After 3 wonderful years without a problem...

[Ardmore_Sooner]

...my Xbox360 has been plagued with the "Red Ring of Death". Has anyone else encountered this crap, and if so how do you go about getting it fixed? Do I just need to contact the support on the xbox website or what?

And I've already tried the towel trick, and it was a temporary fix...

[Widescreen]

This thread is a disappointment. I smelled another Helander meltdown. :(

[Sooner in Tampa]

If it is still under warranty call 1-800-4MY-XBOX...they will hook you up so that you can send it into them...they will repair. FREE

[mxATVracer10]

Just call up Xbox and get them to send you a "coffin." They extended the warranties on them for this reason....

Oh yeah, and PS3 > xbox :texan:

[OUstudent4life]

Even if it's not still officially under warranty, send it in. Mine wasn't, I got the RRoD about a month ago, I sent it in, and they sent me a new one. Call the number that Tampa wrote...

PS - When you send it in, don't forget to take the hard drive off. All they want is the box. No cords or NOTHIN.

[Viking Kitten]

We got ours last Christmas, and we've had to send it in twice. When it's been gone, it's so sad to see Czar and our son waiting at the door with their noses pressed up against the glass when I come home each day, dashing their hopes that I might be the UPS guy returning what is apparently their sole reason for existence. But I digress.

Yes send it off. Czar was told by his electronics guru that the problems with these things are way more prevalent than MS wants to admit. Apparently they'll fix them off warranty to prevent a massive consumer revolt.

[SoonerAtKU]

I will say that if you for any reason cannot get it fixed by MS, there are homebrew methods to fix that problem. I fixed mine in June of last year, before the warranties were extended, and have had zero problems since then.

If you can get it fixed under warranty, that's the best bet, but my way took about 3 hours, and cost about $20 in parts ($9 for the screwdriver set I needed).

[frankensooner]

When my wii got the blue ring of messages the first time it scared the crap out of me. Threads like this were the cause!!! ;)

[Echoes]

It depends. Is it a full red ring of death? You can google solutions for it and find some pretty easy fixes. I have fixed a couple of them, easy. If it's only like a half ring or something then you can fix it even easier. If not, just call them and mail that crap in. They will handle it, no problem

[wishbonesooner]

I fixed my grandson's 360, it was so easy it was scary. The thermal compound that attaches the heat sinks to the mother board is so cheap it comes loose, and the unit overheats, hence the three rings of death. Look on google for the guys that charge $29.00 and tell you exactly what you need to do. DO NOT send it back to Microsoft.

[Czar Soonerov]

We've sent it in twice. The first time we were getting the red ring of death. The second time it wouldn't read any disks. I would send it in if the warranty will still cover it, it anly takes about 2 weeks.

[8timechamps]

Got mine at Best Buy. Had it a year when it happened. Took it back, they replaced it no questions asked (I did have the receipt proving that I bought it there, but the warranty had expired).

Said it happened a lot with the first generation.

Been good ever since.

Downside is that I lost everything on the hard drive...but, that was my fault.

[A Sooner in Texas]

Had to send my son's xbox in for the RR o'death a few months ago. Called Microsoft, gave them info over the phone, they sent all the packing material and step by step instructions on what to remove and how to pack (my 15 y.o. did it in about 5 minutes), sent it in FREE and got it back in maybe a week. Been perfect ever since.
Best customer service experience I may have ever had. You hear me, SPRINT???? Yeah, I'm talkin' to you!

[SoonerAtKU]

I fixed my grandson's 360, it was so easy it was scary. The thermal compound that attaches the heat sinks to the mother board is so cheap it comes loose, and the unit overheats, hence the three rings of death. Look on google for the guys that charge $29.00 and tell you exactly what you need to do. DO NOT send it back to Microsoft.

This is mostly correct. The issue is with the x-shaped clamps they used instead of bolts to hold the heatsinks onto the CPU and GPU. The clamps flex, which can slightly unseat the CPU and GPU at higher temps. You just replace these with bolts, and replacing the thermal compound is recommended.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

I called Microsoft, and got the stuff for shipping, just got to send it in at this point. The whole process has been easy enough SO FAR...