Saturday 13 November 2010

Xbox 360 fan mod

When I was having problems fixing the RROD, it occurred me that the fans weren't performing as well as they were able to. I considered investing in the custom "whisper" fans available on the market, but they seemed to have mixed reviews as to whether they actually cooled down the console enough to make much difference...

I decided to test the voltage that the fans were using and discovered that they were running below the 12v they were capable of running at. If the fans constantly ran at 12v, the fan speed would dramatically increase, therefore increasing the air flow and decreasing the internal temperature. 

It seems that the excess heat inside the console, in conjunction with the x-clamp not providing enough pressure on the board, allowed the board to flex and form small cracks in the solder connecting the CPU and GPU to the board. These cracks would then adversely affect the connection, causing the RROD to occur.

When the x-clamps are replaced with screws, the pressure on the board becomes more even, lowering the flexibility of the board. Microsoft did start releasing Xboxs with epoxy on the ICs, holding them in place. Unfortunately, this was not sufficient enough to hold them in place, which is why the RROD still occurs.

The increase in voltage from the fans being hard-wired to the board lowered the internal temperature and was very successful at inhibiting the RROD from occurring. The downside of this however, is a console which is constantly running at full fan speed. This turned out to be quite noisy, which kind of upsets the "gaming atmosphere". I still fix consoles in this manner for people who would like a more reliable console and who are not bothered by the noise. It is offered to all my customers who would like their consoles repaired, but I do not recommend it because of the noise.  

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