Xbox 360 black screen, repeating dot pattern, DVD issues

So I bought an “RROD” Xbox on ebay for 5 dollars with free shipping. Had nothing to lose, as I could use the heat sinks for other projects if worst comes to worst. Here are the list of problems I encountered:

  • 4 RROD (listed by seller): He didn’t plug in an AV cable, may have used this as a ploy but whatever, its 5 dollars
  • 2 ROD (Listed by seller): Overheated. It would work for like 45 seconds and then shut down?
  • There was no fan: I found this out, the seller said he could no longer hear his fans spinning (-_-).

And now the main problem:

  • Once there was an issue where it on Y-WR AV cable ( HD AV cable was just a black screen) it would show a black screen with cascading grey dots flowing down the screen, one every four inches and separated by about an inch horizontally. I could still control the console with a keyboard and sound would play, and the DVD would attempt to open. The original cause (I thought) was that a lead was shorting a mosfet from my DIY dual 80mm fan fix, removed that (which shorted it), and restarted the console. Worked fine. The problem came back today for no reason, and I plan on reflowing the GPU with a heat gun (also, I don’t know if this is Microsoft or the seller, but there was WAY too much white thermal paste, all over the chips next to the CPU and GPU heat spreader). Is this the propper way to fix a problem like this, reflowing with a heatgun? I also noted the GPU heatsink could wiggle a bit, but I don’t want to spend 30 dollars on the RROD kit, so I will see how I can tighten it down.
  • The DVD drive takes dozens of tries before it will actually open, and applying pressure to help open the drive doesn’t do anything. When it decides to open, it works fine, and it works for a couple times more. When I restart the console, no dice :(.

So my two main questions, should I reflow the GPU (and the CPU while I’m at it or don’t risk it), and what can I do about the DVD drive?

Thanks for any help guys!

(I think the device is an Opus. No HDMI, MFD: 2007-11-10, fits the OPUS PSU description, but I have the old heatsink combo, no heat pipes. I can take photos if you’d like)

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