Is it possible for the average person to repair their XBox 360 at home? All you really need is a step by step guide and you’ll be able to spend more time enjoying your XBox, instead of waiting for it to be returned.
Although the XBox 360 is an excellent gaming platform, with great games such as Resident Evil 5, Assassin’s Creed II, Call of Duty: Modern Wafare2 and Grand Theft Auto IV, you can’t really enjoy them when your system has crashed. Although Microsoft has taken steps with the newest versions of its XBox, many of the older systems are afflicted two common fatal errors: the red ring of death (RROD) and the E74 Error.
The Red Ring of Death refers to the fatal error that occurs when the green lights (indicating the unit is on and operating properly) on the front of the console have turned red. This fatal failure is usually preceded by warning signs such as video problems (a fuzzy picture), start up problems (the unit freezes during start up) and game interruptions (the game freezes during play). These issues typically will resolve themselves by shutting the XBox off and restarting it. However, the more frequently these symptoms become, the closer you are getting to the infamous red ring of death. Once a RROD error occurs you are informed to contact XBox Customer Support.
The E74 Error is explained as a general hardware related fault and is indicated when the lower right quadrant of green indicator lights begins to flash red.
Both of these issues are related to the initial design and manufacture of the graphics chips specifically related to the soldering joints which connect them to the motherboard. The boards tend to overheat (the heat sink was shrunk in order to make room inside the case for the DVD drive) and the temperature fluctuations cause the joints to crack and fail.
When attempting to repair these errors at home, make sure the proposed solution has not only specific instructions, but also a technical basis for success. For example, the ‘towel wrap’ solution (where you wrap a towel around your XBox and it magically starts working again) is nothing more than wishful thinking, and probably a lot of dumb luck if it ever worked at all.
Hardware malfunctions are technical problems which require technical solutions., but they can still be easily resolved at home. All you need is a quality repair guide that will provide you with the step by step instructions and possibly even video tutorials to demonstrate exactly what to do.
Yes you can learn to repair your XBox 360 at home, and when you do you will save yourself both time (waiting for you console to be repaired) and money (repair and shipping fees), and spend more time having fun.
