AV – NerdBeach

Fixing the Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death (RRoD)

I have an XBox 360, and it was an original launch model (actually gotten on the day of launch, even). It has worked flawlessly for years, under the most duress conditions, and without even a whimper. Of course, I knew to give it plenty of air space, handle it easily, and treat it like you would any device that costs a sum of money. So it just kept on working.

But recently I went to fire up the XBox and was taken aback by something very unexpected but not unheard of – the terrible Red Ring of Death (RRoD). My XBox was broken, and I needed it fixed. Bummer.

Image courtesy WikiCommons user:Z897623

While I could have sent it in for repairs, which would have cost $100 plus shipping, I opted to go the more adventurous route and fix it myself. I scoured the web for information, and came to the conclusion that the heat sink compound breaks down over years on the XBox's motherboard, and it needs to be redone. Okay, no problem, I've changed out and built up motherboards before. Sounds like I can do this.

During my research I came across some very informative videos on getting the job done. But in my opinion the best video I discovered was by EricTheCarGuy, and I highly suggest checking out his video below if you have Red LEDs shining on your XBox and want to tackle fixing it yourself.

The video does not show the error codes for the XBox, so I include them here for quick reference. As the video illustrates, you get the error code by pressing the sync and eject button at the same time. With the red leds flashing fast, continue to press the buttons and note the lit positions. 1, 2, or 3 leds means 1, 2, or 3, simply enough. All 4 leds gives you a zero. Expect to see a total of 4 digits for the code, and compare below. But in most of the 3 led RRoD instances, you will need to consider the heat sink problem.

0001 power supply problem
0002 power supply problem
0003 (not yet known)
…
0010 over heating
0011 over heating
0012 over heating
0013 over heating
…
0020 (Not yet known, possibly overheating)
0021 (not yet known)
0022 GPU Error / GPU Overheating
…
0101 (not yet known)
0102 unknown error – literally means the console does not know what is wrong. Possibly a short or cold solder joint somewhere (2 reports of people repairing this, one was removing moisture build up inside the console, the other used a hot-air rework to reflow the BGA Ram chips)
…
0110 Memory Error / Memory Overheating
…
1003 Hard Drive Error… It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it
…
1010 Hard Drive Error, Can be caused buy a currupt or missing Eprom.
…
1013 (not yet known)
…
1020 (not yet known)
…
1022 AV cable error… There is a problem with the AV cable, try using a different AV cable. (could also be a problem with the encoder chip)
…
1030 (not yet known)

XBox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. As of September 30, 2011, 57.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide.

source:wikipedia

Busbi is Low Cost Point and Shoot Video Camera

Greg Chaffins

Point and shoot video cameras are popular these days, and the Busbi Digital Video Camera is another entry in the field. One thing that sets the Busbi apart from the others is no doubt the price, which at £34.95 is definitely a low price leader. The inexpensive camera features:

four button design – power, delete, playback, record
2" LCD Screen
comes with 1GB SD card, giving about 60 minutes of recording
AV cable included
Editing and Youtube Posing software include

The Busbi Digital Video Camera can be found at Firebox.

In order to better serve our readers, Nerd Beach did a little research into this camera and found a review on it from Trusted Reviews. They had the following to say about the Busbi:

The busbi Video is just about cheap enough to make it an impulse purchase for those wanting a quick dabble with YouTube. But for most other requirements we'd recommend saving up a bit more money and choosing something more capable. And if you already have a mobile phone with video capabilities, it's likely to be at least as good, if not better, than the busbi Video.

Which is about what we would expect given the price level. By comparison, the same reviewer gave the higher priced but very economic Flip Ultra a much higher review (we have our own review on the Flip Ultra as well). As usual, it is up to the buyer to decide if it is higher quality or more money.

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Belkin Flywire is a Wireless 1080p A/V Connection

Greg Chaffins

Belkin_FlyWire_071008

The family TV has progressed into a unit that you can just hang on the wall. Of course, that leaves the question about the cables strung across the wall – how else are you going to get the signal to the display?

You could consider the Flywire from Belkin. The Flywire is a wireless AV connection for your new and shiny (or old and proven) display that supports up to a 1080p signal. The signal is uncompressed, which should allow for a very decent latency free display. All of your sources (game consoles, cable and satellite boxes, Blu-ray players, etc.) plug into the base unit, and you can select via a remote what you want displayed.

The Flywire comes in two versions, a RF controlled version that allows you to store the gear in another room without direct line of sight for $999.99 and an IR controlled version for $699.99. Both products are expected to ship in late October, and you can find out more on Belkin’s Website.

Of course, there is still the problem of getting power to the display, and on that one you are on your own, at least for now.

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