XBOX 360 – Audio but no video, and no warranty

Posted under A Geek Dad's Life, Blog Posts

My wife called me at work today asking if I knew “what was wrong with the TV.“  Our XBOX 360 wouldn’t show any video on the TV, even though she could hear the DVD.  I thought for sure that one of the kids had somehow yanked a cable out, so I told my wife that I would fix it when I got home.

After pulling out the 600 lb entertainment center and trying countless combinations of connecting/reconnecting HDMI, RGB, and composite cables, I finally concluded that the XBOX was toast.

I searched Google and discovered that I am not alone.

• http://www.justin-cook.com/wp/2008/08/06/how-to-fix-an-xbox-360-with-sound-but-no-video/
• http://www.squidoo.com/Xbox_redlight_fix
• http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/ring_of_light_x-clamp_fix.htm

Alas, my XBOX is out of warranty (by a mere 12 days) and I’m not interested in paying Microsoft another $100 to fix it. (Especially when a brand new one is $200 with a fresh motherboard and a controller!)

I’m going to try the “x-clamp” mod.  Wish me luck…

UPDATE 2008-10-04 1:01 AM – IT WORKED!! Wicked good stuff.  2 hours and $7.38 at Lowes for screws and washers.  I used this method available at:

http://xe.brothersoffreedom.com/en/tutorial.php?n=xclampeng

UPDATE # 2 – 2008-10-05 – IT FAILED.  One day after “fixing” it, it failed again with the same symptoms.  Time to scrap it for a new one. Gonna go with the $199 one and use my old 10GB drive (hopefully).  I’ll have to read up on the data transfer process to keep my profile stuff.  Otherise, I’ll need to do the “fix” again just long enough to transfer the game data to a memory unit, and then to my new XBOX.  This is really lame.