Got a troubled relationship going on with an Xbox360 gaming console? You love it due to the fact that you’re insanely hooked to the intense enjoyment that it gives. You really detest it because…um, need I mention the infamous ring of death?

The red ring of death gives many customers a good amount of frustration and hardship. It’s likewise given Microsoft a few problems too…to the tune of about a billion dollars or so in repairing consoles under warrantee. Now the first inquiry that needs asking is why?

What exactly triggers off the three quarter circle of lights called the ring of death? Its main cause is heat. The Xbox becomes overheated when it’s played continually over lengthy time periods.

Why does the Xbox get overheated? There’s two parts to the explanation for this. First, the graphics chip had been engineered on a low budget by Microsoft.

Instead of going to an experienced vendor to design the chip (ASIC vendor), Microsoft decided to do the graphics chip design in house, that is, on it’s own. They did this in an effort to save a few tens of millions of dollars in design costs. We all know that to get the job done right, you have to hire an expert.

We all know that home made simply won’t work as well as work performed by professionals. Microsoft’s home designed job is very inefficient because it puts out far too much heat. The second part of the overheating issue is that the console’s cooling system is barely adequate at dissipating the enormous heat put out by the graphics chip.

It really doesn’t take much to make it over heat. Try running the unit for any length of time, especially in a warm, room with no air conditioning and it’ll over heat. The console doesn’t tolerate partial blockage of its cooling vents either.

For example, it is very easy to allow cables and cords to become really clumped up at the back end of the console. This by itself can induce the console to get over heated. Thinking of running it in that cluttered up recess where the midday sunlight will hit it inside that room without air conditioning?

Well, it isn’t a great notion in any case. Of course, you probably don’t treat your toys like this, but what I’m saying here is that consumer products are supposed to be able to take some customer abuse and continue functioning. An issue that I don’t have an answer to is what went wrong with Microsoft’s quality control process?

There must be a product testing program of some kind in place to protect the customer from buying faulty products. Maybe it was deficient because it failed to simulate typical customer use of the console. Or possibly it was ok, but the management people shipped the consoles out anyway?

All conjectures aside, the great news is that Microsoft has already gone to a US based ASIC vendor and got the graphics chip redesigned. Maybe someday, your ordinary Xbox gamer won’t know what you’re speaking about when you mention: red ring of death.

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