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
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Comments (768)
I got the 3 lights once and was told to ignore it if it stopped. So i listened to tech support and now, conveniently just out of warranty it wont start at all, not even to the dashboard. I cant even try this fix above because i cant get any picture. They want 130 bucks, my $^%. THey should fix it free.
I purposely waited until June to by an XBOX 360 because I figured that by the time I bought mine all of the defective ones would be off the market. Well after working fine for three weeks my 360 has the red lights problem described here. I have to send it out for repair which means no 360 for me for about three weeks. This is pretty sad for a machine that I bought 7 months after it launched.
I have had my 360 for a total of 7 months and I have loved every second of it. Now in the middle of playing tomb raider ledgend, it just froze up on me. Now every time I turn it on I get no screen and 3 red lights. now they want 167$ dollars to have it repaired and probrably lose all of my memory. I sure hope the above “treatment” works when the dashboard eventually comes up again.
i got my xbox last december and it has been working fine till yesterday. now i get the 3 flashing lights but nothing comes up on the screen. now i gotta send it to microsoft but if you complain enough if its out of warrenty they might give you a deal. they are charging me 65$ instead of the 130$
If anyone knows of a methood of getting past the three red lights to get in to the default dashboard, that would be great. That way I can try the above methood. Thanks.
Yea my machine also gives the three lights.
I bought my xbox in December, here we are july 9th and the 3 light bug bites! I have an intercooler and it sits on top of a shelf in a wide open well ventelated area. The crap-box just sucks. I had to send the origional in for repair as well for $99.00. Come on PS3!!
Got my 360 at launch, worked good until now when it started constently freezing and now wont even start up, just displays the 3 flashing red lights. This comes just after buying a new 80$ game…*&%!(. Called in and what a suprise, needs service.I cant believe they would sell this piece of crap without makin sure it would actually work for more than 6 months..Now i gotta pay 157 more dollars which is a rip off…from this day on i hate MS.
This is so sad cause mine has the 3 red lights and it just came out of no where so idont know what to do i have 2 pay 130 but i paid 400 just doesnt makes since if this has happened this many times i think it was a way for microsoft 2 make some money
I spoke to customer suppoort i said if this problem is happening to other people then microsoft should no they should give us a new one and i continued to talk and they said they will maybe repair it for free