Xbox 360 Freezing Issue

[The Voice]

Everytime I turn on my console, the dashboard loads up fine and then it freezes. I don't have enough time to do much, so I can't exactly clear the cache. I'm not sure what's wrong. Does anyone know?

 

[CavsRules]

Unfortunately it seems like a hard drive error from the reports I gathered online. A few other people who've had issues with their xbox freezing on the dashboard, or even a few minutes in gameplay say the same thing.

You can either send it in and hope for Xbox to fix the issue, or try to buy a new hard drive or borrow a buddies and see the exact measurement of the problem.

 

[Typhoon]

Im not Gouri or Bomber but...from all my xbox experience Im gonna have to say that, sadly, the RROD is coming to your console. Freezing always seems to be one of the first issues.

You probably wont get RROD for weeks, probably not even a month or two but its coming.

Hopefully im wrong and it is just a HD issue. Anyways just wait for Gouri or Bomber to chime in.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Try turning it on without the HDD. Does it work? If so, you have a bad HDD. If not, there's bad hardware somewhere.

 

[gourimoko]

If the problem persists without your HD and with different AV cords then...

You have a cold-solder joint problem from the GPU to the motherboard. If it won't get past the dash, and does not red ring, it means that you are at the threshold for current flow before the CPU detects the error and halts. The other alternative, which is a remote possibility, is that there is a cold solder joint at the CPU end and one of the ball joints is either shorting or not moving sufficient current.

You can fix with the towel trick, or the q-tip trick.. Either should get you back going, but only for a few days -- longest I've seen it work was 4 months (towel). Towel trick is simple.. gather 3 towels, wrap the console in the towels and leave it on until the screen goes black and the fans stop spinning (you'll hear the difference). Leave it overheated for no longer than 4-5 minutes and then unwrap it... Let cool for 20 minutes and turn it back on..

Q-tip trick is similar. Take two q-tips, rip off the one of the ends off each. Put the q-tips into the back of the 360 where the fans are to stop the two fans from moving. You'll notice no air is blowing from the back of the 360.. Now leave the console on like this until you get 2 red rings of death and the screen goes black. Wait a few minutes, 4 is enough, and then disconnect power and wait 20 minutes to cool...

If this doesn't help, you'll need to open your 360, x-clamp, and possibly reflow the GPU/CPU.. Let me know in that instance.

 

[The Voice]

If the problem persists without your HD and with different AV cords then...

I haven't tried a different adapter.

You have a cold-solder joint problem from the GPU to the motherboard. If it won't get past the dash, and does not red ring, it means that you are at the threshold for current flow before the CPU detects the error and halts. The other alternative, which is a remote possibility, is that there is a cold solder joint at the CPU end and one of the ball joints is either shorting or not moving sufficient current.

You can fix with the towel trick, or the q-tip trick.. Either should get you back going, but only for a few days -- longest I've seen it work was 4 months (towel). Towel trick is simple.. gather 3 towels, wrap the console in the towels and leave it on until the screen goes black and the fans stop spinning (you'll hear the difference). Leave it overheated for no longer than 4-5 minutes and then unwrap it... Let cool for 20 minutes and turn it back on..

Q-tip trick is similar. Take two q-tips, rip off the one of the ends off each. Put the q-tips into the back of the 360 where the fans are to stop the two fans from moving. You'll notice no air is blowing from the back of the 360.. Now leave the console on like this until you get 2 red rings of death and the screen goes black. Wait a few minutes, 4 is enough, and then disconnect power and wait 20 minutes to cool...

If this doesn't help, you'll need to open your 360, x-clamp, and possibly reflow the GPU/CPU.. Let me know in that instance.

Does this towel trick work with directv boxes too?

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

I haven't tried a different adapter.



Does this towel trick work with directv boxes too?

The reason the towel trick works with the XBOX 360 is because the heat produced by the device tends to warp the motherboard, creating a bad contact between the GPU and the mobo. By overheating the device, it occasionally allows the motherboard/GPU to heat up again and align before cooling back down. I don't believe DirectTV boxes have this issue, so the fix probably would not work.

