Oh No! The dreaded Red Ring of Death for 360.
Posted by: Jimmie Roberts in Computers, tags: ComputersYou’ve had your Xbox 360 for years, and you’re convinced that it’s the pinnacle of gaming excellence. The problem is you’ve finally gotten that dreaded red ring of death. What are your options?
First, you could buy a new Xbox 360. The new console is only $299, and it offers HDMI Output. The older version only had the HD Components. The problem is it’s very difficult to find TV’s that will share nicely with multiple component level connections. While on the other hand you can find many TV’s that have multiple HDMI inputs.
Another bit of good news with buying a new 360 is that the hard drives are larger as well. Gone are the miniscule 20gb hard drives, now you can get 60gb with the Xbox basic, and 120gb with the elite. Not a bad upgrade at all.
The new 360s have been redesigned as well, so that most of the issues with overheating should be avoided now. It does appear that the newer versions have much smaller failure rates. Time will tell if the new 360s will stand the test of time and heat.
A second option might be to try to fix the 360 yourself. There are ebooks and video tutorials on how to fix the problem yourself. Of course if you don’t have any experience in electronics then you most likely should not undertake to fix the problem yourself. However with multiple message boards and forums dealing specifically with this issue, you should be able to get going.
Third, and probably the safest bet is to send the console back to Microsoft. Just by calling them, they will send you a box to send the console in. It will cost roughly $140 to get Microsoft to make the repairs, however that’s still quite a bit less than buying a whole new system.
Fourth, there are numerous independent repair firms, some may even be local, that can handle the repairs for you. The quality of repairs can vary widely as well as the prices. I’ve seen prices as low as $49 and some as high as $200. Also some offer 90-120 day warranties, while others offer no guarantees at all.
Hopefully these tips will give you an idea on how to repair your Xbox 360, after all, all is not lost, and you have plenty of company as there have been massive hardware failures associated with the Xbox 360. And owning a 360 will be even better when they pair with Netflix to stream over 10,000 movies. Should be a great time to be a 360 owner.
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