GamePolitics Digs Up Dirt on Xbox 360 Red Ring of DEATH!
By Shawn on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 1:39 PM PST In Microsoft, Microsoft
GamePolitics has been personally motivated to dig up the dirt on the Microsoft Xbox 360 “red lights of death”. Like David who reported his loss earlier this week, they have been inspired to right an expose on the whole sordid mess while their Xbox is on its way to Texas for repairs. It seems that the number of machines afflicted must be higher than the 3-5 percent reported by Microsoft. According to repair specialists, its harder to repair than advertised and may be a design problem.
The article is very well researched and while I personally own an Xbox 360 and haven’t yet experienced this phenomenon (knock on wood), the whole business has really brought up some doubts about the way Microsoft is doing business. Check it out.
When you get the Red Ring it doesn’t tecnicly mean your screwed, the Red Ring virus is when your Xbox is fried and cannot handle activity, if say you get the Red Ring notification then try to shut off then turn your Xbox on again and if it shows the notification after that then your Xbox bit the dirt. I lost a friend on Xbox Live from it.
So I hope this is all cleared up soon even if we need a recall because this is obviously a hard-ware error.
True. I get the Red Ring quite frequently on my 1st Gen (pre-launch) Xbox360. Most of the time you simple power cycle it and it works - but this is a growing issue for a lot of people who don;t get lucky with the recycle trick.
Good thing they upped the warranty for 3 years. and are reimbursing all repair work people paid for. Looks Like M$oft is doing business the right way for once
i got the ring last night when playing dirt thne i turned it off and it worked fine. then l8er on today when i was playing shadowrun( i was owning the match by the way lol) it froze so i turned it off and thne bak on after 10 mins and still the ring. Wut do ui do when u get this do u call microsft and then wut happens from there???? please reply
Jay: My understanding is that when you call MS. They will check to see if your unit is in warranty and offer to repair it. You have to ship it in, often they will mail you a return box but I guess with all the problems that might be hard to get right now.
Call Microsoft support and see what they recommend. And remember to keep your hard drive when you send it in so you don’t lose your data.
Alright thx i also heard rumors that if u pay the extra 70 dollars or whatever it is u can get an xbox elite when u send in ur xbox i dont think this is true is it?
Thanks Alot. Another thing whne u send in ur xbox for the red light incodent i heard a rumor that you can pay the extra money to get them to give u an elite instead is this true i dont think it is but if anyoe knows is it??
i think i know what causes this problem there are certain games that kill your xbox360 so far all i know of is elder scrolls oblivion this game i think only gives it to you if you use the multipication cheat becuse it causes a graphics error and the disc contains this virus and it leaks when you use it also deadrising gives your 360 a virus no matter what if you play itso be very careful
This happened to me at the end of June and they still have my box. Due to the flooding of consoles they recieved its takeing FOREVER for them to send them back. Mine was only 4 months old. I don’t think the games that are played on it matter. I also think they need to tell us EXACTLY what is wrong with these things. Some people are on their 3rd repair, and that shouldn’t be
Mine was only 3 months old when it crapped out…sent it off and they sent me back a brand new one (in three weeks) and a free month of xbox live…so i am happy with a Box built in 07 as opposed to my 06 model..heck it is noticeably faster with graphics rendering and menu selection…talk about lack of quality control….
M$ is lame, but they did build the best gaming platform even if it doesn’t work.. lol
Mine is 2 years old lol and it ben doing it off and on for about 3 months now i have got it repiared twice but since a opend he system up to clean it a can send it back for a 3rd becasue i void the warrenty so i dumping my old one and buy a new one
Hi all. Can anyone tell me roughly how much it will cost to get this red light
bullshit fixed by a repairer in australia?????
MS needs a kick up the ass, miserable pricks.
Hi Dan. It shouldn’t cost you anything because Microsoft have agreed to fix all 3rrod faults for the first 3 years of ownership.
