There are several possible reasons for the xbox 360 red light and a few quick tricks you can try to fix it yourself.

The first thing is to make sure your xbox is flashing with 3 red lights and not four. The four red lights is a problem with the audio and video cable connection. Make sure the audio cable is well plugged in the xbox and that the audio and video cables are correctly matched to your TV’s inputs.

The Xbox 360 red light or « red ring of death » is as Microsoft describes it a « general hardware failure ». Of course this isn’t very helpful in determining the cause of the problem, but the most common causes of the xbox 360 red lights are:

* Overheating: If your xbox 360 has been running for too long, the cooling system may not be able to effectively cool the components. Turn off the xbox 360, unplug all the cables and leave it in a cool place for at least 2 hours.

* The power supply does not provide enough power to the xbox 360. Make sure your xbox 360 is plugged in a dedicated outlet and not in a shared powerbar.

Beyond these simple fixes, if your xbox 360 is still experiencing the 3 red lights your options are to send your unit in to Microsoft for repair which can take up to 4 weeks, or you can buy a new xbox 360.

Better yet you can fix your xbox yourself in less than an hour without the need for any special tools or any technical experience.