All you need to know about the RROD + How to fix. --- N0t By m3

The Red Rings Of Death are sometimes reffered to as the: RROD, the Red Light of Doom (RLOD) or the Three Red Lights(3RL). If i have helped you please remember to +rep me as it took me over an hour to right this guide.

By brent012 of

All 360 consoles out now run the risk of getting the RROD, contrary to popular belief the Xbox Elite is also at risk and is no different to the other versions available. The falcon chip reduces the chances of getting the RROD and is now in all new Xbox 360's but was first available in the halo 360.

There are a few kinds of the RROD, first the traditional 3RL pictured up the top, the 4RL which usually indicates you have not set up the video cables correctly, when you get 2RL's flashing it means the xbox is overheating and you should turn it off and unplug it from everything. There is also a strange combination which i am not sure about:http://www.gametrailers.com/player/u...es/128467.html If only one quadrant is red there is hardware failure probably caused by a bad flashing

You may have seen Nyko and other brand intercoolers which plug in through usb and snap on to the back, these will void the waranty and microsoft can tell if they have been used- also they are pointless as for it to make any difference the fan on the intercooler must spin faster than the fan on the xbox which is usually not the case.

If you get the RROD and your power supply light is green (if its not green its a power supply issue look elsewhere for info) turn the xbox off and unplug it from everything and leave it for a few hours minimum, do NOT put it in the fridge/freezer, water or outside in the cold. After a few hours has passed if the RROD's are still happening and your xbox is still in warranty (3 years after manafacture date, and never been opened/modded or anything done on the users end which could have caused the problem) ring microsoft on 0800 587 1102 in the UK, 1800 555 741 in Australia, or 1-800-4MY-XBOX (1-800-469-9269) in USA. If you have never opened, modded or physically damaged your xbox then ring microsoft up anyway but you will have to pay.

When on the phone with microsoft tell them what quadrants are flashing, they will then probably tell you to send the xbox in an unmarked box to microsoft - it is important not to send it in the box you bought it in as microsoft knows postal workers are aware of rrod xbox's being sent in occasionally and lets say some postal workers are not the most honest people.

There is alot of speculation about the failure rate of xbox's originally microsoft set it at around 3-5% but after a large ammount of people were getting the RROD rumours went around claiming that it had unbelievable failure rates of up to 60%. The most popular believed failure rate is 30% in geneal and 10% for the new consoles. These are all wrong - the true failure rate is 100% as any console anywhere can get the problem due to the way the xbox is designed, just alot of people who own xbox's dont play them enough/are lucky for there xbox's not to get the problem, yet.

Another misconception of the RROD's is that its caused due to overheating this is not the case, the RROD is caused when one or more internal parts of the xbox permanently fails.

Now heres the truth of the most common reasons for the 3 red light. They are a result of long term heat of the CPU and the GPU against the motherboard that causes to change shape. This issue causes the lead-free solders that were used to mount the motherboard to have lots of extra tension on them. After the solder is exposed to high temperature, the solder become brittle and develop small cracks that are almost irreparable. It isn’t until these cracks form that you get the red ring of death. So as you can see its nothing to do with overheating.

There are a few temporary fixes for fixing the RROD's including the towel trick which actually make the problem worse. The reason the towel trick works temporarily is the solder is heated up rejoining the connection.

There are a few real ways to fix the RROD's these include:

Heatgun method:
This involves heating the solder up again and rejoining the connections much like the towel trick but this isnt as risky and is just generally better. The problem is often if you have done this you will have to do it again and again every few weeks, this is becuase of how cheap microsoft is - theres not alot of solder used in the xbox. Video here:http://www.gametrailers.com/player/u...es/212870.html

Xecuter RROD Fix Kit:
You have to buy this kit and put rubber pads over the ram which i presume do the same thing as the spring washers in the xclamp fix only there from Xecuter who are a big name in the xbox modding scene.

XClamp fix:
You buy spring washers and put them on the heatsink which reduces the tension on the mobo. Everything you need to know is in this vid.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM4TE...eature=related

There are a few other ways of doing it but that is all you really need to know. It is also possible to add more solder on the xbox but there are some microscopic places to put it so im not going to mention it.

