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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March 3rd, 2007 at 6:49 am
I had the three red light i turned the 360 off and removed the hard drive turned it bck on and it worked then i put it back on and it still work do you think i should still send it bck
March 3rd, 2007 at 4:41 pm
yes, the dodgy special tricks are only really good for a short amount of time, soon enought it will start showing the lights more and more frequently until your where you were before!
March 3rd, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Im from england i dident know about this 3 red lights until it happend to me. I was lucky really because i had mine for about 1 year until it happend. One night i was playing on it and the xbox crashed and lots of red dots came on the screen. So i turned it off and on i played it for about 5 mins and then it happend again. So i unpluged it and pluged it back in but when i turned it on it crashed on the X box load up and the red dots came. So i did every thing again and the 3 red light come on and now it wont turn on at all. *&%^&*%@#$ #$*&@# BILL GATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 4th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Same problem here, I actually had a seizure playing the stupid xbox, felt as if I was going to die, is pay back Microsoft.
March 4th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
xbox 360 not xbox
March 4th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
just checked out one site where they are all having this same issue, one guy had suggested something really silly but to my surprise this fixed my system..woo hoo. all he said was that this issue is to do with the hot and cold solder joint to solve it. just wrap your 360 in a towel and turn on. leave on for about 10mins. what your trying to do is to heat the system up so much that it will create a flow in the solder. once the 10mins is up unwrap turn off system then turn back on and poff its magic. it worked for me. and it was dead already so its worth a shot..good luck!!
March 5th, 2007 at 2:38 am
It survived a good 8 months… but last week, when a friend and I tried to play some co-op Vegas for the first time, the game froze and locked up on us. When I tried to reboot it, there they were, the 3 red lights.
Gonna have to give a call to the xbox line and try to get my box repaired.
I’ve got tons of other games to play… but still, it bums me out.
March 5th, 2007 at 4:25 am
yea so i bought my 360 on like january 5th. a couple days ago i was playin GoW and it froze on me. i rebooted the system and it worked fine for another 2 days. then it decided that it would freeze up on my again. so i powered it back on and it started to boot up and froze on the boot screen. then it just started flashin red lights at me and i was just instantly pissed. its so messed up because i have a freakin super nintendo that still works perfectly fine, and that system is hella old. my 360 is only a couple of months old and its already broken. i shipped it off to repair on friday so hopefullly ill have that back in time for the new halo 2 maps for download. the CS guy didnt give me a very good time frame. he said it would be between 2-8 weeks. microsoft definately screwed up on this one for sure…
March 5th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
HEY ALL!, If you have an older model chances are your eligible for a FREE Xbox 360 repair.. Just call the Microsoft Support Line and give us your information and console serial number.. You will be asked to register your Xbox 360 if you have not already. They Will send you via UPS a box to put your non-working console in and with no charge a sticker to mail it back to us. All REPAIRS AND SHIPPING ARE FREE… Consoles made in 2005 were very buggy!! **Some even have a 2004 release date also supported** Without getting into technical issues and specifics if your experiencing 3 RED FLASHING LIGHTS you should send in your console… ** All Consoles MUST HAVE BEEN PURCHASED WITHIN A YEAR OF THIS ISSUE OCCURRING ** Keep in mind a lot of stores have consoles from 2004 and 2005 sitting in their inventory, so even if you bought one last week it could still be an older “buggy” unit… We have phased out most of the bugs and your new console should work great… The REPAIR CENTER IS LOCATED IN TEXAS…. from call to finish it should take about one 6-DAY week to complete the process (EXCLUDING SUNDAY). Unless you live outside the US or Hawaii Or Alaska…
March 5th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
I heated the board for about 10 minutes gradually working my way to high then back down and let cool for about 45 min then put new arctic silver now it work wonderfully! thanx to badass for the extra confidence to try it!
Thats why I love this site alot of support thats all I get here..
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