How To Fix The Red Ring of Death
The XBox 360 Red Ring of Death (a label put on the X360 by the gamer community to describe the "3 red lights problem") has as it's primary cause overheating inside the GPU (general processing unit) of the X360.Apparently the 360 design team underestimated the amount of heat that would be generated by the various internal components during prolonged and heavy game play. This is kind of surprising considering the immense R & D resources that Microsoft has at its disposal. A combination of too few ventilation holes and placement of the Xbox 360 in enclosed entertainment consoles or on thick carpeting resulted in not enough convective cooling taking place ("convective cooling" is the process where when hot air rises it is replaced by cooler air from below). The addition of cooling fans and more heat sinks would have probably avoided this problem.
If you haven't yet experienced the Red Ring of Death you're luck. Here's some simple steps you can take to reduce your chances of ever seeing it:
- Keep your X360 away from any heat sources in your house such as other electrical components, heating outlets, sunny spots, etc.
- Avoid putting your Xbox in enclosed areas such as entertainment consoles or bookshelves. This has a dramatic and often crippling effect on the ability of the Xbox to cool itself simply because the heat generated has nowhere to escape to.
- Don't put your Xbox on thick carpeting where the bottom holes can easily be plugged by the carpeting. If you have to put it on carpeting, put the Xbox console vertically on its end.
Try shutting off your Xbox, unplugging all the cables and letting it cool down for an hour or so. Sometimes, this will get rid of the 3 flashing red lights. Be advised however, that once you've experienced the 3 red lights problem, you will most likely see it again at some point. It's not a problem that just "fixes itself".
If letting the Xbox cool down by itself doesn't work, you or Microsoft, or a third party repair service is going to have to open up the Xbox and perform a more permanent repair.
Microsoft has a special 2 year warranty specifically for the 3 red lights problem. If you are still covered under this warranty, you should send your Xbox back to Microsoft for repair. If you try to fix it yourself or send it out to a 3rd party repair service, you'll void your Microsoft warranty.
The 3rd party repair services that fix the Red Ring of Death are a good option for people who are uncomfortable opening up electronic components and taking them apart. These services will typically charge between $40 and $50 and have a turnaround time of 5 - 7 days. It's a very good deal if you don't feel comfortable going the "do-it-yourself" route.
If you are comfortable with trying to fix the 3 red lights problem yourself, there are several do-it-yourself fix-it guides available on the Internet that you can download immediately. These guides take you step-by-step through the repair process and most also include videos, which are a great addition because they let you watch a particular step in the repair being done before you do it yourself. You can then just start the video over and pause it when necessary while you perform that repair step.
Four of the top guides that explain how to fix the red ring of death are reviewed on this website.
