ProdriveSTI

Has anybody got any advise re xbox360 “red rings of death?

Just been having a quick blast on the xbox 360 tonight with few mates when I swapped for another game - it then would not load - screen went funny - xbox was sounding like it was tryin to read the disc but it could not - then got the 3 red rings?

Switched it off & unplugged every thing
Taken the hard drive out
Tried again - just will not load up?

I take it this is a known fault as its recently happened to a friend of mine? But as usual you think its not going to happen to you?

Is it now a bin job?

Mrs is not impressed either - as she knowns that another one might be in order

Your advise is most welcome

Craig276

Had the same problem a few weeks back pal.

If you registered your console when you got it

Give the number a ring on this page.

Xbox.com | Contact Support - Support Contact

They were brilliant, UPS came to pick the console up the next day to take it to microsoft headquarters, they fixed it and had it back with me within 48 hours!!

All this was done free of charge. HAPPY DAYS!

ProdriveSTI

Had it the 1st day it came out - however I dont think I have ever registered with MS?
I take it I cannot still ring them tomorrow? etc?

Craig276

Only thing I suggest you do pal is ring them in the morning, they will ask for your serial number on the back of your console, and hopefully they should sort it for you.

I was very impressed with microsoft with the way they solved this problem.

Let me know how you get on pal.

ProdriveSTI

Thanks for the advise!
I will ring them tomorrow - we just tried to load it up - no red rings this time but will not load to the menu screen - just crashes & freezes???
with or without a game inside?

Will keep you posted!

Cheers

ScoobyDoo555

mine's just gone back for hte rings of death

out of warrantee - "that will be £85 sir"

THEN they fukked up the pickup , so nearly 2 WEEKS later, UPS managed to pick up the box (after Micro$haft, forgot to post the labels - they ended up emailing them)

Am waiting for the box to be returned in working order......

Hope yours goes more smoothly than mine has so far.

Still won't tempt me to get a PS3 though!!

DAn

ProdriveSTI

Just rang the help line!
Yes being one of the 1st in the UK to buy the xbox360 its now out of Warrantee too -
The guys say £86 to fix the known problem!
Im thinking about taking this up with the trading standards......MS know this is an known problem with the hard ware & the newer xbox360 consoles have been updated to this problem does not happen!!!

Im not happy about this situ!!

If this were a car - it would have been recalled to have the newer chip inserted!!!

AllanB

XBOX 360s are junk ! I've been appalled at the quality but then thats MS for you. I'm on my fifth since November ! Current one crashing most days but the best I;ve had yet the one before died after 13 days !

Like you say I think trading standars shoulkd be loking at this but as a mate of mine runs the Xbox division it wouldn't go down well


AllanB

PeteBrant

The best bit is when UPS pick them up. WHen they picked up mine he said "Xbox, is it?"

They handle *lots* of returns. The product whilst being aces when it works, is very, very poor design.

ProdriveSTI

I am defo taking this further?
I was under the impression that if i bought a BRAND new xbox360 this would have the updated software by MS??

I have one the 1st batch that was bought into the UK in DEC 05???

Does we know what causes this problem?

Is it the console? or the Hard-drive? that causes the screen to freeze? & no able to play any game etc....?

ProdriveSTI

Any one?

Are newer xbox360's better than the release versions??

hux309

From what i can gather nope...a lot of the time the problem seems to come from the thermal paste on the gpu degrading and causing heat related problems

XBox 360 Rally » Blog Archive » The Red Ring of Death...Cure Found!


"From what I understand of the towel trick," he explains, "is that when they were making the motherboards for the 360, some of the solder points weren't done correctly, and sometimes they only make a very weak connection or not a connection at all. What the towel trick does is prevent a lot of the heat produced by the system from escaping out of the rear vents. If you build up enough heat inside the box, you are actually performing a half-assed re-solder of those cold solder points, expanding the metal with the heat to make a stronger connection."

Oddly, it seemed to work. After about 20 minutes, Stephen's Xbox sprang back to life, the red ring replaced with the healthy green glow of a normally-operating Xbox 360. His wife suggested it was somehow unnatural.

"[She] insisted that we had just brought a zombie, albeit a tiny plastic zombie, into this world, but even she couldn't hide her excitement at having the little guy back," says Failey, who's taken to calling his 360 "The Zombox."

But the towel trick isn't a permanent fix. Failey's Zombox failed again after seven days of normal use, and subsequent attempts to resurrect it via terrycloth and happy thoughts have produced less desirable results.

The Escapist : News : Red Ring of Death

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Try this first before returning it . . .

1) Remove your hard drive and/or memory units.
2) Run “Initial Setup” under the system blade.
3) Decline inserting HDD or memory unit when prompted.
4) Sync your controller and pop in a game.

Here's another one if you're feeling brave and don't want to fork out any cash . . .

360Mods › News › Hot Air Gun Fix For Three Red Lights / Error Code 0102

Both the above done at your own risk

PeteBrant

Anything to do with Heat on the 360, I.e the towel trick etc is not fixing the problem - it is simply reseting a thermal trip switch.

In other words, the 360 reports problem (i.e. the ring of death) and when you do the towel trick it resets this error, and allows the 360 to work again until the trip conditions are met again

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

The heat gun/towel trick is reheating cracked cold solder joints, but is temporary and it will happen again.