Three red light questions

[LaGrange]

As I dont have warranty on my 360 I have to be careful cause I sure as hell cant afford another one. So I have a few questions.I have heard of the "three red Light " thing, that kills your xbox, I think it cause of overheating, correct?

So my questions:

-I have seen some 360's with fan on the back of them do I need one?
-I have a used 360 (20 gig one), it has alot of game save data on it so im taking it the previous owner used it alot, does this mean im past the three red light thing?
-Should I stand it up or lay it down when playing it, or does it really matter?

Thanks for your time.

[Bob]

Lay it down (it helps with cooling considering it's not blocking one of the intakes). You don't really need a fan. My 360 has never had any of that crap and it works perfectly fine. Also remember my room gets really hot during the summer time and with my computer on. The three rings is usually caused by overheating which causes some of the crap tin solder they used to become de-soldered (don't know the technical term if there is one). Chances are you won't have a problem. As for the warranty Microsoft extended it to three years with the red ring of death issue. Basically don't worry about it and don't buy those stupid fan things

[Gantua]

When you do lay it horizontally do 2 things. Get a level and make sure the box is level front to back and side to side this prevents disc scratching. The laser head is so close to the disc if its out of level very much you'll chew up discs and lord knows 360 discs do not take much abuse at all before they're worthless. Secondly give it 2-3" of breathing room beneath it to allow for good airflow. As the above poster stated do not use the nyko fans or any other cooling device.

[DominiKing]

got me some good tips, thanks for the heads up.

[Jfluff]

this isnt a solution. But my friend today was trying to red light his xbox so he can trade it and get a new one. So what he did was just turn it on, and keep unplugging and plugging in the power source. It came up with the three red ring of death. I thought it was cool, if your trying to kill your xbox. But also, you should blow some air into the vents. That usually helps my xbox when it starts making some weird noises

[Dopefish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaGrange

As I dont have warranty on my 360 I have to be careful cause I sure as hell cant afford another one. So I have a few questions.I have heard of the "three red Light " thing, that kills your xbox, I think it cause of overheating, correct?

So my questions:

-I have seen some 360's with fan on the back of them do I need one?
-I have a used 360 (20 gig one), it has alot of game save data on it so im taking it the previous owner used it alot, does this mean im past the three red light thing?
-Should I stand it up or lay it down when playing it, or does it really matter?

Thanks for your time.

Why don't you have a warranty? Microsoft extended the current warranty by another two years or something because of this problem.

Standing it up will allow better cooling. Hot air rises and there's plenty of room for the heat to exit at the top and sides, versus if it were on it's side. There's also vents on the bottom and other areas for cool air to enter. It also has a greater chance of catching more cool air if it's standing up versus laying down.

You'll never be past the RRoD. It will happen to every one of the consoles. It just happens randomly - sometimes early, sometimes late.

The best thing to do is avoid playing it for extremely long period of times. Let the console warm up before playing a game and let it cool down before turning it off. One of the problems with it is that it heats up and cools down too quick which can cause warping. The warping can break runs in the board and/or solder joints. Just turn the console on and let it sit at the dashboard for a few minutes to let it gradually warm up, then play your game. When you're done playing, let it sit at the dashboard for five minutes or so to let it gradually cool down.

Extra cooling should help prolong the inevitable RRoD. Any cooling in general will help, though. Make sure the cooling devices run on their own external power as to not draw power from the 360 itself.

[LaGrange]

I was told that I should leave it on for like an hour and see if it got hot. If it didnt then mine was okay. So is this a myth or truth?

[Jfluff]

they all get hot in 5 minutes, so I vote myth

[Dopefish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaGrange

I was told that I should leave it on for like an hour and see if it got hot. If it didnt then mine was okay. So is this a myth or truth?

Just think of it like a car engine.

You don't want to run the engine hard when it's still cold. You want to let it warm up first so the oil can get up to temperature and other various things.

So do the same with the 360. You don't need to wait an hour because just like a car, all it takes is a few minutes and it's up to temperature. So the best thing to do is just turn it on and let it sit at the dashboard for a few minutes so it can gradually warm up to temperature. Once it's there, then play your games. When you want to quit, just quit back to the dashboard and wait for a few minutes for everything to cool down, then shut it off.