Simple Xbox 360 repair and flash instructions.
I have recently done alot of research into this after picking up an almost brand new looking boxed xbox 360 in a house clearance for free.
As I guessed it had the 3 red flashing lights, a dead cert the graphics chip had overheated from the info I looked at on the net.
There are several expensive packages you can buy to fix this but you can do it for about £2 with a trip to your local hardware store.
Firstly take your xbox apart (there are hundrads of tutorials on this on tinternet) and locate the graphics chip heatsink. It is the small flat aluminium one. Remove the x-clamp from the bottom and it will come off.
With a soft cloth and some sort of cleaning solution (I used paint stripper or white spirit) clean the top of the chip and the bottom of the heatsink of the thermal paste. Don't use loads and get it all wet and don't scratch the chip or the heatsink. You don't need to get it all off, just make sure the heatsink meets the top of the chip.
I advise getting some more thermal paste but it's not that critical in this case. I used a small amount of artic silver that I bought from Maplin and spread it thinly and evenly on top of the chips shiney surfaces.
Once the heatsink is cleaned remove the 4 x-clamp retaining screws and throw them in the bin. Find 4 bolts or screws that fit the threads in the heatsink - They can be a bit longer than the old ones as all they will do is bend the fins a bit which isn't a problem. However you must make sure that the head is small enough to fit between the bottom of the motherboard and the metal casing or it will bend it and you will break it for good.
Now you need 2 washers per hole (that's 8 in total!) to raise the heatsink above the hight of the surrounding components but not above the hight of the top of the chip, get it? But we need to make sure that we don't damage the mobo with the steel washers and short it all out. So you will need to get 4 nylon washers and put them on before the steel ones. If you get thick ones then you might not need 2 steel washers but I'm sure you can work that out. Also if the head of your screw or bolt clears the protective brown circle around the hole on the bottom you will need another 4 nylons there too to keep it from damage.
So 4 bolts up through bottom of board, 1 nylon, 1 or 2 steels to clear surrounding components
I actually did this at night and found the perfect size bolts in my old barbecue, along with 8 washers. I also had no nylons but I did have a bicycle repair kit with 4 rubber patches! Also it did not cost £25. For £25 I can buy a new barbecue and puncture kit!
Anyway if your still reading this! do up the bolts half a turn each in a diagonal order so the the heatsink lowers down level. When it starts to get tight check the gap between the bottom of the heatsink and the motherboard is even and tighten equally with some good force. Not so hard as your pulling a face like you do the next morning after a vindaloo but as hard as comfortable.
Right put the mobo back in the chasis and screw the processors x-clamp back into position. You will no longer need the graphics chip x-clamp that you removed or the 4 screws that hold it so discard them along with 4 bolt things you took out of the heatsink. You can use a bin or an odds and sods box for them if you wish but personally I threw mine over the fence and into my neighbours garden. To be fair though I didn't realise their Audi TT was on the drive!
Next put the DVD back in and connect it up. Connect the fans but don't install them or replace the plastic cover. Instead lay them so one fan is over the top of the DVD doing nothing and the other is on top of the processor heat sink. It doesn't matter which way round they are although I found it more effective blowing air into the heatsink fins to cool it rather than trying to suck the heat out.
Basically what we need to do is overheat the graphics chip but not the processor. If you overheat the processor it will cut power to the graphics chip and it won't work.
Connect the AV cable and power cable and push something plastic into the hole where the on switch is to turn it on. All being well it should fire up and show you the 3 red lights. If it actually works at this point do not be tempted to abandon the rest of my instructions as it will happen again very shortly.
So now you need to wait for 15 minutes exactly before turning off your console. If at any point you get 2 red lights then it means your not cooling your processor enough, fiddle with the fans but keep them away from the graphics heat sink under the DVD drive.
After 15 minutes switch it off, remove the power cable and AV cable and wait 15 minutes for it to cool. Install the fans correctly and the plastic cover. Plug in the juice and AV and keep your pinkies crossed. Mine worked first time and I have played it for hours since without fault. Not bad for a puncture kit and a few rusty old sausage smelling bolts!
At this point you might want to do the flash to play 'backed up' games which again is a doddle to do. By far the easyest method is the 1K resistor trick which can be found here http://www.360mods.net/News/article/sid=66.html
I tried the slax thing but just got a shed load of errors and it kept telling me to reboot. I didn't even get to the log in screen! I didn't go to no Radioshack for the resistor either. The barbecue was all out of options for any help there but a blown PC power supply I had kicking around was just the ticket. 1K resistors are as common as mustard in almost all power type units and using the guide below will tell you what the right one will look like
http://www.smoovservices.com/electronics/restance.html
I recommend though soldering a dressmaking pin onto a cable then soldering one end of the resistor to the end of that cable then an open circuit push button switch followed by another cable with another pin.
I then tore apart an old ADSL filter, discarded the electronics and mounted it all in that with the two wires and pins coming out the bottom.
You can then connect it up as per 360mods instructions, hold the switch and power on. Don't forget to let go as soon as you see the xbox's green light come on. Again it worked first time for me.
Good Luck. They will probably delete this post anyway!
.