XBox 360 3 Red Lights Problem - Which Repair Option is Best For You?

So you're cruising along playing your favorite Xbox 360 "shoot'em up game" when all of a sudden "IT" happens! Bam! You've been hit with the infamous Xbox 360 3 red lights problem.

How can you tell? Well, your screen freezes, rebooting your xBox doesn't help, and you now have 3 red flashing lights on the front panel where you used to see 4 steady green lights. Your gaming has come to a sudden halt.

What you've just experienced is a hardware failure that has struck over 30% of all Xbox 360 owners. Those three flashing red lights indicate a hardware failure caused by overheating inside the GPU (general processing unit). You see, when the engineers designed the 360 they didn't design in enough cooling to dissipate the tremendous heat generated by the processors. So the result is with extended play or possibly defective chips inside your Xbox you end up with what has now been commonly known as the "Red Ring of Death". Now what do you do?

In the overall scheme of things what you need to do is improve the cooling inside the GPU. That means getting rid of the heat buildup faster.

Here's a quick rundown of your options...

1. If your XBox is still covered by Microsoft's extended three year warranty (which covers just the 3 red lights error) your only practical choice is to send the unit back to Microsoft for repair. The reason for this is that if you open your Xbox unit, you immediately void the warranty. So if you have any other trouble with your X360 Microsoft won't repair it for free.

2. If you are not covered by Microsoft's warranty any more, you have a few other options open to you. If you are not so mechanically inclined, your best bet is probably to send your Xbox 360 out to one of the third party repair services that have sprung up since this problem has become more and more common. I recently found a person on eBay who repaired 360's that specifically had the three red lights problem. The charge was around $45 with free return shipping. That particular unit has been working perfectly ever since.

3. If you are a do-it-yourself type person, there are several 3 red light repair guides available for instant download on the Internet. Just type in the "Xbox 360 3 red light repair guide reviews" and you will get a long list of websites that review the various guides. Be careful when using these sites for honest objective information. The majority of the sites are really just glorified advertisements for a specific guide that the website owner sells as an affiliate. In any case, all these guides now come with videos so that you really don't even need to refer to the manuals anymore. I recently repaired my son's Xbox using just the videos that came with a repair guide.

4. You're fourth option is to purchase a fan unit that you install right on the box. This fan add-on essentially sucks more air out than the simple convective cooling (i.e. heat naturally rising through the ventilation holes) that was designed into the original XBox. The fan add-ons cost about $40. They've had mixed reviews. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. If the chips inside the GPU have become damaged because of the excessive heat build-up, no amount of extra cooling is going to improve your situation.

Whichever option you decide on to get your hardware repaired, you will be playing again soon enough. Sure it's frustrating but then again the Xbox is a machine and machines to break so be patient don't panic and pick the repair option that best fit your situation.

After our evaluation, we've selected this one as the best XBox 360 3 Red Lights Repair Guide.

Your Xbox 360 Has 3 Flashing Red Lights - Now What?

I've talked to I don't know how many XBox 360 owners who've experienced the 3 red lights problem on their XBox 360 units. Their reactions range from sad to mad to confused to "HELP!". When an X360 flashes 3 red lights, there's really no need to panic, or even to get bent out of shape at all. You've got lots of company. Several hundred people visit this blog every week. And the only reason they're here is that they are having the exact same problem you are.

It's true that having the so called XBox "Red Ring of Death" is a major bummer. When my son's, X360 had this problem (about 2 week after he got it for Christmas) he was heartbroken. I would have moved heaven and earth to get it fixed for him. As it happened my best course of action was to send the unit back to Microsoft for the fix. It took about 2 weeks and there was no charge because the unit was still under warranty. If your XBox 360 is still under warranty, you should do the same. Don't void the warranty by popping it open and trying to fix it yourself. It just isn't worth it.

If, however, you are out of warranty, you should choose one of the following courses of action:

1. If you are not comfortable popping open the Xbox yourself and doing some simple repairs, then contact a 3rd party repair service for a quote (it'll be around $50-$75 and your XBox360 will be gone about a week, depending on the company's current workload.). Google it. You should find some repair places in your general area.

2. If you're like me and are a compulsive "do-it-yourself'er", you should seriously consider buying one of the XBox 360 3 Red Light Repair Guides that are available. The fix is an easy one, requires simple tools you probably already have, or that you can pick up at your local hardware store, and takes about an hour. And best of all, it sure beats being without your games for a couple of weeks, or more.

I've been through the top 4 guides and used each one to fix a different broken XBox 360 (I bought each of the 4 units on eBay and each had the 3 red lights problem). I managed to get all 4 of them back up and running within an hour by following the instructions in the respective guide book. Then I put them back up on eBay and made a nice little profit for myself. But that's another story.