Here is some info about it on the Australian website:
http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/support/xbox360/warrantyupdate.htm
and some troubleshooting tips:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907534
and Xbox support contact details for Australia:
http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/support/contact/
My xbox has a virus but not the red rings of death….I think its coming cuz my 360 just keeps freezing like every 5 minutes when I’m on xbox live….but if you have a hard drive, try formatting it….it is going to erase everything off of the hard drive but it should work after that…..if it doesn’t, then u need to pay about 150 dollars to get it repaired…..yea I was mad myslef
….I don’t know if I’ll buy the repair but I sure do wanna play online….not for only 5 minutes though 
Read this and reply because there is a possibility that this may be true
-My Xbox 360 has lasted me a while. I caught this virus a few days ago and I have heard the voices of others whose consoles have caught this illness. I have had my Xbox 360 for two months short of three years. I played it a lot. It has seen some very rough times. I am surprised that I have not caught this illness the first few months like most of you. This puzzles me. I can imagine that a few games might be causing this sudden “pandemic viris” as it is called. Before I was infected, I have played and currently own, the same games you say have caused this outbreak. The amount of time that it has taken this virus to infect me is far from the time it has taken many of you, considering I have Xbox live like many of you, and that we have played the same games. Technological mistakes like the usage of certain games is possible, but somewhat unlikely. Because all of these consoles are just about manufactured the same, the possibility of games taking a faster or slower toll on some consoles is extremely unlikely, but still possible. Now, my theory- I am a huge fan of Microsoft. I love all of their products. Based on the information on given by others and myself, I have a theory. It may be a possibility, but also my theory only, that this may have been done not as a hardware problem, but as a…profit. My guess is that maybe, as each Xbox 360 was manufactured, it was given a random code by Micrsoft. Maybe this code kept track of and accounted for how many days passed, or how long it was played, or how many times it was switched on, much like minutes on a cell phone. Once the minutes run out, the phone is inoperable. This may be said about the Xbox 360 virus. Once this code expires or the time inserted in the code for that specific Xbox 360 is reached, the Xbox 360 shuts down, giving you the pandemic “3 rings of death”, and forces you to send it to Microsoft where you must pay to fix it and all they have to do is reset the code. Again, this is only a theory. Online, people have talked about how they have gained access/created a disc that rescues your xbox, i dont know if that disc works, i dont know if my theory may be true, but i wish to further investigate this. Again, this is only a theory. Thank you and please reply with comments.
sincerely,
fortknox
my 360 had the ring of death yesturday when i was about to play madden 08. i was so mad!
i heard that if you pay an extra 70$ to microsoft, they will sent you an elite. is that true? because i would want an 07 elite than my 06 xbox 360. (not to mention the 3-year warranty!)but ya know, microsft really neeeds to work better at there company, even thogh they are EXTREMELY rich, lol. 
i believe the copy of tiger woods 08 caused my red ring of death,my xbox worked fine till i got that game, it made my system think it was a dvd not a game it took longer and longer to get it to work then it died
Hey everybody, I need some help. Now keep in mind, I have had my 360 since it came out, and so it is old. And also understand, I play it alot. Like I can play around 10 to 15 hours a day sometimes. Its always on. everyday. I watch my movies on the thing too. So it gets alot of use. But today, it started acting weird. Now, I dont play online. I cant really afford to pay for highspeed and all of that, so I cant play online. But I do own the games that have been mentioned. Oblivion, deadrising. But it has always played without any problems. I popped in bioshock today, and it started acted weird. also keep in mind, This is like my third time played through the game, so it has gotten alot of use, and its been working flawlessly. Yet today, its started to sorta skip, you know? stop for a brief second, then continuing on. Like id be doing something, it freezes for a brief second, then allows me to continue on. and the graphics are screwed up. Like for example. The splicers look like their earlier stages in development, looking like crappy puppets. then when I walk up on them, and wait a second, they start to turn back into their finnished selves, if that makes sense to you. and when I walk, the walls are shifting back and forth from bad to beautiful detail. At first I thought it was the game. But it has never done this before. Also, when I bring up the pause menue, and click on “quit” so I can go back to the start menue, it freezes up and then I have to shut my 360 down and restart. So, like I said, I thought it was the game. then I pop in another game. Ultimate Alliance. It lets me play for a bit, then the screen turns red, and it forces me to reload. But it only does this one time. I unplugged my box from the outlit, to see if maybe that would help. But bioshock is still not working right, but The screen turning red on Ultimate alliance hasnt happend anymore. But still. How exactly do I know if my box is screwed up and needs repairs? Like I said, I dont play online, so I dont have the red rings. But still, im trying to figure out what is wrong. Please comment, it would mean alot. Do I need to erase bioshock from my hard drive and then restart it? would that even help? what about deadrising and oblivion and so on? I really dont know. any help you can give would be awesome.
