more 360 woes

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
10,084
Location
Stoke area
Hi all,

So I was given an elite with an R74 error.

Opened it up and just tightened the bolts underneath the metal case and it worked. Didn't XClamp it.

Turned it on and DVD drive was sounding really rough so I replaced it with another BenQ from another elite that is beyond repair. Played it yesterday morning for about 6 hours straight. PES 09 and HAWX. No problems.

Came home from work last night ready to play red dead redemption. Within 10 mins I noticed coloured pixels appearing all over the screen, then it started to jump a lot. Turned off and back on. Was fine for about 10 mins and pixelated again. Pulled the DVD out to the side and put a long digital thermometer on to the top of the GPU cooler = 66'c :(

Temp dropped to 50'c. worked fine for about 15 mins and went again.

Odd thing is, this is only in a game. It doesn't effect menus and it doesn't effect cut scenes/movies:

DSC_0056.jpg


DSC_0059.jpg


Put it on again today, desk fan full blast and it was sitting at 35'c during play but still pixelated.
Is it permanently borked or fixable??

What is really annoying is I was looking at watercooling for it yesterday :(
 
Last edited:
Look at doing xclamp - though its a temp fix .. might as well start saving for a new one
 
IIRC the issue is caused because the motherboard heats up and flexes, once the BGA contact points start to crack off the motherboard, that's when you get the issues.. The x-clamp tries to flatten it all out and puts slightly more pressure on the chip, thus temporarily making it all work, but normally either the motherboard still flexes in the middle of the BGA and eventually even that gives up the ghost.

So water cooling isn't necessarily going to work, unless you get the chips reflowed, or do the oven baking thing to try and get the BGA contact points to re-connect..
 
Thanks for the info.

I may try removing the mobo from the case completely, raising it up and running cold air top and bottom to try and stop it getting worse.

I've been trying to avoid the whole oven thing, I was never sure it would work but looks like I haven't get a choice. Got 2 more that may need to go in as well so I suppose I should try it. I did buy loads of towels and oven gloves to protect the capacitors etc, I could just never find decent tape to use on it after hearing that standard electric tapes smells disgusting. :(
 
Well, I tried the oven trick, 9 mins at gas mark 8 then left too cool down.

Rebuilt using standard parts while I investigate new clamps etc, seen a couple of newer clamp techniques. Cooling with a deskfan as well. Temps not getting above 38'c with case apart and dvd out. Best part is, the pixels have all gone :D

Now to see how long it lasts, 5 hours of red dead today!
 
Mp4 said:
Look at doing xclamp - though its a temp fix .. might as well start saving for a new one
Click to expand...

not true, if done right can last forever!

I have repaired loads and the problematic ones get a fan mod which lowers temps to around 30 deg c.

reflow gpu>x clamp removal>bolts fitted>fan mod = perfect console
 
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