 

[gourimoko]

The reason the towel trick works with the XBOX 360 is because the heat produced by the device tends to warp the motherboard, creating a bad contact between the GPU and the mobo. By overheating the device, it occasionally allows the motherboard/GPU to heat up again and align before cooling back down. I don't believe DirectTV boxes have this issue, so the fix probably would not work.

This.

 

[hoops23]

Try buying a PS3.

Problem solved, you're welcome.

 

[The Voice]

Try buying a PS3.

Problem solved, you're welcome.

I don't want a new George Foreman grill. I want a game console that has good games.

Gour if I do the towel trick and my xbox gets fried, will I even be able to get the game out of it?

 

[gourimoko]

I don't want a new George Foreman grill. I want a game console that has good games. Hahaha.. Agreed!

Gour if I do the towel trick and my xbox gets fried, will I even be able to get the game out of it?

Perhaps I don't follow what you mean, but why not take the game out of it before hand?

And quite honestly, I've seen this done at least a hundred times, you ARE damaging the console with the towel trick; there ARE better ways of doing this (the q-tip method is safer, but less effective). However the towel trick will probably not kill your console on the first attempt but it will kill it after the 5th or 6th go around. It's to be done once or twice to continue using the system for as long as possible. If it continues to fail, you need to x-clamp.
Also if you want to avoid any damage the safest approach to overheating your console without using a heat gun requires you to open the console, which you probably want to avoid, but if not just let me know and I'll walk you through it.

As I said, the towel trick WILL fix an RROD, just temporarily. The problem is your console hasn't RROD'd yet, its just freezing, which means you most certainly need an x-clamp replacement on your GPU and maybe even the CPU as well (its cheap enough to do both simultaneously for good measure).

If your console is out of warranty, you WILL need to eventually x-clamp it.. If its still under warranty, send it in.

 

[The Voice]

Perhaps I don't follow what you mean, but why not take the game out of it before hand?

And quite honestly, I've seen this done at least a hundred times, you ARE damaging the console with the towel trick; there ARE better ways of doing this (the q-tip method is safer, but less effective). However the towel trick will probably not kill your console on the first attempt but it will kill it after the 5th or 6th go around. It's to be done once or twice to continue using the system for as long as possible. If it continues to fail, you need to x-clamp.
Also if you want to avoid any damage the safest approach to overheating your console without using a heat gun requires you to open the console, which you probably want to avoid, but if not just let me know and I'll walk you through it.

As I said, the towel trick WILL fix an RROD, just temporarily. The problem is your console hasn't RROD'd yet, its just freezing, which means you most certainly need an x-clamp replacement on your GPU and maybe even the CPU as well (its cheap enough to do both simultaneously for good measure).

If your console is out of warranty, you WILL need to eventually x-clamp it.. If its still under warranty, send it in.

Gour it's out of warranty and if I don't have to buy a new one. I don't really want to. I'm not sure what you recommend here, but let me know. I'm not really sure what the hell an x-clamp is.

 

[MalTalm]

This happened to me right before the RROD. I turned it on and off about a dozen times, and then it officially died. The good news is, even though my console was 3 years old, Microsoft still fixed it at the cost of shipping.

They cover RROD regardless of your xbox being under warranty, so don't worry about rushing out to get another one. You'll just have to do a couple weeks without.

 

[The Voice]

This happened to me right before the RROD. I turned it on and off about a dozen times, and then it officially died. The good news is, even though my console was 3 years old, Microsoft still fixed it at the cost of shipping.

They cover RROD regardless of your xbox being under warranty, so don't worry about rushing out to get another one. You'll just have to do a couple weeks without.

Mine is one of the first batches of Xbox's dude. It's not under warranty.

 

[MalTalm]

Mine is one of the first batches of Xbox's dude. It's not under warranty.

It doesn't matter. Mine wasn't either. It's fairly common for Microsoft to fix RROD issues regardless of warranty status. If you get the RROD, go to microsoft support, start the troubleshooter, and put in your microsoft console ID. They'll tell you right then whether or not you need to pay for it to be fixed.

My console was 3 years past it's warranty, and all I had to pay was shipping.