Cool Your Xbox 360

One of the better gaming systems that has entered the market in recent years is certainly the Xbox 360. However it seems that there is always going to be a rain cloud around somewhere with every ray of sunshine. With the Xbox that rain cloud is the "red ring of death".

The red ring of death is a flashing three quarter ring of light that signals the failure of a chip on the motherboard. This flaw has its origin in Microsoft's decision to get the product to market before a number of design and manufacturing issues could be resolved. A significant design mistake is a very weak cooling system that is barely able to keep the internal chips cool.

Various bugs and design faults within the console come to life with the excessive heat causing the red ring of death failure. So keeping the Xbox cool is the best preventative measure that you can take. The rest of this article will tell you how to do this.

The first order of business is to make sure that the cooling vents are kept unobstructed. This is probably very obvious to most people, but what is less obvious are the unintentional ways that the vents can be blocked. This frequently happens whenever the Xbox is placed on soft surfaces such as pillows, sofas, rugs, and beds.

Another way to cause overheating problems is to place the Xbox in closed off locations with no natural ventilation. Some of these areas might include cabinets, bookcases, racks, or being buried among a lot of clutter. This oversight is very common since we tend to do this in an effort to conserve space.

More of the Xbox's surface can be exposed to the air by tipping it on its side. You can also try pointing a small fan at it for more cooling.

Keep the Xbox away from all sources of heat. These are usually items such as radiators, heaters, stoves, and furnaces. Use the air conditioner when the weather is hot and humid. Try to avoid exposing your Xbox to direct sunlight.

Don't forget to keep the power brick as cool as possible. Excess heat is flushed out of the power brick by an internal fan. All too often, people will place the power brick in closed off chambers with no air circulation. This is definitely something to guard against. Place it off the floor away from soft carpeting which blocks natural air circulation.

The above suggestions are mostly preventative measures to be taken when your Xbox is new. However, if you've already experienced a "screen freeze", this is characteristic of excessive heat which has caused a chip to automatically shut down. Take this as a warning that greater effort is required to keep your Xbox 360 cool. Ignore this at your own peril since the "red ring of death" is sure to follow.