Xbox 360 isn't actually broken, just misbehaving

by Justin Murray { Nov 29th 2006 at 1:45PM }

We're all aware of the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death, whether or not we experienced the problem firsthand. The logical assumption when three of the console's pretty green lights turn red and the games stop playing is that the system is broken. Apparently, that isn't always the case as the above video shows. Microsoft's AI branch prediction in the Xbox 360 is so good that some systems are becoming sentient. The red lights are simply the way the Xbox 360 communicates to the user that it doesn't feel like playing. But, like any misbehaving child, give it a good whack on the backside and it'll straighten up. You paid $400 (or $500 if you got suckered into the official wireless adapter) for the machine; it works for you, not the other way around.

[Thanks, Zed]

Tags: 360, 360 Red Ring, 360 Red Ring of Death, 360RedRing, 360RedRingOfDeath, Red Ring of Death, RedRingOfDeath, Xbox 360, Xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

ncdign @ Nov 29th 2006 1:57PM

I had the 3 lights once, but after removing the Intercooler it's been fine ever since.

jayntampa @ Nov 29th 2006 2:02PM

Don't let Microsoft see this video. Someone in accounting will go, "Hey ... we could save a lot of money if we got rid of the repair teams and just slapped those puppies."

Raynre @ Nov 29th 2006 2:05PM

So is the offical adapter the only way to make the 360 wireless?

Dan @ Nov 29th 2006 2:06PM

I had the dreaded rings right after I moved to a new apartment. Turns out the HD just wasn't secure.

Frank N Stein @ Nov 29th 2006 2:07PM

To #4 HELL NO!!! Go buy the Logitech Play Link for $20 online!!! I got it, it's awesome!!

supasta @ Nov 29th 2006 2:08PM

What does this video show at all but that someone has a malfunctioning MODDED Xbox360.

Firegirl @ Nov 29th 2006 2:09PM

Wow, I would be absolutely freaked out of my 360 did that to me. Shut up, play my games, and make me a sammich while you're at it!

Avinash_Tyagi @ Nov 29th 2006 2:11PM

And people say spanking doesn't work :P

Brian (the REAL Brian) @ Nov 29th 2006 2:14PM

Holy shit, he whacked that sonofmabitch pretty damned hard!

Flash @ Nov 29th 2006 2:15PM

1. they moded it
2. If its made by M$, assume its broken untill powered on
3. Are they Germine?

Frank N Stein @ Nov 29th 2006 2:22PM

One word - SPELLCHECK

holyice7 @ Nov 29th 2006 2:27PM

I thought the red lights meant it had overheated. Once I turned mine off and let it cool down, it was fine. I keep it in a TV cabinet, but THAT'S in the basement, where it's at least 10 degrees cooler than the house at any given time.

I suppose I must quote Venture Bros. here.
"Oh, wow dad, a problem light. What a great idea [/sarcasm]"

Alan @ Nov 29th 2006 2:32PM

The red lights are just the system's way of saying there is something wrong; not that it's broken. You get the red lights if you don't have your video cables put in correctly.

Dan @ Nov 29th 2006 2:34PM

its only visually modded. not much harm can come from that.

azesino @ Nov 29th 2006 2:42PM

hahahaha I would die if someone slapped my 400 dollars xbox, buy hey once the warranty is voided (he odviously voided his) I think I would of do that as a last resort

Pete C @ Nov 29th 2006 2:44PM

You can use an ethernet bridge instead of the 360 network adapter. However, I had a linksys bridge and my downloads were slow. I got a used official 360 wireless adapter on ebay for $60, and there is no comparison...the
360 product works a lot better. However, other bridges may work fine.

Watership @ Nov 29th 2006 2:49PM

Its only a visual mod? You know you have take the 360 APART to mod the case like that right? You don't think anything BAD might have gone wrong after they did that?

OtakuCODE @ Nov 29th 2006 2:54PM

The red ring of death can come from lots of things, and there are guides to what various patterns mean online. Several of the things could be caused by loose connections. When the 360 is on its side, a loose HD connection is quite likely.

supasta: What makes you think that 360 has a DVD drive with modified firmware?

slacker @ Nov 29th 2006 2:56PM

whoa! i gotta try that... my 360 retired on my ass. all it needs is a quick bitch slap. good lookking out joystiq.hahahaha.

Oro @ Nov 29th 2006 2:57PM

If something's not working and you've tried hitting it and you've tried blowing in it, then it's broken beyond repair.

botdeluxe @ Nov 29th 2006 2:57PM

could it be that they screwed up a connection when putting it in that ugly case, and all needed was a wackin to bridge that connection?

Blooye @ Nov 29th 2006 2:58PM

No they're Brasilian.

SuiXide @ Nov 29th 2006 3:05PM

>.< Didn't work...

Dux @ Nov 29th 2006 3:11PM

HAHAHA! I laughed so hard! The 360s been naughty, so you have to give it a nice rough spankin ;)

TB @ Nov 29th 2006 3:17PM

Please dont use wireless to play online. It ruins everyone's experience. It may seem okay, but the latency isnt reliable enough. It might be fine and then when you actually throw some throughput into it the ping goes down the crapper.

pfffffft @ Nov 29th 2006 3:18PM

$400? $500? Some kind of defensive need to equate Xbox 360 prices to PS3 prices?

