JasonBayer.com

A couple of weeks ago, my son goes to power up our Xbox 360 to jam out to Guitar Hero 3, only to find 3 red lights flashing endlessly at him.  He called me downstairs to check it out.  I uplugged the machine (AV cable and power supply) so see if there was a bad connection or something… I plugged it back in… No luck, just three red blinking lights.  So, I pull out the Xbox360 Users Manual (gasp!) hoping to find a shred of information about what’s causing the problem.  I find a section under Troubleshooting called “Ring of Light Flashes”.  I figure this section will hold the solution… WRONG!  I go onto read:

• Four lights on the console flash red: Check your AV cable.
• Two left lights on console flash red: The Xbox 360 is too hot and will not play games until cooled.
• All other patterns: Internal problem requires service.  Contact Xbox Customer Support. Do not pass GO.  Do not collect $200. You’re screwed!  Are you kidding me!!???

I decided that I wasn’t going to call Microsoft since my Xbox was 3 years old and most likely out of Warranty and that I’d do some research on Google to see if I could find a solution to this problem.  I had heard that the Xbox 360 had issues with overheating and figured that other people were facing similar issues. During my research I came to find out that The Red Ring of Death occurs because of overheating. The Xbox 360 designers decided to put in the bare minimum of necessary cooling equipment into the system in order to create a slim and light console. So in a nutshell, with all the graphics and CPU processing power the 360 has, it simply hasn’t enough heatsinks and fans to keep the components cool enough.

The first “free-solution” that I found was a hack that called for wrapping your Xbox 360 in a towel and basically letting it overheat hoping that the connections would re-solder themselves back together.  I decided against using this method as I figured that this could probably do more damage to the system and would most likely be a very temporary fix.

I then found an article on a website pointing to a reputable website that offered an E-book guide and hi-res video tutorials that would help get my Xbox 360 back into working condition.  The website I was directed to was called X-box 360 Red Light Fix.  They were offering their e-book guide, access to the HD step-by-step videos, and customer support for $29.00 with a 56 day money-back guarantee.  After reading through their sales pitch on the site, I thought that this would be the route I would take since I could at least get my money back if the fix didn’t work and it was developed by guys who have done the repair and made it work.  The following is a frame grab from one of the video tutorials:

After purchasing, I was directed to a Members Only website that had the downloadable guide and the 8 HD video tutorials.  I then learned that I would need other tools to complete the repair including a Paper Clip, a sharp pointy knife, T8 & T10 Torx screwdrivers, Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste & ArcticClean Cleaning Kit and some screws and washers.  So it took me a little while to gather all of the necessary tools, but I was able to track all of it down either on the internet or at local hardware stores such as Home Depot or Lowes.  The tools ended up costing me around another $30 so I now had approximately $60 into the project, well under the $140 that Microsoft charges to make the repair.  I highly recommend that you have ALL items before you start the repair.  Also, make sure you get the Hex-type screws that they show in the guide, I tried it with flat-screws and they were not long enough.

Once I had all the necessary tools in hand and a couple of free hours to spare, I started the repair.  This fix is not for the faint of heart, as it is necessary to complete disassemble your Xbox 360 down to the motherboard.  I would also recommend watching the entire series of videos and reading the guide BEFORE you start the process.  The following is an image of my Xbox360’s motherboard with heatsinks removed and cpu and gpu exposed before re-assembly.

It was very helpful seeing what I was about to encounter and perform prior to getting my hands dirty.  The guide and video tutorials do a great job of taking you step-by-step through the repair process in easy to understand language. I must say that it took me a little longer than the 2 Hours they claim to perform the repair, however, I really took my time throughout the process, making sure not to damage any of the internal components and making sure that I completely removed all of the old thermal compound residue from the chips.

I was a bit skeptical and extremely nervous that this fix would not work, and that I would be left with a dead Xbox 360. But at the end the day the fix worked as promised, and my son is now happily playing Guitar Hero once again!

If you are out of warranty on your Xbox360, don’t want to send your Xbox back to Microsoft and wait 6-8 weeks for a costly repair, and have a little techno-know-how, then I highly recommend Xbox360RedLightFix.com as a solution to the Xbox 3 Red Rings of Death problem.  If you have any questions about the guide or process, please feel free to comment and I would happy to offer you some advice.