As an owner of any kind of hardware knows, breakdowns arent uncommon and they always seem to happen right when you are in the middle of something. In the PC, we have the notorious blue screen of death. On the XBox 360 this phenomenon is known as the classic "3 Red Rings of Death".

So what do you do when this happens to your XBox? First of all, don't panic. In nearly all cases, your XBox can be fixed and the 3 red lights error will go away. Before doing anything, try these simple solutions first:

1. Is your XBox very hot? Put your hand on the box. Does it seem unnaturally hot? If so, it may have overheated. Simply unplug your XBox from the power supply and give it some time to cool down. In future, make sure that your XBox has plenty of ventilation around it -- so dont throw your clothes on top of it or locate it with the vents next to a wall. Make sure air can circulate in and around it.
2. After youve unplugged your Xbox and while it is cooling down, grab a can of compressed air and use it to blow into all the vents. Dust trapped within your equipment can cause it to overheat -- both on your XBox and your PC. If you don't have compressed air handy, you can try using a hair dryer if it has a cold setting. just don't blow more hot air into the thing.

After youve let it cooled, plug it back in and see if the 3 red lights error has disappeared. If it hasnt now you need to consider what to do next. If your XBox is still under warranty, it is easy enough to return it for a repair or replacement -- however you need to keep in mind that if you send it in to the Warranty center, you probably won't have it back for at least two months.

The other alternative is to fix it yourself. There are a couple of different repair guides available for the XBox designed to get rid of the 3 red rings and following the instructions is pretty simple and this is the best way to go if your XBox is either out of warranty or you do not have the patience to wait two months.

I fixed my XBox myself while it was still under warranty because I didn't have the patience to wait and since then haven't had any problems, but it's up to you whether you want to do that. If it's under warranty, you void the warranty when you open the machine up. However -- the red lights repair is very easy and since this is usually the main thing that goes wrong with the XBox, it's usually worth doing. Also, some of the available solutions dont even involve opening up your Xbox, so if one of those works for you, you're all set with your warranty protection.

¶ 3:18 AM