XBOX Ring of death

Renaultsport · Feb 22, 2010

My XBOX suffered from this at the weekend!

sod' s law its around 4 years old so out of warranty! I'm looking to repair it myself... anyone know if i NEED the repair kit? Or can I just get a tube of thermal paste, remove the X clamp, put the paste on and screw back down?

corneyman · Feb 23, 2010

You've done well, I'm on my fourth. Check out the Xbox website, they extended the warranty, you never know. I sent my last one off and it was back within ten days. If you can't get it sorted, new ones are cheap, just get an arcade model and swap the hard drive.

Renaultsport · Feb 23, 2010

I seem to here a lot of people having at least 4 with this issue. 1 in 4 years for me is pretty good going! Have they now fixed the issue in newer systems?

Jimbo · Feb 23, 2010

Yeah, I think that the newer ones are less prone to this problem. I remember seeing it reported that it cost Microsoft $1bn to extend the warranty to three years, so I guess it's in the company's interest to make sure as few consoles go back to them as possible. I've lost two to the RLOD, but I've had an Elite now for six months and it's still going strong. Woop!

I did repair one myself last year - bought a cheap kit from eBay. It's not a particularly difficult job, just a bit fiddly. I'd get it done under warranty if that's an option, but otherwise, it's definitely worth spending the few quid on an eBay repair kit just to ensure you have everything you need. Although you will also need to buy some switch cleaner and have a few specific tools.

Good luck!

Renaultsport · Feb 23, 2010

Damn Microshaft. Tried to see if they would send me a data transfer kit FOC as I've not got an Elite bundle, but they said no. Even though my XBOX failed not far out the 3 years and I bought a new one...

(I didn't actually think they would do anything, but I thought it would be worth a try.)

power ranger · Feb 23, 2010

Wrap it in lots of towels for about 10mins so it over heats and than can cure the problem dont know how but did it on my mates and worked first time!

mada88 · Feb 23, 2010

Get a PS3 :wink: much better and Gran Turismo 5 soon!

Supersonic · Feb 24, 2010

Get an Elite, i've had mine since they came out and have had no problems, even after my girlfriends cat threw water all over it, i'll admit it threw a wobbly!

Im interested in GT5 but if it's anything like the last then i'll walk away. Much prefer Forza3. A friend had the PS3 and we compared GTA4, the PS3 was comparable to the Xbox until you were moving quickly then the PS3 started to struggle. I admit thats not the most graphically intense game though.

It didn't take long before he finally saw sense