Xbox Death – Does The Towel Method Or Self Soldering Work?

When the Xbox360 technical fault came out, there was many rumors that went about on the internet about the various ways to fix your own Xbox360 by yourself and all. One way that seems to be famous was the Towel method thats really a temporary fix. The whole reason why its works is because the problem is due to the lead free solder on the circuit box.

With a higher and more powerful processing power in the CPU unit, the heat generated when the console is turned on is too much for the solder in the ball grid array solider connection to the GPU. This causes the solder on the circuit board to break connection and thus, resulting in the 3 red lights.

The towel method is done by first removing the the controllers and also any other connecting wires but the power cable. Leave the Xbox360 on and wrap it in 3 towels. Now leave it for around 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, let it cool down. After that just power up the Xbox360 and hope for the best. The method works only temporary and for how long is really up to fate.

The solder basically heats up and expands thus connecting to each other again. However, this method will also heat up your motherboard and other circuitry, thus creating a potential fire hazard. Its really a just a matter of being able to reconnect the solder in the set. Thus, the heat gun method will also work, these are just only temporary fixes. If you are good, you can do a complete reballing of the GPU set with lead solder like this guy.