Xbox 360 - Red Lights of Doom!

So I have had my xbox 360 for quite awhile now, but recently it killed itself. It started with some freeze ups and audio stuttering. Then it died.

3 red lights of doom.

I thought it was dead. I yelled at it, smacked it, did everything! It was dead. But then it fixed itself one day. I was thrilled! It was perfect for about a week.

Then it killed itself again. Permanently.

Yelling at it would not fix it, smashing it, nothing. So I took it apart. I read some stuff about the X-clamps being the reason, along with heat issues and the thermal paste.

So I ghetto rigged up a solution. It is so sad and pathetic.... but it works. I took out the clamps, applied new thermal paste (its automotive stuff!) and bolted the stuff right to the frame (I had to drill new holes).

It works!.....

But now it is as loud as a jet engine. It blows my mind. I did nothing to the fans, the shroud, nothing. The case is sealed, its the same as it was before, yet now its super loud.

This is what I used as a guide:
rbjtech.bulldoghome.com...

For cracking open the case I used this:

www.xboxchopshop.com...

If you have the stomach and the tools, its possible. I do not expect mine to work for very long, but it was cool to do it myself. I think I will just buy a replacement in the long run.

Any ideas on why its so loud?

reply to post by Dulcimer


dont take this the wrong way
you ******, your xbox 360 is 3 years under warrenty which means you could have got it sent off and fixed or in the best scenario a new one given to you.

by opening the 360 you voided that warrenty

mine died twice and twice i got it fixed for free and re-embersed 2 months live and a free Gift (my case wireless head set)

SAD case

some have said you can just turn it on and let it heat up ... the piece would expand, and work, until you shut it off again and it cooled down.


It doesn't matter with mine anymore. I don't play it. It may get some use by a friend soon when I move in an apartment with them in a couple months, but, I realized, most games that I would like that comes out on the 360, comes out also either on the PC or the PS3. Will be getting a new PC when I move, and my PS3 runs well and quietly.

My 360 is loud from the fans ... the hard drive access is loud ... then you start a game and the disc drive is really loud. I would say as loud or louder than your standard oscillating fan on high (mine is old, so it may be louder than it was when new ). I would hate to hear yours if it increased that much, I already joked with people and asked them if it sounded like a jet engine to them.

I know the PS3 makes noise, but, I never had to turn the volume up to cover system noise! Though, if you had/have a DreamCast, you are most likely accustomed to loud disc drives


I am glad that worked for you. If mine does tank, I bought a 3 yr warranty when I picked mine up because of the RRoD thing ... since that was before MS extended the warranty. I can take it back and get a gift card for my purchase amount. I just hope -if- it fails, it is not the day after that warranty expires!

The whole shipping it back thing, takes a while, if they end up giving you a different console, you lose your info, or if they let you keep your hard drive, it has issues with your DLC because of hardware conflicts.

The 360 is a good console, and its been the first console I have had in a long time, but the hardware issues with it are not acceptable to me.

Warranty or not, people should not have to face faults like this (once or multiple times).

My 360 prior to fixing was not very loud at all. I think what may have pushed mine over the edge was poor cooling because of the fans. I do not think they were working 100 percent.

I used to be a pc gamer, but I grew tired of upgrading and having games not run the best. With consoles you at least know the games will run good.


I am just waiting for the next GTA game.