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)
Update…I tried the blanket trick and it worked…however I don’t like the idea of my XBox 360 initially breaking on the first day… I still have a while to return it, we shall see…
Bought my Box of *&% at launch. Now just after warranty has expired i get the 3 lights thing, phoned up customer support who want to charge me 85 quid for a new warranty and repair or replacement. $%#& it, i’d rather put the money towards a PS3. My old ps2 is still going strong
Good news… I’ve also tried wraping the box in multiple blankets to get it hot as suggested earlier and it fixed the problem!!!!! For now it is working but I am not really happy with this solution… but who knows maybe it will continue to work as my waranty long expired (got it on first day)….
Love XBOX 360 either way.
Update: Even though I am not getting red lights the box froze while playing the game and I had to manually restart it…. I don’t think that the “towel wrap” is a long term solution but rather a temporary fix to allow you to trade in your box while it still powers up… but “TOWEL OR BLANKET WRAP” technique does work!!!!
I just brought my xbox 360 about an hour go and got this freaking 3 red lights and i havent even played it yet.. im getting a ps3!
My 10 year old nephew and I really saved up for the 360, now I too have the three red lights :( I live in the Philippines and although most of the 360’s here have been modified to play bootle games, we never EVER had our unit modified and really scrimped and saved just to enjoy XBox Live… In a country where true-blue videogames cost more than an arm, a leg and a kidney…and there is absolutely NO TECH SUPPORT AT ALL!!! What have we ever done to deserve this? It’s not really even about the money… it’s the PRINCIPLE!!!! Why Microsoft… WHY????
my xbox broke a month a go and stillgetin it fixed pissin me of it costs £80 so sending mine of for repair.my xbox was only out of its warranty by a day by the way
i sendend my xbox 3 times already in warranty but now it is over right when i start having the same problem again and am not paying because how do i no that it is not ganna have the same problem again and they still get money for it and you just get stuck with the same problem and it will be my 4 time sending it in less than a year
You people should listen to him, if I ever hear you sending in the XBox without first unpluging the hard drive and starting it up WITHOUT the hard drive in i will hunt you down… Saved me $130
my xbox360 stop workin and its flashind 3 red lights…. can u give me a phone number where i can reach u .. if i cant fix it.. i dont have insurance any more.. please…. been without my console for 1 month already