XBOX 360 Red Ring of Death FAQ: Soon to be known as the Red Dot of Death! :P

My 360 started freezing up on me a few days ago. This is a pre-Jasper "fixed" machine from Microsoft. Third one actually. Unfortunately that means it's out of the RROD warranty period. It hasn't RROD'd yet but I know it's getting there. I can play Darksiders for a while(anywhere from 5-30 minutes) before it'll lock up again.

So that means I either have to pay Microsoft to fix the damn thing, which I'd rather not do considering they can't keep their supposedly fixed machines working properly, pay a local repair shop to fix it, or buy a new one. I could attempt a repair myself, but I'm not sure I trust myself to do that. Buying a new one isn't out of the question, but I have a 120GB hdd I paid Microsoft's absurdly high price for that won't work with the newer models. I suppose there are still older models available but why pay for one when I could get my current one fixed. Though my current one doesn't have the HDMI port which is disheartening but I'm not sure if shelling out the extra cash is worth it for HDMI.

EDIT: A friend sold me his not even a year old Arcade system for $80. So thankfully my going to be lack of Xbox status was resolved quickly and rather cheaply.
 
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How come when I check the repair status with my reference number, it always says "Repair status cannot be retrieved"? It's been saying that since I sent it in. I know my system got to the destination on the 20th because I checked through UPS tracking. Did anyone else have this problem when they sent their 360 in?
 
Got my first RROD on New Year's Eve. It was a pre-falcon model that just had the extra heat sink but original chip. Was bought in Oct. 2007 so out of RROD warranty.

I just bought a Slim. Figured it was good excuse to upgrade to a quieter model and get more hard drive space so I could install games, not have to be deleting crap to make room for DLC in games like Dragon Age etc.

The Slim did freeze up on my once in a marathon session of Dragon Age yesterday. Hopefully that was just a game glitch!
 
[quote name='Blackout']How come when I check the repair status with my reference number, it always says "Repair status cannot be retrieved"? It's been saying that since I sent it in. I know my system got to the destination on the 20th because I checked through UPS tracking. Did anyone else have this problem when they sent their 360 in?[/QUOTE]

I'm currently having this problem with my Xbox, but mine got there on the 30th.
I called Xbox support and the woman told me that it is still en route to the repair location, even though ups tracking says that it has arrived... Were your problems resolved by any chance?
 
i got the nice new model so i wont have to deal with red ring (i hope)

the extra top fan is really nice... i just wish apple designed the system and not microsoft (lol)
 
[quote name='AnOpenBox']i just wish apple designed the system and not microsoft (lol)[/QUOTE]

Lol indeed. One of the few electronics failures I've had was my Mac, which generated so much heat when it failed that it warped the plastic vents in the case. Room was filled with an acrid odor. At least the Xbox went out with a whimper.
 
[quote name='AnOpenBox']
the extra top fan is really nice... i just wish apple designed the system and not microsoft (lol)[/QUOTE]
FYI, that's not an extra fan, it's the only fan.
 
Just wanted to check to say my "old" edition 360 had its:

3rd RROD (first out of extended warranty). I got it fixed at a local game store for $40.

Just to rub salt in the wound, 10 days AFTER the 30 day "fix" warranty it gave me the:

4th RROD. I fixed it this time with help from youtube and a $3 tube of thermal glue.

I'm too cheap to spring for a slim...but I'm getting close.
 
[quote name='umcthomas']Just wanted to check to say my "old" edition 360 had its:

3rd RROD (first out of extended warranty). I got it fixed at a local game store for $40.

Just to rub salt in the wound, 10 days AFTER the 30 day "fix" warranty it gave me the:

4th RROD. I fixed it this time with help from youtube and a $3 tube of thermal glue.

I'm too cheap to spring for a slim...but I'm getting close.[/QUOTE]

You've got my vote for CAG of the Year nominee.
 
joining this thread as an official broken 360 member. mine E74 error'ed this past weekend, it took about 2 yrs and 4 months from date of purchase for it to happen. I got to experience all the joys of graphical glitches, game lock ups, and the sort prior to death. damn, I was working on plants vs zombies and hoping to get to the end.

in short, the unit got sent in for service; now back to the original xbox. got some AAA backlog on the previous gen to work down. Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction!! Aaargh!!!
 
