When Your Xbox 360 Gets the Red Ring of Death

The Red Ring of Death is an extremely common malfunction that affects the Xbox 360. One survey puts the percentage of Xbox 360s afflicted by the issue at over 54%. Fortunately for Xbox 360 gamers, Microsoft extended the warranty to three years to make up for the widespread issues, but still hasn't fixed the problem.

If your console is in the three year warranty when it gets the Red Ring of Death, you can contact Microsoft and get them to repair it for free. In order to do this, you just need to go to www.xbox.com and navigate to the support page. On the left hand side, click repair your console. You will then be asked to either sign in or create a windows live id so just follow the directions.

After signing in, you can register your console by entering your serial number and your address. Then you can request a repair on the website by clicking on that option and then selecting the proper reason for requesting the repair (The console is flashing three red lights). You then can describe the problem and select the shipping option you would prefer. You have the choice of getting a prepaid box shipped to you, being mailed a shipping label, or printing out a shipping label. After that all you need to do is ship them your Xbox 360 and wait for them to ship it back. The repair process normally takes about three weeks and you will also get a free month of Xbox Live gold.

If your console is out of warranty, then you have a few other more expensive ways to fix the issue. The first way is to send your console in to Microsoft. Since it is out of warranty, you will be charged but it is approximately $100 dollars, much less than a new console. Microsoft also gives you a one year warranty with the repair.

Another option you have is to buy a Arcade version of the Xbox 360 and use your old hard drive on the Xbox 360. Although this is twice the price of the repair, you will get another three year warranty and also have a good chance of getting an updated Xbox 360.

If you are desperate and don't have the money for either option, you can try the towel trick. The trick involves wrapping your Xbox 360 in towels and running it for fifteen minutes. This supposedly fixes the RROD by overheating the motherboard into correcting whatever issue it has. Another more risky option is to buy a repair kit off the internet and follow the instructions there. This can cause more harm than good though so I don't recommend it.

Good luck with getting your Xbox 360 fixed and I hope you have many hours of happy gaming on it.