Monthly Archives: November 2009

Exploring the Xbox 360 RROD

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The Xbox 360 RROD is an acronym for what is known as the ‘Xbox 360 red ring of death’ in full – and which refers to one of the commonest Xbox 360 problems.

The basic thing that happens when your Xbox 360 console is faced with Xbox 360 RROD is that upon your switching on your Xbox 360 console, you are met with three flashing red lights around the power switch (rather than the expected four green lights), followed by a situation where the console fails to function any further.

As it turns out, the Xbox 360 RROD is a ‘fatal’ error, meaning that upon encountering it, there is little you can do to resolve it; because unlike other simple errors where just switching the console off and then switching it on sorts everything, the RROD is likely to persist however many times you try switching on and off.

Of course, prior to the occurrence of the Xbox 360, you may notice some warning signs, if you are a keen observer. Graphical problems when you are proceeding with games on the console, the Xbox 360 freezing up rather too frequently, the inability of Xbox to switch off automatically (so that you have to switch it off ‘coldly’ through the power button) are all signs that a Xbox 360 RROD is eminent.

Thankfully, the Xbox 360 RROD – which is said to be caused by faulty joinery in the graphics chip underlying the console – is one of the errors covered by the Microsoft Extended warranty (for three years from the date of purchase), so that if your Xbox 360 happens to suffered from the RROD during that period of time, you can have Microsoft repair it for you absolutely free of charge.

And if you had to write off your first Xbox 360 due to a red ring of death, you don’t have to give up on the Xbox 360 altogether, because all indications in recent Xbox 360 models are that Microsoft has put in place measures to check against the incidence of the RROD – so that it very rarely occurs in new models of the console.

Common Xbox 360 Problems

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Xbox 360 is Microsoft’s popular game console that was initially launched in 2005. But while Xbox 360 has been by and large a well received product, which has gone on to deliver on most of what it promises, a number of problems have been identified with it (as would be expected of any product based on intricate electronic circuitry).

One of the commonest Xbox 360 problems is the so called Xbox 360 red ring of death – or ‘general hardware failure’ in engineer-speak, and which has been known to render the Xbox 360 it affects virtually unusable. While Microsoft has not been too forthcoming with the specific details on what could be the real problem behind the Xbox 360 red ring of death, independent analysts who have take the trouble to examine the affected game consoles have expressed the opinion that it could be one of the Xbox 360 problems occurring due to graphics card soldering mistakes. Microsoft has however undertaken mitigating actions against this error, and it is no longer as common as it used to be in the early days of the Xbox 360.

Other common Xbox 360 problems, besides the red ring of death, include the so-called E74 Errors – associated with video problems in the game console. It is the Xbox Error E74 and the Xbox 360 red ring of death, that make the commonest Xbox 360 problems, and it is in recognition of this fact that Microsoft started offering extended three year warranties against these problems.

Another less common Xbox 360 problem is the so called open tray error, where the game console, when unable to read a multimedia file from either a compact disk (CD) or a Digital Video (DVD), has been known to ‘altogether forget’ about the disk it is unable to read, instead offering the user the option of ‘opening the tray’ – which can be frustrating. Thankfully, unlike the first two Xbox 360 problems described earlier, which are more often than not rooted in very sensitive parts of the console’s core circuitry, the open tray error is usually just a matter to do with the ‘local’ parts of the console responsible for CD/DVD reading, and sorting it out can be as simple a matter as getting the lasers with which it reads these devices cleaned.

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How to Deal With Xbox 360 Freezing

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One of the most frustrating things that a game console user can encounter is where the gadget keeps on freezing, sometimes right in the middle of a game or an interesting video.

Suppose, for instance, that you are a Microsoft Xbox 360 user who is faced with common incidences of the Xbox 360 freezing right in the middle of your games or other activities on it. You will probably want to know what is causing the Xbox 360 freezing, and what you can do about it.

Now one thing you will need to take note of, when you are faced with frequent incidences of Xbox 360 freezing, is that such free-ups could be an ominous sign of serious faults with the console on the way. Indeed, cases of the Xbox 360 freezing frequently are said to be among the classic signs that an Xbox 360 red ring of death error is imminent (the Xbox 360 red ring of death being one of the commonest Xbox 360 problems, associated with errors in the graphics chip of the console).

Another type of Xbox 360 freezing that can be equally frustrating are where the whole gadget does not freeze, but just parts of it (say its hard disk), so that attempts to access files in the hard disk turn out to be futile.

Dealing with the freezing instances in Xbox 360 is unfortunately not very easy. Sometimes, when faced with something like hard disk freezes, there is little you can proactively do; but typically, just switching the console off and on again sorts the problem for the time being (and sometimes, it might be months before you get to notice the same problem again). If the problem is too persistent, you might consider taking the gadget to a good technician to get it sorted out, or back to the vendor who sold it to you if it is still under warranty.

Even in the Xbox 360 freezes that might be warning signs of an impending red ring of death, there is still little you can really do to avert the ring…though for the most part, as with most Microsoft product, switching it off, letting it ‘cool’ down and then switching it again is all you have to do to get the matter sorted.

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What Xbox 360 3 Red Lights Flashing Mean

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You are sure to get alarmed, when you switch on your Xbox game console, only to be met with three red lights flashing around the power button; typically followed by the Xbox 360 not showing any further function. Instead of the Xbox 360 3 red lights flashing, you would ordinarily expect to see four green lights flashing around the power button of the console; and for all purposes and intents, such Xbox 360 3 red lights flashing are a sign that you could be in big trouble with your game console.

The truth of the matter is that when the switching on of the Xbox 360 game console is followed by Xbox 360 3 red lights flashing around the power button, the diagnosis is that the console is likely to be suffering from the so called Xbox 360 red ring of death. Indeed, upon checking the error report, your Xbox 360 is likely to show that the cause behind the Xbox 360 3 red lights flashing was the ‘general hardware failure’ – which is just another sophisticated-sounding name for the red light of death.

Your Xbox 360 falling victim to this general hardware failure is not likely to be because of something you did to the console, but rather because of the way the manufacturers designed it. So true is this assertion, in fact, that Microsoft (the makers of the Xbox 360) have taken responsibility for the ‘general hardware failure’ referred to as the red ring of death going as far as offering extended warranties (up to three years) for it; so that if it is less than three years since you bought your Xbox console, and it falls victim to the error characterized by Xbox 360 3 red lights flashing, you can take it back to vendor, and have it repaired for free.

Of course, if your Xbox 360 is a relatively new model, bought in recent years (especially after 2007), you are very unlikely to encounter the error characterized by 3 red lights flashing, because Microsoft has taken proactive measures in the newer models of the Xbox 360 to prevent it falling victim to the red ring of death.

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