DISCLAIMER: I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANY ACTIONS ON YOUR PART FROM READING THIS INFORMATION. MINORS SHOULD DISCUSS THIS INFORMATION WITH THEIR PARENTS BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISIONS. You should not take any action you are not willing to take responsibility for, this post is made in the hopes that it may be useful, but you may harm yourself or others following the information below. I’m not making any claims as to the effectiveness or safety of any given actions I took below - I only list that actions I took. I’m not one to buck the system, nor do I think that doing anything to void your warranty is a good thing.
UPDATE 7/14/2008: As it turns out UPS didn’t email me an online printable shipping label, they actually sent me the box with packing and prepaid label for return UPS shipping back to Microsoft. So back to Microsoft my Red Rings of Death machine goes. When Microsoft receives it they will decide if they will repair or replace it. Regardless I will send them an XBOX 360 that is well beyond its warranty period and I will get back in return an XBOX 360 with a 90 day warranty.
That being said I ran across some interesting information today on the Internet and thought I’d share. I googled the terms xbox 360 red rings after our XBOX 360 began displaying the dreaded red rings of death recently. Here is the information I found useful (read the disclaimer, above, if you have not already):
1 a) [Source: Microsoft Support KB 907534] Make sure you see three lights on the Ring of Light (numbers 1-3) flash red on the front of your Xbox 360. The upper-right quadrant (when the XBOX 360 is in the horizontal position - the number 4 light) should be the only light that does not flash red.
b) Check to make sure the power supply light (in the center of the Ring of Light) is green
c) Turn off the console and wait for 10 seconds, then power it back up to see if you still have the dreaded red rings of death.
2) [SOURCE: TeamXBOX.com’s Red Ring of Death article] Next Microsoft suggests contacting support. However, I went back to Google and found some good info from the folks over at teamxbox.com. You might want to read their entire article but here is the part I tried on our XBOX…
It should be noted that when gamers call the support line about their defective unit, the standard procedure of operation is to have gamers unplug all cables from the unit, reinsert them, and try booting the system again. The support worker will also have players remove their hard drive and reboot the system to check and see if that is the problem. In the hope of speeding the process along, it might be a wise thought to run through those procedures before calling the Xbox 360 support line.
WRAP-UP - WHAT WORKS FOR ME (updated after follow up call to XBOX 360 Support)
Well hopefully steps 1 or 2 worked for you, but I had to call Microsoft like teamxbox.com’s article suggested. Instead of having Microsoft send me a preapid box so I could return my XBOX 360 console, I opted to do it by email. From what I understand Microsoft contacts UPS to get the ball rolling and setup the prepaid return of the console. Then I’ll get an email from Microsoft explaining how to return my console for repair, and one from UPS with instructions on sending the console to Microsoft prepaid (maybe online printing of a shipping label??). This could take 1 or 2 days from the day of my call.
When I have both emails I follow the instructions and ship the console back to Microsoft. They will either repair the system or if they deem it unrepairable they will send out a refurbished system. This latter part I was told could be up to 3 or 4 weeks, but get this….. I get a 30 day XBOX Live Gold Membership card and I get a 90 day warranty. Now the Gold Membership isn’t a big deal to me, but I now have a 90 day warranty on a used console that was out of warranty when I bought it - how sweet is that!
Here’s the info I got from teamxbox.com’s site and its probably somewhere in your XBOX 360 Warranty and/or documentation also….
Assuming that the assistance is needed, a phone call to the helpful people at the Xbox 360 support center is the next step. Every day from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 A.M. Eastern time, and 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. Pacific Time, gamers can call 1-800-4MY-XBOX to get the repair process started. International users can dial 425-635-7180.
Happy gaming!
