More on the causes of Red Ring of Death
May 6, 2007 · Print This Article
After my Xbox 360 died earlier this week, I finally called Tech support. As suspected, there is nothing I can do about the issue, and Microsoft will be shipping me a box in which to ship them the console for repair (and for free, as my console is under warranty). The tech support line was a bit hard to hear, and one has to navigate through an automatic tech support drone (although not a bad one) to get to a real person, but I suppose that’s good as it filters out the people who forgot to plug their system in.
I’ve been trying to discern what might have happened to cause this error. I’ve found a nifty little guide which allows you to get some more in-depth information about the dreaded three blinking red lights. I won’t go through the entire procedure here, but if you have this issue, I encourage you to do so.
The particular error code I get is 0102. This code is an unknown error, an error not handled by any other of the escape conditions. Essentially my Xbox 360 has no idea what’s wrong with itself. The guide suggests that it can occur if components have lost contact with the main-board, due to a cold solder or a short, or possibly a broken contact.
As I have not physically relocated my Xbox 360 since this occurred, the only conceivable explanation is that my console has been overheating, and the heat has caused warping significant enough to damage the component connections on the system board. As my system IS under warranty, I’m not willing to open it up and poke around, nor try to repair it using heat reflow or other techniques.
My system was purchased in the summer of 2006, not exactly among the ‘first batch of 360s’. Additionally, the system is sitting on my wooden desk, upright, and has plenty of space surrounding it. In fact, there is not a single device within three feet of the console which emits heat (and even at that, an LCD monitor doesn’t emit much). If heat was the culprit, this points to a systemic problem with the 360, although Microsoft has denied this. Either the solder work in the pick-and-place machines used in fabrication are flawed somewhere (a problem which would be relatively trivial to diagnose and fix given large quantities of 360s suffering the same problems), or there is simply too much heat and not enough airflow within the 360 chassis. If this is the case, it will continue to be a major problem unless the physical case is redesigned (fat chance) or the system uses a lower-voltage chipset which will reduce the amount of heat being generated (would require another model of 360 to emerge). As both of these solutions seem to be unlikely to be implemented, my hopes of having my (repaired) 360 last as long as my SNES has are foundering rapidly.
yo the same thing happend to me. and i stuck a intercoller and let it run a wile then i tured it off amd turned it back on i think it had a lot to do with over heating thanks to this web site i would have never have thought to cool it down thx.
mine has three rings of death and i have tried vacuming out dust and using the towel trick and i got it to start but now its back to normal again i just hooked up the intercooler and should i just let it sit for a few min while its on or whatt?
Uh, probably you should call Microsoft and exert your warranty….
Does playing the 360 every day cause the red rings of doom??
No.
As far as the general public has been able to discern, RROD is due to a problem with cooling that is inherent in the console. If your console has this problem, it will eventually fail regardless. It has nothing to do with the amount you play.
Alright, this is my second time I have the RROD (exactly at this moment, because after it I began searching for explanations on the internet) I used the towel trick the first time and it worked… for 3 days, so vacuming out dust is also a thought?
I hope… and I realy REALY want microsoft to fix this problem for everyone because they will lose allot of costumers with this.
The intercooler makes your powerbrick output more power than is really needed so your xbox overheats. The reason that your xbox uses more power is because it needs to power the three fans in the intercooler. I recently got the ring of death too last friday and i was using an intercooler.
I recently got the RROD and it turns out that the cause is 1/2/3 of the fans loose power and something pops out after shaking it and listening
Damn my tv screen goes black when playing skate and the 3 red lights appear I restart the 360 but works fine and days have passed its been 1 week and 3 day since that happended my 360 still works fine.
f**k xbox buy a ps3
What about one ring of death? I got it and the warranty for me is over and there is no extended one for this problem. I need some sort of help so I don’t have to cough up any more money.
I am thinking of getting an Xbox 360, but I am wary of this particular problem. I don’t want something I pay £200 for to break, naturally. Will liquid cooling help the problem, say wrapped around the console? Or an air fan, possibly a miniature fridge?
This problem is largely fixed for new systems, I wouldn’t worry about it. =)
[...] previously written about my experiences with the Red Ring of Death. I should like to comment that after calling for [...]
Derek B the Ring of Death 1: Is simply a hardware error meaning its something such as a disc, Hard Drive or memory unit/card maybe even the power brick
I just had the ring of death today. any advice to get rid of it?
i am planing to buy a 360, but after all this people having the same problem, i am starting to feel bad about my desition, what do you recomend? do i buy it or what?
yh buy 1 the problems fixed on the new ones
haha i just got the red ring and i was on the phone with xbox for like 3 hrs and they will fix mine for free lol put i have to print the lable and provide the box and it kinda sucks but u gotta do what u gotta do! SO GET CALL OF DUTY WORLD AT WAR!
if you get an intercooler after the rings of death and plug it in, will it work again?
oh yeah, and does anyone know if the NXE have anything to do with the rings? it said something about the NXE messing with the console on Engadget
There’s no reason why NXE should cause your console to red ring, I would say it’s probably just a coincidence, call support.
