Xbox 360 Southbridge Clamp to fix error E-72, E-71, E-73, E-04, E-09 / 1020/1013/1021/0010/0021/
A cheap way to make a clamp is to use a small piece of steel, large enough to cover the die and be able to not impede with the gpu heatsink. Now the four holes around the southbridge are about 2.3 mm big. In the xbox-experts tut they use 2mm machine screw. In South Africa it is quite impossible to find machine screws with nuts 2mm. Instead i was able to find 2.5mm, which actually fit perfectly without even needing nuts. Because the holes are about 2.2 or 2.3, a 2.5mm screw will be able to create a thread without needing nuts. So those of you that can’t find 2mm don’t despair, finding 2.5mm ones might be easier. Unfortunately 3mm is too big.
This is essentially an alternative way for making a clamp from the method used at Xbox-experts.
Fix to apply pressure onto Ram chips next to GPU. Preventing freezing when gpu is not an issue.
Another problem i came across was that my 360 booted, got into a game and kept freezing at exactly the same point. Although there were no graphical glitches or artifacts, it led me to believe that the pressure on the gpu was fine. So i moved towards the RAM. With the two washes applying pressure to the two ram chips under the gpu heatsink (one for each), using hybrid x-clamp fix. The other two Ram chips required pressure from the top also. One way to do this is to use about twenty thin coins. YES, coins. By stacking the right number of coins onto the ram chips, the bottom of the DVD drive, will apply pressure using the coins onto the ram chips. By fixing the coins to the dvd drive using a strong adhesive and by wrapping the coins in tape, insulation tape preferably, will make sure the coins stay together and should apply enough pressure onto the ram to force a connection to prevent the cold solder joint from heating and thus causing the freezing.
The better method is to find a piece of clean metal; the best would be to cut an old heatsink similar in height to the 360’s gpu heatsink. Cut it long enough to cover the two ram chips, but short enough to not get in the way of any resistors. Using a very strong bonding agent, like cement paste or similar, stick the cut steel piece onto the gpu making sure that the bottom of the gpu heatsink is completely flush with that of the piece you have cut.
I found both worked, i originally did the first fix with pennies, because i live in South Africa, i used 13 ten cent coins on each ram chip. So a total of 26 cents. After a while i got a bit sceptic and thought i try do it properly by fastening a piece of heatsink onto the gpu heatsink. I cut a piece of heatsink from an old Pentium 3 i had and used Qbond cement glue. That with my southbridge clamp and the hybrid x-clamp by xbox-experts has given my xbox another few months, hopefully years. Will continue to post updates for how long the xbox has been going for.
20 July 2010 – been running for 10 weeks with no issues.
1 August 2010 – still going strong. Averaging an hour of gaming every two days.
24 August 2010 – Still going!
2 January 2011 – Had no problems.
All credit goes to Xbox-experts for giving me the initial idea for these two fixes.
For some background information this 360 is one of the first revision Xenon boards manufactured in mid 2006, went RROD with usual 0201 about three years later. Fixed it with hybrid x-clamp, was good for about 8 months or so and then RROD time and time again with much more serious stuff. Has had so many errors and issues that i thought it was completely dead till i finally decided to do a oven reflow, airflow improvements through cutting out the metal vents at the back and these two fixes, and voila. It still jams!
Preping the board for an oven reflow
These tuts were posted to maybe help those that are in the same situation i was in as i couldn’t find many tutorials on the net for these two fixes. I will be posting pictures soon!
Gamescastlive will not be held responsible for anything that happens to your xbox when following these tips. This is done at your own risk and with your own intent.
Southbridge clamp fix using a strike plate from a door cut to size
