Red Ring of Death

crwdns2853023:0crwdne2853023:0

My X-Box came down with the red ring of death after years of gentle usage. Not really sure what caused it to suddenly die.

crwdns2853024:0crwdne2853024:0

The repair went fine but ended up taking about 4 hours to complete. The big issue was removing the x clamps, they were a lot harder to remove than I thought.

However, the repair failed. The machine still displayed the red ring after I completed the repair.

crwdns2853025:0crwdne2853025:0

The x clamps were really hard to remove and cleaning off the old thermal paste was a pain in the ass too. It was like trying to get bubblegum out of the carpet after someone had ground it in with their foot. I found out that if you get a plastic card, like those ones the NRA send you in the mail, and cut a strip off it it works good at scraping off the thermal paste without scratching the motherboard.

As for the x clamps, don't be afraid to bend them a little to get them loose.