Repair Xbox 360 - 3 Red Lights
James at joystiq fixed his own 360 that was flashing three red lights, which indicates an internal error.
If you have this problem try this simple fix:
1) Remove your hard drive and/or memory units.
2) Run “Initial Setup” under the system blade.
3) Decline inserting HDD or memory unit when prompted.
4) Sync your controller and pop in a game.
*** UPDATE *** Microsoft has a new free warranty of 3 years for the 3 red light error. If you have this problem, you can send your console in for free repair. Or, if you don’t want to pay shipping and have to wait 2-3 weeks, you can attempt to fix it yourself.
More details here:
NEW! Instructional videos to repair your 360 yourself in less than an hour, guaranteed: Xbox 360 Three Red Light Repair
768 Responses to “Repair Xbox 360 - 3 Red Lights”
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Microsoft corperation.tech.211660531306 identification numbers said,
Comment • November 21, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
Microsoft is taking a release for the Xbox 360 home entertaiment system the release is for those Xbox 360 customers who has had the (Three red lights). If your gaming console is sought to be a release Xbox 360-Mirosoft corperation’s will upstandly
-fix- the problem of the internal hardware faliure.(free) of charge and also extend the warrenty for one year.
Grrrrr said,
Comment • November 21, 2006 @ 4:58 pm
I had my xbox for about 9 months and i got gears of war it worked fine played it single player and multiplayer for 4 days then i started single player over again on hardcore mode after 5 mins it froze and when i turned it on, the xbox360 logo appeared and kept freezing for about 4 times then the next time i turned it on the redlights flashed, i couldnt believe it, i didnt do anything different or wrong, sometimes the xbox comes on again if i turn it on and off for like 10 times but when i play a game 2 mins into it it will freeze but also make a small beep noise from the xbox. I know for a fact if i get a new one this will happen again, im very dissapointed
Dustin said,
Comment • November 21, 2006 @ 8:38 pm
The gears of war destorying the 360 is a common thing, I just wish Microsoft would take it upon itself to take responsiblilty, but alas none. I called there so called “tech support” to explain my problem. I told the representive right away what the problem was and she told me different even though clearly I knew exactly what the problem was and I have been building PCs for 6 years now. Well anyway she tells me I’m out of warrenty and to fix it would be $140, so I told her she isn’t getting my money and hung up. By the way “customer service” is beyond bad I had to call in 3 times before I got anyone that would listen to me, 2 of them hung up on me. So now I take matters into my own hands, now listen up cause this will save you $140. Your 360 is overheating it is not a hardware failure like the morons at microsoft will tell you. What has happen is your CPU heated up so much for the intensity of gears of war it burned away its thermal paste, therefore no longer cooling your cpu but the fans and fans only cool 30-40% of the total cooling so your games will freeze up often and within minutes. If you are in warrenty send it back to them so you don’t get a tempering void warrenty if future things should pop up. If you are like me and got screwed over, then crack that baby open and dig into the cpu whipe of with a cloth the remaining thermal paste(if there is any) and then apply some new paste, it needs to set to the cpu so gradually play more and more intense games, I’d recommend at least 2 days before putting in Gears of War again. This should fix your problems and run everything smoothly again until it burns off. Cheap microsoft is to blame with their cheap paste and fixes. Goodluck.
Paul said,
Comment • November 23, 2006 @ 1:55 am
You know what, replacing the CPU paste really works, and worked for my 360 (same 3 red lights, same hours spent reviewing posts/support site). I have 8 years experience working on larger server farms, lots of CPU’s per box, and simple paste replacement can solve problems for CPU caused freezing. Example, With new HP servers with AMD CPU’s, they don’t ship (at least to my shop) extra paste. I contacted HP and they highly recommended keeping extra paste in stock if ever the CPU/fan are removed and replaced, cuz keeping existing paste and replacing CPU/Fan could result in over heating/freezing. Works for servers, PC’s, why not an Xbox.
Chris said,
Comment • November 24, 2006 @ 11:53 am
Well, i too have tried everything, on a last ditch effort i removed my hard drive and than rebooted my system, alas it actually booted up. I than shut it back down, inserted my hard drive and i haven’t had a problem since.
After explaining what happened to me to a tech support, they told me it was because i ran my 360 through a surge protector and the lack of power cause the error or “ring of death” and what i had done was reset the system. I guess it’s another troubleshooting method for ppl. Try it out, it worked for me!
Steven Shivayka said,
Comment • November 24, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
Okay here is the problem, many of us are getting the 3 red lights failure. It is something Microsoft did and it is their fault. It isn’t the user’s fault. Obviously Microsoft knows this is a wide problem and when I asked Microsoft to give a specific explanation of the problem they would not tell me. The reason is, they don’t want to expose the issue. We should bring a class action suit against Microsoft for their defective products and the false charging to fix their hardware problems.
Stefan Frei said,
Comment • November 26, 2006 @ 7:41 pm
BBB! That’s all I got to say! I did it, many others did it, you should do it too! It’s not fair that we have to pay for the repairs for the same that the 05 consoles had! It obviously isn’t our fault and we have to stick together and make M$ pay for this! BBB!!!
Former Xbox 360 Tech Support said,
Comment • November 27, 2006 @ 1:21 am
I used to work as a xbox 360 tech support agent. I resigned after a week and a half because of all the ^#(!$# ms has regarding the 360. I don’t agree with having to pay for repairs on a console which is defective!
MS is very scared in getting sued and actually all agents are certified in RRT (rapid response team). there are keywords that if a customer indicates will have to be prioritized and transfered to the RRT agent. I dont know what they offer but I would think that they will offer something so that they wont be sued. Agents who miss out on the keyword below may actually get terminated.
•Choking (ingesting small parts)
•Damage to property
•Personal Injury
•Fire or flames
•Melting
•Emergency Response
•Loose object in console
•Shock without injury
•Sparks
•Smoke (visible and/or smelled)
•Burning or electrical smell
•Seizure or dizziness
so next time you call just mention one of the keywords above 
Tony said,
Comment • November 27, 2006 @ 10:34 am
Dont talk so much crap about your 360 its a good box made badly check out youtube for some videos on repair. I did it and mine is working again!
Have faith
(and a heat gun!)
I *HATE PLAYSTATION* #3 said,
Comment • November 21, 2006 @ 2:33 pm
So I will post this comment on here for a preview to you all that *sony* has haters to. I bought a (slimline ps2) the first one was out of date right out of the box and didnt even work wont turn on. Then the second one overheated with the playstation stand I had also bought for it. The third one was the worst because only with the all *famos* $killzone$ game it would not read and that had been the first game i bought for the playstation. So *&^$% you sony corperations. Know I got a xbox 360 thank god it is superb. No problems. *NONE* Micr0$0ft is the *best*.