How to Reduce Your Xbox 360's Chances of Getting the Red Ring of Death

It's been no surprise since the launch of the Xbox 360 that a lot of their systems are defective and will break down. The main problem with the systems have been labeled the red ring of death. This comes from your Xbox 360 console showing you three flashing red lights around the power light on the front of your console. Once you receive these lights, there's nothing you can do except send in your system to Microsoft and they'll send you a relatively new one. I've had the pleasure of doing this twice now but sometimes there are things you can do to help prevent the red ring of death to your Xbox 360 and here are some tips to help prolong the red ring of death to your system and maybe even prevent it all together.

Let me start off by saying that to some people, you can be as careful as anyone with your system and you could still encounter this problem. Sometimes it will take longer in some systems and sometimes it will happen after one week of use. I'm not saying these tips will keep your Xbox 360 alive forever but these are some of the most common tips people use to help their 360's live to their full potential.

A good way to tell if your Xbox 360 is getting ready to quit is when you start noticing performance issues with the system. I was playing Oblivion and textures that were pretty close would often times look fuzzy and really bad. I also had a lot of fog filling the area because the hardware couldn't fully load everything. Load times take a big hit and you can experience really choppy game play. This will ultimately lead to your games freezing, then when you shut it off and back on, you will be presented the red ring of death. Then it's time for that exciting call to Microsoft support.