Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is a great piece of gear, there is no doubt about that. The amount of computing power housed in that little box is more than what your average personal computer had not so long ago and of course this can be seen in the quality of the graphics and the complexity of the game play. All of this computing power does have a by-product though and unfortunately this can have an adverse affect on machines.
The by-product that I am talking about is heat, and it is the enemy of these gaming consoles. Whether it be put down to a design fault or the placement of the machine when in use, they have trouble in effectively dissipating the built up heat which can have a detrimental affect on the hardware. Often the dreaded ‘red ring of death’ is caused by heat build up, sometimes even after a short gaming session.
The ‘dreaded red ring of death’ is when the lights on the front of the console, which are normally green, turn to red. The number of red lights showing can give you an indication as to the nature of the problem and possible causes. The best situation to have is all four segments of the light showing red as this indicates a disconnected AV cable. Turning the power off and reconnecting the AV cable is all that is needed to solve that one.
Having three or one red light showing is what you don’t want as this indicates a hardware failure, which is quite often attributed to a build up of heat that has affected the internal components such as the motherboard. It is quite possible that switching the unit off and letting it cool down for a reasonable period of time may return it back to normal, however this is not always the case and often further inspection and repairs are needed.
If your machine is out of warranty, and given that the original warranty only covered the first ninety days, there is a good chance that you will be able to repair it yourself with the right information. There is no need to send the console off for repair and wait weeks for it to return and pay through the nose for something that should not have happened in the first place. The frustration of having the machine play up in the first place is only compounded when you are forced to wait weeks for your console to be returned and as documented throughout the net there is no guarantee that it will be one hundred percent when it comes back anyway!
Take matters in to your own hands and check out the range of DIY Xbox Repair Guides and save both time and money!
