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 am sending one back and at first they wanted $140.00 to fix it and ask if I wanted fixed for that and I said no. They came back and said it would be free. When they ask you if you want to pay for it say no and they will come back saying they will fix it for free and even send you the box to send it in. Do not fall for there games.They are just trying to rip people off.
I GOT MY XBOX 360 ON THE CHRIST MAS IT GOT REALESED ON IT WAS WQRKING FINE UNTIL I WATCHED THE GREMLINS 2 AND NOW THE THREE LIGHTS OF DOOM HAVE CURSED IT
Worked for me. (no joke i swear this aint spam) I downloaded an update (the one with marketplace as another window) and then the three lights came on. Took out the hardrive and it worked. KUDOS
I have my xbox 360 since.. christmas and I just got the 3 red light now the xbox still works but now I’m afraid to go home one day and end up getting my heart broken because of this.. now.. there is one thing though.. would I need the receipt to be able to send it to M$ if it was to get messed up? Also I don’t think I will ever spend my money on m$ again!!!!!
Playing Phantasy star universe, then it frowze. turned it back on and 3 red lights. if i send this one in it will be the FOURTH Xbox i will have owned.Whats more is my warrant was up 3 days after i sent it in the 2nd time. i was just on the phone last night with xbox about points-after-repair and i asked the guy when my warranty was up and he changed the subject and didnt tell me. im waiting for the place to open so i can let the unluck individual have it!IT IS BULL TO CHARGE US FOR THESE POS MACHINES THAT KEEP FAILING.they just sent me the last one 34 days ago. wtf
bought mine january 2007.. it died in march.. took it back to pc world (uk superstore and they exchanged it straight away.. today that one went tits up to (3 red lights) again took it back to pc world and they exchanged it but wouldnt let me keep gears of war that came bundled with the first machine as the gow bundle is no longer available :(,,,
microsoft need to sort this issue out but at least theres and exchange on offer with the chance to swop ya hdd’s if ya buy from the right stores ;)
craig
This just sucks, i got one of the original 360’s the year they came out and now the warranty has run out the 3 red lights start showing up, it keeps freezing after about 10 minutes of use and then sometimes i try and turn it on and i get the 3 red lights, itsa load of bullcrap that i’m gonna have to pay for this they shudnt of sold me a faulty console i mean my nintendo64 still works better than my 360 , if they made it so retardedly they should have to pay for it! NOT ME WHO HAS ALREADY SPENT LIKE £300-400 ON BUYING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE! MICROSOFT ARE FULLBLOWN (*&^Q@#!
hi, My name is Ryan and Obviously I am a 10 and cry like a little girl… waaahh wahhhh waaaahh
life aint fait kid, get use to it!
Microsoft is still doing it. I bought mine in late February this year, and by late May, it was dead. Either it would halt with 3-red-lights on power up, or crash seconds after it was powered on.
My return process has been handled well so far, but the physical product is simply chintzy. Almost everyone I know with a 360 has gone through the same thing at one point. I can’t imagine shipping all these boxes around and repairing dead boxes is any cheaper for Microsoft than it would be to spend a few more bucks to build the units to last.
the process worked for me!!!! thanx for tha info. my xbox was down for about a month before i stumbled upon this site. i purchased a bare version and got a hard drive later. after i did the process and it worked, i reconnected my hard drive and it gave me the error again not even minutes after. so I disconnected the HD, repeated the steps, then reconnected the HD and deleted or re-formatted it. Ive been running smoothly for the past couple of days. This may be an isolated incident but the steps worked for me!!!!! thanx!!!!