Xbox Mobile Update

After a long period of inactivity, I am sorry to announce that the Xbox Mobile project will be postponed for a while. My Xbox started to malfunction and wouldn't work with my wireless controllers so I am holding off on the project until I can obtain a new Xbox. Thanks to all my readers!

EDIT: I bought a new Xbox on Ebay and hope to continue the project in a few months.

Xbox Mobile Update

>>Xbox Mobile V1.0: Part 2 (water cooling unit)<<


After the main disassembly of the Xbox and the water block installation, I then moved on to the water cooling unit. To begin, I started off by disassembling the liquid cooling unit (for those of you who don't know, this is the CoolIt Systems Domino ALC unit).

The unit before disassembly

First I removed the four rubber anti vibration screws and the four regular screws that attach to the 120mm fan.


Next I removed the side panel that attaches to the radiator and the PCB inside.

Here's a picture of the PCB

Then I proceeded by draining all the coolant from the closed-link system. So I grabbed an old glass container with a lid, and cut the tube with an Exacto knife, which allowed the coolant to drain.

I found it was easiest to drain when the radiator was elevated.

All the drained coolant

Now that all the liquid had been drained I cut off all the old tubing from the remaining parts. Remember to be careful to not cut too deep; this can damage the hose barbs.

After all the tubes had been removed I then removed the pump from the radiator. To do this I used a hack saw and cut the metal outlet port to separate the pump from the radiator. Make sure you don't cut too close to the pump inlet port.

The pump after separation

The outlet port after cutting

Next I used a file to smooth the edges of the outlet and inlet ports on the radiator and pump.

Almost done!

If you look at the picture of the radiator outlet port (the one above the pump) you will notice a black plastic ring inside of the port. This is the male end of the pump that was used to couple the pump and radiator together. For our application we will need this removed. So I grabbed a drill and flat head screwdriver and pried it out.

After the ring had been removed

After looking through several hardware stores I was unable to find a hose barb that would fit inside the outlet hole. So I was forced to find another solution. While thinking about how I could solve this problem, I came across the original water block that came with the ALC system. This water block had two hose barbs that had the same ID (inner diameter) as the other barbs (the one on the other side of the radiator and on the pump), thus creating a perfect solution.

So I once again grabbed my hack saw and cut off the two barbs at the base where they connect to the water block.

One more barb to go!

After removing the two barbs, I filed the bottoms so that there would be a nice flat seal on the inside of the port.


Next I placed the filed barb inside the outlet port to check the size. The base of the barb was just a little bit too big, so I got out my drill and widened the hole.

Before drilling

After drilling!

After some pressure leak testing, I found that for the most part, the new barb had created a tight seal. But there was still a little bit of water seeping out. So I grabbed my Gorilla epoxy and applied a generous amount to the base of the barb.

On the right side of the barb you can see a small puddle forming.

Gotta love epoxy!

Now that the epoxy had been applied, I let the radiator sit for a few days to dry. In the mean time I took the remaining barb and attached it to the input side of the pump. To do this, I drilled out the middle of the pump input port so that the remaining barb could fit inside.

The pump after the newly drilled hole

Yay it fits!

Now that the other hose barb had been attached to the pump, I applied some more epoxy to secure it.


This concludes part 2 of the Xbox Mobile modification. Stay tuned for more updates and part 3!

>>End of part 2<<

Xbox Updates

After a few hours of contemplation, I have decided that I am going to take my Xbox mod to the next level. Since this mod has only been done a couple of times (to my knowledge), this seems like an appropriate endeavor. Not only will I be water cooling my Xbox, I am also going to build it into a Husky tool case, with a 20" LCD monitor, water cooling (of course), and maybe a keyboard. For this mod I will be implementing many of the same techniques as Ben Heck, who is in my book, a modding genius. If you are interested in other game system mods, and an amazing Xbox 360 laptop, check him out at http://benheck.com/.

Also my last post explains my reasons for doing this mod and some terminology that may be helpful to know.

So now lets start off with some of my goals for this project. My over all goal for this project is to have a working Xbox laptop/mobile case. The Xbox will be water cooled and integrated into a Husky metal tool case with speakers, a 20" monitor and maybe a keyboard if it will fit. So what are we waiting for?! Lets go!


>>Xbox Mobile V1.0: Part 1<<


After much indecisiveness on whether or not I was going to take my Xbox apart, I finally made the decision to modify my beloved Xbox 360. To start off I brought my Xbox down into my basement workshop and began to gather my main materials. For basic materials I used an Xbox 360, an XSPC Xbox water block, and a CoolIt Domino ALC Liquid Cooling system.


Next I proceeded by disassembling my Xbox (for this project I wont show the disassembly process. If you don't know how to take your Xbox apart here is a good guide http://llamma.com/xbox360/repair/Xbox-360-Disassembly.htm).

