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.