explain the towel trick
Basically, people have been wrapping up their 360s in towels for about ten minutes while the system is turned on, and then letting the system cool, which allows for a temporary fix that allows the system to work after getting the red ring of death.
From what I understand, whenever the red ring of death goes off (in most cases) it is because the solder between the GPU and the motherboard has weakened to the point that they can't communicate, therefore prompting the system to send an error message.
What the towel trick does is, through warming up the system and not allowing air to escape, makes the 360 hot enough to resolder these two connections together temporarily. The solder is weak, however, meaning you will probably get the red death ring one or two days later.
Basically, whenever Microsoft gets your system for $140, they open it up, resolder this connection, and close it up. That's it. They charge you $140 for this.
Now, you may be saying that there was a warranty extension. Well, guess what. Since my original 360 was covered by the warranty whenever it screwed up, Microsoft exempted me from the extension. Not only that, but Microsoft also originally sent me back a system with a launch manufacturer's date, meaning that they basically sent me a system that was going to screw up to begin with. The Halo 3 beta is coming up, and I'm broke. Basically, what I'm saying is that if I can just do this myself (I hear it can be done with a heat gun) I'm going to, and if there is anyone on here who knows anyone who's tried this.
