Project Ghetto-Box

[texan_idiot25]

I'm one of the few still with out a modern consol. Still rockin' the PS2.

But, time to go forward. But, rather than pay 300 for a new system, why not build it up? Since, you know... I have a history of buying broken down things and building them up (Firebird, CST/10, Xmods), so why not here?

It's a RROD system, but, I have the tools to properly fix by reflowing it the right way. So, $45 later, I have a console, and 10 minuets after that:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1236.jpg

Gotta say, the 360 is one cheap piece of trash. Plastics are thin and flimsy. The Mobo is flimsy as hell too. Not to mention, this is a newer system witht he beefed up cooling system and it still RROD.. Nice work microsoft!

Never the less, I broke the case down more and got the front button off and went to priming this thing. Then, down goes the mettalic gunmetal.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1250.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1246.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1249.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1247.jpg
Painted thick enough to be the body color, but thin enough to let light pass threw, so when lit up the icon shows threw the paint.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1256.jpg

The rustoleum primer sucks, gave the whole body of this thing a texture, but nothing that a good wet sand and polish won't smooth out.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1252.jpg
Just a mock up of what it'll look like.

Just gotta make a trip to go get my heat gun, and a ifrared thermometer, and some flux and thermo paste and it'll be good as new. My friend at work will give me a 20 gig drive from his RROD system that he destroyed, and I have a friend at a gaming store that can get me AV cables and the power brick. Just gotta get some controllers, and for under 100 bucks, I have a 300 dollar system. :bigwink:

[BART]

Looks sweet, please explain your rrod fix, ours does it once in a great while and if we let it sit for a few hours it's fine.

[imnotmikal]

Just wondering, is that Pro or Arcade?
It's Arcade, you're really wasting your time, shoulda gone for Pro.
Arcade has no internal memory...

[ling427ttvette]

Just wondering, is that Pro or Arcade?
It's Arcade, you're really wasting your time, shoulda gone for Pro.
Arcade has no internal memory...

That's why he is getting a hard drive for it.

Good job Tex, that thing looks pretty sweet.

[BART]

I think I like the texture look.

[imnotmikal]

That's why he is getting a hard drive for it.

Good job Tex, that thing looks pretty sweet.

Ahh, didn't see that part.
Don't plan on downloading a bunch of game demos or videos on a 20GB hard drive.

Btw, the paint looks nice.

[texan_idiot25]

From what I understand, it's not that hard to modify PC hard drives to work, so if I ever kill the 20gigs... What differentiates the Arcade from Pro? As I have already painted over the rear label (since this is far beyond warranty now, I didn't care for the serial #).


Plus it's $45 bucks, so, meh.

Z-Bart:
Using two ideas/fixes. Using a heat gun and a griddle basically, to heat the board, GPU, CPU, south bridge hot enough to reflow all the solder connections. If I can get a clear enough understanding on how to use flux, I'll do that too which basically is like adding new solder on all the connections. Probably wire the fans to spin faster too to keep the tree-sity cool.

Links to get a good understanding of it all:
http://xbox-experts.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=131&sid=3e7050202582606c334069e46912e5f1&start=10
http://xbox-experts.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=63&start=20
http://xbox-experts.com/e/tutorial.php?n=heatgunisol

Gotta find a place to get some high grit sand paper and wet sand this sucker smooth. But the color looks awesome. Had I not done the primer this would have come out much nicer. Normally rustoleum ain't bad, but this time it was sorta powdery and such. No bueno.

[imnotmikal]

From what I understand, it's not that hard to modify PC hard drives to work, so if I ever kill the 20gigs... What differentiates the Arcade from Pro? As I have already painted over the rear label (since this is far beyond warranty now, I didn't care for the serial #).


Plus it's $45 bucks, so, meh.

It's actually quite easy to put a new hard drive into the casing that the xbox hdd is in, but setting it up correctly could be a *****.

But yeah, $45 isn't that much I guess, so no real waste.

[texan_idiot25]

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1271.jpg

Wet sanding sucks.

[SPR]

you realise you can buy previously owned systems that still work perfectly and come in an original box for 50 bucks right?

I think its gamestop that has them.

[texan_idiot25]

Not a 360. And certainly not Game-I'm-going-to-rip-you-off-at-everything-Stop. Maybe if your buying an N64 or something old.

http://www.gamestop.com/Browse/Search.aspx?Ns=Price|0&N=133+196

[imnotmikal]

I can't stand Game Stop.
Play n Trade is where its at.
I got like $77 for 4 games. But they mess up. I bought a PS3 game and was on my before they noticed. Legally, they couldn't do anything because they gave me the money. So, whatever. :D

Anyway, it looks great!

