Signs Your XBOX360 is Getting the Red Ring of Death and Some Solutions
Sunday, November 4, 2007
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Microsoft calls it “Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light”. You and I call it the Red Ring of Death or The Ring of Fire, or even “Son of a…”
But how do you know your XBOX 360 is going to die?
Symptoms
These are the symptoms I saw right before my XBOX360 got the Red Ring of Death.
First off, it happened really quickly, for me, over a matter of a couple of days. I made the symptoms bold to make them easier to pick out.
1) I got my first freeze-up playing Bioshock. I was in the middle of a gun fight, when all of a sudden the screen froze with no sound. At the same time, the light on my controller was going crazy. By this I mean the light was racing around the circle really fast, as if the controller was on but not connected. I had to turn everything off by pressing the button on the console, as the controller was non-responsive.
2) I played for about 20 more minutes that night, with occasional freeze-ups.
3) Freeze-ups increased rapidly. Soon I was getting them after only a few minutes of play, then after a few seconds of turning on my XBOX360. Each time I had to turn off the 360 by holding down the button on the console.
4) One time I got the Red Ring of Death. By this time, I was getting freeze-ups every time I turned on the console. Microsoft describes this as: “You see three lights on the Ring of Light (RoL) flash red on the front of your Xbox 360 console. The upper-right quadrant light is the only light that does not flash red.”
5) I also got an Error 71. This means a general hardware failure. The TV had white dots all over the screen.
Oh No! I’ve got Issues! Now What?
First, read this: Use this information at your own risk! I am not an expert in these matters, just a moron who can type. You are responsible for your own actions in this matter.
Before you do anything else, look at the power button, and the four quadrants that surround the button (the ring of light). Microsoft has published some solutions that may fix the issue. Below, I have linked the symptom to the Microsoft article online.
The power supply light is orange
The power supply light is not illuminated
If those solutions don’t work, call Microsoft at 1-800-4-MY-XBOX (in the US and Canada).
In the next couple of days, I will post other solutions I’ve found online.
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20 Responses to “Signs Your XBOX360 is Getting the Red Ring of Death and Some Solutions”
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Avery says:
November 5th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Kevin, did you finish Bioshock? I finished it last night. Great game!
Kevin says:
November 5th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
No! I really want to, but I’m nervous… since it crashed my first xbox 360. It was so good though! Well, I’m glad you finished it, anyway, hopefully without issues.
BlackRoseImmortal says:
January 6th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I was playing Oblivion and I counted over a three week period it froze twice, I usually play oblivion for an average of 6 hours every night. But Ive been getting very worried lately because gameplay has slowed increasingly, could it be a heat issue? Would an outside fan blowing on the xbox help it cool down? Please comment back. My 360 is dear to me… :unhappy:
Kevin says:
January 6th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
It could be! I would give Microsoft a call. They were really helpful in my case. Have those freezes been after a long period of play?
I would make sure that your xbox is in an open space with nothing blocking the vents. It should have a lot of open air around it.
Kevin says:
January 6th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Black Rose,
Here is an article I just found. It’s a little old but offers a solution:
http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=5124
BlackRoseImmortal says:
January 6th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Yeah, I usually play for extensive periods of time…Its been getting more frequent lately, And Im afraid to play it now…
BlackRoseImmortal says:
January 6th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Thank you so much for your help, I will try it immediately :happy: :happy: :happy:
Kevin says:
January 6th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Alright, well, please let me know how it goes! And thanks for the comments.
BlackRoseImmortal says:
January 9th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
It went well, the lag stopped along with the freezes , thanks!
Kevin says:
January 9th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Great! That is so good to hear. Hopefully you won’t have any other issues.
Kyme says:
October 26th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
im on stage 5 i have freeze ups rapidy and almost every time i turn on my 360 elite. in the past ten minutes i have had white dots and bright colours all over my screen. but no red rings yet do you think i should get a repair now or wait till i get red rings??? please advice!!!
Kevin says:
October 26th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hi Kyme.
I just emailed you. How old is your XBOX?
John says:
October 26th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
You probably want to get that looked at before Fallout 3 comes out.
nick says:
December 25th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
what if there is a ring on the game like I got gow 2 for christmas when I went to play it for a second time it said it was dirty so I took it out cleaned and there was a ring on my copy of gears of war ?
nick says:
December 25th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
kay so what if theres a ring on your games then what ?
ctoke420 says:
January 26th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
nick its probably a heat ring it happens when u move ur 360 while its on or its standing up
i had a disk get one while i put my saints 2 copy on my dtv reciver take it 2 gamecrazy and have them buff it out
keep blazin
lateer
Oddball808 says:
February 17th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Brah my xbox keeps freezing and everytime i go on xbox live to jam some halo3,it freezes and then a single red ring illuminates.
do i have to send it in or i goota buy me a new one?
Andrew says:
April 10th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
So 3 nights ago I was playing NHL 09 and my 360 kept freezing up. Now when I try to play NHL 09, the game freezes and I get disconnected from X-box live. Does that mean I am getting the Red Ring Of Death?
Kevin says:
April 10th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Andrew: Does your xbox play other games ok?
Martin says:
July 4th, 2009 at 8:56 am
k so whenever i play fallout 3 and halo 3 ( online) my 360 freezes and the screen goes black n my controller sometimes vibrates for no reason while flashing like crazy
also i have got error E67 and also i have got a blank screen right after booting up my 360 then the bottom right quadrent gores and flashes red
any help?