X box with "Ring of death" question.

cj65

cj65

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My son 13 has an X box Arcade. He says it has a disease called the Ring of Death. Have any of you guys who play this stuff have a remedy? Is there a warranty for repair? Anyone got it repaired from the factory for no cost?

Thank you,


CJ
 
On the front of the X Box, there are four lights which are organized into the shape of a circle... or ring. These lights can light red or green.* If all four come on red, that is a fairly simple problem, a cable which has become disconnected. But, if three of the four come on, that indicates an undiagnosable hardware problem. It's Dead, Jim.




Check the power supply. If you are lucky, maybe the plug is loose or something. But this is a long-shot. Chances are, It's Dead, Jim.



* as a product developer myself, I always have to object to the use of red/green lights on products. About 1-in-20 Americans has a color-perception disability and red/green color blindness is the most common. So, the red/green LED is really just a bad idea.
 
cj65 said:
My son 13 has an X box Arcade. He says it has a disease called the Ring of Death. Have any of you guys who play this stuff have a remedy? Is there a warranty for repair? Anyone got it repaired from the factory for no cost?

Thank you,


CJ
Click to expand...

Call Microsoft and give them the serial number on the back of the 360. They'll tell you if it's still under warranty. The RROD extends the warranty to, I think, 2 or 3 years. If it's under the time limit, they'll send you a prepaid shipping box. Just mail it in and they'll fix or replace it and mail it back on their dime. If it's out of the warranty period, they may still fix it for a fee, or you may be able to have it fixed locally if you have someone who does that sort of thing. If all else fails, you might be able to fix it with some electrical tape and pennies, but that voids any Microsoft repairs, so it's a last resort sorta thing.
 
I have actually repaired 2 of the RROD 360's. It is not difficult to do yourself if it is out of warranty and I just followed some youtube vids on it. One of them required a 2nd repair after I used washers and modified it to work...That lasted a month. Some very intelligent people that I work with took the mother board and put it on a flow bench. Has been working like a dream since.
You probably have seen things like this in the past, but have not recognized them for what they are. Wonky light issues in vehicles and such. Dash lights going out during odd times, but come back in the heat of the day.

The issue is the lack of lead in solder...This is the mixture that made solder more malleable and able to withstand some environmental/manufacturing variables.
Welcome to a lead free electronics world. (for the most part)

IF you are going to try the oven trick...Here is a tip that the EE's at work passed on..The capacitors will throw moisture into the oven as they bleed off the moisture in them. From what I was told, this is because they weren't normalized at 200deg< for a time (24hrs).
If you do not normalize the motherboard, and cook until "done", the board will work for awhile and then experience strange issues and malfunction a time later. You could get lucky though!

HTH

Bill
 
DO NOT DO THE OVER HEATING TRICK its possible to get it playing again, but it will come back with a vengeance. best choices have already been said tho, either Microsoft or you can check the phone book for electronics stores, there should be a couple adds in there saying they fix xboxes and PS3s
 
Like Kiah said, call MS with the serial number and (hopefully) just mail it to them in the box they'll fedex to you. I had mine back in about four weeks when this happened to me about two years ago. For what it's worth, I wound up selling the 360 and getting a PS3 this year given that it doubles as a great bluray player to boot. No regrets.
 
my xbox had the red ring of death, my warranty was expired by 1 month. called microsoft and they would not help me out at all so i bought a PS3. best decision i made.
 
Thanks all. I am clueless on this stuff. I will start with the factory.
 
I was able to rescue mine from the RROD by using the "replace-the-washers" approach off of youtube. BUT it only lasted about 2 months then came back.
 
You can check online and request the repair. After dealing with them over the phone multiple times, I've found it much easier. You should have a 2 year warranty, as long as you're within it you're okay. There pretty quick, It took about 2 weeks including shipping there and back to get it fixed. They no longer send out boxes just shipping labels, so start looking for something safe to pack it in.
 
Microsoft extended the warranty to 3yrs because of the RROD...IIRC
 
You can push on microsoft a little as most of the early 360s are so unreliable they do not actually meet consumer protection standards. I've heard that up to 60% of first run and 30% of later units are defective. at worst, look on craigslist, find someone local that buys dead x boxes, get cash, and buy a new one.
 
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