Hey i have a question today i was playing blazing angels 2 and all of sudden it made a loude buzz pop sound and froze, so i thought o well no biggie right well i restarted it and guess wut u got it red ring of death atleast i think. I say this because i had three red lights BUT they were solid not flashing, so i unplugged EVERYTHING and took out the hard drive, waited like 10 minutes and plugged it all back in minus the hard drive. And it WORKED so i turned it off and put the hd back in and tried again and it worked again! but i went to work and never got to play it came home and turned it on and it acted normal. so do i have the death ring or was it just a scare. HELP!!!!
also if you have any replies for me please email me at metallica_trivium007@yahoo.com any help would be a help!!!!
Had my xbox for almost 7 months i was playing the demo for madden 08 last wednesday and i got the ring of death. I heard rumors that the madden 08 demo may of caused my red circle is that true? please respond
Well after getting home from school today i went and picked up my reserved copy of halo 3… well i played the game for about 2 hours and my xbox froze while playing in a game… i go to turn it off and then back on and i get the three rings
then later i hook it up and all without the hard drive in it or the internet chord for xbox live in it and it starts right up, lol. Well then i turn it back off to put it all back on (hard drive, internet) and i get the ring again. So i thought maybe i have to leave it awhile so i try and still i get the ring…. IT JUST HAD TO BE ON THE SAME EXACT DAY HALO 3 COMES OUT
my xbox360 just got the 3 red lights on it just as i was about 2 play halo3 2dday…anyway wat number do i call 2 get it fixed?
Hey chris… you are going to want to call 1-800-4MY-XBOX and they will send you a box in about 3-5 business days. I know how you feel because mine has lasted for about 2yrs and 2 months and I am sending mine in tomorrow. I think that comment I posted a few comments up might be even more true than I thought.
respond with comments
oh ya box came fast for xbox sweet
Does anybody know how long Microsoft will have my xbox 360?
Hi everyone just trying to circulate a message in regards to a new class action lawsuit against microsoft that i am assembling. If you have ever experienced the red ring (general hardware failure) issue more than once and have a warranty claim for the problem you may be entitled to some type of recovery. if you are interested in being a part of this pls contact me at madgamerman@gmail.com I have been told by the firm that the more the better so if you know anyone else who has had this problem pls inform them and pass it along. pls include a brief description of your case in the email. Thanks for your support!!
The 3 red ring of death happens when the xbox overheats and the motherboard (circuit board) warps and the CPU and GPU chips pop off or come lose, google it there are a few websites that explain how you get the 3RROD
how are they 3 rings of death?!?!?!?! there is only 1 ring that is just incomplete
we were out side with my friends talking and we came up stairs.then my son friend came up to see if we could see a movie.i put the movie and it smelled like smoke and i went to the hall because i was scared something will happen.then i went back in and the xbox 360 had a red ligth and we thougth it was a new style so i had went to the computer to see what it ment and it said it was a death ring.
SO BE CAREFUL
@bob
wen i phoned to get my 360 repaired, i was told 20-25 days,
plus 3-5 days traveling back and forth 
rediculous, i know!
