The Xbox 360 and its infamous Red Ring of Death is still a hot topic in the gaming community despite the fact that this console was released on November 22nd, 2005. I found an article titled Xbox 360 Hardware Care Guide on Gamer 2.0 that is worth a revisit since so many people continue to have issues with their 360s breaking.
The most important points of this article (some taken verbatim) :
- Do not change the orientation of the system while you have a disc in the tray. Some people have learned this the hard way unfortunately. Moving the 360 when it has a disc in it will result in the disc being scratched so severely it will no longer be usable. And that is no good.
- Try to keep the system in a place where there are no obstructions to any of the intake vents. It’s not enough to give the system room for the exhaust air to go, it also needs to be able to easily take in cool air. Try to place your console in an open of an area as possible.
- The power supply also has to be kept in a good location. It has a fan in it which intakes air through one end and shoots it out the other. Make sure both ends are clear.
- Put the Xbox 360 on its own outlet. The Xbox 360 pulls down 160 watts of power, doubling the original Xbox’s power needs. If the Xbox 360’s power supply can’t get enough power to run steadily, it’ll either shut down or try to draw more, which will result in the PSU heating up more than it needs to.
If you do all of these things and still get the Red Ring of Death, here are a few more solutions for you. I don’t necessarily recommend trying these methods, but if it is already broke you don’t exactly have a lot to lose, do you? Try at your own risk.
Posted by Silvercube on June 1, 2007 at 12:28 am
It was nice to see something that I could read and watch angel. lol i didnt bother with those halo videos cuz they arent appropiate 4 me. And umm the girly stuff lmao.. so I did enjoy reading some stuff, like the Halo 3 custom games (I saw The Don Wan playing some custom games*gasps* lol) Hope you are doing well my friend. Take Care:)
Posted by Quantifier on June 1, 2007 at 10:37 am
good to know about the towels angel – never heard that before (and hopefully i’ll never have to try it).
Posted by MacNTosh on June 1, 2007 at 2:02 pm
As a red ring of death survivor, I recommend letting Microsoft do the work. Even better when you have never registered your launch unit and when it does die you end up with a new replacement and three year warranty on Microsoft’s dime.
Posted by jake on August 21, 2007 at 5:42 pm
OK. The first video, when the camera leaves the 360, they switch the boxes. Don’t beat your box or it will break a board.
The second video is just funny. He has two 360’s and just plans to start a fire in your house. The hotter the machine gets, the harder the system works to cool itself off and viola: A fire ensues. Notice how in step 2 he doesn’t wait till the red lights come on… because the lights would be green.
Posted by AutumnSilverMoon on October 29, 2007 at 7:10 am
Jake, he was doing a reenactment of how he fixed it. He fixed the night before, after finding out it worked, he made the video to show how he fixed it. So in step 2 the light would be green cause he fixed to the night before.
Posted by DB on March 11, 2008 at 1:46 pm
ya silvermoon is right, plus me and my friends did this when his 360 got the rings at a all night tourney, it worked like a charm
Posted by Per K on April 24, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hiya, I just wanted to ask something; The thing about not re-positioning your Xbox while a disc is in the tray – does this only apply to when the xbox is turned on, or does it also apply to when it’s turned off?
‘Cause, I had my xbox lying down, but put it in a upright position with a disc in the tray when it was turned off. Is this harmful to the Xbox?
Thanks :)
Posted by bs angel on April 24, 2008 at 2:04 pm
To be safe, even when it is turned off I would remove the game disc if moving it. But the main thing is to not move it AT ALL when it is turned on and a game is in the tray. The games spin at an incredibly fast rate so moving the console at all will result in a scratched disc that more than likely won’t be playable.
Posted by Per K on April 28, 2008 at 10:42 am
Oh, ok, thanks ^^. But you don’t think I’ve caused any damage to my Xbox re-positioning it with the disc inside when it was turned off?
Just want to make sure that my Xbox is still in top-notch condition :).
Posted by bs angel on April 29, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I’m really not sure, but I will send some good vibes your way to help keep your 360 healthy and happy. :)
Posted by Quenie on June 25, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I need an advice. Is the X360 better to place it horizontally or vertically?
Posted by bs angel on June 26, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I think you’ll find people who swear by both ways. I personally keep mine horizontal. The main thing to keep in mind is housing it in an area with lots of airflow around the console itself and also the power brick.
Posted by wantan0 on November 14, 2008 at 2:02 pm
in case anyone cares (which i doubt anyone does) i think i know what the towel trick does.
The 360 has 2 main issues
1) poor ventilation
2) sloppy soldering job
over time, heating and cooling cycles warps the mother board, causing hairline cracks in the solder, thus render the system useless. I think super heating the system with the towels resets the solder, but only just enough to make it work for a short time.
keeping the system cool will probably delay the RROD (no promises though) so keep it in an open area away from walls, carpets and closed spaces. A fan blowing into the bottom might help because i think the bottom is the primary intake vent (hence, a sideways setup might be better then a vertical one).
Im not going to pretend im an xbox expert, cause im not, but ive done some poking around on the interwebs to keep mine from dieing and this is what ive found.
thanks for tolerating this long post :)
Posted by Waffle Deluxe on February 21, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I use fruit salad to keep my xbox cool