If you Google the term "three red lights,” you get just under 6 million hits. The term “red ring of death” produces just fewer than 8 million. If you have no idea what I am talking about, then you have never owned an XBOX 360. It is probably for the best. Watch this quick one minute video below to see exactly what I am talking about.
If you, like me, bought one of the earlier versions of XBOX 360, you likely paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $350 to $500 for the privilege of owning one of these now famous and infamous devices. Let’s not forget the $50 - $70 game costs plus around $50 a year to play online.The XBOX 360 is famous for superior graphics, gaming speed, and ease of play. Although the XBOX 360 gaming experience is unmatched, the device is a bad money and time suck, and that is the infamous part.
A good example of this is the “three red lights” also known as the “red ring of death.” I experienced this problem recently and personally know of many XBOX 360 enthusiasts who have encountered this very problem, which goes by the acronym RROD as well. There are thousands of Youtube videos which showcase temporary (and self-proclaimed permanent) solutions to this issue. “Permanent” RROD solution – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsz0lNJ6JrQTemporary RROD solution (towel trick) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQuNUGW1aZo
Temporary RROD solution (Q-tips) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV4OX8-SQqY&feature=related
There are even self-help written guides to help you with your XBOX 360 problems, like this one here http://three-red-lights.blogspot.com/
Of course, none of these solutions are endorsed or offered by XBOX 360. Instead, you can visit the all so unhelpful XBOX 360 support page and wade through the useless information only to find yourself at the conclusion that you are going have to send off your XBOX 360 for repairs. These repairs are not even covered by your now expired warranty even though the issue seems systemic. The logical step for XBOX would be to extend the warranty to cover the RROD beyond the original manufacturer warranty, but this costly step is unlikely in a mostly young adult market. Had this been a high-end DVD player, there may have been concessions made. Infuriating XBOX 360 owners even more, XBOX and its maker Microsoft, have not even issued so much as an apology for the issues which, according to some estimates, cause 16% of XBOX 360’s to ultimately fail.
So your solutions are simple. Stop playing the XBOX 360 all together and miss out on hours of visual stimulation and enjoyment or fix/ replace the XBOX 360. I, of course, opted for the later. Instead of paying $99 through the XBOX 360 support page offering, I opted for a refurbished XBOX 360 purchased through GameStop.com for the same price (minus taxes and shipping). However, the refurbished XBOX 360 came with a new wireless controller, power supply, and hard drive in case any of those costly extras decide to fail next. 
