how do i get rid of 3 red lights
xbox was working fine 1 minute the next red light show

david ccc, August 2008

Its very simple to fix. I have fixed quite a lot of 360's just by replacing the thermal paste between the cpu & gpu and corresponding heatsinks. The x-clamp mod is not always required.

Owain, September 2008

dont wrap the xbox in towels this is the fix that i said try.it only lasted for about a week and now it gone again.john is right microsoft have extended the warranty to three years. the xbox was picked up by UPS and its now on its way to franfurt to be repaired

phil, September 2008

See my fix available on ebay (www.stores.ebay.co.uk/levitts-loft)

Adam, September 2008

Also 1 more thing... this would be more computer related than game system because IT Professionals on this forum could answer your questions better than Gamers. I read up on the problem and have a 360 sitting in my room apart that is throwing that code... it seems that what Microsoft did was somehow outsourced to a Chinese 3rd party company that didn't know 100% what they were doing... and also the design of the 360 cooling system is pure cr*p... PC's have better heat-pipe and heatsync cooling systems than a 360 does.

It really all comes down to the fact that Microsoft made a design flaw that entrailed to the fact that the processor isnt pushed 100% uniform and evenly to the mainboard and the solder points that connect the proc to the mobo ... aren't that great.

The idea of that "overheat" fix is to make the solder joints reflow and make connection.... it's a shady way of fixing a design error :)

John, August 2008

Call Microsoft... ask for a replacement. The early editions of the 360 have Fox Conn clip style retainers for the heatsyncs which are seriously garbage. That towel trick doesn't work correctly because the 360 throws an overheat code which is 2 red lights which in turn shut off the Processor and GPU. The idea is to overheat the GPU in hopes that the solder on it got whacked out... it's pretty much a temp fix.

Microsoft extended the warranty on 360's to 3 years after their original purchase... and somewhat altered the components on their main boards so that they would work slightly better and trouble-free.

Btw... I'm an electrical engineer . The mainboard of the 360 looks ok... pretty darn simple... but it's a headache when you get the 3 Red Ring of Death error code.

John, August 2008

if you go on you tube they all show wrapping it in three towels then switching it on after 30 min turn off then take towels off let it cool down for 30 mins then turn back on and its fixed............ this worked on my sons xbox

phil, August 2008

Try a new question in Toys, Games Consoles. This is for computer hardware and so game people are unlikely to look here.

t, August 2008