There is no TEST, and there is no CMOS.

It is NOT a PC...

IF it is your HDD, put it on someone else's 360, and if it fails, then you know.

The BOOT process for these consoles has been explained by me and Omnikron, they DO NOT boot like a PC.

Who's 360 hasn't shit on them at least once? Everyone I know that owns a 360, including myself, has gone through atleast 1. It's bullshit, who makes a console like that, atleast the uped the warranty time length. I may be getting another this upcoming Christmas season but we'll see.

NEMESIS0744 wrote:

Who's 360 hasn't shit on them at least once? Everyone I know that owns a 360, including myself, has gone through atleast 1. It's bullshit, who makes a console like that, atleast the uped the warranty time length. I may be getting another this upcoming Christmas season but we'll see.

My only failure was a DVD drive failure, and the BB 2-year warranty covered that.  I have never sent a console back to M$ for repair.  I am still on my original console replacement after the DVD drive failure.  I bough an Aracade when Corcuit City went under, and I got that repair I did, so I have THREE consoles...

The problems are extended play-times (because of lazy kids), and overheating due to those hours upon hours of play without a break, or allowing the console to cool down.  Also?  I know, not ONE PERSON, who has ever said they CLEAN them out, that is VACUUM out the dust and dirt.  You can do that with a nice powerful vacuum.  Remove the face plate, HDD, and power supply, and go to down all the way around the unit.  DUST inside will do more overheating damage than anything.  Not to mention, dust is a conductor of static electricity.   When I play, it's no more than two hours, and that's that.  Mine were always kept clean, and never EVER had a 3-LOD failure, or any overheating related failures.  Just one Mechanical failure.

I know a kid who plays 12 or more hours a day in NO SCHOOL times (6+ Hours school year), and his daddy lets it happen.  This kid will REFUSE to stop playing, even to a point when; his hands are so sweaty and greasy?  Rather than QUIT for a while, he has baby-powder on hand to dump and rub in to his hands, to dry them out, so the he can CONTINUE to play and play.  Well, guess where the powder ALSO goes?  Yeah, inside the unit, which NETTED me a 360 for $60.00 after replacing the DVD drive.   When the warranty is up?  DADDY just goes and buys him another one, no questions asked.  THAT, my friend, is bullshit...  This kid is on his 3rd console, and each one has gone back to M$ at least 3 times before the warranty expired.   So, that was six past repairs for two consoles.  Now, he has an Elite, see how that fairs huh?  When he gets mad, he hits or kicks the console, or throws the controller at it.  That's why I got the one that needed DVD drive, he hit it once too many.  My kid goes down there to play, and he does it too, so; that's one of three reasons why they don't have one at home ANYMORE...

If you play VG that long, well, the console burning up should be a sign to get OUT an PLAY...

I play 360 about 40 mins a day. (building up a soccer team is a time consuming job lol)
And I'm on my 4th one. (it took a dump on me couple of days ago and I did the towel trick and it mysteriously started to work again...) MS just did crappy job...

The way the heatsink is for the GPU, you should clean it.   The CPU heatsink is only about a half inch thick, with the shroud over it to pull air.  Dust build-up: if you can SEE IT on the fans, it is twice as bad over the heatsinks.  With the severely lacking GPU heatsink effectiveness to begin with, that will indeed hurt the console, since the 3-LOD is a GPU problem most of the time.

You do not have to take the console apart.  A good Vac, like a Dyson, will do the job quite nicely.  Also, if anyone SMOKES?  YOu got three times as much dust build up, because smoke will stick to the inside of the console, and attract dust. 

Unplug the PSU
Remove the HDD
Remove the Face Plate
Clean the SIDES with the Vac till you see NO MORE clinging dust.
Clean the REAR of the unit at the FANS, so you pull air.  The FANS will SPIN very fast, and you will hear them, it sounds neat; do this till you see you are not getting anymore dust off them...
Clean the FRONT with the Vac
Clean the TOP and BOTTOM holes with the VAC
Your done...

It's better than NOTHING, and has done me well, no 3-LODs for me, EVER...

The PLASTIC case is just a shell.  The inside of the unit is 3/4 metal encased, only the TOP is not cased in; the rest is all a metal case.  SO, you can run the 360 with the BOTTOM of the case, and sides off, because there is already a metal case bottom and sides, the X-Clamps are fastened to it.

There is no YLOD with the XB360, which is what WE are talking about...

Powerslave wrote:

There is no YLOD with the XB360, which is what WE are talking about...

I know but nemesis mentioned his PS3...but yeah i cleaned my PS3 with a vacuum (dusting brush attachment) yet i still got it. I doubt it really matters about keeping it clean.

Powerslave wrote:

Also, ha HA, why is there a CLEAN mode for PS3?  Yes, bet you didn't know that...  There is a method, for all non release PS3s, that turns the fan on SUPER HIGH, to blow all the dust out.  Turn the MAIN power button off, while holding the eject button, turn MAIN power switch back on, three beeps;  Listen to the turbo-charger...  Turn it off when you FEEL you have blown all the dust out...

So, why would they do that, if they don't need cleaned?

Probably not good for the console in the long run, its probably a factory procedure which has been leaked.

powerslave - wow, that's pretty cool. I'm going to try this today.
Nemesis - It died again last night sigh...

NEMESIS0744 wrote:

So you don't have to disassemble anything to clean it, why doesn't 360 have this if they seem to be the one with the most problems?

Right, just use something with GOOD suction, and go all around the 360.  If you have the tool, pop ths sides off, under the HDD and the other side to get at more from inside...

Usually, a very good suction Shop-Vac, pulling from the FAN area will do...

Why doesn't 360 have it?  Beats me, or no one found it...