Do you have a troubled relationship with an Xbox360 gaming console? You love it because you've become insanely hooked to the hours of unbelievable enjoyment that it gives. You hate it because...um, need I say the infamous ring of death?
The red ring of death gives many customers a good amount of frustration and hardship. It's likewise given Microsoft a few problems too...to the tune of about a billion dollars or so in repairing consoles under warrantee. Now the first inquiry that needs asking is why?
What exactly are the causes for the three red lights or the ring of death? The main reason is heat. The Xbox becomes overheated when it's used continually over a period of time.
Why does the Xbox get overheated? There's two parts to the explanation for this. First, the graphics chip had been engineered on a low budget by Microsoft.
Instead of going to an experienced vendor for its chip design (ASIC vendor), Microsoft decided to do the graphics chip design in house, in other words, on it's own. They did this in order to save a few tens of millions of dollars in the cost of the design. We all know that to do the job right, you have to hire a professional.
It's well known that home made just will not work as well as work performed by professionals. Microsoft's in house job is very inefficient because it dissipates far too much heat. The other part of the overheating problem is that the console's cooling system is barely adequate at dispersing the tremendous heat put out by the graphics chip.
It doesn't seem to take a lot to cause it to get too hot. Run the unit for too long, particularly in a warm un-air conditioned room and it'll get too hot. The unit does not deal well with partial blocking of its cooling vent-holes either.
For instance, it is very easy to allow cords and cables to get really clumped up at the back end of the console. This alone will induce the unit to get over heated. Want to run it in that cluttered up recess where direct sunlight can reach it inside that room without air conditioning?
Not a great idea in any case. Of course, you may not normally treat your "electronic toys" this way, but what I'm saying here is that a well designed product is supposed to be able to take some customer abuse and continue functioning. One question that I don't have an answer to is what happened to Microsoft's quality control process?
There must be some sort of product testing program in place to protect the customer from defective products. Maybe it was deficient in that it didn't simulate typical customer use of the Xbox. Or possibly it was ok, but management shipped it out the door anyway?
All conjectures aside, the great news is that Microsoft has gone to an ASIC vendor in the US and had the graphics chip redesigned. Maybe some day your ordinary Xbox gamer won't know what you are talking of when you mention the red ring of death.
About the Author:
Marc Sandford is a gaming addict and author. Get Xbox 360 troubleshooting advice about fixing the Red Ring of Death.