The Xbox after disassembly

After removing the two case halves, the motherboard was revealed.

Then I proceeded by removing the disk drive, fan duct, and fan from the metal case. All that was left was the main board.

Now that the Xbox had been stripped of its main components, I then began to remove the heatsinks from the GPU and CPU. Here is a picture of what the CPU and GPU looked like after removing the heat sinks.

I have alot of thermal paste to remove...

In order to remove the old thermal paste, I used rubbing alcohol, some Qtips and alot of patience. Because the thermal paste was old and had under gone many temperature changes, it was hard and gummy, so I dabbed the rubbing alcohol onto the old thermal paste and let it sit for a while.

In the mean time, I picked up a pack of Thermaltake Copper Memory Heatsinks, and applied them to the surrounding chips. These heatsinks will hopefully disperse even more heat.

Nice!

After applying heatsinks to all the large chips I moved back to the cleaning process at hand. I kept reapplying the alcohol when it had evaporated, until I felt a change in consistency of the paste. When I felt that I had soaked the thermal paste in the alcohol long enough, I then moved on to using Qtips and paper towel to smear off the paste.

Almost done!

Finnaly after 3o minutes of work, I had succeded in cleaing off most if not all of the old thermal paste.

Its so shiny!!!!!

Now that all the thermal paste had been removed, I grabbed my recently purchased tube of Arctic MX-3 Thermal Compound, and began to apply it to the freshly cleaned chips.

Oops! Applied a little too much thermal paste!

I then grabbed my XSPC water block and screws, and positioned them on the mother board (I found that it was easier to attach the water block when holding it sideways so as not to smudge the thermal paste).

After a long and uncomfortable 10 minutes, I had finnaly attached the water block to the mother board (yay!). Now time to take a break after a long day...

All done!

Next we will be focusing on the water cooling system so stay tuned!

>>End of part 1<<

Updates! ~NEW~

After nearly five months of inactivity, I have resumed blogging/updating this site. Since my last post there have been many new changes and projects that i have either begun or finished which I will be updating you on shortly, so sit back and let the barrage of updates begin.

My arsenal of fish has dramatically increased with the addition of two ID sharks to my 55 gallon tank and a whole slew of baby guppies in one of my 10 gallon tanks. My RC boat is still under construction due to the fact that I need one more A123 battery and a new gear (I drilled the last one off center). As for new projects, I have decided to undertake the task of water cooling my Xbox 360. Since I believe that I will actually complete my water cooling mod on my Xbox, most of the new updates will focus on that project.

For those of you that own Xbox 360s, we all fear the dreaded RROD (red ring of death for those of you who don't understand gaming lingo :P). It haunts us in our sleep and sends shivers down our backs whenever we think of turning our Xbox on. This creates a never ending cycle of fear which can cause unwanted stress on ones self. That is why I decided that I was going to fight back against the cruel and evil clutches of the RROD and instill peace and tranquility to my one and only Xbox. Viva La Revolution! No, I'm not talking about marches and starting riots, I'm talking about water cooling my Xbox!

The RROD is a hardware malfunction that is very common with the Xbox 360. It is caused by either a direct hardware failure or the most common condition, over heating. Yes, you might be asking yourself "Doesn't the Xbox have adequate cooling?" the answer is "no, not for long term use."

The Xbox 360 is cooled by two heatsinks, one for the CPU (central processing unit) and the GPU (graphics processing unit), and a dual 60mm exhaust fan. When the RROD occurs, it is usually due to over heating. This can be cause by a variety of factors, most of which precede long term use or improper ventilation. When the Xbox is in use, it can produce massive amounts of heat. The heatsinks are used to dissipate the heat along a set of copper or aluminum fins. If the Xbox gets too hot, the circuit board could bend or worse, components could fry. The usual case with the RROD is the heat sinks getting dislodged from the GPU and CPU. The heatsinks are held in place with two X clamps (one for each processing unit) and eight retention screws. The clamps attach to the bottom of the circuit board and screw into the heatsink, sandwiching the processing unit chips. When the circuit board over heats, it begins to flex and bend. This can cause the x clamps to bend and become loose, which in turn, stops dissipating the heat produced by the chips. This then causes the RROD error and renders the Xbox useless, unless you are willing to send it to Microsoft or have the proper knowledge to try and fix it yourself.

Even thought I have never gotten the RROD, I still fear its wrath, that's why I decided to water cool my Xbox and because I love to void warranties. Water cooling or liquid cooling is a cooling method in which a coolant flows over a component, gains heat, and is then pumped to a radiator where the heat is dissipated, and the liquid cooled. This method can be extremely efficient in cooling certain components and is mostly used in high end PCs and other high heat applications.

In the next few weeks I will be posting pictures and eventually a full project description for use as a guide. In the mean time feel free to browse my blog and dont forget to comment, or email me! Also, check out some of my other projects in the side bar to the right. >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Happy modding!