store?
i bought my usb thingie through team executer
but now that my drive has changed i just used a sata card to flash it.
im not sure about a mod chip, some folks say theyre ok for the 360, but i just did the firmware mod to my dvd drive. Other than that id wait, since MS is now putting a heat pipe on theyre 360’s to combat the heat issues (that is if u have to buy another one)
i have no fans or anything on mine to cool it better.
mine actually just died a couple days ago too. wtg microsoft! i pulled all the wires, HD out, etc… it worked fine for about an hour session, next day it was smoked again. i know its like $ 125 to send it in, and i’ve browsed the random instructions here and there for the fixes.
13005ted - would you PM me the directions/steps you took so far in your repair attempt? (or anyone else who knows how to do it properly for that matter).
some of them are just not fixable, like mine…lol
i tried everything, so i just bought a cheap core unit and swapped everything.
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/Xbox-360-Disassembly.htm
Thats how to disassemble it.
Some people use the heat gun, Im trying the, “wrap the XBox in towels/blankets to get it to overheat and melt the solder to make better connections procd.”
Look a few pages back here in the “Huge Nerd…” section about “ring of death”… it shows a clip o how to do the heat gun procd.
…and it works again. Going 4hrs now. 
Ended up doing the towel proceedure again…for 20min. and a 1hr cool down.
Ahem… speaking of that.
Since you kept it so long, can I get a copy of Forza2? I’ll give you a Verbatim DL.
I keep my 360 on a little folding baking rack I stole from the wife so it gets good airflow all around. Everything I’ve read says more issues are heat related so hopefully that will help.
lol u know something i was out your way friday, lol im sorry i forgot.
yes ill burn u a copy.
Ha… no problem man. Since I got banned I don’t see any reason I’m going to need to flash firmware in the near future 
Update: I fixed my X Box with the 3 rings of death. I did the “X-clamp elimination”…mod. At first, I got the 3 red lights back. I checked to see what code I had (hold controller reset button in, then hold the DVD door open/close door in, then release and hold again the open/close door button) I got a code telling me it was the GPU problem. I adjusted the bolts…and I had it working for 4hrs straight tonight.
Not telling anyone this is a absolute fix…but, its a option.
Now, I have spliced my rear fans to run at 12V all the time. I’m also going to add another fan or two to the top to blow into the CPU and hopefully get some air onto the GPU.
If anyone has a dead X Box 360…I might be interested in buying it.