Tools needed:

• as5 silver thermal paste (ebay-£5 or pc shop in town, cheaper stuff-£3.50)

• 8 M5 10MM screws (12mm  from rowlets- 80p for 10)

• 28 5MM flat washers (10 for 35p at rowlets)

• total cost: between £5 and £6.50

Time taken: approx 30 to 45 minuites

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Now lets remove the motherboard from the metal casing. Look at the powerswitch in the front. There are 3 Torx8 (T8) screws that you must remove. One of them is concealed by that white light diffuser. Memorize the position it is attached, so that you don’t accidently clip it on wrong, just to find out your 360 won’t turn on AFTER you reassemble it.

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After you remove the T8 screws, simply pull out the chip and set it aside. In some versions of the 360 there are a bunch of T8 screws that hold the motherboard from the bottom of the case. Unscew those, and your motherboard should come out of the metal casing.

Flip the motherboard over and face the culprit that has plagued your 360. Microsoft’s ingenuis Xclamps design. These Xclamps are the reason why your Xbox 360 gets the 3 red lights. My guess is that somebody got really stoned one night and decided to hold in these brackets by pressure, instead of the logical, conventional… screws. Instead of evenly distrubiting the pressure, it pushes down on the back of the cpu and gpu chips. When the 360 gets hot, the motherboard flexes. The combination of that and the xclamps pressing down on the chips causes the cheap bga solder connections underneath the chips to break. This is why the towel trick temporarily fixes this, it reflows the solder to create the connections again, but the xclamps are still there to screw it up again.

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Indulge yourself in prying those pieces of **** off the motherboard. I used pliers to get them off, but be VERY cautious not to damage the motherboard itself while you’re at it. You must pry off 2 out of 4 ends before they pop off.

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After removing the Xclamps, flip the mobo over to remove the heatsinks from the CPU(left) and the GPU(right, 2 chips; 1 big 1 small). Now stop, and lets take a moment to applaud to microsoft’s awesome thermal paste job, it looks like very few of it actually ended up on the CPU/GPU to conduct the heat released from the chips to the heatsinks. Great job microsoft.

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Use a 1/4″ socket to remove the screws from both heatsinks.

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Lets get the screws ready before we apply the thermal paste. I recommend putting 1 washer on the screw and then 2 washers between the motherboard and the heatsinks so that in case you tighten the screws a little too tight the heatsink won’t crush the chip. Now you are ready to apply the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste.

But before that, I would suggest that you scrub off Microsoft’s thermal paste off the heatsinks AND the chips, be careful though not to actually damage the chips. Now put some AS5 on the CPU and on both chips of the GPU. Apply a reasonable amount of this stuff, don’t drown the chips in it because it might actually all get squeezed off the chips(just like it did for MS) if you apply too much pressure when screwing back the heatsinks.

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Top image is the GPU(2 chips)
Bottom is the CPU

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Now it’s time to put the heatsinks back on the CPU & GPU with the thermal paste on. Like I said before it is best to put 2 washers between the motherboard and the heatsinks.

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The tricky part is to actually screw in the screws onto the heatsinks without flipping the motherboard over. For the obvious reason of course. What I did was simply lift the motherboard up with my hand and turn the screws clockwise until they firmly held the heatsink in place. If you find that a little difficult you can slide the mobo over to the edge of the table just so you can screw them in. Don’t screw them in too tight, just enough so that it holds it in place.

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You should have something that resembles the picture below. Once again do not overtighten the screws, and don’t let them hang there too loosely.

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Now plug the front panel(where the On button is) back on, and also the fan. Do not put the heatpipe or the DVD rom in place yet though

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Plug the Xbox in to the power supply and the AV cable

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And turn it on using a remote or your controller. Most likely your 360 will still have the 3 red lights, and the reason for that is because the solder connections are still broken. Let’s fix that…

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And by let’s fix it I mean let’s let it fix itself. Turn the 360 on without the heatpipe so that it over heats and resolders the connections. If you get 2 red lights that means the screws are too loose. Correct that and let it stay on for about 10 minutes, until the fan gets to full power. I just let mine overheat until it turned itself off not to fry the CPU/GPU. After it goes off(or you turn it off) let it stand for about 10 more minutes without touching it(otherwise you’re screwed if you move it after it resoldered the connections).

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Now turn it back on and it should have green lights. If the AV cable isn’t plugged you will get 4 red lights, if it is plugged in to your TV, then you probably squeezed the thermal paste off the CPU and GPU while readjusting the screws. My first time repairing the 360 I had to take out the mobo from the metalcasing about a dozen times to make sure everything was done correctly, so if your first time isn’t a charm either try the above process several times to get it working.

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After you get the green lights, take it a part again(last time I promise) to tighten the heatsinks’ screws. Play around with your 360 before closing it up, make sure it works properly.

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AND THERE YOU GO YOUR DONE NOW YOU SHOULD NEVER AGAIN I PROMISE GET THE RED LIGHTS OR RROD!

