Thread: Modded Xbox 360 Hardware Issues

My roommate and I just recently modded his 360. I tested out a game while the console was still taken apart and it played perfectly fine. After putting the 360 back together and attempting to turn it on, we got the two-left side red quadrant red lights. From what I've read this is due to the system overheating. This however seems to be impossible as the system doesn't turn on and run a game and then get the red lights, it gets them as soon as it is turned on, before it even has time to overheat. This has lead us to believe something is telling the system that it is either overheating or at risk of being overheated (e.g. fan issue maybe?). We took the system apart, dusted it out, checked everything and all seemed to be working as normal (fan included). What we notice is that the system seems to throw the overheating code ( upper and lower left quadrant red lights) only when the hard drive is plugged in, and even then, not -every- time. From what we can tell is the system seems to be reacting very sensitively to how the hard drive is plugged in and if it's not happy with it - it freezes and the red lights come on.



Now here's the weird part - if the system has been running and is up to normal temp etc, it loses its sensitivity to however the hard drive is plugged in and runs fine. Does anyone have any idea on what we can do to resolve this issue or perhaps know anything more about it the topic or maybe point us in the direction of anyone who does? Everything I can find online about the upper and lower left quadrant red lights flashing says it's due to the system overheating and seemingly no one has had a similar issue as we have.

-Edit- Also, we have gotten it to run games perfectly fine with the hard drive plugged in, we just then cannot touch the system or so much as look at it wrong. Any movement of the system at all while it is playing a game with the hard drive in will cause the system to freeze and give the two red lights.

What kind of hardware mod did you do? Solder a chip onto the mobo? The red rings of death are never a good sign, and are usually fixable but it sounds like you've got a bad issue here. Does it load up the dash with no disc in the tray at all or does it freeze before that? Also, have you tried replacing the thermal grease and reseating the heatsink?

We just flashed the firmware on the disc drive to the latest lt+ firmware so it could read burned discs and get past ap 2.5. No soldering, no chips, just a disc drive firmware flash. It loads the dashboard and plays games. It does everything as normal, until you move it. However if the hard drive isn't in perfectly, it doesn't load and gives the red ring error for the overheating. Another puzzling thing is the error code for a hard drive issue is entirely different, it's a red light flashing in the third quadrant only and we've only been getting the overheating lights flashing (and a nice warning message when it does boot up). We've dusted it and the fan appears to be working in perfect condition. We haven't replaced or changed anything either, not even the thermal paste.

Indeed the two red lights in the left mean overheating, which makes the whole situation weird. Perhaps your HDD is not genuine? That can give you some weird errors. Also, make sure the power and AV cables are plugged in correctly, I know that can give you some red lights error, can't remember which though
Since the xbox boots every time when the HDD is not plugged in I'd say that's your problem, try a different HDD

That's very strange. I've flashed numerous 360s and done a bunch of RRoD fixes and haven't heard of this issue. You said that it never seems to happen when the hard drive is unplugged, but is that the case even when you move the 360 (i.e. you start it up w/o the hard drive and then move it around some -- since you said it acts up whenever you move it or look at it wrong)? The overheating sensor is on the CPU and, if I had to make a guess, I would say that something got messed up there when the 360 was opened and things were being moved around on top of the board. Obviously that doesn't really explain the hard drive thing, but I have no explanation for that :). If you really wanted to you could try replacing the thermal paste on the CPU heatsink and, if necessary, a simple reflow with a heat gun (tutorials all over the place and not as hard as it may sound).

sounds to me like u have physically damaged a sensor or its wiring so now it gives a false reading, aggravated by the spinning of the hard drive or when moved.