For all of you asking about the 3 year RRoD warranty, if you get it and the Xbox is out of that warranty, I still recommend calling their service center up, rather than using the online form. The online form will want to charge you $100 no matter what, but I called them up and they never mentioned any charges and fixed my brother's 4 year old (and one-time refurb, but over a year ago) RRoD Xbox right up. No charges, no hassle, the same as it would have been under warranty.

Maybe I got lucky or they changed their policy since then, but it seems their staff is trained to check for the RRoD (and maybe E74) specifically and to make exceptions for it, possibly even past the warranty period.
 
I just got an e68 error on my refurbished xbox from probably about a year ago when I first got the e74 error. :(

online support tells me it's a 90 dollar fix (out of warranty). I'm not sure if it's worth it. The error seems to be related to the hard drive, but I plugged in a friend's hd and I got the same error. The xbox (without a hd attached) boots up just fine. I've gotten it to boot up with a hd attached, or booted it up first and then attached a hd, but the console would freeze shortly after that and I'd have to power down and I'd come back to the e68 error.

if my box is booting up fine and both hds seem to be having the problem, it seems to be an issue with the xbox hardware that's connecting the hd to the system itself. something must be loose or just not connecting properly. seems like it could be an easy fix, but I don't feel like spending 100 bucks on it. I guess my next course of action will be to see if a GameStop will either fix it on site or trade it in towards a purchase of a slim. :( any suggestions though?
 
[quote name='ubernes']I just got an e68 error on my refurbished xbox from probably about a year ago when I first got the e74 error. :(

online support tells me it's a 90 dollar fix (out of warranty). I'm not sure if it's worth it. The error seems to be related to the hard drive, but I plugged in a friend's hd and I got the same error. The xbox (without a hd attached) boots up just fine. I've gotten it to boot up with a hd attached, or booted it up first and then attached a hd, but the console would freeze shortly after that and I'd have to power down and I'd come back to the e68 error.

if my box is booting up fine and both hds seem to be having the problem, it seems to be an issue with the xbox hardware that's connecting the hd to the system itself. something must be loose or just not connecting properly. seems like it could be an easy fix, but I don't feel like spending 100 bucks on it. I guess my next course of action will be to see if a GameStop will either fix it on site or trade it in towards a purchase of a slim. :( any suggestions though?[/QUOTE]

If you are looking for an alternative repair method, check out my thread. I paid slightly less than what Microsoft wants to charge you but could have paid even less with alternative shipping.

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=283727
 
just received e74 omfg lol

but it rebooted alive, and made weird noises at me, then shut up, seems normal

should i send it in right away, or wait it out until it completely dies?
 
[quote name='YourHero']Got an E 79 on my under 6mo old slim. Froze, froze, died. Blehhhh, at least it is still covered.[/QUOTE]
E79 is usually a hard drive failure. Try removing it and playing without.
 
ok so if I have received 4 e74 errors thus far and 1 RROD, and upon booting up once I saw a blurred out startup screen, how much longer do I have?

this is like an original xbox with 203W power supply manufactured in 2008 but its still booting back up

kinda freaked out
 
My 360 locked up, so I turned if off and turned it back on and it red-ringed (again...). When I turned it back off and on again, it started. It's been going for about a week now, but I have less than a month left on my warranty for red-rings, but the system works for now. What should I do? What will they do if I send it in?
 
[quote name='HumpsMcLovin']My 360 locked up, so I turned if off and turned it back on and it red-ringed (again...). When I turned it back off and on again, it started. It's been going for about a week now, but I have less than a month left on my warranty for red-rings, but the system works for now. What should I do? What will they do if I send it in?[/QUOTE]

Since you have less than a month left, I would send it in. They will send you one that has been fixed.
 
[quote name='AshesofWake']my 3rd 360 died last night ;_;
gam.jpg
[/QUOTE]

Sorry to hear that...
 
[quote name='niceguyshawne']Since you have less than a month left, I would send it in. They will send you one that has been fixed.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I would send it in. The same, exact thing happened to me with my first console. It red-ringed a few times in a row, and then I let it sit for awhile. It worked perfectly for a few weeks after that, but then it finally died for good. I would not take the chance and then have it die outside of the warranty.
 