The secret RROD menu for 3RL: (Get pen and paper to write down)

* * Turn the xbox 360 on, and wait till the 3 red lights are flashing.
* * Press and hold the sync up button (the small white one), while holding that button press the eject button.
* * The LEDs will now blink the first number in the code (as described below).
* Release the eject button and press it again.
* The LEDs will now blink the second number of the code.
* Release the eject button and press it again.
* The LEDs will now blink the third number of the code.
* Release the eject button and press it again.
* The LEDs will now blink the forth number of the code.
* Release the eject button and press it again.
* The LEDs will go back to the 3 red flashing lights.

You should be able to determine the difference between the 3 flashing lights and the error code lights by the rate in which they flash.

Here is how you interpret the LEDs to get the code number:

* All four lights flashing - 0
* One light flashing - 1
* Two Lights flashing - 2
* Three lights flashing - 3

These are the codes and possible causes:
0001 power supply problem
0002 Network Interface problem
0003 Power problem could be the PSU could be the GPU/CPU, somehow the console isn't getting clean power from the power supply.
0010 There is a problem with the Southbridge Chip usually dealing with how it connects to the mainboard (cold solder joint/bridged solder joints)
0011 CPU over heating - If you are receiving this error after disassembling your console make sure to all 8 of the heatsinc screws are tightened securely to the board/heatsink holes.
0012 GPU over heating
0013 RAM over heating
0020 (Not yet known, possibly overheating)
0021 This can be caused by two completely different things either:
A. DVD Drive Time out - Can be caused by problems with a firmware flash. This is also speculated to sometime be caused by a problem with the southbridge chipset on the motherboard based on how it connects to the DVD drive.
B. GPU error, generally caused by a poor connection to the mainboard (cold solder joints/bridged solder joints) See error 102 for more information
0022 CPU error, generally caused by a poor connection to the mainboard (cold solder joints/bridged solder joints). This can also be triggered by an error with the TSOP.
0023 (not yet known)
0030 Problem with temperature control
0031 (not yet known)
0032 (not yet known)
0033 (not yet known)
0100 (not yet known)
0101 (not yet known)
0102 Error in the "Digital Backbone" (CPU/GPU/RAM), this is usually caused by a cold solder joint between the GPU and the mainboard.
There are two theories to fixing this one deals with the "X" clamps that hold down the chips. The other involves re-Heating the chips. DO NOT attempt either of these if your console is still under warranty. If your console is still under warranty return it to the store where it was purchased or call MS to have it replaced.[/list]0103 GPU Error this is usually caused by bridged solder points where the GPU connects to the mainboard. see error 0102 for more detailed information
0110 Ram error, this is caused by a cold or bridged solder joint on one of the Ram chips.
...
0200 (not yet known)
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1000 Kernel can't be launched/signature in NAND Flash chip is broken! It could be possible after bad update. This might also be caused by a bad SATA cable.
1001 DVD Drive Error, either incorrect firmware or DVD Time out.
1002 (not yet known)
1003 Hard Drive Error... It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it
1010 Hard Drive Error, Can be caused buy a corrupt or missing eProm. See also E68 above
1011 (not yet known)
1012 (not yet known)
1013 (not yet known) possibly a dashboard update error
1020 (not yet known)
1021 (not yet known)
1022 There is high chance it's a scaler chip problem (the "ANA" or "HANA" chip near the AV cable connection) it can also be caused by a faulty AV cable so check that first. In some cases it is a problem with the GPU and may be repairable by doing the x-clamp replacement (see error 0102)
1023 DVD drive not connected, connect DVD drive to boot
1030 This error deals with the Ethernet port's controller chip, a dead chip may not cause the error but removing the Ethernet controller chip does, it may also be caused by other Ethernet related problems.
1031 (not yet known)
1032 (not yet known)
1033 it could be cpu/gpu related or it could be psu related, not much info is known for sure.
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1444 and up There is no "4" in the error codes four lights is a "0" go back and check your code again.