Towel wrap curing Xbox 360 red ring of doom? Nah, not really.
Red ring of doom? Wrap that sucker in towel (actually, don't). Several Xbox 360 owners have reported that the simple practice of wrapping their broken consoles (displaying the 'red ring of doom,' a.k.a. 'red ring of death') in cotton towels, and then running the systems for 10 minutes, restored the units to working order (at least for a few hours). The consoles would work again, if and when the "trick" was repeated.
What sounds like urban myth, might actually be steeped in truth. Wrapping a 360 in a towel may mimic the affects of the heat gun fix. That is, apparently the red ring of doom is frequently an indication of a faulty ball grid array (BGA), used to solder the GPU chip. The towel wrap holds in the console's excess heat, likely melting the BGA and re-establishing a temporary connection between the GPU and circuit board. Of course, the heat will also damage numerous plastic parts within the console. Not recommended.
[Via Engadget]