Please as a thanks take a moment to signup to get free Xbox live gold and more from freebiejeebies.

Following on from this success Treyarch, with the backing of their publisher Activision, will be releasing their next Call of Duty: World at War downloadable content. In a similar style to the first, it will be a map pack containing three standard multiplayer maps and one new Nazi Zombies map.

But that’s not all, apparently it will also add new Trophies/Achievements, Perks, a new weapon and even “flaming Hell hounds” according to Joystiq.

The Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 is due for a June release.

This glitch was soon fixed so not everyone was affected by the issue, however those that were have been asking for justice to their over charged payments.

Finally, Microsoft has come clean on the issue, issuing emails apologising for the mistake and thanking users for their patience, loyalty and the usual PR blabber.

Customers who were ripped off accidentally overcharged may have, or should be, receiving the following email from Microsoft:

Dear Xbox LIVE Gold Member:
We launched Deal of the Week program on Feb 23rd, 2009 as an added benefit to your Gold membership and we are very excited to see the overwhelming response we have received from our loyal users such as you.

As a result of the increased transactions we know that you experienced an intermittent Xbox LIVE issue, which resulted in you being charged full price of 1200 points for the ‘Braid’ deal instead of the discounted price of 800 points. We sincerely wish to apologize for the technical glitch and would like to take this moment to thank you for your patience and understanding as our team worked around the clock to fix this problem.

We will not only be crediting back the 400 points that were overcharged, but also be crediting an extra 100 points as a token of our appreciation and as a thank you for your loyalty during this period. You will see a credit of 500 points in your account in the coming weeks.

A huge update for Gears of War 2 today via press release! First up: some sales milestones. GoW2‘s already broken through the 5-million mark for worldwide sales, thus bringing overall series sales to 11-million. So to celebrate, Microsoft and Epic Games are announcing the new DLC Map Pack and an accompanying add-on retail bundle.

Confirming previous rumors, the new DLC is in fact called Dark Corners, to be available for 1600 MS Points. It’s going to contain seven new maps and a deleted campaign chapter which wasn’t included in the final cut of the game.

The deleted chapter’s called Road to Ruin where Marcus and Dom go back into Locust Hollow. What’s cool here is that you can do your usual shoot-anything-that-moves tactic, or… using a supposed all-new stealth mode.

As for the seven other maps included in Dark Corners, the press release details the following:

• Allfathers Garden: Honor the sacred grounds of the Coalition founders in this explosive map, where powerful weapons catalyze fast and furious action at this COG landmark.
• Memorial: Set near the Eternal Flame, which pays tribute to the fallen soldiers on the battlefield, a hard-fought battle ensues at the Tomb of Unknowns. Putting their flank formation and evasive skills to the test, players will fight to control the Boomshot.
• Sanctuary: Once a peaceful ground for reflection and remembrance, all that remains of the Sanctuary is the chill of death. Feast your eyes on the arsenal of weapons available as you make your way through the tight paths and blind corners of the Locust-damaged temple corridors.
• War Machine: In the abandoned train station that once served as a hub for travel, players will need to master the Longshot, Mulcher and Boomshot weapons to advance the fight while evading fire from the platforms above.
• Highway: Take the fight deep into the Locust Hollow in the complex passages of this underground highway system brimming with enemy vermin. Stick together, separate the enemy and have an exit strategy ready or it ll be a one-way trip.
• Way Station: Sitting in limbo between death and processing are Locust way stations filled with fallen COG soldiers. Tread lightly and practice patience as it s better to sacrifice firepower for stealth while navigating this minefield of hidden grenades.
• Nowhere: Set in the middle of what was once a destination for weary desert travellers, the land is now barren and devoid of life. Pick off your enemies with the Longshot sniper rifle and make your way to the stairwell with a well-fortified team during this intense firefight.

Now the new Dark Corners DLC will be included in the Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection. It’s going to be an add-on-only pack, much like Fallout 3‘s Anchorage-Pitt pack, which only contains download coupons for the DLC, and not a copy of the actual game. All Fronts gets you the following:

• Dark Corners DLC map pack
• Snowblind DLC map pack
• Compustible DLC map pack
• Flashback DLC map pack
• a Cliff Bleszinski intro of Road to Ruin
• custom Xbox Live theme
• collectible GoW2 poster
• and a strategy guide

The entire bundle costs US 19.99 ( 14.99, 19.99) on retail shelves starting July 28. Veeery tempting, is it not? Heck, even if you’ve been able to get some of those map packs from before, the bundle is still a steal.

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“Y’mean we’re going digital download only? But… but…”
“Snow, the Patapons did it. Who says we can’t?”
I can hear Katy Perry’s “Hot’N'Cold” song suddenly play in the background (“cuz you’re hot then you’re cold, you’re yes then you’re no, you’re in th–” ahem). Square Enix has once again stamped out rumors of releasing the Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Xbox 360) demo outside of Japan.

