Since its launch, the Xbox 360 has been plagued with technical issues, and although Microsoft has been very quick and fair in their response, it’s a source of frustration among the Xbox 360’s many owners. The Xbox’s detractors have used these issues as evidence of how poor the console is, but those who have played the console know that the fun pretty much outweighs the frustration. Here are three common Xbox 360 technical problems, with information about what to do if your console is experiencing any of them.
1. Red Ring of Death – The notorious red ring of death has been a very embarrassing issue for Microsoft, as a far larger than average number of consoles have reported the defect. In fact, the reports rose to enough prominence that Microsoft extended the warranty on any Xboxes affected by the issue, which included the Xbox of the author of this article, by the way. The problem occurs because of faulty soldering on the electronics of the Xbox 360, and there’s a fix on the Internet that involves wrapping the Xbox 360 in a towel for 10-20 minutes while leaving it powered on. This fix will work for small periods of time; it heats up the connections enough to make them fire again. However, it’s not a permanent fix, and will eventually stop working. If your Xbox console has this problem, contact Microsoft right away to arrange for a warranty repair.
2. Badly scratched game disc – Many console owners have reported massive scoring on discs placed in the Xbox. This happens when the Xbox 360 is moved from a horizontal to a vertical position (or vice versa) while running. Unfortunately, there’s nothing that you can do for the discs, other than contact the disc manufacturers, who will sometimes provide a low cost or even free 2nd copy of the game disc if you can prove ownership via a UPC or serial code. Microsoft will fix the problem with the Xbox, but you’re better off just not moving the Xbox 360 at all, even slightly, while it’s running.
3. “Unplayable Disc” error – According to Wikipedia, “In the majority of cases, this error is caused by the adhesive that holds a small magnetic washer heating up and allowing the washer to affix itself to the metal top of the drive.” That means that in order to fix the unplayable disc error, you have to open up your Xbox 360, something that you’ll definitely want to avoid if you’ve got an open warranty. If, however, your warranty is expired (and I’d still call Microsoft anyways, just to make sure that they won’t cover you), there are numerous fixes available on Google by typing “Unplayable Disc Xbox 360 Fix”.
What Xbox problems do you know about? Post information, including any fixes, in our comments section below.
