Although its good looks and amazing power have helped it to sell millions, the Xbox 360 is not without its problems. There's no doubt that it's a great looking console, especially the sleek black case of the Xbox 360 Elite, and the choice of games is second to none. The problem is, as any internet search will confirm, that an Xbox 360 hardware failure is all too common an event.

These hardware failures are also known as the Xbox 360 red ring of death because they are indicated by 3 red lights flashing on the front of the box around the power switch.

Although the problem is more obvious with the earlier Xbox 360 units, it is still an ongoing problem. The Xbox 360 ring of death is caused by the console overheating. In order to get such a sleek case design unfortunately some compromises had to be made in order to cut down on the space used. One basic compromise was the use of a passive cooling system.

This means that a single heat sink is used to dissipate the heat from both the Graphics Processor unit (GPU) and the main CPU. The air is meant to be pushed through the case by a small set of fans at the back, but the problem is that these fans are just not up to the job. The consequence of this poor design id that many Xbox 360's suffer from overheating and stop working. This is indicated by through of the lights on the front of the case flashing red instead of the usual green colour, hence the 3 red lights or red ring of death expression.

So, what can you do if you experience an Xbox 360 hardware failure?

Well, you could send it back to Microsoft if you don't mind spending $140 and waiting for 2 weeks to get it back. Or, you could spend a fraction of this amount (around $30 in fact) and get a guide from the internet that shows you how to fix the problem yourself. These guides usually come with high resolution video making repairs a breeze, even if you are not a technical expert. The actual repair is quite straightforward and requires no specialist tools. Almost anyone can successfully complete the task in under an hour.

So really, there's not need to panic if your beloved console suddenly starts flashing that angry red eye at you, just head to the internet and grab yourself an Xbox 360 repair guide.