The Horrid Ring of Death: Maybe Not

So Horrid After All…Hah!

There is one thing that is absolutely feared by any owner of the Xbox 360. This thing is the image of all that is evil, and an indicator to many that all hope is lost. This is especially true in older Xbox models. This terrible symbol is known as the "Red Ring of Death".

The "Red Ring of Death" is a red ring that surrounds the power button to indicate a general malfunction of the Xbox 360. Unfortunately, general is literal, as there are at least 4 component issues known to cause the red ring of death.

Heat is one of the most common. The components of any computer generate temperatures that would even make someone living in Death Valley sweat, and when vents and airways are obstructed, this heat can not escape. The red ring of death occurs in this case because certain design flaws begin to manifest themselves in these extreme temperatures.

Another may be damage to the solder holding the computer parts together. Microsoft intelligently decided to use a lead-free solder for the sake of childrens' health, and better yet, a solder that grows brittle and cracks from extended exposure to heat. These cracks prevent the flow of electricity, thus causing errors in the the system. It is also possible that the solder was under heated when being applied, thus causing the same problem but in an even more extreme case.

The heat sink for the CPU has also been known to cause issues. The x-clamp used to hold it down is known to apply an uneven force on the motherboard, thus causing it to bend and warp when under intense heat. This eventually causes things to break, ruining your Xbox 360. Also on some heat sinks, Microsoft forgot to remove some of the foil on the underside, thus causing heating issues.

The last issue is mostly found in older Xbox 360s. Microsoft decided to design the original video card for the 360 in house. THe result was something that worked, but put out a horrible amount of heat. Fortunately, newer Xbox 360s have cards designed by an ASIC vendor in the US, which have essentially removed many of the heating problems in newer models.

If, after checking all of your cords, surge protectors, outlets, and given your Xbox hours or even days to cool off, then it might be time to ship it in to Microsoft or a professional repair shop, before anything gets too damaged. If it turns out to just be overheating, you might want to invest in a cooling array. You can find a variety of them on sites like eBay for relatively cheap.

Whatever you do, DON'T do either of the next two things: wrap your Xbox 360 in a towel in an attempt to heat the internal soldering. While this might help the soldering, it also bakes the internal chips. Basically you'll end up with a silicon-chip cookie. Not a good thing. Also, you should never expose your 360 to anything less than room temperature when trying to cool it down. The instant hot to cold is very stressful on the components, which were designed to run at room temperature.