- Joined
- Sep 27, 2003
I resurrected a 360 that I just could just NOT revive. I tried the heat gun trick but it wouldn't work.
I have great experience with electronics and repair. I've been an IT specialist, but I would say that I specialize in hardware (heck it's probably from all the stuff I learned here at OCF over the past 6 years).
DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!
I protected the 360 just as everyone else that did the oven trick had used: old clothing and tin foil.
I set my oven to 475F, and placed the 360 board in the oven for approximately 15 min total. The board was nicely protected everywhere but the GPU and CPU on both sides of the board. There are capacitors and other parts that will get damaged from the heat... always protect what shouldn't see this kind of heat. I timed 8-9 minutes for 475F (preheated the oven first of course). I then dropped the temp to 350F for 2.5 min, then 250F for 2.5 min, then 175F for 2.5 min. I then turned the oven off and let the board sit in there for another 2 min. After the cool down, I finally opened the oven door and let the 360 sit in there for 20-25 min. I came back to a cooled down oven, took the 360 board out, took off the protecting I had put over the 360 board, and let it sit and cool down on top of a table for 15 min.
I put the heatsinks back on and still got the 3RLOD. I was very upset, but decided to unmount the GPU heatsink and hold it down by hand instead (to relieve the uneven pressure that the dumb stock cooling provides). WABAM IT WORKED!! I must say that I've definitely learned something valuable from this experience. Trust me, I did a lot of reading before I tried this method.
I've read about many different temperatures that people used and different methods for the oven trick, but I decided this one on my own based on prior experience. I went with a higher temperature than what most used because I knew I would be very careful. I also sat there and watched it all with the oven light on. Nothing else melted, no bad smells came out, and it was all safely done. The cool down method I used is much better than most as it's a much slower cool down. You don't want to do your cool down too fast and you don't want to do it too slow either as too slow may be too much heat exposure. I don't know for a fact but I feel like too much heat exposure may warp the board.
Anyway, I wasn't surprised with the result as I used to work for www.blitzsafe.com where they had an oven (yes, one that is MEANT to do this kind of stuff). We used to paste the PCBs with solder paste (literally paste, so it has somewhat of a sticky effect to it), then the PCBs would be placed on another machine that was laser activated... that machine would grab each tiny little electrical component and drop it on the board. When finished, the board would go into an oven (sort of like the toaster ovens with the revolving matt that you see at some delis) and would take maybe 10-20 min to go through. Inside the oven was different temperature zones and then a cool down zone with high CFM fans. By the end of the travel, the board would be a little hot to the touch, but good to go.
When I protected my 360 board in the oven, I didn't use electrical tape like everyone else as I know it melts. I have a reel of twist tie. I took the twist tie and snapped off pieces that were about 3 feet long. I think took utility scissors and cut slits into the protective (plastic?) layer over the twist tie, about every 6 inches. I then peeled off the protective layer from the twist tie just as you would do when stripping electrical wire. After stripping the entire twist tie, I ended up with just the metal on the inside. I used that sort of as twine when holding down the protective layering that I put over the 360. Remember, I used ABSOLUTELY NO TAPE at all. Everyone else used some sort of adhesive. The best idea I had seen was Blu-Tack, but I don't have any. I don't even know how well it works, but it sounded like a good idea. The trick I did was cut a big piece of tin foil, roll up and crumple one end of it to about halfway of the sheet that I had cut, and then that gave a nice body/build to it. The section with the crumpled end of the tin foil was what I used to surround the CPU and GPU.
I hope this becomes useful to someone else.
PATIENCE AND PLANNING IS NECESSARY FOR POSITIVE RESULTS. Don't ever forget that. I'm not a professional, but this is coming from someone with experience. Don't underestimate your impatience. I've been beat by it before.
If anyone else is interested in trying this, please... PLEASE be careful and don't use anything that can catch fire. Also, have a fire extinguisher handy. I had it right by my side. I did NOT expect a fire, but I like to be cautious when dealing with heat and fire.
