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Having your favorite recreational activity taken away when you are in the middle of doing it is fairly high up there in life's aggravations. Sure, it's just a gaming console and the world is full of more pressing concerns, but good money was spent on your Xbox and getting the red ring of death is a bit much.

The red ring of death as you know, refers to the three quarter circle of red lights that form around the power switch whenever your Xbox 360 stops working.

Something You Need to Know Before Proceeding Further:
OPENING UP YOUR CONSOLE WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY.


If your warranty has expired or if you've already worked inside your console then there's nothing to lose now. Otherwise you ought to give it some careful thought first.

Problems

Xbox 360 heat is excessive.
There are a lot of high powered components within the Xbox 360 that are packed into a small space. Now, a lot of heat is put out by these components. Heat sinks, fans, and vents inside the console are used to dissipate this heat. Because of it's marginal cooling capacity, this system easily overheats if the airflow into the Xbox 360 is obstructed. When the heat levels get too
high, various design flaws begin to act up leading to the red ring of death.


Xbox 360 solder is brittle.
In order to avoid using lead in products used by children, Microsoft made the Xbox 360 with lead free solder. Lead free solder tends to be more brittle. To make matters worse, the wrong type of lead free solder was used by Microsoft, one that gets really brittle with heat exposure over long periods. If you stress this brittle solder, tiny hair-line cracks will develop. The cracks can obstruct the flow of electrical current and also result in a weak solder joint that easily breaks.


Xbox 360 heat sink has foil attached.
Xbox 360 heatsink clamp causes motherboard to flex.
The X clamp is a questionable design because it's clamping force is very uneven. This uneven pressure intensifies when the CPU and GPU get hot, which makes the motherboard bend and flex. Solder joints made of brittle lead free solder get stressed when the motherboard flexes. With enough repetition of this stress and heat, cracks and breaks occur in the solder joints.


Xbox solder process was sub-optimal.
The soldering process during manufacture was done at too low a temperature. When lead free solder is under heated, the resulting solder joint is full of voids and other defects. These weak joints won't hold up for long even under normal circumstances. If you include the other Xbox faults such as running too hot and warping of the motherboard, you've got the perfect formula for failure.


The Graphics Chip Puts Out Too Much Heat
Instead of going to an experienced vendor for its chip design (ASIC vendor), Microsoft designed the graphics chip in house, in other words, on it's own. They did this in order to save some tens of millions of dollars in the cost of the design.

Although Microsoft has some experience here, it doesn't come close to the level of expertise of the ASIC vendors. As a result, their graphics chip is inefficient in that it dissipates too much waste heat.

This problem dovetails in with the weak cooling system in the console.

Microsoft has gone to an ASIC vendor in the US and had the graphics chip redesigned. This move goes a long way to resolving the overheating problem.

However, there are lots of Xbox units in use that still have the old graphics chip. These will continue to be susceptible to heating problems.

Xbox trouble shooting procedure

1.Restart the console.

2.If this did not work, there could be a loose cord or cable. First, any cables and power cords that can be removed should be disconnected. Unplug the power cable from the wall plug. Firmly reattach all cables and cords back into the console. Now connect up the power and turn on the console.

3.If the above step didn't work, then try turning off the console, unplugging the power and then disconnecting the hard drive. Now plug into the power and turn the console back on. If console does not show the three red lights error, turn it off and disconnect the power cord from the wall. Finally, reconnect the hard drive, plug in the power, and turn on the console.

4.If you are using a defective surge protector, plug strip, or extension cord, your xbox may not be getting adequate power. Try plugging the power brick directly into the wall. This sort of thing happens more often than you might think. My DSL connection used to be very unreliable until I bypassed my surge protector and plugged my modem directly into the wall. I should have done this in the first place rather than making a lot of angry (and useless) phone calls to my internet service provider.

5.If you think that your machine has overheated, then turn it off and let it cool down. Ensure that the cooling vents are not blocked in any way and keep your Xbox 360 in a ventilated and open area.

Do not place near it any sources of heat. There are obvious sources like heaters and radiators and such. But less obvious sources include the electrical devices that are sitting on top or beneath your xbox.

Try removing any dust buildup inside the machine.

Cool off your console with a small fan.

Tip the console on it's side so that more surface area is exposed to the surrounding air.

Don't forget to keep the power brick cool, so keep it off of shaggy carpeting. Better still, place it on an elevated surface. You can even hang the power brick by its cord off of a hook.

Keep the rear of the console clear. Don't push it up against a wall and keep any debris away. This includes not allowing any cords and cables to get all bunched up in this area.

Don't do any all day gaming marathons. Limit your gaming to just a few hours, then turn it off and let it cool down for a while. The warmer the room temperature is the shorter your playing time should be.