[BART]

We just got the permanent 3 rrod and microsoft says they are under 3 year warranty for this, might want to register it online to be sure bud. They are sending me a label to ship mine in for replacement.

[imnotmikal]

We just got the permanent 3 rrod and microsoft says they are under 3 year warranty for this, might want to register it online to be sure bud. They are sending me a label to ship mine in for replacement.

Unless you can deal without an Xbox for 2 months, I wouldn't recommend sending it off.
It would take less time to just fix it yourself.

My cousin sent his xbox off a little of 2 months ago and still hasn't got it back.
He got tired of waiting after a month and bought a new one.

[Donziikid]

My friend got his back in less than two weeks, INM.. I've had other friends with similar experiences, only taking a few days at most. I plan on sending ours into MicroCrap to get fixed because we too just got the three rings of death and don't feel like forking over $300 for a new Xbox. We were the last ones of our group to get RROD. It's a shame they don't last very long before having to be fixed, replaced or scraped..

Nice color on your 'Box by the way, Texan. The bleak white certainly needed a make over and that color does nicely.

Cheers,
Kyle.

[texan_idiot25]

Permanently fixed? That's a joke. I have several friends with "Fixed" boxes that died. This one is proof of that even, it's a later model with beefed up cooling (In response to the RROD) and it still died.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/ghettobox/DSCN1244.jpg

Got the top and bottom panel done, gotta wet sand the face plate more, but it looks guud.

[BART]

My brother is on his 4th, we were using an intercooler but it was too noisy, maybe on the new one we will use it again.

[Donziikid]

I never said permanently fixed, but none of them have had to send their boxes back in for a second time. One of them has sixteen days logged on COD4 alone.. They get used and abused, but they're holding strong after Microsoft's first fix.

[texan_idiot25]

We just got the permanent 3 rrod and microsoft says they are under 3 year warranty for this

I never said permanently fixed,
Never said you did ;)

[Donziikid]

Ah. I missed BART's post. I thought since you were referring to fixed 'boxes you were referring to my post.

[firebird999]

(since this is far beyond warranty now, I didn't care for the serial #).

you should really try to uncover that. mine is 1 year over warranty and microsoft is fixing it, pausing my live subscription, and sending it back with a 3 month gold card and a post-repair warranty entirely for free. they'll do that for you if you allow them to look into the problem and experiment with it. they've put aside $60 million to fix the rrod, so all rrod related repairs as of now are free. but only if you have a valid serial number.
Unless you can deal without an Xbox for 2 months, I wouldn't recommend sending it off.
It would take less time to just fix it yourself.

My cousin sent his xbox off a little of 2 months ago and still hasn't got it back.
He got tired of waiting after a month and bought a new one.
your cousin shouldn't be allowed near money. seriously, i've just been playing ps2 while mine's gone, it's fun to revert to older games. makes the new ones just that much more fun when you can play them again.


EDIT: texan, you should bring a pizza box home from work and set up the electronics in there. that'd be hilariously badass.

[65mustangrock]

i've just been playing ps2 while mine's gone, it's fun to revert to older games. makes the new ones just that much more fun when you can play them again.

+1
i sent in my Wii after it wouldnt read disk so to wade out the bordem ive been playing ive been playing GBA and SNES,and its helping alot.

[BART]

Mine is back, took less than 2 weeks. 1 year added warranty and 1 free month of live. never talked to anyone, did it all online.

[texan_idiot25]

Well, the GPU and CPU are probably fixed, but didn't insulate it enough (read, duck tape let me down at the edges and allowed air to get under my insolation) so it's busted a few capacitors. But, all is far from lost. This xbox did not come with any power cords, which are stupendously expensive (new, 90 bucks). While hunting down another cheapy, found another 40 dollar one that never RROD, but the disk drive died. Well, my disk drive is fine. And, the newest one has all the cords needed as well. Thus, 40 dollars for a power brick and video cable alone are worth it, the fact that a working 360 mobo comes with it, is icing on a cake. And, for you guys worried about the warranty, it'd have a good serial number to use.

Plus, I can shoot some color on the extra shell and sell it off to recoup a bit of cash, but other than that, 85 bucks would be invested, and I have a complete 360 with a 20 gig HDD, minus a controller... Which is next on the to-do list.

[firebird999]

wow. not to sound too advertising-y, but try www.propertyroom.com. it's an online police auction site, they sell 360 controllers for like $10 sometimes, versus $40 used at gamestop. i think one of their warehouses is somewhere in texas, not entirely sure, but you'd probably have it to your house in 1-2 days, assuming you're not on the other side of the state.