Xbox Troubleshooting: Red Ring of Death Fix

To Shoot or Troubleshoot Your Xbox 360, That is the Question...

There are few things more frustrating than being absorbed in your favorite activity and then suddenly having it snatched away. As a kid, my parents routinely did this to me, but I digress... What I'm really talking about here is the infamous red ring of death.

The red ring of death as you know, refers to the three quarter circle of red lights that form around the power switch whenever your Xbox 360 stops working.

Discover below why this comes about, what to do before you get your console repaired, and finally, how to make your own repairs and whether you should.

Something You Need to Know Before Proceeding Further:

OPENING UP YOUR CONSOLE WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY.

If your warranty has expired or if you've already worked inside your console then there's nothing to lose now. Otherwise you ought to give it some careful thought first.

So Why Does the Red Ring of Death Happen in the First Place?

Causes for the Red Ring of Death

Well it seems that Microsoft's 'get the product to market first, deal with the bugs later' approach has left the consumer with a product full of design mistakes. These bugs can either act alone or work together to shut your Xbox down.

Six of these are explained below.

1. Heat

Xbox 360 heat is excessive.

There are a lot of high powered components within the Xbox 360 that are packed into a small space. Now, a lot of heat is put out by these components. Heat sinks, fans, and vents inside the console are used to dissipate this heat. Because of it's marginal cooling capacity, this system easily overheats if the airflow into the Xbox 360 is obstructed. When the heat levels get too high, various design flaws begin to act up leading to the red ring of death.

2. Lead free solder

Xbox 360 solder is brittle.

In order to avoid using lead in products used by children, Microsoft made the Xbox 360 with lead free solder. Lead free solder tends to be more brittle. To make matters worse, the wrong type of lead free solder was used by Microsoft, one that gets really brittle with heat exposure over long periods. If you stress this brittle solder, tiny hair-line cracks will develop. The cracks can obstruct the flow of electrical current and also result in a weak solder joint that easily breaks.

3. Flawed heat sink clamp design

Xbox 360 heatsink causes motherboard to flex.

The X clamp is not a good design because it's clamping force is very uneven. There is a plastic spacer at the center of the X clamp that concentrates excessive pressure on the motherboard at one small spot. This pressure intensifies when the CPU and GPU get hot, which makes the motherboard bend and flex. Solder joints made of brittle lead free solder get stressed when the motherboard flexes. With enough repetition of this stress and heat, cracks and breaks occur in the solder joints.

4. Left over foil on the heat sink

Xbox 360 heat sink has foil attached.

On a number of it's units, Microsoft failed to remove some foil on the heat sink. Several "ring of death" failures can be attributed to this. The thermal compound must be reapplied if you decide to remove the foil.

5. Deficient Manufacturing Process: Soldering Temperature Was Too Low

Xbox solder process was sub-optimal.

The soldering process during manufacture was done at too low a temperature. When lead free solder is under heated, the resulting solder joint is full of voids and other defects. These weak joints won't hold up for long even under normal circumstances. If you include the other Xbox faults such as running too hot and warping of the motherboard, you've got the perfect formula for failure.

6. The Graphics Chip Puts Out Too Much Heat

Graphics Chip Was Designed on the Cheap by Microsoft.

Instead of going to an experienced vendor for its chip design (ASIC vendor), Microsoft designed the graphics chip in house, in other words, on it's own. They did this in order to save some tens of millions of dollars in the cost of the design.

Although Microsoft has some experience here, it doesn't come close to the level of expertise of the ASIC vendors. As a result, their graphics chip is inefficient in that it dissipates too much waste heat.

This problem dovetails in with the weak cooling system in the console.

Microsoft has gone to an ASIC vendor in the US and had the graphics chip redesigned. This move goes a long way to resolving the overheating problem.

However, there are lots of Xbox units in use that still have the old graphics chip. These will continue to be susceptible to heating problems.

Troubleshooting Tips for the Red Ring of Death

Xbox troubleshooting before you do repair.

Before opening up your Xbox 360 or sending it away for repair, you may want to try out a few of these tips. With luck, your Xbox hasn't been seriously damaged yet. So keep your fingers crossed.

Troubleshooting tips in order from the simple to the more complex:

Xbox trouble shooting procedure

Restart the console.
If this did not work, there could be a loose cord or cable. First, any cables and power cords that can be removed should be disconnected. Unplug the power cable from the wall plug. Firmly reattach all cables and cords back into the console. Now connect up the power and turn on the console.
If the above step didn't work, then try turning off the console, unplugging the power and then disconnecting the hard drive. Now plug into the power and turn the console back on. If console does not show the three red lights error, turn it off and disconnect the power cord from the wall. Finally, reconnect the hard drive, plug in the power, and turn on the console.
If you are using a defective surge protector, plug strip, or extension cord, your xbox may not be getting adequate power. Try plugging the power brick directly into the wall. This sort of thing happens more often than you might think. My DSL Internet connection used to be very unreliable until I bypassed my surge protector and plugged my modem directly into the wall. I should have done this from the start rather than making a lot of angry phone calls to customer support.
If you think that your machine has overheated, then turn it off and let it cool down. Ensure that the cooling vents are not blocked in any way and keep your Xbox 360 in a ventilated and open area.

