Microsoft Counters With 3 Answers To The Dreaded Xbox 360 Red Lights Of Death
These situations aren’t uncommon: Xbox 360 owners having nightmares about 3 red lights, Xbox 360 owners being afraid while playing time-intensive games because the screen might go black and 3 red lights might flash around the console’s power switch, Xbox 360 owners living in constant anxiety of being dropped from an intense game over Xbox Live because of the terrible 3 red lights that will strike their systems.
Indeed, of all the bugs, problems and defects associated with the system, none is more dreaded than the Xbox 360 red lights of death, famously or infamously abbreviated as RLOD.
The Xbox 360 red lights of death are 3 red lights that flash around the power switch of the machine, usually preceded by crashes while playing a game and failure to boot up when the system is reset.
The Xbox 360 red lights of death indicate what Microsoft can only label as “general hardware failure.” Many believe that it is merely a euphemism for “we don’t know where we goofed up in creating that video game system.” The prevalence of this RLOD problem is quite alarming. Microsoft pegs it as 16% of systems released prior to August of 2008. Third party estimates run as high as 65%, however.
The Xbox 360 red lights of death have become a marketing nightmare for Microsoft. Industry experts believe that Microsoft could’ve experienced 300% more sales if people weren’t afraid of this error that, for all intents and purposes, renders the console useless.
Microsoft has taken steps to alleviate the problem:
- Microsoft has extended the warranty of Xbox 360 units to 3 years, an unprecedented length of time for a console. If a unit is hit by the RLOD and it is still under warranty, the owner can phone in his problem and he will be asked to ship back the defective unit. After some time, Microsoft will send a new unit for the customer to enjoy.
- Microsoft has constantly upgraded its chipset and motherboard designs. Today, the Jasper chipset is being used on new Xbox 360 units, and so far, reports of the Xbox 360 red lights of death are non-existent.
- Microsoft has introduced the New Xbox Live Experience, or NXLE, a dashboard and firmware update that allows gamers to install games to their units’ hard drives. This means less stress for the DVD reader, less heat generated, and less heat circulating inside the console. The Xbox 360 red lights of death are often attributed to physical distortion of the motherboard and overheating of GPU caused by the heat trapped inside the system.
With older units, there will always be the possibility of being struck by the Xbox 360 red lights of death. But newer units with Jasper chipsets can allow users to finally enjoy their games with confidence.
Tags: Xbox 360