The Xbox 360 is not cheap. While it can provide you with hours of fun, it can also cause you a great deal of hair-pulling frustration when something goes wrong. One of these problems is crashing with the three red lights of death.
The best solution is to send your Xbox 360 back to Microsoft to be fixed. This is not a big deal if your system is still under warranty. You may have to pay postage (depending on your actual warranty package) and you will have to wait for the factory to fix it but you will get it back fixed.
The problem comes when you are no longer covered by the warranty. You may have to spend well over a hundred dollars to get your Xbox fixed. Fortunately, it is possible to find detailed guides that can help you to fix the red rings of death / three red lights problem, as well as many other common issues with the Xbox 360. The quality of the guides vary, and frankly speaking, none of them cover everything. If the Xbox 360 repair guide you buy does not contain the troubleshooting tips needed for you to fix the problem, you will just have to buy another guide.
But before you start spending money like water, one common cause of Xbox red light errors is overheating. Lightly touch your Xbox 360 console. Does it feel very warm? If the answer is yes, then your unit might be overheating and causing the crash. There are normally two causes – inadequate ventilation caused by placement, or inadequate ventilation caused by blockage.
For the former, check the place you put your Xbox console (CPU). Is it in a clear and well-ventilated area (preferably with a fan blowing towards it)? For the latter, find the air holes and vacuum them. If this does not solve the problem you will just have to bite the bullet and buy a good Xbox red rings of death repair guide or send it back to Microsoft to get it repaired.
Tags: fix your xbox, red ring of death fix, xbox 360 red light fix, xbox troubleshooting tips