Fed Up with 360 troubles, should I return it?

Chong Warrior

Chong Warrior

Chong Warrior

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Joined
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Manchester
Oblivion has just become unplayable on my Xbox 360... after getting 50 hours into it :mad:

It either freezes up or I get a dirty disc error and it's choppy and sluggish and is doing my head in. I can hear the disc spinning then it will stop and I know trouble is coming. Also get some minor graphical glitches.

I've tried going in the dashboard and doing the X, X, LB, RB, X, X and I've tried booting the game holding A some many times I've lost count.

At first doing the above would clear things up for a couple of hours but then it would start to get sluggish and unresponsive and I'd have to reboot and clear the cache again. A pain but it worked, now it just keeps locking/ freezing /dirty disc error.

Only Oblivion is giving me trouble though... poorly coded game that breaks xbox's or is my 360 dying?

** I'll add this 360 Premium is a couple of months old. I've only just connected it to Live! and it downloaded an update for Oblivion the other day, it seems worse since it did that.
 
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Oblivion killed my xbox, the cache clearing did not do much. I returned mine and the replacement was and is fine.
 
VIRII said:
Oblivion killed my xbox, the cache clearing did not do much. I returned mine and the replacement was and is fine.
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How did you get around losing your saves?

Took it on the chin? Kept the hard drive? Bought memory card?
 
Chadd said:
so it's not the powerbrick? :p
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Nope its more to do with the shoddy design and airflow of the 360, and NOT using the case as a sheet metal heat sync :p


Here comes the science.
Fig 1.
fig1.jpg


Figure 1 shows the way the air flow works. The hot air rises out the top of the heat sync and the empty space nearest the front of the xbox allows for a good air flow to be pulled from.

The white plastic cover towards the back of the xbox act's as a duct to extract the hot air from the 2 heat syncs and blows it out the back of the xbox.

Fig 2.
fig2.jpg


Figure 2 shows the top part of the casing for the xbox. The casing has an aluminum shell inside. When the top cover is placed on the xbox, the aluminum frame sits on top of the heat sync shown in Figure 1.

Now with the fins touching and the hot air escaping into the case itself, there is not enough air flow for the hot air to get out because the white plastic ducting is covering up extracting fans.

This is why the top of your xbox often gets very hot. Its the aluminum frame inside slowly heating up acting as its very own heat sync, only this heat sync has no way of cooling down.

Fig 3.
fig3.jpg


Figure 3 shows my solution to keeping the xbox cool inside. All i simply did was fix a thin piece of plastic to the top of the heat sync show in Figure 1 to stop the hot air flow from rising up into the case. The hot air off the heat sync now only has one place to go, and that is out the back of the case.

As for the other heat sync that you cannot see in any of the above pictures. Its hidden below the DVD-ROM Drive. Which is doing the exact same thing as what my little fix is doing. Its acting as a lid for the top of the heat sync.

I have tested the temperature change with my fix and its dropped the temperature of heat sync significantly.

Without my little piece of plastic on top of the heat sync i can barely touch the heat sync without burning my hands after 10 minutes of game play on Dead Rising.

With my little piece of plastic on top of the heat sync i can touch, feel squeeze, caress the heat sync all i want as its now running very cool.

Paul ...
 
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What concerns me is that the metal sheilding inside the box is a grounding layer, it may double as a sink but i would be cautious insulating a metal component, one that is infolved with steady airflow no less, from its ground access.

Just a cautionary note
 
Chong Warrior said:
How did you get around losing your saves?

Took it on the chin? Kept the hard drive? Bought memory card?
Click to expand...

I can't remember, it was nearly a year ago, I think I just started again and bought a memory card afterwards.
 
The replacement service is really good. But even better, your HD will be fine, so all you need is the console itself. Where did you get it from? If it was GAME, then walk in, get replacement, walk out. Takes 5 minutes.
 
Caustic said:
The replacement service is really good. But even better, your HD will be fine, so all you need is the console itself. Where did you get it from? If it was GAME, then walk in, get replacement, walk out. Takes 5 minutes.
Click to expand...

It can take 5 minutes.
Alternatively it can take considerably longer and require 4 security guards 2 policemen and a completely different GAME store followed by angry phonecalls and letters to their customer services department and veiled threats that their manager might want to seek legal recourse for alleged threatening behaviour.
 
Thesnipergecko said:
...

Paul ...
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nice mod :)
Chadd said:
so it's not the powerbrick? :p
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Funny you should say that. I had problems when I first got my 360 but they were solved by moving my PSU from the tangled mass of cables at the back of the TV to a more open space where it could cool better.

I'm really willing to try anything but void my warranty rather than return my 360 (again!) so I've moved the PSU into the window behind the curtains where it pretty damn cold even with heating on! After posting on here last night I managed to play until about 12:30am without a hitch.

Though I also, tried other little tricks that are supposed to help, like loading three different games in a row, unplugging ethernet cable, holding A down, deleting as many saves as possible.
Caustic said:
The replacement service is really good. But even better, your HD will be fine, so all you need is the console itself. Where did you get it from? If it was GAME, then walk in, get replacement, walk out. Takes 5 minutes.
Click to expand...
Yes I got it from GAME. I bought this console from there as a 2nd hand deal but had to return it 3 days later as it was having all kinds of problems. They were very good about it and just gave me a brand new premium pack no questions asked :)

Thing is if I take this back they're within their rights to replace it with another 2nd hand 360 and I don't want that. After all I think the main reason people selling their 360's to GAME instead of on the bay is probably because they're faulty!! Also I asked last time if I could keep the hard drive to preserve my saves but they said no.
 
Thats an interesting mod there thesnipergecko, though I'm a bit weary of opening my 360 just yet, though I probably will end up wanting to replace the case with a sexy Black Knight case and chrome faceplate...who knows!

From the pics, I would assume that your mod works best when the console is in the horizontal position?
 
I dunno, but have you ran any tests to see if the 360's stock cooling system is better when the console is standing vertically, rather than horizontally. I stand mine, and am not too worried about it, though if I can make it better for not too much fuss...

Thing is, if I open mine, I'll want to change the case, maybe install some buffers in the DVDROM lid to prevent scratches from movement, but a certain romchip on the drive will not be being modified.
 
Thesnipergecko said:
lol ive found the solution to the over heating problems :p

Requires taking your xbox apart though.

Paul ...
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You can buy an intercooler which slots onto the back of the xbox, it was only £15 last time I looked, I was going to buy one but lost interest with my xbox and sold it. You can purchase these from a popular online only retailer of games and accessories. It's one of their best sellers.
 
For anyone who tries my mod, run your own little test first.

Before putting the lid on the heat sink just put your hand over the top of the heat sink and you will feel for yourself how much the air flow is increased.

Paul ...
 
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