Today I received an interesting email from a Gamers World Bangladesh Blog reader. He just had the red ring of death. Here’s his original email:

Hi,

I am one of the few Xbox Live! players in Bangladesh. Anyways to the point, my 360 got that red ring. Now, what should I do?

Adnan Ahmed

I have a lot of friends who have the dreaded Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death. It’s every Bangladeshi gamers nightmare. Since almost all of us buy modded consoles with no warranty, and run cheap pirated discs, the Xbox 360 develops problems over time. Since the warranty isn’t intact, and even if it is, we don’t have an authorized Microsoft repair center to have it fixed for free. So what to do in this case?

DO YOU REALLY HAVE THE RED RING OF DEATH?

One of the first things to do is to check whether you have the red ring of death. Each quadrant on the set of flashing red lights indicates a different issue. The red ring of death is when your Xbox 360 shows 3 red lights in the upper left quadrants. Check with the screen shot to the left which shows a red ring of death.

THE FIX

I’ve read that you can fix the red ring of death by simply wrapping towels around it. I don’t know if this works, or if it leads to problems later on, but you could try it. Here’s the instruction from an editor of Xbox 360 Rally who had the same problem:

Put one towel down, put the 360 on top, add another towel on top, cover all sides/backs/etc. This is key, you have to have that Xbox covered. When you can’t see it, finger around to find the power button and turn it on. Wait 10-15 minutes. Turned back on, I got a chubby when all I seen was green lights. I turned off the system to put back in the hard drive and throw in a game.

Here’s a video tutorial:

Check out this video tutorial to fix your Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death

MORE ADVANCED FIX

If that didn’t work for you, then you could try the method listed at Instruction Tables. But it’s for advanced users only as you have to take the console apart, and possibly void your warranty.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE RED RING OF DEATH

If all of the lights but the first section are flashing, this means a general hardware failure has occurred. There is little to be done other than trying to unhook and reattach your cables. This problem is a sure sign a visit to the repair center is in your console’s future. If the problem is indicated in the second quadrant of the system, it is merely overheating. As too many hours of GRAW will do that to a unit, the proposed cure here is to unplug the unit from the power supply, let it sit to cool down, and perhaps begin scouting for a better location to store your precious investment.

A problem indicated in the third quadrant of the Xbox 360 ring of light is diagnosed as a hardware failure. Once again, try re-inserting all of your cords and cables, but this problem should definitely be dealt with by the repair center. If all four lights are flashing on the front of your console, this is perhaps the easiest problem to fix. This is an issue with the AV cable not being properly inserted into the back of the console. The cure? Just make sure the cord “clicks” once it has been inserted into the unit.

Source: TeamXbox

WHAT ABOUT ADNAN?

Well I hope Adnan sorts out his problem soon. Here’s my reply to him:

Hi Adnan,

Sorry to hear that you are facing the dreaded red ring of death. You mentioned that you play on Xbox Live, that means you have an unmodded console and hopefully have the warranty intact. If this is the case, you can head on to http://support.xbox.com to have an Xbox rep assist you. Microsoft covers any console from the red ring of death for a total of 3 years from the date of purchase. Did you buy it from abroad or in Bangladesh? Your retailer should also give you warranty. You could also try returning your console to the retailer.

But wait, it might not be a red ring of death. If all four lights on your console flashes, then it’s just probably some loose cables. Try reconnecting all cables to see if that fixes the problem. Wait for an hour or two to cool down the console and try again. Hopefully it will work.

If you fear that you have the red ring of death, then three red lights will flash up on the console as shown above. If you have the red ring of death, then probably you can’t reapair it yourself.

If you don’t have the warranty, then you could seek help from these sites which details how to fix the console yourself. But be warned because none of them are guaranteed to work and you could have (serious) problems later on.

Try this simple trick: http://www.xbox360rally.com/the-red-ring-of-deathcure-found/

More resources: http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Fix_a_Red_Ring_of_Death

For advacned users only: http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-the-Red-Ring-of-Deathwithout-towels/

If I can be of further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Wishing you all the best of luck!
Mushfiqur Rahman