My Problem
After a move (and years of accumulated dust), my Xbox 360 - which I had years ago sent to Microsoft to repair the three RROD failure when it was still under warranty - would shut down with two red rings, with the message when it was rebooted telling me to move the system to a more open area. Following that advice did not work, so I opted to give the repair kit a shot.
My Fix
The repair took me quite a while. To be fair, I had never done this kind of work before, really. The last time I opened up any electronics was probably around 2005 to put in a sweet new video card on my college desktop. The instructions I found on the guide on ifixit.com were pretty clear most of the way through, though I did find myself occasionally looking for outside clarification in youtube videos and whatnot. The inside of the xbox was not quite as dirty as I had thought, but the old thermal pads on the RAM chips were mostly not even attached. I was surprised by the amount of force I needed to remove the heat sinks from the CPU and GPU. This slowed me down a bit because I was thinking I missed a step somewhere. The cleanup of the old thermal paste from the CPU, GPU and heatsinks was the most meticulous step, taking quite a while. I did use nail polish remover with acetone (and gelatin!) to help me out at this point, but I never really got it super clean, but I did my best with the spudger. I applied the new thermal paste, added the new heat sinks, and new thermal pads, then put it all back together. I was not super confident that I didn't screw it up, but I was willing to give it a shot. A few days later, and my Xbox 360 is still running marvelously, quieter than I can remember it running before. Definitely worth the effort and money saved.
My Advice
Have plenty of space to work and keep your parts. Give yourself plenty of time. Take it slow if you're new to it, like I was. Don't get discouraged if you get stuck somewhere, I was able to find plenty of resources for my specific hiccups as I went along.
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