Here's my no-nonsense reviews of the 4 XBox 360 3 Red Light Fix-it guides. Very brief summary... all of the guides will get the job done, but one of them is clearly superior to the others, in my opinion.

Good luck!

The Official Microsoft Support Page

Today I thought I'd take a pause and let you read Microsoft's official explanation of the XBox 360's 3 Red Lights problem. Nothing like getting your information straight from the horse's mouth. A search of the Microsoft XBox 360 support area of their website brought me to what you see below.

Now understand that depending on your situation, this information may or may not be helpful. Basically what Microsoft is saying is that you should first check your warranty status. If you're covered, great. Ship it back and they will, at their option, repair or replace the X360 unit. It's important to note that even though you'll be without your XBox 360 for the better part of two weeks, it's still worth it to go this route because if you open up the XBox 360 main unit, you automatically void the warranty. If you're out of warranty anyway, however, things aren't quite so simple. Microsoft will still fix it for you, but you pay their repair charge which is currently around $140.

The other two options, which I've discussed here in some depth, are to use a 3rd party repair service (figure around $50-$70 and 7-10 days), or get one of the Fix-it-Yourself repair guides. I went through the top 4 Xbox 360 3 red lights repair guides and posted my reviews.

Here's Microsoft's official position taken from their website (I've removed irrelevant navigation links for easier reading):

========================================================================

Xbox 360: Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light

Article ID : 907534
Last Review : September 15, 2007
Revision : 5.4

SYMPTOMS
You see three lights on the Ring of Light (RoL) flash red on the front of your Xbox 360 console. The upper-right quadrant light is the only light that does not flash red.

CAUSE
The three flashing red lights may indicate that your Xbox 360 console has experienced a hardware failure. Please read the letter that discusses warranty changes for three flashing red light hardware failures. To read this letter, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.xbox.com/support/petermooreletter.htm

MORE INFORMATION

If you suspect that you are experiencing this issue, you can submit a console-repair request online. However, before you submit your request, we ask that you first try the following two steps to verify that you are indeed experiencing this issue:

1. When you turn on the console, examine the light on the power supply. The power supply light should illuminate green even if the three lights on the Ring of Light flash red. If the power supply light is not green, please follow the steps that are listed in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

906101 Xbox 360: The power supply light is red
906102 Xbox 360: The power supply light is orange
906103 Xbox 360: The power supply light is not illuminated

2. Turn off the console. Wait 10 seconds, and then turn on the console again to see whether the symptom occurs again. If your console continues to display the three flashing red lights, your console may have to be repaired. For information about how to start the repair process online, please visit http://www.xbox.com/support, and then click Console Repair in the upper-right section of the Web page.

Note: The online console repair service is currently not available in all countries or regions.

If you would rather contact Xbox Customer Support directly, please visit http://www.xbox.com/support/contact for information about how to do this.

APPLIES TO

• Microsoft XBox 360 Video Game System
• Microsoft Xbox 360 Hard Drive (20 GB)
• Microsoft Xbox

==========================================================================

So there you have it. Whatever your current situation, I hope this helps to clarify your best course of action to get your XBox 360 repaired. And again, if you're out of warranty and are a do-it-yourself'er, you can get this problem fixed cheap and fast by following these guides.

Good Luck!

"One Light, Two Lights, Three Lights More..."

The XBox 360 3 Red Lights Problem isn't limited to 3 Red Lights. Did you know that you can also experience a 1 Red Light Problem? How about a 2 Red Light Problem? Yep. Although these XBox red light error cousins of the Red Ring of Death aren't as common, they're certainly every bit as frustrating. Here's a little more about them.

First off, you need to see which of the red lights on your XBox are red. It's a diagnostic code that points you in the right general direction of the source of the problem.

One Red Light
If you see the lower-right light in the 4 light circle flashing red, you're having a hardware problem. More specifically, a hardware failure of some sort. Here's what you should try first. Turn the XBox 360 power off, disconnect all of the XBox's external cables, reconnect them and power the unit back up. If you still see the lower right light flashing red, disconnect then reconnect the XBox's hard disk drive cable and power the unit back up. If the same light is still flashing red, power off the XBox, disconnect the hard disk drive cable again and power the XBox back up with the hard disk drive cable disconnected. If the flashing red light goes away, more than likely the hard disk drive on the unit has crashed. You need a new one. With Microsoft's new extended warranty, you should be able to call them at 1-800-4MY-XBOX and arrange to ship the unit back for a no charge repair.

