The song is called ‘Red Ring of Death’

Basically, as I have described in other posts on this blog, if you turn your Xbox 360 console on and you get a variation of the red lights as shown in the diagram below then it probably means your machine is experiencing some issues with internal heating.

However, you need to be certain that this is the case before you take the next step.

You could be lucky and it may not be a serious error with your console but rather something as simple as the AV cable not being detected. So before you run back to store waving your receipt and claiming a refund, read your manual thoroughly to be certain of what the problem is.

The illustration below will help you to diagnose your issues:

Today I just wanted to make a quick post to share a great video with you showing you a preview of a video series dedicated to teaching people how to fix their own Xbox 360′s.

It’s just a short video that demonstrates how simple it is to disassemble your Xbox 360.

Enjoy!

Find out more by clicking the book picture below.

I won’t go into any great technical detail here – there are plenty of other websites that do that and if you want a quick and reliable fix without having to trawl through tons of information then you can find one HERE

The most basic explanation for why the xbox 360 has such a high failure rate can be attributed to one main reason, it’s design is fundamentally flawed leaving it prone to performance issues triggered by overheating.

The xbox 360 console is one of the most powerful machines on the market today, in fact I can remember prior to it’s release people used to rave about how Microsoft have managed to condense the power of a desktop PC into a gaming console – and I’m afraid therein lies the problem.

Take apart any PC or laptop today and you will find that an essential component of the machine is its cooling system. The components inside get extremely hot during usage and need a system of cooling fans in place to keep them from overheating.

There are also many other theories as to why the Xbox 360 has such a high failure rate ( some sources have quoted it as being as high as 50%) including:

* A fundemental design flaw in the layout of the internal components leading to poor dispersal of internal heat build up consequently leading to the machine overheating.

* Microsoft attempting to save money in design costs by building certain components themselves (namely the graphics chip)  rather than outsourcing the design. Microsoft have subsequently gone back to outsourcing the design of the graphics chip after their own designs suffered multiple failures.

* Soldering and assembly of various components not being of a high enough standard leading to circuits being broken due to cracking solder joints.

These are just summaries of the main explanations for the xbox 360 high failure rate and there is an excellent Wikipedia article going into even more detail on all of these areas.

So, as you can see the console does seem to have its fair share of problems mostly related to the machines overheating issues.

As an enetrtaining sidenote, some amazingly creative people have solved the heating problem by inventing their own cooling systems. Check out this amazing video below:

Obviously, I don’t recommend anyone try this method unless you really know what your doing.

There is a much simpler method I do recommend though if your xbox 360 keeps freezing up and you can learn more about it by clicking HERE

The first time this happened to me was actually on Christmas day.

My girlfriend had bought me a console together with a few games and I was delighted.

Doubly so because she’d actually managed to buy me the Halo Special edition xbox 360 which I had being dropping some not so subtle hints about in the weeks up to the holiday period

xbox 360 keeps freezing

I unpacked everything, excitedly coupled everything up to the TV set, loaded the game – which was Halo 2 – and began playing.

Everything was fantastic at first and I was in gaming heaven much to the annoyance of my girlfriend who was slaving away over a hot stove cooking the traditional turkey dinner.

Then suddenly the screen just froze in mid game play – ok, nothing too out of the ordinary there, I’ve been playing console games for a number of years now and they do tend to freeze up from time to time.

So I simply did the usual thing of powering down the console, leaving it for a few moments and then powering up again. Luckily I hadn’t progressed too far into the game so it didn’t take too long to get back to where I was. Then to my dismay – Bam!! it happened again.

At first I thought it might be the game that was faulty but after trying the other games I got with the package I soon found out that it was the console at fault – every game I played on the Xbox 360 keeps freezing up.

So I had to do without it over the holiday period as all the stores were closed and I couldn’t return it. So come the new year I returned it to the store and was greeted by the shop assistant with the words “Oh crap, not another one” which immediately set my alarm bells ringing.

Anyway, I explained that the xbox 360 keeps freezing up during gameplay and the console was promptly changed and I got it back home, played on it for a few hours and everything was hunky dory . . . for a while!!

A month later I started to notice a red light on the front of the console around the power button (see picture)

xbox 360 red light

I also got a message up on my TV screen which is now infamously known as the E74 error and basically means your Xbox is screwed.

xbox e74 error

So again I had to go back to the store for a replacement, luckily I was still within the guarantee time period and they promptly replaced the console for me.

After this I had many months of problem free game play but trouble was just around the corner

The freezing problem reared it’s ugly head again and then finally I got the fatal 3 red rings of death around the power button which meant that there was a serious internal problem with the console.

By now many months had passed and my store warranty had run out. so began my epic quest to repair my dead xbox 360.

I learned many things during those months of research and I will share them all with you in this blog.

Most importantly of all I’m happy to say that I finally found an excellent solution and my Xbox 360 was up and running within 1 hour and is still running perfectly today

If you don’t want to read through my blog posts to find out more on how I fixed my xbox 360 you can get straight to the information by clicking  HERE