However, there’s still that one thread of hope: when they say they’re not releasing the demo (videos here!), they’re talking about the Blu-ray version of the demo. That aside, there are other means of getting a demo, yes?

Speaking to VideoGamer, FF series producer Yoshinori Kitase said:
The type of demo version we released in Japan, we currently have no plan of doing that abroad, partly because we are going to carry on with the project alongside the Xbox version, so we really can’t just make it available only for the PS3.

But we hear that the demo version normally means something that you can download in the West, so that is a possibility we would like to check.
Ka-shwing! Hope springs eternal – just like that!

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Ars Technica is not all too sure, but they do believe that they have played the “Wii Killer” already, claiming that they have, in fact, seen the “exact same technology at CES 2008.” To make things even more intriguing, Microsoft is making as much noise as it can for the upcoming E3.

Here’s the juicy bits of Ars Technica’s recount of last year’s suspected demo:

At CES last year we met with a company called 3DV that showed off a small Web-camera-like device that was able to detect movement and interaction in 3D space. We even played a boxing game that worked very, very well. Even more impressive was the ability to control media functions with gestures. You could swipe you way through your movies, interact with pictures, change channels, all with a small camera and your arms. Imagine a Microsoft Surface — without the Surface.

Doesn’t that sound like magic! But wait, this technology is from 3DV. It doesn’t have Microsoft’s seal stamped on it…

Actually, it’s not too far-off that seal will be there soon if not already. Back in February, Reuters reported that Microsoft was buying off 3DV. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out why MS could possibly be interested in them, right?

All in all, it really does sound promising. And if this is the big thing that Microsoft is gearing up for E3, we say they just might steal the show.

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Hmmm… chunky…

Unfortunately, the answer to that seems to be a no. Despite the recent decision to port the game to the Wii, and the speculations that we just might see it drop on the handhelds, Visceral Games (formerly known as Redwood Shores studio) of EA is tending to the negative end of the spectrum for now.

Glen Schofield, head of Visceral, says that it’s mainly because porting the game to handhelds would entail certain compromises, and they’re not all too ready to commit to those just yet.

If we could, maybe. I think part of the problem is all the major physics and the dismemberment, and things like that. I want to stay true to the vision of Dead Space, and that is about dismemberment, zero G, and stuff like that. We’d have to make some compromises that I am not willing to make yet.

Maybe the PSP2 will have better capabilities to handle the game’s important features? wink

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The survey, which had a respondents of 3,000 drivers, yielded the result that 3 out of 4 does speed regularly. Of the 3,000 respondents, 17 of teenagers answered that they never exceeded the limit (which leaves 83 of the young ‘uns admitting to speeding), while more than half of the older demographics said yes.

Between genders, meanwhile, 78 women are worried about the consequences of speeding, while 59 of the gents concurred.

It is important to note that it was not only the said games that the study slammed. Included in the perpetrators of the glamorization of speeding are also Hollywood films such as The Fast and the Furious, and even news channel BBC2′s Top Gear show.

David Neave of the company who compiled the report, Co-operative Insurance, said,

Games, TV and films have fueled the increase in speeding The Fast and The Furious and Top Gear are devoting to speeding and targeted at a young audience who are more likely to be encouraged to speed.

To this, the BBC replied that the show does not condone exceeding the speed limit. As a show that features testing “supercars”, it is of course logical for them to test the automobiles to their limits, all of which are carried out in tightly controlled conditions on a private track.

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Today we solve that mathematical oddity as we have the figures for the said blockbuster Map Pack 1. Combining stats for both the XBL and PSN downloads, the DLC racks up a whopping 2 million downloads. And that’s just for a little over a month since it launched back in Mid-March.

Mark Lamia of Treycarch is of course happy and thankful to the fans who are supporting the game, and for never tiring of WWII shooters. If you’re expecting more big things to come for World at War (PS3, Xbox 360), then June is the next date to watch out for, cos the next DLC is dropping then.

Here’s to hoping that DLC would be even better than this already-great one.

• Woof: Activision respond’s to PETA’s dog-killing complaint
• Study finds that shooter games help sharpen vision

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The acquisition by Crytek seems to be going great for Free Radical, er, Crytek UK. Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has revealed that they’ve pretty much given the developer free reign in what projects they’re pursuing.

While remaining secretive about the dev studio’s new project, the Crytek CEO said in an interview with Develop that they are “working with Free Radical on things that they always dreamed to do.”

“We are providing the team a roadmap and the chance to grow,” he added, “which is why we were picked as a partner, and not anyone else.

So, anybody up for a Timesplitters 4 using the new CryEngine? It was one of the games Free Radical was reportedly working on before they became Crytek UK. Hopefully we hear something more concrete about the studio’s new projects at E3.

• Crytek confirms Free Radical purchase, studio to become Crytek UK

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