I kno 1/4 of the ring red is hardware/memory unit. but I have the XBL Experience and I was listening to music off my HD, The Carter III actually and I got 2/4 red rings, the left 2. WHat does this consist of? I mean I turned it off and back on and it was fine. But I would like to avoid this in future situations in possible, Thanks in advance.
i just got the red rings yesterday and i have the same setup as u, i have my xbox sitting on my desk with nothing nearby that can create heat whatsoever aside from my single lcd comp monitor that i run it on. Its worked perfectly fine since i bought it over a year ago with no problems. Its never overheated even once even when i ran it for two days straight a few months ago nor has it ever frozen up. So i found it rather odd when i came home one day to find it not working
Ring of death…1/2/3 fans fail inside causing a piece to pop that you can hear when u shake your xbox.
I ran my box hard. I would run it for 10-16 hours at a time for almost 2 years. I was using a Cooling fan with my box sitting on a desk near a window. (opened occasionally) My friend convinced me that the Cooling fan was a waist of money and that it was loud and annoying. So I removed it. After about 2 months of hard playing 1/2/3 internal fans failed and warped the internals causing the RROD. after the repair form Microsoft, I keep the Cooling fan on it and I haven’t had a Problem yet.
Weird thought: Right after I received the RROD, I took my Hard drive and placed it off of my broken xbox and put it on my friends xbox. as soon as I turned it on, Low and behold, RROD. Now this could have been a terribly horrifying coincidence or maybe there is a reason people that have there xbox’s repaired and place there old Hard drive on there new xbox and a few months later, get the RROD again. Theory?! Coincidence?! Microsoft will only know!!
So I have so many people say things that are extremely far fetched and I’m not going to lie, all you’re theories and such actually make the most sense to me. I had RROD when I get the very first Xbox 360 like a year after they came out, and after sending it back to Microsoft, waiting for almost three months for it to return and a week later it died again. My hard drive was wiped and the system was then thrown down a flight of stairs.
Now I recently decided to confide in the new system and bought it. Now the intercooler that plugs into the actually Xbox actually killed my system. Sent it in and waited for 4 weeks to get my system back. I went and purchased one of the standing intercoolers that actually plugs into the wall and low and behold, I have not had a problem since. So maybe as far the intercooler goes the one that plugs into the wall is the best bet? I’ve been playing for close to three months now without a single issue. Just a small piece of mind. Have a good one.
hey is there any cure for the 1 ring that happens???
i really dont wanna spend $129
if you want to know what the rings mean, sya if only one light, two lights, three lights, or all lights are on look here
http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=472553
if you wana read an interview on the xbox RROD problem look here
http://blog.seattlepi.com/digitaljoystick/archives/129866.asp
your welcome in advance
I just got a 360 today and i was worrying about the problem. I saw that someone said the problem was fixed on newer consoles but i still want to know more so the problem doesn’t happen. Also, the thought about the intercooler causing overheating probobly means that microsoft should develope a cooling system that plugs to the outlet rather thatn drawing from the console. Also, if the problem is due to the console itself, i think it is obligatory of microsoft to fix the RROD if they are going to continue to sell this product. If the problem is not fixable by the microsoft corporation, they should extend the warrenty, free of charge.
well obviously since the outlet intercooler works, it is the way to go. but as for the hard drive, i have no clue about. maybe the hard drive keeps a record of the problems that occur in the sytem. If this is true then one that has recorded RROD might trick a sytem into thinking it has the condition when it really does not. this would probobly be fixed by microsoft if the warranty can specify the hard drive for repair. another thing is that the manual that comes with your 360 says that you should not used compressed air to clean your system out. if you can find compressed air that will not blow too strongly, it shouldn’t damage your system. the reason that compressed air or overheating would cause RROD is most likely because the conductors within the system are very thin. if microsoft could find a better conductor, they may have solved the problem. if not then the problem that occurs still needs to be fixed.
as a side comment i would like to point out that with all the ideas that are being put onto this web page and several others like it, wouldn’t you think someone would have the idea to post some of the more beleivable ideas that do not void your warranty should be sent to microsoft for analysis and reserch to a cure for RROD? and another thing… sorry if that sentance was a bit of a run-on. hehe…
i’m not sure if i said this already but if the fans inide your xbox…
(Booster363 on January 25th, 2009 10:32 pm Ring of death…1/2/3 fans fail inside causing a piece to pop that you can hear when u shake your xbox.) are what is causing the problem then microsoft should completely replace the fan system inside with one that is cut off from the console so that when the fans fail they do not cause damage. however if the fans are failing and the heat kills your 360 then microsoft should replace the fan system with one that is more sturdily built and won’t fail or fall apart on you
RROD happened to my system a couple of days back
after i turned on to check if it was working. It did work for about 3 and a half hours straight and nothing happened.
any ideas about this
if so tell me the best information for me and what should i do.
thanks
I am off the RROD problem for now because my 360 is relativly new but there is a different problem that i need to address. I know this is off topic but i need help to set up my xbox live. I am connecting my live through a modem directly but i can’t get it to work. I test my live connection and it says that the connection is set but then it goes on to find the ip address and it says it was not found. I then continued to try to set up an ip address but it would not work still. how do i set up an ip address in order to get live running?
first of all what do you think i should do about my situation
Sorry, i totally ignored your comment. what i think it was is that it was a simple error. You can be able to understand more about what the error on your console was by looking up the patterns that RROD occurs in. for example, there is a specific pattern if your system begins to overheat. If this happens it will flash a pattern of red rings telling you that it needs between a few seconds to at least an hour to cool off. another pattern will flash if say… your disk drive is stuck or has an obstruction preventing it from opening. I’m not entirely sure if these are actual problems that occur with the xbox that cause RROD but you get my point right? you might be able to understand it more once you look up the different patterns.
thanks man this helps alot