Why Does My XBox 360 Have The Ring Of Doom And Can It Be Fixed?

Photo by Thomas Spencer

Your XBox 360 has the ring of doom and you are wondering why and if it can be fixed. The why for the ring of doom is 'general hardware failure' and can be caused by a number of things. The main cause is that in the manufacturing process, Microsoft used lead free solder. They also used the wrong kind of lead free solder. While this solder is safer for children when they are playing with or around your console, it is bad for solder joints.

Lead free solder is brittle at best. The type that was used in the manufacture of the original XBox doesn't hold up well to high heat over prolonged periods of time. To make matters worse the initial soldering temperature was too low leaving voids in the joints. These brittle solder joints crack and break over time and then the electrical flow is disrupted, causing the ring of doom.

The good news is that the ring of doom can be fixed. Microsoft extended the warranty covering the ring of doom to 3 years from date of purchase. If you have warranty left, Microsoft will generally fix your XBox for free. If you have opened the case of your console or the warranty time has run out, there are still alternatives. One word of warning though, if you do still have warranty left and you open the case on your console, you will void your warranty.

There is a good Squidoo lens that tells about what happened to one gamer and how he fixed his XBox360 ring of doom himself. You should check it out and see if it will work for your problem too.