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How to Repair Bricked Hitachi 360 Drive

Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles are manufactured with several brands of DVD drives, including Samsung, BenQ and Hitachi. An Xbox 360 DVD drives can become "bricked" if the heat stress inside the console causes it to temporarily fail. Xbox 360 consoles are prone to overheating, and replacing the thermal paste on the system's CPU and GPU will repair the "bricked" DVD drive. Repairing the console with new thermal paste will take approximately 20 minutes.

Things You'll Need

Torx screwdriver (size 7)
Thermal paste

Instructions

- 1
  Unplug the system's power and video cables. Remove the plastic faceplate from the front of the machine. Remove the outer plastic shell of the console, then unscrew the Torx size 7 screws with the screwdriver. Slide the metal cover open to access the console's motherboard.
- 2
  Disconnect the DVD drive's data and power cables and lift the unit out of the system. Unscrew the large metal heat sinks from the Xbox 360 CPU and GPU then apply a small dab of thermal paste to each.
  
  The Hitachi DVD drive sits directly on top of the system's GPU heatsink, causing severely high temperatures inside the machine which can cause the DVD drive to temporarily fail.
- 3
  Rescrew the heat sinks on the CPU and GPU. Return the Hitachi DVD drive to its original position. Plug in the DVD drive's data and power cables, then replace the console's metal case. Rescrew the Torx size 7 screws. Replace the system's plastic cover. Return the faceplate to the front of the machine. Plug in the video and power cables. Turn on the system and test the Hitachi DVD drive.

Xbox 360