N
N Cook
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Strange seeing this technical stuff in a national newspaper today
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/games/story/0,,2123720,00.html
Where the Xbox 360 went wrong
Whoops, there is a problem with the console failing in significant numbers
after all, said a reluctant Microsoft this week. So what is the cause?
Charles Arthur investigates
Thursday July 12, 2007
snip
So what are the causes? Owners and analysts have made their own
investigations. The most obvious suggestion is that parts overheat; the Xbox
360 draws 160 watts, which has to be dissipated via two large heatsinks and
two fans. One suggestion is that when the machine gets hot, the motherboard
warps and pushes the graphics processing unit (GPU) off its board. Another
is that some of the soldering is imperfect and so cracks at high
temperature. A Microsoft support document also suggests, improbably, that
surge protectors and extension strips contribute to the problem by
preventing the current surge needed for the fans to turn on; this seems
unlikely, since that surge would be too small to trip them.
In desperation, some owners have turned to home-grown cures - including
wrapping a towel around the machine, blocking the fan vents. This may -
depending who you believe - either cause the solder to reflow or the GPU to
reseat. (Microsoft has not commented.) The fixes sometimes work, at least
temporarily.
We can deduce some of the reasons from the fact that Microsoft is declaring
that the problems are sorted out - just as it is moving from 90-nanometre to
65nm chips, which should reduce its power consumption significantly, and
using a two-part heat sink in the new designs.
snip
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/games/story/0,,2123720,00.html
Where the Xbox 360 went wrong
Whoops, there is a problem with the console failing in significant numbers
after all, said a reluctant Microsoft this week. So what is the cause?
Charles Arthur investigates
Thursday July 12, 2007
snip
So what are the causes? Owners and analysts have made their own
investigations. The most obvious suggestion is that parts overheat; the Xbox
360 draws 160 watts, which has to be dissipated via two large heatsinks and
two fans. One suggestion is that when the machine gets hot, the motherboard
warps and pushes the graphics processing unit (GPU) off its board. Another
is that some of the soldering is imperfect and so cracks at high
temperature. A Microsoft support document also suggests, improbably, that
surge protectors and extension strips contribute to the problem by
preventing the current surge needed for the fans to turn on; this seems
unlikely, since that surge would be too small to trip them.
In desperation, some owners have turned to home-grown cures - including
wrapping a towel around the machine, blocking the fan vents. This may -
depending who you believe - either cause the solder to reflow or the GPU to
reseat. (Microsoft has not commented.) The fixes sometimes work, at least
temporarily.
We can deduce some of the reasons from the fact that Microsoft is declaring
that the problems are sorted out - just as it is moving from 90-nanometre to
65nm chips, which should reduce its power consumption significantly, and
using a two-part heat sink in the new designs.
snip