Thanks for answering my question havoc of smeg. I was told they would have my xbox 360 for three weeks.
your welcome bob, anything to help.
all of u people, wat r ur gt so ican add ya
hey mine is Fortknox 13 and tell me if its wrong i just got my xbox back and i dont remember the gamercard as far as spaces. email at fortknox37@aim.com
i got halo 3 and as soon as i put it in my xbox it got the death ring so i called them up and they said 4 weeks but all my freinds said 3 weeks……so im on the 3rd week hopefully my xbox comes back to me before friday because my cousins wanted to play halo 3
i live in florida the box came in 3 days so does any body know how long it takes for them to ship it back?
hey larry sum game discs hav been accused of causing the rings of death like madden 08 and dead rising.
I have the three rings, but sometimes i can turn my xbox off and then on again and it will work. Should i still send it in for repairs or what? Someone please answer!
Also, if i do send it in to be repaired, do i include my hard drive?
i got the system error E 68, i have no clue what happened becuase my friends were playing my xbox and they said that while they were in the middle of a H3 game, the xbox crashed to the dashboard. They called me up and i came to see what was wrong, but i didnt know, so i just started up the game again, and there was message saying that there was an unreadable disk. I turned my xbox off and the same thing happened, so then i tried playing my old H2 game jus to check if it was the game disc, but i started up a custom game and the graphics were messed up. All i saw was shadows of weapons and of walls. Then thinking finally that it was my console, i tried to download a demo to seee how that ran and the demo ran just fine. I later deciced to call the number 1-800-4MY-XBOX, and the man had me do some stuff to my hard drive, but that didnt work. So now i have to send my xbox in and he told me that A.- they would fix the problem or B.- they would send me a new 360.
(((((1-800-4MY-XBOX))))) 
@Matt
Those are questions you should be asking Microsoft Technical support.
@Brendan
Your friends were kicking your xbox.
Hi,
I am Jon Martinez of Waco, TX. I just bought my game system last Febuary. Up til now, i haven’t had any problems with this system. Granted, i only use it 3 or 4 times a week. last night my system started to act funny. the screen would freez up. So i disconnected the whole thing and let it cool down. then today, i got this “Red Ring Of Death” thing. Man, it sucks! now i’ve got to send the whole thing off to be repaired. i am currently on medical leave from active duty, and the system was the only thing keeping me from going crazy. so i wanted to know just haw many folks are going thru the same thing (red ring of death). How long has Microsoft known about this problem? Have they done anything to prevent the same problem from re-occuring? Are they doing antything to compensate for our troubles? I mean, i was sort of lucky, and still haveing a warrenty available. but i didnt purchase an extended warrenty. So if this happens again, I’m screwed.
Do the folks in the Microsoft headshed, know how expensive it for us down here on our end. Do they even care? or is it a glitch built into the system to draw more money from us. Look all i know is that as a soldier, money is limited in my family. my wife and i saved up a long time for this system. and now it’s down, for who know long. has anyone contacted the BBB?
I’m going to write them today. i figure if enough folks with the same issues voice their oppinions, someone from Microsoft might listen.
thank you for allowing me to vent and voice my oppinion.
Respectfully,
SSG Jon M. Martinez
TRP B 1-124 CAV
I got the red ring of death a few weeks ago and i sent it in about 1 1/2 weeks ago.i was playing forge on halo3 and i had the red ring of death before. i think that halo is causing the massive increse of the virus. there can be two possible explanations for this 1)
somebody hacked the game and made where after a set amount of time it went dead or 2) 
people were playing halo since it such a big deal. please reply if anybody else has the same thoughts and i am so mad 
because i checked xbox360.co*m and my best friend on xbox live removed me from his friend list! thanks,gabe913
yes i fully agree with u mate i called up micorsoft yesterday and told them bout it and they are goin to fix it free of charge but to tell u the truth i dont even think that they no how to fix it so it wont happena again onli for it to just work temprialiry, i im sendin it aways today so hopefully i get it nxt week
well today i sent my xbox off to get reparied so they betta do a good job our ther mum is mine jks
so if anyone here has xbox live my addy is YoUnG PaDaWn and that is it exactlly i ave 10121 gamre points lol