Here's a pic before it went into the oven (I took the pic w/my phone):
I have great experience with electronics and repair. I've been an IT specialist, but I would say that I specialize in hardware (heck it's probably from all the stuff I learned here at OCF over the past 6 years).
DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!
I protected the 360 just as everyone else that did the oven trick had used: old clothing and tin foil.
I set my oven to 475F, and placed the 360 board in the oven for approximately 15 min total. The board was nicely protected everywhere but the GPU and CPU on both sides of the board. There are capacitors and other parts that will get damaged from the heat... always protect what shouldn't see this kind of heat. I timed 8-9 minutes for 475F (preheated the oven first of course). I then dropped the temp to 350F for 2.5 min, then 250F for 2.5 min, then 175F for 2.5 min. I then turned the oven off and let the board sit in there for another 2 min. After the cool down, I finally opened the oven door and let the 360 sit in there for 20-25 min. I came back to a cooled down oven, took the 360 board out, took off the protecting I had put over the 360 board, and let it sit and cool down on top of a table for 15 min.
I put the heatsinks back on and still got the 3RLOD. I was very upset, but decided to unmount the GPU heatsink and hold it down by hand instead (to relieve the uneven pressure that the dumb stock cooling provides). WABAM IT WORKED!! I must say that I've definitely learned something valuable from this experience. Trust me, I did a lot of reading before I tried this method.
I've read about many different temperatures that people used and different methods for the oven trick, but I decided this one on my own based on prior experience. I went with a higher temperature than what most used because I knew I would be very careful. I also sat there and watched it all with the oven light on. Nothing else melted, no bad smells came out, and it was all safely done. The cool down method I used is much better than most as it's a much slower cool down. You don't want to do your cool down too fast and you don't want to do it too slow either as too slow may be too much heat exposure. I don't know for a fact but I feel like too much heat exposure may warp the board.
Anyway, I wasn't surprised with the result as I used to work for www.blitzsafe.com where they had an oven (yes, one that is MEANT to do this kind of stuff). We used to paste the PCBs with solder paste (literally paste, so it has somewhat of a sticky effect to it), then the PCBs would be placed on another machine that was laser activated... that machine would grab each tiny little electrical component and drop it on the board. When finished, the board would go into an oven (sort of like the toaster ovens with the revolving matt that you see at some delis) and would take maybe 10-20 min to go through. Inside the oven was different temperature zones and then a cool down zone with high CFM fans. By the end of the travel, the board would be a little hot to the touch, but good to go.
When I protected my 360 board in the oven, I didn't use electrical tape like everyone else as I know it melts. I have a reel of twist tie. I took the twist tie and snapped off pieces that were about 3 feet long. I think took utility scissors and cut slits into the protective (plastic?) layer over the twist tie, about every 6 inches. I then peeled off the protective layer from the twist tie just as you would do when stripping electrical wire. After stripping the entire twist tie, I ended up with just the metal on the inside. I used that sort of as twine when holding down the protective layering that I put over the 360. Remember, I used ABSOLUTELY NO TAPE at all. Everyone else used some sort of adhesive. The best idea I had seen was Blu-Tack, but I don't have any. I don't even know how well it works, but it sounded like a good idea. The trick I did was cut a big piece of tin foil, roll up and crumple one end of it to about halfway of the sheet that I had cut, and then that gave a nice body/build to it. The section with the crumpled end of the tin foil was what I used to surround the CPU and GPU.
I hope this becomes useful to someone else.
PATIENCE AND PLANNING IS NECESSARY FOR POSITIVE RESULTS. Don't ever forget that. I'm not a professional, but this is coming from someone with experience. Don't underestimate your impatience. I've been beat by it before.
If anyone else is interested in trying this, please... PLEASE be careful and don't use anything that can catch fire. Also, have a fire extinguisher handy. I had it right by my side. I did NOT expect a fire, but I like to be cautious when dealing with heat and fire.
Here's a pic before it went into the oven (I took the pic w/my phone):
