Xbox 360 Repair - Microsoft, Third Party Repair Service or Do-It-Yourself?

So your XBox 360 has the infamous 3 Red Lights Problem (or XBox 360 'Red Ring of Death' , if you prefer). What's your next step? You've got 3 options:

1. Send it back to Microsoft
2. Send it to a third party repair service
3. Fix it yourself


1. Send It Back To Microsoft?
This is a fairly straightforward decision. If you are still in warranty, bite the bullet and get it fixed by Microsoft. It won't cost you anything and their fix is a good one. There's no guarantee that you won't have any more problems with your XBox 360, but if you do, it probably won't be the 3 red lights problem.

2. Send it to a Third Party Repair Service
The third party repair services sprung up early on when people started having the 3 red lights problem and Microsoft balked at fixing it, throwing out some pretty bizarre statements and blaming everything on the customer. Like Microsoft, the third party repair services will give you a permanent fix (for the 3 red lights problem anyway). They've priced it low enough to make them a viable option, but only if your XBox 360 is out of warranty AND you are not a do it yourself'er. Expect to pay $50-$100 and be without your XBox for 7-10 days.

3. Fix It Yourself
If you are out of warranty and don't mind popping open the Xbox, there are some excellent guides for the do-it-yourself'er. The guides take you step-by-step through a permanent fix that will take you about an hour. The added benefit of learning how to fix the XBox 3 red lights problem is that you can now fix more than one. Many people have started a nice little side business for themselves buying broken XBoxes on eBay, fixing then, and re-selling them. You won't get as rich as Bill Gates. but you'll certainly make enough to finance your XBox 360 addiction (hey, there are worse things to be addicted to). Of course, you should only go this route if you're comfortable going inside your computer and working on it. Personally, I love doing that kind of stuff, but I know it's not for everyone.

I'm in the process of writing a guide that will explain step-by-step how to start an XBox 360 repair business. It's not hard at all, and as I mentioned, it's a nice little sideline to finance your game addiction. I'll post more information on it in about a week.

Here's the best of the XBox 360 Repair Guides.

Good Luck and Good Shootin' !

Xbox 360 Red Lights - What is Microsoft Doing About It

So in the "real" world, if you put out a lousy product, the market tells you that by not buying it. So why is it that there are still so many XBox 360 red lights issues out there?

Well, my thinking goes something like this... the xBox 360 is not a lousy product. It is great product with a design flaw. To use an analogy with people, what's the first thing people do when they are accused of having a flaw, large or small? They deny it of course. Well, companies have "personalities just like people do. In Microsoft's case, their personality at the time the xBox 360 was being designed and built could best be described as arrogant. Too much success too soon does that to you.

So you can imagine what was going through everyone's heads during the design an launch of the xBox 360. Probably something like "We're Microsoft. We don't make mistakes. We make great products and we make a lot of money."

The xBox 3 Red Lights problem brought them back down to earth. It took a while, but the red Ring of Death became an undeniable reality for Microsoft and they've been forced, by their own customers, to take it seriously. It's not caused by misuse, abuse or neglect, It is caused by a design flaw, pure and simple.

In the case of the xBox three red lights problem, the design flaw is insufficient cooling. The xBox 360 is actually a very powerful computing platform. Most video game consoles have more computing power than their desktop PC cousins. Graphics is the reason, Those great graphics take incredible amounts of raw calculations. And anything that is working hard generates heat.

What Microsoft is doing with new xBox 360's is designing in a more efficient cooling system to dissipate that heat. The cooler the xBox 360 runs, the better it feels.

However, the vast majority of xBoxes out there still have the potential to suffer from the 3 red lights problem because they don't have the new design. That's why a small industry has sprung up around fixing the xBox 360 three red light problem. The Red Ring of Death do it yourself fix it guides. There's services that will fix it for you. And then of course there's Microsoft's $140 fix it plan (if you're out of warranty).

Personally, I like doing things myself. Popping open a computer and working on it is not something that scares me, as long as I have some sort of guide to tell me exactly what to do. There's a website out there that reviews the top 4 xBox 360 Three Red Light fix-it-yourself guides. Check it out. The guides are around $25-$30 dollars and the fix takes about an hour.