Thursday, December 18, 2008

Red Ring Of Death - Proper Use Of Your Xbox 360

By Marc Sandford

The Xbox 360 is a marvelous machine when it's working. With superior performance and amazing games, it draws you in and then...nothing. Right when you're enjoying it the most you get the red ring of death malfunction.

This is a very serious problem that over 500,000 people are dealing with. Once those three red lights turn on, the problem will never go away on its own. If your Xbox hasn't had the ring of death failure, there are steps that you can take to reduce the chances of it happening to your machine.

The Xbox 360 was hastily designed and assembled. This caused it to be predisposed to overheating. Therefore, the ring of death is induced by an excessive buildup of heat.

To reduce the odds of the ring of death happening to your Xbox, you'll have make sure that it stays cool. This does not mean placing your Xbox out in the snow or in your freezer. Believe it or not, people do this and it isn't recommended because the Xbox's components are supposed to operate around room temperature.

To prevent your Xbox from getting too hot you must make sure that it stays well ventilated. This means keeping it away from closed in spaces such as a storage cabinet or a cluttered entertainment center. Wherever you decide to put it, there must be lots of open space with plenty of ventilation.

Shag carpeting is out because the fans in the back will get blocked. Use props to keep it off the carpet, put it up on a table, or use it on any firm and solid surface. The fans will also be blocked if cables or cords get bunched up in the area.

Take every precaution to keep the fans clean and free of dirt and debris. Depending on your particular set of circumstances, cat or dog hair, grit, dust, lint, and dirt can rapidly clog up the fan area. This happens because there's so much air passing through the fans which act like vacuum cleaners. Cleaning the fans out with compressed air will help tremendously.

Don't keep your Xbox running for time periods of excessive length. The interior components will get hot and continue to do so with use. If you are done with your Xbox, let it cool off some by turning it off.

Most users with failed Xboxes typically had their machines on for more than four hours at a time. If you live in a very warm climate without air conditioning, your Xbox will tend to heat up even faster. In this case, you will have to scale down your playing time further.

Like it or not, the Xbox 360 is a very finicky and unreliable "high maintenance" machine. Even if you follow the precautions mentioned here, there's no guarantee of avoiding the ring of death failure. However, it is guaranteed to happen if you let your machine overheat. - 16039

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