Xbox 360’s notorious ‘red ring of death’ has finally been explained by Microsoft
- Microsoft has finally revealed the reason behind the Xbox 360 red ring of death
- It seems some people were right – kind of
- Consider this information ‘closure’
Published on Feb 15, 2024 at 7:21 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Feb 15, 2024 at 9:49 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
While it might still be causing anxiety dreams for those over a certain age, Microsoft has at last told us what was behind the Xbox 360 red ring of death.
And it seems your suspicions might have been right all along.
For those of us who enjoyed the early days on the Xbox 360, circa 2025, the ‘red ring of death’ will still send a familiar shudder down your spine.
READ MORE! GTA 6 release date may have been leaked after Rockstar’s latest report
Frustratingly, it meant that hours of gaming progress, memories and achievements could be lost foverever in the blink of a light.
Disappointingly it signalled that your beloved Xbox 360 consoles was effectively dead.
Only a feature on the original Xbox 360 – subsequent models, including the Xbox 360 S and Xbox 360 E, only had one visible LED.
When these models experience a problem, an error code pops up your television screen – which still isn’t a welcome sight.
It’s not dissimilar to the ‘spinning rainbow wheel of doom’ on an Apple Mac computer and Windows’ Blue Screen of Death – which many of us are, in fact, still triggered by.
Picture this: pressing on the satisfyingly large power button of the Xbox 360 should result in a welcome grren light as it whirred into action.
However, if the ‘red ring of death’ appeared in the same place then the console would fail to load properly.
For many during that gaming era – or those who still love putting the classic console through its paces – it was a real blow.
In fact, there are many vintage YouTube videos of people smashing up their assumed-broken gaming devices.
Speaking of classic, this 13-year-old boy recently became the first human to ever complete Tetris.
The reason behind the ‘red ring of death’ was finally brought to light in 2021 when Microsoft explained the phenomenon.
An entire episode of techumentary, Power On: The Story of Xbox, was devoted to it.
Former head of Xbox, Peter Moore, explained that the problem wasn’t the console overheating – which was thr commonly held assumption.
It was rather the fact that it got too hot and then cooled too quickly.
That apparently lethel chain of events put undue strain on the internal system of the original Xbox 360.
The result: the red ring of death.
“The breakthrough came when we understood that the connections that were being broken were not located on the motherboard, but they were actually located inside the components,” hardware engineer, Leo Del Castillo explained.
“The reason it was breaking was thermal, but it wasn’t because of peak temperature.
“It was because when the unit would get hot and then cold, hot and then cold, every time it did that it would stress the connection [between GPU and motherboard]”.
Consider it closure and – don’t worry – there are two new Xbox Series consoles coming in 2024 and PlayStation 6 could be coming a lot sooner than anticipated.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