Just had my 360 freeze up after making a somewhat long beeping sound. Restarted it to have it freeze during the Xbox 360 "loadup" screen. Restart one final time to RROD.

Wow. Still on my first 360 and finally "it" arrives.

Manufactured on 3/14/2007. I suspect I know the answer, but what's the verdict on this? Am I 100% liable for a new 360, or does MSFT's warranty still cover this fossil?

~HotShotX
 
[quote name='HotShotX']Manufactured on 3/14/2007. I suspect I know the answer, but what's the verdict on this? Am I 100% liable for a new 360, or does MSFT's warranty still cover this fossil?[/QUOTE]

I think MS adds 3 years plus a grace period to account for sell-through time. You're probably outside that RROD warranty, but speculation is useless. Go through the MS website steps for the official answer.
 
It's official. My 360 is dead and MSFT wants $100 to repair it, which I won't pay to repair a 4 year old console.

I'd rather drop the extra $200 to get the newest model and double my HD space.

~HotShotX

[quote name='gantt']I think MS adds 3 years plus a grace period to account for sell-through time. You're probably outside that RROD warranty, but speculation is useless. Go through the MS website steps for the official answer.[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='HotShotX']It's official. My 360 is dead and MSFT wants $100 to repair it, which I won't pay to repair a 4 year old console.

I'd rather drop the extra $200 to get the newest model and double my HD space.

~HotShotX[/QUOTE]

Same thing just happened to me, my extended warranty had expired 1 week before mine RROD. They wouldn't budge at all, $100 plus shipping there and back was way too much so i just bought a new 250gb. This is now my 4th 360.
 
[quote name='HotShotX']It's official. My 360 is dead and MSFT wants $100 to repair it, which I won't pay to repair a 4 year old console.

I'd rather drop the extra $200 to get the newest model and double my HD space.

~HotShotX[/QUOTE]

Same thing just happened to me, my extended warranty had expired 1 week before mine RROD. They wouldn't budge at all, $100 plus shipping there and back was way too much so i just bought a new 250gb. This is now my 4th 360.
 
Just started to get the freezing. It's only a matter of time now. I've had this 360 (my first) since early '07. There goes my plans on buying other things.
 
My slim is taking awhile for it to get to the dashboard like 5 minutes.

Then I can't find any of my gamertags on the console. I scroll over to manage memory on my xbox and that doesn't load

Anyone experience this? I'm thinking hard drive problem
 
Has anyone had the black screen of death? My 2nd xbox boots I head the audio but no graphics. I had some really funky graphics colors looked all weird like it was 8 bit color rebooted and now I have no picture at all.

Is there any fixes for this or do I need to invest in a new xbox?
 
[quote name='Indiana']Has anyone had the black screen of death? My 2nd xbox boots I head the audio but no graphics. I had some really funky graphics colors looked all weird like it was 8 bit color rebooted and now I have no picture at all. Is there any fixes for this or do I need to invest in a new xbox?[/QUOTE]

I was able to fix an Elite with sound, but no video ("black screen of death") and a pre NXE Pro console with RROD with a heatgun reflow method I compiled from information on several websites. I wrote up a nice tutorial that I posted in the Xbox 360 repair sections of a few large forums. I would link to it, but I cannot link in posts yet. Read all the info in this post and search for information related to "heatgun reflow". I'll consider posting my tutorial here, it's a lot of information to edit if any of the forum formatting is different. I'm not sure what the need for it here is considering how many great posts there already are. I like to contribute though :D
 
I finally sent in my Halo Reach Slim that was experiencing broken graphics and a permanent green screen. It arrived Thursday and its already labeled as repaired.
Is turnaround time really that fast? Or is it more likely that they just replaced my unit? Anyone know if I should expect another reach edition or just a regular slim back?
 
[quote name='edson13']I finally sent in my Halo Reach Slim that was experiencing broken graphics and a permanent green screen. It arrived Thursday and its already labeled as repaired.
Is turnaround time really that fast? Or is it more likely that they just replaced my unit? Anyone know if I should expect another reach edition or just a regular slim back?[/QUOTE]

Sounds like they just replaced it. I wouldn't be surprised if they just sent you a regular slim, but maybe they had a fixed reach edition lying around?
 