Do not place near it any sources of heat. There are obvious sources like heaters and radiators and such. But less obvious sources include the electrical devices that are sitting on top or beneath your xbox.

Try removing any dust buildup inside the machine.

Cool off your console with a small fan.

Tip the console on it's side so that more surface area is exposed to the surrounding air.

Don't forget to keep the power brick cool, so keep it off of shaggy carpeting. Better still, place it on an elevated surface. You can even hang the power brick by its cord off of a hook.

Keep the rear of the console clear. Don't push it up against a wall and keep any debris away. This includes not allowing any cords and cables to get all bunched up in this area.

Don't do any all day gaming marathons. Limit your gaming to just a few hours, then turn it off and let it cool down for a while. The warmer the room temperature is the shorter your playing time should be.

XBox 360 Cooling Systems

Xbox cooling devices

If the above cooling suggestions weren't enough, there are plenty of external cooling devices designed for the Xbox 360 being sold on Ebay. Click the thumbnail image to the left or here for an itemized list.

Two things you should NOT do:

Xbox towel trick

1.) Bake your Xbox - Otherwise known as the towel trick.

Wrapping a towel around your Xbox so that it gets hot enough to melt and maybe join some broken solder joints will also bake the internal chips. Baked chocolate chips in cookies are very good. Baked silicon chips in Xboxes are very bad.

Even if you pull this off without damaging the chips, the fix is only temporary in most cases. So there's not much to gain from this risky technique.

2.) Freeze your Xbox.

Don't put your console in the freezer or out in very cold weather. Trying to cool down an overheated Xbox in this way is very hard on the internal electronics which were meant to operate near room temperature.

If all else has failed...Repairing Your XBox

The Xbox 360 Three Red Lights Fix

If you're still having problems after trying the above suggestions, getting your machine repaired is the next step. All Xboxes experiencing the ring of death have had their warranties extended for three years beyond the purchase date. If you have opened up your console this warranty is void.

If you're not used to working with your hands, then sending your Xbox back to Microsoft is the safest way to go. But expect up to several weeks of delay before your repaired Xbox gets back to you. It doesn't make sense to do otherwise unless you're feeling comfortable about doing the repair yourself.

An expensive but quicker option is to send your console to a repair shop.

For those who are inclined to take matters into their own hands, the quickest and cheapest option is to repair it yourself using this guide. If you can follow directions, it's fairly simple to do. My sister recently repaired her kid's Xbox.

Fix Your Xbox Yourself.

This guide will fix these problems:

Freeze ups
Distorted Graphics
2 red lights error
3 red lights error (ring of death)
4 Red Lights
E74 Error - this is the error where you get text on the screen saying E74

The fix will take you 40 mins to do and you do not need any special equipment just a screwdriver set and a few household items, and also has full videos and a guide to take you through each step with ease. Not one single item or process is left out.

If you do this fix following the videos you will have a working xbox. The fix is permanent.

Included Bonus: FREE Ripping software that will allow you to back up your favorite game with ease.

Useful Amazon Products

Xbox 360 Repair Kit - X-Clamp Hardware Replacement

1 used & new available from $12.95

Xbox 360 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

by: Brian Johnson, Duncan Mackenzie

14 used & new available from $5.97

Moonknight 7 Piece Opening Tool Kit for Xbox 360 and Xbox

1 used & new available from $9.99

Xbox 360 Intercooler 360 - Black

52 used & new available from $7.99

The Gadget Geek's Guide to Your XBox 360

by: Jonathan S. Harbour

38 used & new available from $9.90

Xbox Innards: Motherboard, Heatsink, X Clamps, and GPU Close-ups

After taking off the Hard Drive and the DVD Drive the motherboard was left.

This is what's underneath the case, dvd drive, hard drive, and all those other c...

After removing the X-clamps and heatsinks.

Um, yes.

After removing the X-clamps and heatsink and before cleaning off the exisiting t...

Xbox 360 Heatsink and GPU by color_fantastic

Another shot of the heatsink.

XBOX case cut open for GPU fan to escape

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More Info here:

Inside Source Reveal the Truth About Xbox 360 "Red Ring of Death" Failures: An individual who has worked on the Xbox 360 project for many years had these unflattering remarks to say...
Wikipedia: Useful and comprehensive information on the ring of death from Wikipedia.

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