If you own an old Xbox 360, then getting more useful life out of it means giving it tender loving care. Any Xbox that predates the slim, is a very fragile device and treating it the wrong way can get it red ringed. This article will cover a couple of things you can do to keep your console running strong.
Most micro electronic components will overheat and fail in a few seconds if they weren't kept cool by a cooling system. This is because of heat generated by power running through them and their small size. When power is forced to flow through small things, they tend to get hot very rapidly. Overheating is always a problem with electronics and especially so with micro electronics.
Since the motherboard inside the Xbox 360 is made up of micro components, it has the same vulnerability to heat. Because the cooling system is barely adequate, your console can easily overheat or run on the hot side. This prolonged exposure to heat over time will "wear down" the micro chips inside the console and reduce it's useful life. This slow "breakdown" can be further accelerated if your Xbox is used in dusty or poorly ventilated areas.
Another issue with heat is how it causes warpage of the motherboard. Repeated warpage stresses and weakens the solder joints. When one or more of these joints break, your Xbox ceases to function.
The most important thing you can do to reduce heat exposure is to keep the console from overheating from the outset. Therefore gaming time needs to be restricted to one or two hours at a time. Keep the environment cool, ventilated, and dust free. There is another practice you can try after you've finished a gaming session. Let the console idle for twenty minutes at the Xbox dashboard before turning the power off. The fans will continue to run allowing the Xbox to cool even further since no new heat is being generated at this time.
Failure to do this means that a lot of left over heat from your gaming session gets trapped inside the console. This heat eventually dissipates but takes longer to do so which increases the exposure time of your console to heat. This additional time does add up over the life of your Xbox.
The idea behind the two tips given here is to keep the overall exposure of your console to heat at an absolute minimum. This increases the life of the internal components and therefore the life of your Xbox. Too much heat exposure can also dry out the thermal compound inside the console. This will almost guaranty a two red light error and perhaps the red ring of death as well.
Most micro electronic components will overheat and fail in a few seconds if they weren't kept cool by a cooling system. This is because of heat generated by power running through them and their small size. When power is forced to flow through small things, they tend to get hot very rapidly. Overheating is always a problem with electronics and especially so with micro electronics.
Since the motherboard inside the Xbox 360 is made up of micro components, it has the same vulnerability to heat. Because the cooling system is barely adequate, your console can easily overheat or run on the hot side. This prolonged exposure to heat over time will "wear down" the micro chips inside the console and reduce it's useful life. This slow "breakdown" can be further accelerated if your Xbox is used in dusty or poorly ventilated areas.
Another issue with heat is how it causes warpage of the motherboard. Repeated warpage stresses and weakens the solder joints. When one or more of these joints break, your Xbox ceases to function.
The most important thing you can do to reduce heat exposure is to keep the console from overheating from the outset. Therefore gaming time needs to be restricted to one or two hours at a time. Keep the environment cool, ventilated, and dust free. There is another practice you can try after you've finished a gaming session. Let the console idle for twenty minutes at the Xbox dashboard before turning the power off. The fans will continue to run allowing the Xbox to cool even further since no new heat is being generated at this time.
Failure to do this means that a lot of left over heat from your gaming session gets trapped inside the console. This heat eventually dissipates but takes longer to do so which increases the exposure time of your console to heat. This additional time does add up over the life of your Xbox.
The idea behind the two tips given here is to keep the overall exposure of your console to heat at an absolute minimum. This increases the life of the internal components and therefore the life of your Xbox. Too much heat exposure can also dry out the thermal compound inside the console. This will almost guaranty a two red light error and perhaps the red ring of death as well.
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Does your Xbox overheat? Get trouble shooting advice about repairing the ring of death.
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