Got a love-hate relationship going on with your Xbox 360? You love it due to the fact that you're massively addicted to the intense fun that it provides. You really detest it because of...well, need I mention the red ring of death?
The red ring of death gives countless consumers a good amount of grief and frustration. It's likewise given Microsoft some headaches as well...to the tune of about a billion dollars or so in warranty repairs. Now the first question that needs asking is why?
What exactly triggers off the three quarter circle of lights called the ring of death? Its main cause is heat. The Xbox becomes overheated when it's played continually over lengthy time periods.
So how can the Xbox get so overheated? There's two parts to the explanation here. Firstly, the graphics chip was engineered on a cheap budget by Microsoft.
Rather than go to a highly experienced vendor for its chip design (ASIC vendor), Microsoft designed the graphics chip in house, in other words, on it's own. This was done in order to save some tens of millions of dollars in the cost of the design. Now, most of us know that to do the job right, you go and hire a professional.
It's well known that our "home made" efforts just will not work as well as work done by the pro's. Microsoft's in house job is inefficient in that it dissipates too much waste heat. The other part of the overheating problem is that the cooling system is only marginally capable of dispersing the tremendous heat put out by the home designed graphics chip.
It really doesn't take much to make it over heat. Try running the unit for any length of time, especially in a warm, room with no air conditioning and it'll over heat. The console doesn't tolerate partial blockage of its cooling vents either.
For instance, it is very easy to allow cords and cables to get really clumped up at the back end of the console. This alone will induce the unit to get over heated. Want to run it in that cluttered up recess where direct sunlight can reach it inside that room without air conditioning?
Well, it isn't a great notion in any case. Of course, you probably don't treat your toys like this, but what I'm saying here is that consumer products are supposed to be able to take some customer abuse and continue functioning. An issue that I don't have an answer to is what went wrong with Microsoft's quality control process?
They must have a product testing program of some kind in place to protect the consumer from buying faulty products. Perhaps it was inadequate because it failed to simulate normal customer usage of the console. Or maybe it was, but the management people pushed it out anyway?
All conjectures aside, the great news is that Microsoft has gone to an ASIC vendor in the US and had the graphics chip redesigned. Maybe some day your ordinary Xbox gamer won't know what you are talking of when you mention the red ring of death.
About the Author:
Marc Sandford is a gaming enthusiast and writer. Get Xbox 360 troubleshooting information about fixing the Xbox 360 3 Red Lights Error.
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