I love my Xbox 360. I'm sure you do too. But what happens when your console was working fine and then suddenly decides to freeze up and start flashing three red lights. Who can you count on to help you fix this problem?

This article is about an Xbox 360 owner (me) figuring out what to do after his console decided to throw in the towel.

What Causes Xbox 360 Three Red Flashing Lights?
The first question I asked when my Xbox 360 took a turn for the worse, was what causes these consoles that are working fine one day to suddenly stop working and just start blinking lights at you?

I decided to do some research and learned some interesting things. First of all the three red flashing lights stands for a General Hardware Malfunction. This is like your check engine light in the car. Except, unlike your car, the Xbox 360 won't work at all when it's check engine is on.

The main cause for this epidemic is heat. Apparently the Microsoft design team realized one little factor late in the manufacturing process...the DVD drive didn't fit into the original console design.

Instead of redesigning the case, they cut the size of something called the heat sink. This little gadget is responsible for dispersing heat. So there you have it. The main cause behind most red ring Xbox consoles is too much heat.

The reason it won't work once it starts having red lights is because heat has already damaged some internal components.

So What Now?
Well I'm sure you want to get your console fixed. You could, of course, buy a new one, but then there's no guarantee that console won't get the three red flashing lights as well.

When it comes down to it you have 2 choices to get your Xbox 360 working again.

1 - You can send your system to Microsoft. There are a lot of articles that explain how Microsoft has found a way to make this a pain for you, but the hot spots are if you're still covered under your warranty, they don't charge you. However if you're no longer under warranty, you're looking at paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $140.

2 - If you have a knack for following instructions, you can learn to fix your Xbox 360 by yourself.