What to Do If Your Xbox 360 Fails

Every owner of an Xbox 360 fears the day they will see the dreaded three flashing red lights of death. I myself have encountered this horrible problem at the all-so-happy time of Christmas. Although it wasn't all as bad as I imagined it, there are still a lot people that do not know what to do once their Xbox 360 fails. I know I keep saying "when" it happens, because for the majority of owners out there, it WILL happen, because Microsoft has a major issue with its consoles. The point of this article is to help out anyone who has gotten the ring of death and hopefully give them a little info on how to check if their console just has some bad connections or if they need to send it in.

For some reason there have been several people that just haven't had their power cords plugged in right or a wall outlet has caused some problems. If you call Microsoft support, they will tell you the same thing. If you get the 3 flashing red lights of death, the first thing you need to check is if your power cord is correctly plugged into you're the console and the power supply. Try plugging the power cord into an outlet with nothing else plugged into it.

If that still doesn't work, unplug everything from the Xbox 360 and from the outlets. Wait a couple of minutes and try plugging it all back in again and maybe try using another outlet just to say you tried. So now if either of these things still haven't worked then I'm afraid it's time for the ever exciting phone call to Microsoft support.

It's actually not all that bad but the first person you talk to isn't really a person but a machine. This thing is the most annoying thing I've encountered in a while but it went quickly thankfully. Eventually you will be connected to a real living person and you will kindly tell them your console has failed. They will want your manufacturer date and model number that is located on the bottom of your console. From there she will give you an ID number after she gets your personal information like name, address and so on. Once your done talking to the individual, it will then be up to you on how quickly you want your system back.

My console failed before Microsoft extended the warranty but mine was a launch model so they did it for free except for me paying to ship it to them. They never sent me a box so I just found my own and sent it out. I just shipped it ground from UPS since I figured it would take a long time anyways but you could definitely ship it overnight if you really wanted it back quickly. It took a week to arrive in Texas and only a week to get it back. They will send you a refurbished one so if you have kept your old one in mint condition like I have, then you might be a little disappointed. Bottom line though, you will finally get your 360 back and can game once again.