Just got the E 74 error (bottom right red ring) on my 3.5 year old 360.
Started with a grainy picture on black ops then when I restarted the error showed up.
Guess I'm SOL...
 
So I got the RRoD a second time after getting it repaired about a year or two ago, asked for another coffin, got it and then the problem fixed itself. I kept the coffin in case, though.

I just got it again tonight, and I still have the box. Should I just send it in with the box I have, hoping they just fix it again and send it back, or is it too risky.
 
After a RROD 1,5 years ago, I fixed my 5 year old xbox by myself and changed the washers. IT's been working fine since last week when I got an E74 with a single red light on bottom right. It looks like the only way to fix it is to send it to MS and pay $100+.

There are people on Craigslist who claims they can fix it for about 30-35 bucks. Are they any legit? Some say they fix it in front of you but I need to make sure before spending money.
 
Just fixed my neighbor's four-year-old 360. It had gone grainy and then no video (precursors to RROD) and his warranty was expired, so he just got another one and had this one lying around. I asked about it last week and he gave it to me to attempt to fix, which I did. I then kicked his ass at all of his fighting games, but that's a different story :p
 
hey guys i got a question about the advanced exchange warranty. if i send my elite back will i get the new slim back in return since they stopped making my console? or what will happen? help me out here.
 
My Xbox purchased in 11/08 got the 3 Red Rings over the weekend. I thought they were covered for 3 years, but when I go to the site to submit a repair request, it says warranty expired in May 09 and wants to charge me for the repair. Wha?
 
[quote name='DanD326']My Xbox purchased in 11/08 got the 3 Red Rings over the weekend. I thought they were covered for 3 years, but when I go to the site to submit a repair request, it says warranty expired in May 09 and wants to charge me for the repair. Wha?[/QUOTE]

you have to call up customer service. they'll change it over the phone and then you can request the label and the whole nine yards.
 
[quote name='jedigamer619']hey guys i got a question about the advanced exchange warranty. if i send my elite back will i get the new slim back in return since they stopped making my console? or what will happen? help me out here.[/QUOTE]


I'm pretty sure they will send you back a refurb elite or just repair the damn thing. They have plenty of spare parts...so don't count on getting a new slim.
 
I keep getting 2 red lights. I understand it's a overheating problem and it typically happens when I play certain games (recently, NBA 2k and Madden). However, I can play other games for hours. Maybe those games use more from the 360. I've Google'd some solutions and some require opening your 360 because there's a dust build-up inside. Anyone have a similar problem and found a way to fix it?
 
[quote name='shinryuu']I keep getting 2 red lights. I understand it's a overheating problem and it typically happens when I play certain games (recently, NBA 2k and Madden). However, I can play other games for hours. Maybe those games use more from the 360. I've Google'd some solutions and some require opening your 360 because there's a dust build-up inside. Anyone have a similar problem and found a way to fix it?[/QUOTE]
I had it with the first Mass Effect when it came out. I ended up moving my 360 to a more ventilated area. I got about two more years out of it before it died with an E74 error.
 
So I got home yesterday after being out for an hour and my 360 had turned on. (one of the cats stepped on a controller).

Now whenever I eject a disc it is spinning (fast) when it comes out. It does this even if it is sitting on the dashboard. The only way it isn't spinning is if I hit eject when the 360 is turned off.

Anyone know a way to fix this or do I have to send it to M$. (I'm out of warranty)
 
[quote name='Hell Monkey']So I got home yesterday after being out for an hour and my 360 had turned on. (one of the cats stepped on a controller).

Now whenever I eject a disc it is spinning (fast) when it comes out. It does this even if it is sitting on the dashboard. The only way it isn't spinning is if I hit eject when the 360 is turned off.

Anyone know a way to fix this or do I have to send it to M$. (I'm out of warranty)[/QUOTE]

Wow, never heard of that one before. Do you install your games on the HDD? That is a way to prolong the life of the console, mainly a RROD prevention thing.
 
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