Common Errors and Fixes for the XBox 360

Flashing red lights on the Xbox 360’s is a bad sign, but all red lights don’t mean you’re at death’s door. You can still fix it.

The front power button ring on the X-Box is divided into quadrants – four of them if you look closely enough. Each “quadrant: indicates a separate problem when it turns red. Here are some common quadrant error configs.

If all of the lights are flashing except the first this means you’re having a general hardware failure. This is the famed 3 red ring failure. The standard procedure of operation is to unplug all cables from the unit, remove the hard drive, put everything back in, and then boot up. Try this first!

If the problem is indicated in the second quadrant of the system, it is overheating. Unplug the unit from the power supply and let it cool down for a while.

Third quadrant of the Xbox 360 ring of light is also diagnosed as a hardware failure, so follow the same procedure as the red ring failure.

If all four lights are flashing on the front of your console then it’s probably a simple fix. Try removing and reinserting the AV cable from the unit, and make sure the cord clicks into place.

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17 Responses to Common Errors and Fixes for the XBox 360

  1. Andrew says:

    My xbox won’t get power and I can’t turn it on what do I do

  2. Cory Grimm says:

    At first my xbox would start getting a little static and flash an assortment of colors. Now my xbox doesnt even show video when it turns on. I know it isnt the A/V cable because my spare doesnt work either. What is wrong. What can I do to fix it.

  3. Troy says:

    My 360 dvd drive is broken, once you put the game in and close it it will start reading the will open the tray. Now it will open automatically evertime you close it. I have taken it out and cleaned the eye and removed some dust, but I don’t know what else to do. Any ideas?

  4. I have this 2 Red lights everytime I turn my 360 console on for like a second

  5. Lee says:

    Hi, I have problem with my xbox 360.
    When I turn it on, first everything goes good. But when, for example I turn it off, and then turn it on again, it starts to speed up. I’m not able to play any more, couse it’s very dificult. Could somebody help me. Thx

  6. adrian says:

    my xbox 360 was working for the first month when it was delivered to our house then after a few months it start to get really annoying because when i put an xbox game it will not play it. what is the problem with my xbox i really wanted to play some games and it won’t work

  7. Now I have the 3 RINGS OF DEATH on my 360 console. the 2 red lights is gone then I got the 3 red lights of death. How do I Fix this problem?

  8. Kyle says:

    evrytime i close the disc tray it makes a grinding noiseand says open tray on my tv. what is wrong with it and how can i fix it?

  9. Xbox 360 Elit, freezes after a couple of minets gameing, Leaving a pattony screen. this can also happen with no Disc in the drive.

    No red lights show wen this happens but I susspect it is overheating!

    I have had red light in the past but it normaly corrects it self wen you turn off and unplug it.

    Can you please advise

    Thank you

    Alan H

  10. john says:

    my xbox wont read any disk. it says open tray when there is a dish in it.

  11. chris says:

    my 360 turns on has no red rings but i dont get any picture to come on. i here the sounds but no pic. i have made sure wires are hooed up right . i called support and it isnt coverd like the red rings so how do i fix it i have fixed the game drives but dont know how to fix this problem what do i need to fix. thank you.

  12. randall says:

    (benq) my 360 wont read anything. it just says open tray. i found out a piece of ‘the white plastic thing’ thats screwed on the laser broke off of the ‘motor thing’ that moves the laser back and forth. but i got another white thing and replaced the broke one, and now the laser moves back but not forth and i’m runnin out of ideas help me!!

  13. Tom says:

    my xbox keeps coming up with error e68 how do i fix this problem and when im playing on it and i try to turn it off it takes like 2 mins for it to do so. how do i fix problems

  14. Anthony says:

    My 360′s disk drive has been having problems sometimes with reading any disk. You could put a disk in there and it says open tray like there’s nothing. I’ve had it sent in for repair with the warranty I bought with it but it’s doing it again and I looked at the drive after getting it back. Where can I simply get another disk drive or can I fix it myself.

  15. Jordan says:

    my xbox will say reading disc and then say open tray. I dont want to send it into xbox because my warranty is up and I do not want to pay 120$ if i dont have to i need some help thanks

  16. Kevin says:

    I started having problems with my xbox on Tuesday, March 30th, the day the CoD MW2 stimulus map pack came out. Upon downloading the map pack, my xbox started freezing after a few minutes of gameplay. After I start it up, the E 79 message comes up occassionally. It did not freeze with any of my other games so I bought a new disc at gamestop, but the problem still occurred (luckily I can take the disc back and get my money back within a week). On Friday, April 2, MLB 2k10 froze a couple of times as well… I tried calling xbox, but they wanted me to send my xbox in to them to have it repaired for a 99.99 charge… This will be the 3rd time i need to send my xbox back to microsoft (other time times was b/c RRoD. I want to make sure that this error is not because of my hard drive (in which case I would just purchase a new one) and that if that is not the problem I would prefer to fix it on my own. Can anyone help me with my problem?

  17. jordan S says:

    my x box freezes like 5 minutes into every game how can i fix thes random freezes?

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