Imagine playing your favorite game on your Xbox 360 and you were almost finished with the mission when suddenly it freezes. Ouch! The graphics would not move and no error message has appeared. Even the error lights would not appear. You tried shutting it down and restarting, but after a few minutes of game play, the problem starts again. What the hell has just happened with your Xbox 360?!

The Red Ring of Death

If you look carefully at the lights panel, you will notice that it is broken up into four sections, all of which glow green when the console is functioning correctly. For the purposes of identifying correctly the position of each light, Section One is on the top right hand corner section of the circle, Section Two is on the bottom right hand corner, Section Three is on the bottom left hand corner, and Section Four is on the top left hand corner. When all sections but number one of the light ring are glowing red, your Xbox 360 console has experienced a general hardware failure and is basically unusable.

However, many Xbox 360 owners are not aware that different types of red flashing lights actually mean different things, some more serious than others. If Section Two of the light circle is the only one glowing red then it means the console has simply overheated.

The Xbox 360 is notorious for overheating due to a somewhat inefficient heat removal system. Using the 360 for extended periods can cause overheating. The only solution for this is to power the console down for an hour or so until it has cooled down. To help prevent overheating move the console to an area which has plenty of air flow and where the console is raised off the ground.

If all four sections of the light circle are glowing red then the problem is even easier to fix. All that has occurred is that the AV cable has become disconnected from the back of the console. Completely remove the Xbox 360 AV cable and plug it back in until a clicking noise is heard. Restart the console and all should be working as normal.

However, if the console still displays the four red lights then you should contact the Xbox 360 technical helpline at 1-800-4MY-XBOX for American gamers, and 425-635-7180 for international gamers. Tech support is only available between 6am to 10pm Pacific Time.

The Red Lights of Terror

The “three red lights of terror” is the same “red ring of death” that many Xbox 360 users have encountered. One such user have solved the problem by checking the flow of power to his Xbox. He plugged and unplugged the power cord, alternating between plugging directly into the wall socket and plugging into a power strip. The user, goldeneyemaster from gamespot.com, discovered that the power strip was not delivering a constant flow of power unlike the wall socket. The power brick of theXbox 360 seems very sensitive to power flow surges.

Tips and Tricks

There have been temporary tricks that were passed around gaming communities regarding the Red Ring of Death in the early Xbox 360 models. One trick was to wrap a towel around your unit to encourage more overheating.

This trick sometimes works on occasion if one of the solder joints inside the Xbox that connects one of the chips to the board becomes cracked. When you overheat your Xbox 360 with the three red lights on, the solder sometimes melts and forms a proper connection again. However, this fix is temporary and overheating any device can cause more problems to its system than fix them.

The Freezing Problem

Microsoft seems to be very much aware of the problem and is happy to exchange your defective Xbox with a new unit complete with shipping and delivery costs. However, the same problem will still occur if you don’t take care of your Xbox 360. Make sure you don’t use it for long periods without a way for the console to release the heat. Place it somewhere where there is constant air flow and it should be plugged into a power source with a constant flow of electricity.