This is what a teen calls a failure of an Xbox 360. It refers to the 4 red lights that surround the power button on the front of the Xbox. These only come on when the box, or Xbox, fails.
Well, we caught the red ring of death this past weekend. Seems I caused it. Of course, my thought is, "I don't think so"! It appears that these machines have had real problems with cooling. And when they overheat, they fail. Thus, you can't leave them on for too long. STUPID I say. I have a Mac Mini that's been on since January of 2005 and a Sony Vaio that's been turned on since mid-2003. No failures. My other Mac Mini has been on for over 1.5 years. Nothing. And Mac Minis don't even have fans!
We were ready to throw it away. Not only would the kids lose a game box. All of us would lose our Netflix streaming machine. So, I did a bit of research at the Xbox site. Found out the warranty for extends to 3 years when you have 3 red lights. Well, alright! They are shipping us the label to send the Xbox to the repair facility. They fix it and send it back. No charge. And an extended warranty. OK Microsoft, I'm singing your praises on this one. Don't let me down. I'm using Macs, iPhones, iPods. Once Microsoft loses us with this box, we will be Microsoft free. The coming Zune HD shows promise. But, my iPod (160GB Classic) can be controlled by my car stereo and fits in my Logitech doc (as does my iPhone.)
Well, Microsoft has us for a bit longer. We shall see how the repaired Xbox 360 lasts.