Friday, July 10, 2009

Xbox 360 No Video

By Kris Nickels

An Xbox 360 that seems to be getting no video signals is a big problem. Everything seems to be moving and humming like usual, you wouldn't know anything was wrong if it weren't for that minor detail of nothing being displayed on your television. All lights are green, and everything looks the exact same it did last night. Why is this happening?

This type of problem is actually somewhat common. The audio comes and goes, but most of the time you'll still hear it loud and clear, it's the video that always seems to disappear. It is pesky, irritating, annoying, and irksome; yes, but now we should focus on fixing it.

Just in case, it is a good idea to make certain that the TV is both on and operational. And also, that the AV cable did not somehow get knocked loose or anything like that. An easy way to double-check both of these things, is to take your Xbox over to a friend's place and use their TV and AV cable. That way you will know whether the problem lies in your Xbox or just in the cable--because one of the two is certainly easier to replace.

What is it that causes this to happen? As it turns out, it is the same thing that causes the famous Red Ring of Death. No, not bad luck, but overheating. The heat makes strange things occur inside that shiny shell; losing all visuals is one of them. In essence, this no video error is like having the red ring of death--just without the actual red lights.

Of course, it's reasonable to be less than comforted by this. Nonetheless, there is a positive to this predicament. Red ring of death is very well known, especially in comparison to a no video type problem. And with all that knowledge, is the knowledge of how to fix it. If you can fix one, you can fix the other; and I can help you fix both!

When an Xbox 360 is repeatedly used, it heats and cools over and over again. Though not usually a problem, after some time certain components can become damaged by this ebb and flow of heat. One such part is the GPU. The graphics processing unit--doesn't that sound like it would be responsible for a video related problem? As it turns out, it is. The GPU doesn't shatter into pieces or anything like that, its link to the motherboard just weakens. Because of this wimpy connection, not all the right information gets sent out to the rest of the Xbox. And your lovely visuals are the first to go.

Repairing this means going in deep. You have to reestablish the link between the motherboard and the GPU. At the same time, it is a very good idea to replace the old thermal compound you will find there. Improving your Xbox's cooling will prevent this problem from coming up again.

This all sounds very intimidating for such a seemingly simple no video problem on your Xbox. Luckily, as daunting as all this may sound, the fix is rather simple! It can be done by a beginner in roughly an hour. Why wouldn't you want to try that?

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