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I've heard of kits that can fix your Xbox 360 if you happen to get the Red Ring of Death. Do any of these work, and do they void your warranty? Are there any other noteworthy tips or tricks?

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It voids your warranty if you open up the console. I've tried fixing an Xbox 360 myself by doing the X-Clamp replacement but that fix only lasted about 8 months before it red ringed again. Since Microsoft paid 1.5 billion dollars for you to have a 3 year warranty for your Xbox 360, you should just have them fix it for you for free. That is, assuming you've had this Xbox 360 less than 3 years.

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    Turnaround time is fast plus I suspect I may have an entirely new xbox out of it.
    – monorailkitty
    Jul 7, 2010 at 20:23
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You may hear of something called the towel trick if you have googled this. Whatever you do, do not try this. Your 360 might run for about 10 minutes, and you've just voided any warranty you may have had.

Other than that, I don't know of any solutions that work.

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    +1 for the warning. If anyone isn't aware of how the Towel Trick works, I shall explain: A common cause of the RRoD is that a physical connection may come unsoldered inside your xbox. The so called Towel Trick works by overheating your console so much that the solder re-melts and then seals the connection again. This kind of extreme heat is obviously not a good thing. As Macha stated, do NOT try this technique.
    – GnomeSlice
    Oct 1, 2010 at 14:38
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I would not advise opening your Xbox 360 to fix the RRoD. Unless a lot has changed in a few years, the fixes I found for RRoD only made the problem worse. Let alone it voids your warranty. I was personally never able to get my RRoD console fixed with solutions found on the internet. And then I found that once I had opened it, Microsoft would not even touch the console for any amount of money.

This my blog about the experience, it's mostly about the customer support and UPS experience, but you get the picture: STAY AWAY

http://www.greyhats.com/gaming/why-my-xbox-360-support-has-sucked-40

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I don't have any experience with the kits you're looking at, but try unplugging your AC adaptor, dusting it out, moving it to a spot with more ventilation, and plugging it back in. Worked for me when I got the RRoD - apparently it's just a generic error indicator for a number of problems.

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  • Correct - the different indicator lights can mean different things, from an unplugged cable to catastrophic failure.
    – GalacticCowboy
    Jul 8, 2010 at 13:55
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As an owner of a video games repair shop, the kits do work only for certain fixes, but they definitely won't last as long as a reflow of the board.

Consider the kits as temporary fixes for some red ring of death related issues. Any board that has the dreaded red ring of death just means the board is prone to heat and gives it a higher chance of it overheating again. If you just apply the kit fix and it overheats again, it just means it would require a reflow of the chip instead. Keep in mind it's the heat that's causing the issue, so its always best to mod the 360 internal fan to keep it cooler.

You will need to know how to solder and have a soldering iron. Here's a very good article on the RROD subject on the differences of a reflow and reball.

I know many people do their own research and find forums regarding this RROD repair topic, but I must honestly say there is a lot of false and misleading information from others that have fixed their own systems or only a handful of them. Most RROD occurrence's is different, which is why you will need to find the error code to find the culprit chip.

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Guys in this video is shown the easiest way how to repair your xbox, without opening it :)

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  • unless you can tell us how to fix it in text, this answer is marked for deletion. We do not accept answers, where the answer itself is only present in the form of a link or video.
    – user106385
    Dec 16, 2015 at 23:48

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