My next step was to check out the XBOX to see if she would power up. Then I checked the board out for any signs of burnt traces or other fixable problems and found none.

Well first thing I did was clean off the old paste on the CPU that cheap thermal paste, and replace it with high quality Arctic Silver paste. Hum I thought didn't look like much, boy I thought it would be more like a computer motherboard, seeing how everyone says it's a computer basically. My package arrived and I tore into it, first thing taking the Xbox apart. My problem started when I purchased an XBOX off EBay for a cheap price, I knew in advance it was broken but the promise of fixing it myself was to be a challenge, and boy was it! Not that I couldn't do it after all I do have a paper that says I know how to fix electronics, even if I can't spell very well I hope it helps a lot of people who have had the same head ach I have about getting to the secret key to unlock the XBOX's Hard drive. Image via Shaun Sullivan/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.Hi all, first I would like to say thanks to everyone who helped me with information and suggestions on the forums and to Llamma for the posting of this HOW TO guide. To complete the tale of this Christmas miracle, here’s a video of Chavez turning on his Xbox 360 Elite for the first time in seven years: The malfunction would be announced by three red lights around the power indicator on the front of the console, hence “red ring of death.”įor years Xbox 360 owners lived in fear of “red ringing,” before Microsoft released units like the Elite, which had better cooling systems and a less risky CPU placement. When the console was hot enough, the soldering that held the CPU to the circuit board would melt, the CPU would fall out of place, and the console would fail. The problem was related to the system’s CPU being placed over the console’s heat sink. The Xbox 360 Elite was one of the first models Microsoft released to address the “red ring of death” hardware failures that had plagued the Xbox 360 since the console’s launch in November, 2005. I even responded to some negative ones, but cheerfully replied and wish them happy holidays.” I responded to as many comments as I could last night and still woke up to another 500 this morning!” Chavez said. I received messages on here and xbox live congratulating me. “I was seriously beyond happy with the Reddit community for all their kind words.

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