"Two Red Lights Anyone?"
If the 2 left lights in the 4 light circle are flashing red, it means that the temperature inside the XBox 360 unit has exceeded the "safe" temperature operating range. You need to power off the unit and let it cool down. If you don't, you're risking more hardware damage. Also, check to make sure that the cooling fans inside the XBox 360's main unit are operating (you can hear them whirring) and the system has ventilation. Sometimes it's just a matter of putting the XBox on a hard surface (it doesn't like carpeting; tends to reduce cooling), or taking it out of an entertainment console (this also reduces ventilation).

Three Red Lights (aka "The Red Ring of Death")
Three Red Lights is by far the most common of the XBox 360's "Red Lights" problems. What you will see is show in the picture at the upper left corner of this page. The light in the upper-right corner is the only light that does not flash red. This also indicates a hardware failure. A couple simple diagnostics are to check the lights on the power supply. When you turn on the XBox unit, the power supply light should be green even if the 3 lights on the front of the unit are flashing red. If the power supply light is red, you have an electrical problem. Try plugging the XBox 360 unit into another wall outlet and power it up again. If the power supply light is orange, it means that the power supply is not connected to the main XBox console correctly. Try disconnecting the power supply, them reconnecting it. If the power supply light turns green, but the 3 red lights still flash red you need to look into your options for fixing the 3 Red Lights problem (see articles below).

If you want to get your XBox 360 back up and running as quickly as possible, you may want to looking into downloading one of the XBox 360 3 Red Light fix-it guides that are available. I've reviewed the top 4 guides for you at this site.

Reliability - How does the XBox 360 Compare To Other Gaming Systems?

A survey of retailers has suggested that XBox 360 hardware problems (all problems, not just the 3 red lights problem) affect approximately 1 in 3 XBoxes. How does this compare with other gaming systems? A former EB Games store manager, Mathew Girard, says that...

"Failure rates for all other consoles were not high enough for EB to consider revising their policies. Most other console systems have a failure rate of less than one percent, including the PlayStation 3."

Another EB Games manager, who asked not to be identified, was asked if the store warranty was "worth the price". For the XBox he said "yes, absolutely". For its competitors, including PS3 and Wii "probably not". So what are the return rates for the PS3 and Wii? This manager's store location has sold hundreds of XBox 360's, PS3's and Wii's. Amazingly, not a single Nintendo Wii has come back defective. Only a handful of PS3's have come back. And what about the XBox 360? At one time, close to 30% of XBox 360's were coming back, mainly with the 3 red lights problem. That rate has since dropped way down as Microsoft has addressed the problem.

A Best Buy store manager, who also wished not to be identified, verified the XBox 360 failure rate as being in the 25% - 30% range early on.

However, even with it's "Red Ring of Death" problems, the XBox 360 is still the most successful game console worldwide. Why? Well, speaking for myself, I like the wide selection of games, XBox Live, the overall performance of the 360, and the fact that Microsoft has somewhere around $50 billion in cash on hand and HATES to lose to anyone. I have no doubt that Microsoft is in the game business for the long haul. Video games have always been on the cutting edge of both hardware and software development. Video games have driven huge advances in graphics technology. A lot of the special effects that you see on TV and coming from Hollywood are directly related to innovations that originated in the video game industry. It's a natural fit for Microsoft and a connection they really can't afford to give up, with Google and other companies chipping away at their domination of the computer desktop.

With all that said, Microsoft still claims that the overall XBox 360 failure rate is within three to five percent of total units sold. This, they claim, is well within the industry standards. This claim simply isn't backed up with what the people who should know best are saying. At this point, however, it really isn't important anymore what the failure rate is. The XBoxes being sold today are much better in quality than those sold 2-3 years ago, so the recent reliability is probably in the 3-5% range that Microsoft claims. One just kind of wishes that Microsoft would stop "playing games" with their game. The fact that they increased the length of the warranty from 90 days to 1 year kind of says it all. I mean, what kind of a company stands behind their product for 3 months? It's absurd.

Based on a poll of retailers nationwide, conducted by DailyTech, the Xbox 360 was unanimously voted the least reliable gaming console on the market. The high failure rate of the X360 has even forced retailers, most of whom sell extended warranties on their electronics, to revise pricing on their XBox 360 warranty. Extended warranties have always been a huge profit center for manufacturers. The profit margins are typically 80% or more. For the XBox 360, EB Games was actually LOSING money on their extended warranty sales. Unheard of. So they doubled the price of their one year warranty. That speaks volumes.

"We had 35 XBox 360's on-hand when the console was first launched. I know more than half of them broke within the first six months. Two of them were dead on arrival." - said former EB Games employee Matthew Girard.

If you have questions about your XBox, Microsoft has an "800" number set up for consumers at 1-800-4MY-XBOX. If you own an XBox 360 with the 3 Red Lights problem and you are out of warranty, read my reviews of the top 4 fix-it-yourself guides and see if fixing the XBox yourself is for you.