Red Ring Of Death - How To Properly Use Your Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a great machine as long as it’s working. With amazing games and superior performance, it draws you into it’s own little world and then…nothing. Right in the middle of a game you’re suddenly staring at the three red lights or ring of death.
Sadly, this is a very common problem that affect more 500,000 consumers around the world. Once the ring of death happens, the problem won’t resolve itself on its own. If you haven’t experienced the ring of death yet, there are measures that you can follow that makes it less likely to happen 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 improve your chances of trouble free gaming with your Xbox, you must keep it cool. Now, I’m not talking about putting your Xbox in the freezer or outside in the snow. People have tried this and it’s not recommended because the Xbox’s chips are meant to operate near room temperature.
To prevent overheating, you must always ensure that it is well ventilated. That means not using it in confined spaces such as a crowded entertainment center or storage cabinet. Wherever you use it, make sure there’s a lot of free, open, and well ventilated space around it.
Keep it off shaggy carpeting because it will interfere with the fans in the back of the unit. Elevate it off the carpet with props, put it on a table, or use it on an uncarpeted and solid surface. The fans can also get obstructed if cords or cables are bunched up in the vicinity.
Make sure that you keep the fans free of any debris. Depending on the nature of your environment, human hair, pet hair, dirt, grit, dust, and lint can build up quite rapidly. That’s because of all of the air passing through the fans which funnel dust just like a vacuum cleaner. Using some compressed air to clean the fans will easily increase air flow into your Xbox.
Don’t use your Xbox for long periods of time. Those internal components will get warmer with use and will continue to do so. If you aren’t using your Xbox, turn it off and let it cool down.
People with overheated Xboxes typically ran their machines longer than four hours. If you don’t have air conditioning and live in a warm climate, your Xbox will be even more prone to overheating. Under these circumstances, you’ll need to further reduce your playing times.
Microsoft has unleashed upon the world, a very undependable and ‘high maintenance’ product. Diligence at keeping your Xbox cool is still not a guarantee of freedom from the red ring of death. However, it will happen if you habitually allow your machine to get too hot.
Tags: computer games, computers, games, gaming, home entertainment, technology, video games, video gaming, xbox, xbox 360, xbox game system, xbox problems, xbox repair, xbox troubleshooting