October 10, 2007

Hardware Failure- The Red Ring Of Death and What It means for Your X-BOX 360

If you're like most gamers out there, you can't stand to be away from your XBOX 360 system for too long. As a matter of fact, you probably count the minutes until you can return home, pop in your favorite game, and play for hours in front of your big screen TV. Sounds like heaven, right? Of course it does. Well, it is about to sound a whole lot worse. Why is that? Because of the "RED RING OF DEATH!"

If you don't know what that is, you should consider yourself fortunate up to this point, as you have not yet had to deal with this horrible situation. The "Red Ring Of Death" is basically a hardware malfunction that "breaks" your X-BOX 360; indicated by 3 flashing red lights. Breaks= No Longer working, Must be repaired by a profession. How serious is this problem? Well, it's so serious that it has affected thousands of xbox360 owners and continues to affect more each and every day.

"AM I GOING TO HAVE TO BUY A NEW XBOX 360!?!?" Luckily, no. Although every case is different, the problem is very fixable and the warranty will still cover the damages. On the other hand, if your warranty has run out, the repairs will not likely be free. You won't have to shell out $300-$400 mind you, but you may wind up paying around $100-150 to get your console fixed.

What causes the XBOX-360 malfunction? Overheating. The professionals at Microsoft won't give any specific data about the true cause of the "Red Ring", but most experts quickly agree that the console just runs too hot. This is mainly due to the design of the 360, as everything seems to be smashed together in that sleek white box. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but it is in this case because there just isn't a sufficient amount of air traveling through the innards of the console to keep it cool.

The appearance of the XBOX 360 is very sleek and very sexy, but was it worth the trade for long term functionality? We may actually find out soon enough. Generally speaking, things would have worked out much better if the design included more air holes in more effective places; like the front of the 360 for instance.

Aside from the fact that it is horribly inconvenient and may cost a bit of money, the "Red Ring Of Death" is really more of a nuisance than it is a crisis (for individuals). Sure, you won't get to play your XBOX 360 for awhile, but things could be much worse. Just be glad that the problem can be fixed and that you will be able to play again within a few weeks (usually less than one week). The bad news, though, lies with Microsoft as they are going to lose a bundle for this foul up.



Suffering from the "Red Ring Of Death"? Well Click Here To Find Out What You Can Do to Fix the problem.

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