# I got my first RRoD. I'm not happy. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 17, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387 "2011-07-17T23:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/1 "2011-07-17T23:34:56Z")
Yes, I got the dread Red Ring of Death. I’ve been looking around for fixes that don’t involve sending the XBox off to Microsoft for 3 weeks and perhaps incurring a $120 repair bill for what appears to be their negligence. Even if it’s a free fix it’s still almost a month out the door. The fixes that I’ve seen seem to be pretty easy for someone of at least modest skill. I’m a bit better than that, but only just, and I don’t have the collection of tools that I would need to properly do the job (the towel one is just stupid). So I look on Microsoft’s website, and they tell me that I probably need a new power supply. I got an orange light and it didn’t change when I went to a different outlet in the house. I called Gamestop, and guess what? That’s right, they didn’t have any for sale. So, do I order one from Microsoft, paying for something I may not need? This is annoying. Very, very annoying. I am not happy with this turn of events. I don’t have the money or inclination to replace the XBox, not even with a used one (that’s probably banned from Live anyway for mods). Advice is welcomed and desired. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/2 "2011-07-17T23:43:39Z")
Check on Craigslist/Ebay for a power supply. I occasionally see RRoD XBoxes that are being sold for parts cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/3 "2011-07-19T10:28:23Z")
A lot of mod shops who take in broken Xboxes for $50 sell them as parts later. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/4 "2011-07-19T18:20:15Z")
I did some more research and found out that the code displayed indicates that it’s the whole smash, it’s not the power supply. I need to call Microsoft to find out whether or not the repair will be covered. Otherwise, looks like I have to pull it apart and do the whole heat-sink X-clamp repair. As good as the XBox is for gaming, they sure did a bad job in building it. I can’t believe that Microsoft would use the customers as beta testers for something like this, and then refuse to cover it when it breaks. They extended the warranty to 3 years, but the word I get now is that they no longer fix RRoD issues for free, now it’s a $100 repair. I’d rather do it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/5 "2011-07-19T18:50:57Z")
If its covered by Microsoft (your last post doesn’t make it clear), I would totally say just send it back. I had this problem, and heard all kinds of horrible things about Microsoft. I sent it back, however, and in less than 10 days had a replacement Xbox, back, with some free Xbox live points and lots and lots of help from customer service in gettting our gamer tags + their history transferred over. In short, I had an excellent experience with them. ---
**Author:** ![Koldanar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@Koldanar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koldanar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/6 "2011-07-19T19:14:52Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > If its covered by Microsoft (your last post doesn’t make it clear), I would totally say just send it back. I had this problem, and heard all kinds of horrible things about Microsoft. I sent it back, however, and in less than 10 days had a replacement Xbox, back, with some free Xbox live points and lots and lots of help from customer service in gettting our gamer tags + their history transferred over. In short, I had an excellent experience with them. If you are covered by the Xbox extended warranty (RRoD should be 3 years…I just missed my 3 years earlier this year with mine) be sure to remove the HD before you ship it. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/7 "2011-07-19T20:09:34Z")
If MS will cover it for free or at a nominal price, just send it in. You are just shooting in the dark trying to fix it yourself because there are so many possible causes. The x-clamp might work if it’s just a matter of motherboard warpage, but it could be non-uniform solder bumps, warped substrate, brittleness of non-eutectic solder, etc. You just don’t know, and most home “fixes” are just temporary. If you send it in, you may even get a board revision. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/8 "2011-07-19T22:37:22Z")
If you are sending it in for repair, make sure to pop the hard drive off of it first. It wasn’t obvious that I was to do so before sending it in (it looked like an integral piece of the unit), and they shipped me back the new XBox…minus the hard drive. It was a pain in the ass of long off-shore customer service calls and 3 more weeks to get my hard drive back. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/9 "2011-07-20T02:43:22Z")
I got mine fixed for, I think $40, and within about 30 minutes or so by a guy I found on Craigslist. Now of course I can’t vouch for everybody on there advertising the service, but he passed the sniff test on the phone and I was very happy. Not really any down time at all, I was back playing Red Dead very soon afterward. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-my-first-rrod-im-not-happy/589387/10 "2011-07-20T03:28:25Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > If MS will cover it for free or at a nominal price, just send it in. You are just shooting in the dark trying to fix it yourself because there are so many possible causes. The x-clamp might work if it’s just a matter of motherboard warpage, but it could be non-uniform solder bumps, warped substrate, brittleness of non-eutectic solder, etc. You just don’t know, and most home “fixes” are just temporary. If you send it in, you may even get a board revision. Actually, the problem seems to be very well known and the fix is very well documented, so I don’t see it as “shooting in the dark”. I have no desire to give Microsoft another $100+ of my money when I can fix it in an hour for $10 in parts. That said, your points are worth considering as well.