@gsuberland that's amazing, cheers. Believed to this day it was about solder. So were Microsoft penny pinching on the 360's design?

I never did try the towel technique. My launch model died after 13 months, its replacement was DOA, and I sold my third one to move. My 4th (the redesigned jasper model) eventually died, but reapplying thermal paste and using a new X frame to hold the heatsink in place sorted it out. Although I only tried after buying a 360E. So have two! They both still work.