The Xbox 360 is a games console with a reputation for technical problems, and entire phrases have become synonmous with the failure of the popular gaming machine. The most famous of these phrases is easily the 'red ring of death', which is named after the three status lights on the front of the console. When they are green all is well, but when they turn red then they signify a technical failure within the Xbox itself.

"General hardware failure"

The 'red ring of death' is basically a reporting mechanism that lets the user know that there is a technical malfunction of the hardware or a 'core digital failure'. It is very possible that receiving this indication means that a 'fatal error has occurred'. This technical failure rate is reported to be far more common than the electrical goods industry in general, desipte Microsoft's initial claims of a 2-3% failure rate when the games console was first launched, which would have been within regular industry parameters.

However since its release it has become obvious that the percentage rate is far higher. Microsoft have refused to release any statistics on the exact failure rate but it is very telling that in July 2007 they were forced to offer an additional 3 year warranty extension to any of their customers that had experienced the ring of death.

What causes the ring of death?

Could be any of a large number of reasons. A prominent source, long suspected to have been a team leader in the Microsoft Xbox360 development team, says that it could be anything; parts, material problems, system design, pretty much anything.

It is claimed that Microsoft were aware of such issues, with as much as 68 out of every 100 units tested suffering a technical failure of some kind. The major problem being that the system design was such that any small issue or fault could cause the whole system to crash, the Xbox 360 did not have the flexibility required to keep going if there was a problem.

What is the main cause of failure within the Xbox 360?

Too much heat. The fans within the console are often unable to keep the systems cool under the strain of intense heat produced by certain electrical parts of the machine. Microsoft have identified this problem and as of October 2008 they hope to have solved it. They introduced a new motherboard using technology known as 'Jaspar' which produces far less heat than previous motherboards, reducing the strain on the cooling fans, and hopefully reducing failure rates.

What do to if the 'red ring of death' strikes

As mentioned earlier if this happens Microsoft have offered an additional 3 years cover for anyone who suffers from a technical fault indicated by the 'ring of death', though this only counts for the warranty holder so is not of use if you have bought the console 2nd hand. If you took out the extended warranty on the machine when you purchased Microsoft will also repair it and give you a 1 month gold card subscription. Should you not be covered like this there are repair services available for you to pay for.

Some Xbox console users have found ways to repair their own service, but be advised that this voids Microsoft's warranty, so take care to only do this if there's no other way to try to repair it and you won't be out anything anyway.