More 360 Trouble
Last week the newer 360 died again and now brings up the e74 error. I finally got around to taking it apart, but could not get it going again. I decided to take a look at the original 360 I had since I knew I could get it revived again by overheating the GPU. I looked around for some more cooling mods I could do and found a couple.
The first mod I did was making the fan that blows on the GPU run at a faster speed. Normally the fans on the 360 self adjust as it gets hotter. To make the one fan run faster I just had to cut the red positive wire on the GPU Fan, Solder another wire to it, and then solder the other end of the wire to a 12V source on the motherboard. Here are some pictures of the process.
The 360 is quite a bit louder, but if this helps the problem it is worth it. At least I only did one fan or it would be even twice as loud.
The next mod is to put some tinfoil over the air duct, so the air flow covers more of the GPU. You don’t want to cover the whole GPU though as the DVD drive sits right over the GPU, so it needs some cooling as well. Here is a picture of an example of this.
So far the 360 is running again. I guess I’ll find out for sure if these help if it is still running in a couple of weeks.
Yesterday I also set up the server, so I could stream movies from it to the 360. I’ll explain how I did that in a future post.
The mod ideas and pictures are courtesy of llamma.com
Fanboys Update
There is now a an email address that people can spam to try and get Fanboys shown in more theatres. The address is Fanboys@weinsteinco.com Here is a quote from rebelscum giving some ideas to help get this out.
Be sure to let all of your Star Wars buddies know about this email address. Post it on bulletin boards, forums, MySpace, Facebook, your mom’s fridge, and anywhere else you can think! Let’s pull together and get the word out on this one!
Also if you live in or near any of the cities showing it, please make the time to see this film opening weekend so that our voice is heard!
Here’s a template text for what you may use to send to the Weinstein Co. (change XXX to your city):
Subject line:
Fanboys Limited Release
Text:
Dear Weinstein Co. Employee,
I am writing to you to voice my unhappiness about Fanboys only being released in eight cities and 40 theaters. I live in XXX and thus will not be able to see the movie, even though I very much want to. I know more fans who do not live in or near any of these cities that have excitedly been waiting for the movie and are now very disappointed that it is not showing near them.
Please expand the release of Fanboys to more cities, particularly XXX. I assure you that I will stand in line at the ticket booth and pay to see it if it comes to XXX.
If you are not the right person to address this to, please forward my e-mail as appropriate. Thank you.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
Here is also a new clip was released from the movie.
FanBoys Gets a Limited Release
I’ve been anxiously awaiting this movie for almost two years now. It keeps on getting delayed and now it is finally coming out, but one little issue. They are only opening it to the following cities.
Fanboys Opening Weekend Cities on Feb. 6, 2009:
Austin TX
Houston, TX
Chicago, IL
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
The idea now is if it does well in those cities then it will go to more.
The original idea behind this movie is that it is early 1999. A group of friends that are Star Wars fans have a friend among them with cancer. He finds out that he doesn’t have long to live and will not make it to the premier of The Phantom Menace. The friends decide to go on a road trip to Skywalker ranch to steal the movie print, so their friend can get his last wish of seeing the movie.
About a year ago they did some reshoots of the movie to remove the cancer element to the story. Many fans were outraged over this and then were told that the DVD release would have both versions of the movie. I’m not sure which version they are going with for this theatrical version. Anyway the movie looks like it will be good fun and has cameos from many of the original Star Wars cast including: Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams. Even Williams Shatner makes a cameo in the film.
I hope I at least get to finally see the movie some time this year even if it has to be on DVD.
Here is the latest trailer
25 Years of Transformers
For Christmas Sarah got me the 25th Anniversary Optimus Prime reissue that was released several months ago here to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Transformers this year. Like previous U.S. reissues of Prime they had to shorten the smokestacks to comply with new safety laws. I couldn’t have that and ordered some replacement longer stacks for mine. This reissue is a little different than the others in that they made the red and blues lighter and the trailer is also a light grey instead of a dark grey. It has been said it was to help make Prime resemble closer to the cartoon colors. One final change are the autobot symbols on the shoulders are now pre printed instead of stickers. I didn’t mind the changes since it makes it another variation to the 4 other Primes I already own. 
The set also comes with a reprint of the 1st Transformers comic and a DVD with the first 3 episodes of the original cartoon series. Overall I think it is a pretty cool set of one of the greatest toys to come out of the 80′s. I am still appreciative that my dad bought me an original Optimus Prime as a kid. It has always been one of my favorite toys and it was well played with.
Here are some pics I took of the new prime and a comparison shot with my 25 year old original.
Xbox 1.6 Mod
I had a coworker interested in having an xbox modded. I found out it was a 1.6 revision motherboard which is one of the most difficult to mod, but I decided to take on the challenge. I found a decent chip called the Duox2 GS and also found a seller on xbox-scene.com. He was only charging $13 shipped for them, so I decided to order 2 of them to have an extra on hand.
I now wish I would have taken some pictures after the work was done, but figured I would go through the installation process with some pictures already out on the net. Continue Reading →
