This guide is to help those people who think they have a little bit of knowledge about electronics and want to buy an Xbox 360 cheap and fix it. I am sure most of you reading this guide have already bid, bought or are considering bidding on an item that is listed for repair and has the 3ROL error (Three red lights caused by overheating of the GPU/CPU). Keep in mind that there are hundreds of others doing exactly the same thing and you may or may not get what you bargain for. Here are a few points to remember:

1) If you are considering doing your own repair RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Don't think just because it appears that this fix is easy, that you can do it! If you have never seen a CPU without its heatsink attached or cleaned a board using parts cleaner, you may be getting into more that you can handle. Some of the people attempting this will give up before they even get the case open. Also there are a large amount of boxes that are not repairable by the simple methods. You will need an SMT solder station ($1000) to remove and reseat the GPU to get a final fix. 

2) The manufacturer spent probably thousands of hours researching the design of this system. They did not sit down one evening and say "Let's design a game system that contains x-clamps that will fail!". The x-clamps are a valid design for holding the cpu and gpu in place with a thorough connection for cooling. Just because you read somewhere that the cooling problem can be fixed by removing them doesn't mean you should believe that removing them is the best way to go. Each box is slightly different. I bet based on what I have seen so far, more than half the people who do this repair will have failed boxes within 3-6 months because they overtightened the board warping it or destroy other components from applying the wrong type of heatsink compound or WAY TOO MUCH OF IT!

3) Many boxes can be repaired simply by removing and reapplying the heatsink compound that is between the heatsinks and the CPU/GPU. Cleaning the dust from the fins on both heatsinks and fan. Then reassembling with a tight fit goes a long way.

4)  Keep in mind as time goes on, all the failed repair attempts are going to be making it back onto eBay listed as 3ROL all over again. You should consider whether the box has been opened a very important question to ask before making a bid. Those of you selling these items should be posting this information up-front when listing these items. If the box has been opened, you shoud ask for assurances that no repairs of this nature have been performed on the box. Keep in mind that what you are buying may already have been damaged beyond repair by someone who thought they could do this type of repair and COULDN'T. The problem is once this box has been opened all different kind of damage can occur if the person doing the repair doesn't know what they are doing. I have seen boxes with mainboards bowed from people attaching bolts to the heatsinks and cranking them down. BUYER BEWARE!

5) I just wanted to add an additional point to this guide because I now see some goofball selling Microsoft Xbox 360 Seals on eBay. This throws a wrench into the "Only Buy Sealed Xbox Units" statement. Anyone, can buy a seal now and reseal the box so use the sellers reputation to determine whether you are getting a good box or not. I would be afraid of buying from a person who has a 0 rating in this case. They could have bought the item using a different eBay account and are now selling it again cloaked to help them get a good price. But then maybe I am just paranoid. 

So to sum things up, do your research. Know what you are doing BEFORE proceeding. Only buy sealed unopened Xboxes or get an assurance from the seller than a repair attempt has not been made. Demand your money back if the box is not as described when you get it.

Well I hope this guide was a little helpful to those of you thinking of buying the broken, as-is, you repair it Xbox 360. Shoot me an email if you have any question on this topic or would like me to add anything else to this guide

UPDATED: 12.23.2007

Here is a picture of the seal inside the Xbox 360:

Here is a close-up of the seal: (Stolen from the dweeb who is selling them on eBay)