E69 (or another E number)

All of these errors are caused by 1 thing: a loose GPU (graphics processing unit).

While Microsoft has not addressed this issue officially, they are at fault for your Xbox 360 breaking.

Here is what happened: Microsoft was in a race (against Sony and Nintendo) to be the first next generation console on the market (after the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox). They rushed through production and ran into a problem during the final design stages.

The DVD drive was too big, and would not fit in Xbox 360. So to make room they decided to shrink the heat sink (which absorbs heat from the motherboard, and is basically the cooling unit). BIG MISTAKE.

Shrinking the heat sink turned out to be a major problem, and in one of the only press release statements made by Microsoft, they admitted “there is a design flaw in each of the 16 million consoles sold that could cause the device to fail”. This basically means anyone can get a red light error anytime. While vague on the issue, the heart of the message was there, namely “we screwed up, sucks to be you”. Great…

The good news is you can repair this relatively fast by adjusting how the heat sink rests on the motherboard.

If this makes sense (and it will), you more than qualify to be able to fix your system:

Your Xbox 360 motherboard has 2 important chips on it, the CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit).

The GPU is what processes graphics. The problem is, the heat sink (the cooling unit) that sits above it is too small. This means this chip gets very hot. As this chip heats up, the soldering (glue) that holds it becomes weak.

Making matters worse, as the motherboard heats up, it starts to flex (bend up and down). This flex action combined with the weakened soldering which holds the GPU on is what causes your problem.

As the motherboard heats up, the GPU (and sometimes the CPU too) becomes loose. Once the GPU comes loose your system freezes, and shows red light errors. Some red light errors are the result of the CPU coming loose as well.

You would think so, but you don’t. In fact, you only some basic tools: a poking device and a screw driver.

All you have to do is open the system up and adjust how the heat sink sits on the GPU and CPU. You are going to unscrew the heat sink, then put it back in a slightly adjusted position.

Then you turn the system on (with the fan unplugged) and you heat it slightly so the chips realign on the motherboard. You then turn it off, let it cool down (letting the chips harden in place), put it back together and viola, problem solved. The chips are now in position and will no longer over heat because of the adjustment you made. It really is simple.

At the end of the day, when you add up the cost of the system, downloaded content, controllers, accessories, Xbox live membership, and games, you have likely invested well over $800 in your system (maybe up to even $2000-$3000).

You might also have a decked out entertainment system which you can only use for TV now (not cool).

To let an $800+ investment go to waste over a little problem like this is crazy. Your system is not badly broken, it just needs an adjustment that anyone with two hands can fix. There are some real benefits to fixing your system yourself:

• Pocket the $110+ dollars or buy a new game or a few used games with it.
• Play with your friends again.
• Stop your kids from crying.
• Get online (and...