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You'll be ready to throw your Xbox out the window when you see the dreaded red ring of death. That insidious red ring is caused by an over heated motherboard. As it heats up and cools off, the motherboard flexes. That will cause the solder joint holding the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) to crack and come loose. Once the GPU is disconnected, the red ring of death shows up.

There are several easy approaches to a so-called "3 red rings of death fix" which may be necessary for many Xbox 360 devices. Unfortunately, over 10,000,000 of them were manufactured with fatal design flaws leading to hardware failure among other unpleasant outcomes. If a red light suddenly appears, you are being informed that your machine has developed a problem which must be dealt with.

A single red light means the console has some hardware issues and some sort of repair is needed. Two red lights means it is becoming overheated. At this point, you should shut it off and move it to a more open area. Three red lights or three 3 red rings of light means the console has the dreaded red rings of death and you must do something to fix this problem. Four red lights means the cable is likely weakened or damaged and you should see if it needs replacement.

If your machine is beyond the warranty provided by the company and you need to have a so-called "3 red rings of death fix" done, you have only two choices: you must send it back to the manufacturer or work on it on your own. If you prefer to have Microsoft take care of it, you must package and ship the console to them together with a check for one hundred and forty dollars. An unpleasant concomitant of this approach is a waiting period of more than a month before the device is returned to you.

The other best option for you is to learn to fix red ring of death yourself. DIY (do it yourself) guide is available at cheap price and you can learn fixing 3 red circles of death - doom within one and half hour. Simple procedure is: Take the case off; Remove the x clamp; Unscrew and remove the heat sink; Clean the CPU and GPU; Apply some thermal compound to the GPU; Put 2 nylon washers above and below where the screws fit back into the heat sink, and screw the heat sink back on; Put everything back together .

The main advantages of DIY (do-it-yourself) guides is that the steps are easy to follow. You will be able to repair your gaming console and troubleshoot hardware problems that include the "red light of death." A red light usually indicates a failure of some kind. You will not need to ship your gaming console to Microsoft for costly repairs once you have learned the safe and easy way to perform home repairs.