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After much frustration with Microsoft, and the realization that they weren’t going to help with my faulty console, I took matters into my own hands.  Here’s what went down.

I’d read online that some people had some success with their consoles after removing the “X” clamps that held their heatsink’s down.  On the advice of a friend, I tried that method.  I bought a 3.5g tube of Arctic Silver,  8 M5 x 10 screws,  16 #10 nylon washers, and 16 5mm metal washers.  I disassembled the xbox,  removed the “X” clamps, and removed my heat sinks. I then spent the next 30 minutes gently cleaning the chips with some rubbing alcohol and q-tips.  If you try hard enough, you can get them back to their mirror finish.  Then, for good measure, I cleaned the heatsinks off as best I could.

Next was the fun part. I applied some Arctic silver to the chips, and re-attached the heatsinks using a combination of washers and bolts.  I’ll document what I did later on (I video taped most of it, I might put a video together)  but you can find all of the information online pretty easily.

In the end, I was left with what seems to be a fully functional Xbox again. Now that my case has been opened, and I’ve got no warranty left, i’m thinking about modding the case some how.  More on that later.