my xbox red ringed today....and came abck to life

mayhew

yeah so I was playing guitar hero 3 with a cousin when the screen when black and I saw the red ring flashing (and yes they were 3 lights" so i inmediatly turn it off and was so pissed off, I saw on the internet that once the rings flash the damage is permanent, but about 10 minutes later i turn it on again and everything was normal, i even loaded and game and it was ok, I decided to turn it off because im scare shitless.

is that normal?

NeuralFizz

Your console is dying.

Joolander

mines done that like 3 times, never had to send it in

mayhew

when did u buy ur unit, and has it happened frequently???, mine is a arcade version and i bought it in november 08

Mugenmidget

If you purchased it in November 2008 then perhaps you should send that in and get a free replacement under warranty, just to be safe.

Strikerkc

If it's still under the waranty, and you can stand to part from it for a while, I would call xbox and see about getting it replaced, that error is suposed to show that something is dreadfully wrong with the machine, reguardless of how well it performs later that day.

If your waranty is up however, I would just thank my lucky stars it didn't stick just yet.

Doc

That happened to me when the lights flickered once.

Ratsult2

I had mine red ring... then it was fine for 2 days... then red ring.. fine for about an hour. Then it rrod for good.

I'd call up and get it replaced asap.

Willeth

Double-check your power connections on your box, sometimes it can red-ring falsely.

Omeks

I don't think red-rings always means that the 360 is dead. It means that there's been a hardware malfunction somewhere in the unit. It could be any number of things, but the most common hardware malfunction, of course, leads to a RMA. However, as Doc pointed out, stuff like the power flickering can give the 360 red-rings without killing it, because it's just something about the quick lapse in juice causes it to malfunction, or something. This is probably why Microsoft will have you go through so many hoops, unplugging and replugging in your console, when you call in to RMA to make sure your red-rings are actually the kind that everyone else experiences.

I will also note that I've red-ringed twice now. My first one red-ringed, but I kept trying to resurrect it and eventually it booted up and played just fine. It didn't last, though. It's possible that your resurrected Xbox could go under again, and this red-ring was like...a minor heart attack...or something.

Joolander

mayhew wrote: »

when did u buy ur unit, and has it happened frequently???, mine is a arcade version and i bought it in november 08

bought it on launch day, still runs great besides those three times

mayhew

yeah the problem is that I live in central america and bought the system iin the US on a trip cuz here is very expensive, there is a problem in my room though with electricity, where electricity kinda goes down for little bits and my box thingy (dont really know how to say it in english) got fucked up so I have it plugged directly to the wall, i recall now that problem happened when electricity was acting like a bitch, I have the same problem with a tv cuz its kinda old

Witchsight

The day i got my first refurb back, it 3 ringed immediately. I was PISSED. But that was in mid October, and it hasnt done it since. Still, it doesnt give you much faith when something like that happens.

Evander

Mine did that ages ago, and no problems since

the red rings are an error code system. All of the FUD caused by GPU overheating has given them some kind of symbolic significance that makes people forget that.

Mugenmidget

mayhew wrote: »

yeah the problem is that I live in central america and bought the system iin the US on a trip cuz here is very expensive, there is a problem in my room though with electricity, where electricity kinda goes down for little bits and my box thingy (dont really know how to say it in english) got fucked up so I have it plugged directly to the wall, i recall now that problem happened when electricity was acting like a bitch, I have the same problem with a tv cuz its kinda old

Damn, that sucks. I guess your options are limited then since it would be a mess to ship (but I think Microsoft would still take it/replace it if you managed to send it to them). Not sure how they'd handle it if you sent it to your country's repair center/HQ, maybe someone else knows (might be worth a phone call or two).

Otherwise, I hope it doesn't crap out on you again.

Nuzak

your xbox will self destruct, should you choose to accept it

Willeth

If a box red-rings then MS will replace it within three years of purchase.

EDIT: Whoops, missed the territories issue. I know this policy is in effect worldwide but I have no experience with this really. The systems are the same, though, so if you ring you local Xbox support I'm sure you can get it sorted.

mastrius

This happened to me with my elite. It red ringed twice before finally biting the dust around 5 months after it started. Send it it now while its free. Do NOT trust this shit. Plus, you send it in, and its a free upgrade to the best of the best parts theyre using for the new 360s. Its worth it. My Elite is so silent its scary now and I thought it was quiet before.

mayhew

Ive been playing alot today and no problem, I really think its a problem with the electricity as one of the earlier posts said, theres no microsoft hq in this backwater country of mine I know a place I could fix it though if it red reinged for about 50 bucks, but I really enjor xbox live so If I fix it by getting inside the console would I get banned or something?

The_Scarab

Seven times this has happened to my old 360. On the eight time it never woke back up, poor guy. He was so young. Sniff.

Strikerkc

mayhew wrote: »

Ive been playing alot today and no problem, I really think its a problem with the electricity as one of the earlier posts said, theres no microsoft hq in this backwater country of mine I know a place I could fix it though if it red reinged for about 50 bucks, but I really enjor xbox live so If I fix it by getting inside the console would I get banned or something?

I've never heard anything about xbox live having any way to detect hardware manipulation on the users end. Only thing I know is that if the alteration/repair is detectable by official repair staff, it's almost certain to void your warranty... which is kind of a moot point since you're basicaly unable to send it back for repairs any ways.

Willeth

mayhew wrote: »

Ive been playing alot today and no problem, I really think its a problem with the electricity as one of the earlier posts said, theres no microsoft hq in this backwater country of mine I know a place I could fix it though if it red reinged for about 50 bucks, but I really enjor xbox live so If I fix it by getting inside the console would I get banned or something?

I'd hesitate to give you a flat-out no, but it's unlikely. As long as you're not installing any unauthorised parts or modifying it, there's no way they can tell. It will completely void your warranty, though.

Oklahomacity

All I had to do to fix mine was detach and then re-attach the hard drive. A year later I haven't had a problem since.