fix his red ring of death, temporarily. He explained (if i remember correctly, and i probrably don't) That something in the x-box had seperated when it got hot, and that if you caused the x-box to over-jeat again it would melt the whatever in question and cause it to reconnect. Anyway, it worked.
   
   Fast forward to now (well yesterday) My Little brother is using my big brothers first x-box (he got an Elite) But it seems to have red-ringed. So i asked him if i can take a look at it. Hell, i was desperate. I needed access to some kind of console before i started drooling myself and flinging poo.
   
   Well, the first thing i did was ask him why he couldn't just send it in to be repaired. He replies that when my big brother moved all his files to the elite, he transfered the warrenty as well. Didn't make sense to me. I mean if you buy/own two x-boxes you should have two warrenty's. But apperently the old one has no warrenty. So i tell him about the towel trick and take it home.
   
   After looking the towel trick up on youtube (hey, its been 6-8 months) I tried it. And it worked! XD So now i can probrably import my brothers profile and maybe get in some online action. Woot! So in conclusion, the towel trick works and is a nifty alternative if you can't send in your box, but only if you don't have a warrenty.

   
   

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A-Thon X has 6 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Perry Grips
   Posted On Sep 11 2009

   This whole time I been using my towel for drying!!!

2. SweetIceCream
   Posted On Sep 11 2009

   wow thks for this this means i can go get my old ones and try this hey i may have 6 new xboxs

3. MzChaos
   Posted On Sep 10 2009

   No there is no "transferring the warranty" that makes no sense I work in retail I sell these things on daily basis and used to have two as well. And the fact that it's an Elite means its less than 3 years old which means it is still in warranty. Well was but now that you did the horrible towel trick, that voids it.

4. Silent Bob
   Posted On Sep 10 2009

   This truly is a VERY temporary fix. What happens is the solder holding the CPU and GPU actually liquefies because it gets too hot inside.
   
   The X-clamps that hold down the heat sinks over these two processors is designed to distribute pressure equally, but in reality they apply more in one corner or another, causing the pins coming out of the processor to actually lift up out of their holes in the motherboard. Without making contact, they simply can't work.
   
   The towel trick hopes to replicate the issue that caused the problem, by getting the unit to run so hot it liquefies the solder again, in the hopes that the processor's pins will magically re-seat themselves. Strange thing, it usually works.
   
   The very bad thing is you're intentionally causing your CPU and GPU to exceed their threshholds for core temperature, so every time you do this you're actually damaging both. Do it too much, and you're going to kill one or both processors. Then it's new XBox time.
   
   One last word of caution to anybody trying the towel trick at home. You need to be there the entire time. Don't walk away to let it "do its thing." You're going to burn down your house and everything in it if you're not careful.

5. A-Thon X
   Posted On Sep 10 2009

   Yeah, sorry. i forgot to put a disclaimer. Don't try this at home kids.

6. BEN
   Posted On Sep 10 2009

   This is an awesome Chronicle and what this system around here was made for. Thanks for the tip and although folks should be careful with these types of "home remedies", it's always fun hearing them and giving them a try if times get desperate.
   
   This also reminds me of the toothpaste trick, where by smearing toothpaste on a scratched disc, sometimes you can get the toothpaste to fill in scratches and allow the disc to work again