Xbox 360 The Towel Trick

MsGail

MsGail

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The Myth
We have all experienced it. The dreaded three red rings of death – the mention of it still makes us shudder. But anyone lucky enough to own a bathroom towel could fix the problem!

The Truth
Or so the tale says. Wrapping your busted 360 in a towel and switching it on for an extended period of time was supposedly the fix – causing the components to overheat and remelt back into position. In reality, other plastic components inside the console are likely to become damaged; shutting out any chance of getting your machine looked at by Microsoft, or at the very least trying to sneak it into a retailer as a functioning trade-in.

Source: Wikihow
 
I've never heard of this . . . but oh . . . when the three rings start rolling I was willing to try anything. Wish I knew about it then.
 
I've heard of this little trick, but I've never had the "luck" to have to try it out. My 360's been doing fine since December 2009. No issues at all.
 
Yeah I've had the same Xbox for the last six years. I've actually never heard of this trick due to the fact I've never been in a position to look for an excuse to keep it from doing that. This is a good find and could be useful to some of the weary gamers. Thanks!
 
I once got the RRoD, and I tried the towel trick. And it worked... for a week.
The thing is it's not about it overheating. It's about the thermal paste that became useless. The only reliable, long-term fix is to reapply the thermal paste.
I did the towel trick, then a week later I got RRoD again. Then I went to a computer store, bought a tube of thermal paste, bought some screwdrivers to open my console and put my hands to work.
I never got it again. In fact, I'm still playing with that console.
 
kateric99 said:
I once got the RRoD, and I tried the towel trick. And it worked... for a week.
The thing is it's not about it overheating. It's about the thermal paste that became useless. The only reliable, long-term fix is to reapply the thermal paste.
I did the towel trick, then a week later I got RRoD again. Then I went to a computer store, bought a tube of thermal paste, bought some screwdrivers to open my console and put my hands to work.
I never got it again. In fact, I'm still playing with that console.
Click to expand...
Good share. As you say, even if it's not the thermal paste causing issues for others, it is much better to look for a long term solution instead of using a "trick" like the towel trick. I've always heard that if your console gets a RRoD and you do the towel trick, it doesn't last long, just like you've said.
 
Lol! What I really wonder is who the hell came up with that idea in the first place! Surely Everyone and anyone with half a brain knew that it would just damage the console further?
Goes to show you though that whoever these companies get to test their consoles aren't hardcore gamers cause they would have spotted the overheating problem after Playing it for a few months, maybe even weeks?
 
It worked for my friend, but i think he did it a little different, can't remember how now. For me, the only time i tried it, it didn't work. Maybe it depends on the model of the console, maybe it's luck?
 
This is hilarious! I can't believe someone even tried this, they must have been desperate to get their xbox working again.
 
I bought a RROD Xbox 360 off of some kid for $15 way, way back when, probably 2006 or 2007. He told me that he had tried "everything" in order to fix it. I knew how to repaste an Xbox and knew it would be an easy fix, netting a pretty easy profit for me. I knew what the towel trick was at the time, and also knew that it really, really messed up the Xbox some more, but not really specifically how. When I asked him about it, he told me he did the towel trick, it worked for a week or so, then it stopped working completely. So I bought it, repasted it, and sold it to some guy on craigslist for $100, which was a lot of money for my age back then :cool:
 
Just the phrase "remelting into place" doesn't seem very convincing to me haha.

I've never had the issue, but it seems like repasting would be your best bet.
 
Never tried this trick, whenever we have had the RRoD issue here, we have been able to get an easy replacement. Hope I never have to deal with that, but I know now if I do to avoid this "fix".
 
HAHAHA the towel trick is awesome. I use to use this trick when I step out of the shower and I'm dripping wet. I wrap that thing around my hair and speak like a terrorist until my dog barks at me and then the neighbor bangs on the wall. hahah not a bad idea at 4am. lulz

I thought the towel trick was a cool way to get it working. It worked for me once and then after that I thought it was too stupid to overhead my mobo on the 360 even more. My buddy fixed it by heating up the mobo and kinda bending it back into place. But in the end I just bought a new one.

THANKS MICRO$OFT
 
Yeah, this rudimentary little "fix" actually does not work to an extent. My Xbox has never red ringed but I know a guy who towel tricked like 2 Xboxs. It works for a while and then re-red rings. Doing this trick is risky because it voids your warranty. If you have nothing to lose, then by all means, go ahead and try the towel trick. If you want go down a safer path, send it to Microsoft.
 
Never heard of this trick.

I got the AC on when I play and my xbox placed just right in front of it so I havent experienced any red rings.
And probably because I only play max 3 or 4 hours.
 
haha I remember my friend did this on his and it worked for a few months, I too always wondered who first thought of this and how exactly the idea formed into their head.
 
Never seemed like it would be the best fix to me, it definitely won't last long.
 
yeah it has worked for a few of my friends and my brother. Wrapped it for about 30 minuted while it was on, still not entirely sure how it works, but hey, if it gets the job done, I think it should be spread.
 
Seems like a bad idea to be honest. I'm very surpised if it has worked for anyone, but people are saying it has! It would be nice if Microsoft had some sort of self-help guide that came with every new Xbox in case of the dreaded red ring!
 
I've heard of this trick and it does seem to work, when I experienced the red rings of death on my 360 I was fortunate that it was still under warranty. It was very easy seemless process shipping out the unit and getting it back, if I remember correctly it took about 8 days total for me to get my xbox360 back in the mail and since then never had any issues with it.
 
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