There is nothing worse than buying an expensive, high-tech piece of equipment, only to have it break. While the advances in computers and video game systems have been astounding over the past decade, with progress comes risk.

These game systems require fast graphics, sound and memory at speeds unimaginable a few years ago, overheat easily and xBox 360 is no exception. The xBox 360 is one of the most-hyped video game systems of the latest generation, suffers from numerous hard drive failures. The failures are so numerous that it has its own built-in warning system – Red Ring of Death. The xBox 360 Red Ring of Death is a group of lights on the front of the game console that indicate various problems. When the normally green lights turn red, the gamer knows there is a serious problem, one that may not be resolved easily.

Deciphering the Red Ring of Death

The xBox 360 Red Ring of Death is divided into four quadrants and there is meaning behind the various patterns of red and green lights. For example, a general hardware failure will turn every light red except the first quadrant. If the system is overheating, every light except the second quadrant will remain green.

If every quadrant except the third is blinking red, this is once again a hardware problem. If the entire xBox 360 Red Ring of Death is blinking angrily, the user should be happy: it simply means the power cable is not inserted properly and needs to be plugged back into place.

Users should know the various meanings behind the xBox 360 Red Ring of Death for couple of reasons. First, some of the problems are easily fixed and do not require shipping the game console to a repair center. Second, if the user does need to contact customer support, the representative will need to know exactly what the xBox 360 Red Rring of Death looks like in order to offer advice and suggestions.

The repair process for an xBox 360 Red Ring of Death is lengthy and complicated; the problem must be identified and logged. Depending on the issue, the damaged parts must be packaged and shipped to the repair center for analysis.

Knowing the xBox 360 Red Ring of Death is useful, if not a little depressing. A built-in indication system of hardware failure seems like a warning to not buy the system; however, the xBox 360 itself simply has a few bugs to work out. Microsoft has dealt with these issues and the latest releases of the xBox 360 game consoles experience the xBox 360 Red Ring of Death less frequently.

For gamers who are fearful of experiencing Red Ring of Death are advised to purchase an extended warranty. The 90-day warranty on a new system rarely cover the problems of Red Ring of Death. The extended warranty is a smart choice considering the cost of a replacement system.