OMG Xbox 360 + Wireless Option + HD-DVD Option + 10 years of Live + 100 games + extra 2 controllers + Live Vision Camera + Wireless Headset + Wireless racing wheel + every item on marketplace + J Allard autographed-faceplate more expensive than PS3 Core!!!

Exactly how wireless is the $500 ps3? Is there even the OPTION of an "offical" adapter for it? Ok, so it's exact as wireless as a $300 Xbox sku. Glad we have that straight now.

Sieg15 @ Nov 29th 2006 3:26PM

Hmm...That actually happened to me. So does that mean that if I smack the shit out of my 360, it'll start to work again? Sounds good to me.

Evil Inside @ Nov 29th 2006 3:33PM

The term for this type of repair is called a Technical Tap. It goes back decades when vacuum tubes and other analog components would losen up and people would have to hit the device to get it work properly.

Cold solder joints and lose connectors are a big cause this problem, and this is probably what the Xbox 360 in the video is experiencing.

Dan @ Nov 29th 2006 3:34PM

When you open the damn case, unless this guy was retarted, u only put the insides of the 360 on something non static and leave it be and you just do what ever u want the the casing. then u put it back together, what could go wrong with that? I did it, as well as 3 of my friends, and NOT ONE THING went wrong.

ger @ Nov 29th 2006 3:37PM

looks like a wonky HD, my ipod does that sometimes, if i "drop" it though it comes back to life....my guess is the HD is on it's way out on both my ipod and that xbox. eventually they'll both have to be replaced.

Lou @ Nov 29th 2006 3:39PM

I got the official Microsoft wireless adapter for $50 on eBay. It was worth the premium to have the form fitting wireless adapter, but for the retail price of $99, sorry.

Player1 @ Nov 29th 2006 3:53PM

The ring of death is THREE red lights. If you want to test that it's an hd problem, take it off then try to start up. I got the ring of death on Sunday (was error code 0102, unknown error). It had worked fine for 10 months then kept crashing like crazy on several games. I tell you I was seriously tempted to whack the crap out of it, but I figured it would making using my replacement plan much harder. Fortunately I was able to trade it in for a new one the next day.

Lobster @ Nov 29th 2006 4:22PM

I'm a little concerned by the unpleasant sound the X360 made when powering up the second time. Sounded like the drive was not happy.

Kevin @ Nov 29th 2006 5:02PM

Hmm, ok so with Nintendo you blow, and Xbox 360 you whack.

Gotcha. :P

GUS @ Nov 29th 2006 5:02PM

The console is only case-modded.

The guys in the video are clearly Brazilian as they are speaking Brazilian Portuguese.

Bennyishere @ Nov 29th 2006 5:26PM

I've got the red lights several times. I've always gotten really scared, but it was fixed after a quick restart.

My 360 is an unmodded 2005 model.

sonofnone @ Nov 29th 2006 5:54PM

Prodigy would be so very proud!

Aj Collins @ Nov 29th 2006 6:04PM

Who's your daddy now Xbox 360?

latpack @ Nov 29th 2006 7:13PM

Nice writup. I wasn't aware of Xbox 360s becoming sentinent, but thank you so much for reporting it.

Shit.. the disc tray just opened up for no reason. Was it because I was eating a cracker? Does it want one? NOOOOOOOO

mike @ Nov 29th 2006 7:26PM

Ah, Brasilian. I thought that "Spanish" sounded wrong. I'd never heard Portuguese.

Mike Berglund @ Nov 29th 2006 8:08PM

I also had a ring of death once, I just unplugged it and plugged it back in again

Joe @ Nov 29th 2006 8:53PM

I used to smack my DRE-ing PS2 to get it to work, and even I winced at this video.

Baw.

LordMinogue @ Nov 29th 2006 10:18PM

I play with wireless, and there is NO problem at all so long as I am not the game host (games I host while wireless are laggy).

Vimal @ Nov 29th 2006 10:21PM

@ GUS>
Obviously...

ncikmon @ Nov 29th 2006 11:34PM

ive had the same problem although mine always works again. Everytime I move it to a new room it does that so after tinkering around for about five minutes I get it to work again...

ForbidenMaster @ Nov 30th 2006 3:31AM

One Red Light - This behavior occurs when the Xbox 360 console experiences a hardware failure.

Two Red Lights - This behavior occurs when the internal temperature of the console exceeds the acceptable limits. You may think of this as too hot, overheating, and so on.

Three Red Lights - This behavior occurs when the Xbox 360 console experiences a hardware failure.

Four Red Lights - This issue may occur if one of the following conditions is true:
• The audio-visual (AV) cable is not correctly connected to the Xbox 360 console.
• The cable is not being detected by the console.
This issue is not caused by incorrectly plugging the AV cable into a TV, a stereo, or a VCR.

I have personaly had the 3 red lights 4 times from power surges, yet my launch console still works fine.

PS. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/?WT.svl=nav

Stan G. @ Nov 30th 2006 7:41AM

Red ring of death may also be caused by your 360 power brick being slightly unplugged from the cord that connects it to your 360.

I'm always moving my 360 from bedroom to living room and noticed that one time I received the dreaded red ring of death. Thinking the worst, I frantically opened the disc tray, and pulled the old "Nintendo Blow" trick to see if that would help. Nothing....finally, I checked the power brick and it seemed that the power input was not completely plugged in. I gave it a little push in and then turned the 360 on and VIOLA! Happy green lights! Hasn't given me a problem at all since then.