The Towel Trick fixes 360’s?
People find ways to make things work. For instance when my old cd player wouldn’t play I would hit it right on the back and as on cue it would start working again.
Now maybe you’ve never heard of this “Towel Trick” so let me start from the beginning. A reader sent me an email earlier this week claiming he found a way to fix 360’s which had the 3 red lights of doom. This reader wrapped his 360 in a towel(Completely Covered), turned on the system for about 10 minutes, turned it off, then back on again and his system worked. He said his 360 worked for about 3 hours then the 3 red lights came back again. He says that whenever his system gets the 3 red lights he uses the “Towel Trick” and his system works again.
Now I laughed at this idea because I was wondering how this would work. So a couple days passed and while I was checking my inbox another reader sent me an email claiming he fixed his system using this “Towel Trick” that he read about on a message board. This reader said he wrapped his for about 1 hour and his system worked fine and since then it has never received those 3 red lights again.
So that’s now 2 E-mails claiming that this Towel Trick works…
Fast Forward to yesterday as I was cruising the IGN message boards(Xbox 360 General Board-Insider Membership required) and I saw this thread titled “ZOMG,LOL”
I open up the thread and a poster by the name of “Eaglesphan2020″ posted
“The Towel trick worked. HAHA It probably won’t last but damn that was funny. I wrapped my 360 in a towel turned it on, let it run for 15 min, turn off, turn on, and it worked.”
Another poster by the name of “socalcollin” posted this in the same thread
“OMFG it works…My 360 is up and running now.The towel got pretty damn warm, almost like it came right of the dryer. The 360 was really damn hot. Hotter than I’ve ever felt an “expensive” piece of electronic equipment. I let it cool for about 30 minutes, fired it up and it worked. Un-****ing-believable. “
So what’s going on? Is this Towel Trick fixing 360’s? If you have a 360 which currently is flickering 3 red lights try this “Towel Trick” and post in the comments section if it worked or not.I will post the link to the thread which talks about this fix but I think it won’t show because you might have to be a IGN Insider to view it. Anyway here it is
Click Here(Subscription Required)
-Disclaimer-I’m not Responsible if some how you burn your house down, try at your own risk 
UPDATE-Added some Videos
UPDATE- Microsoft announced a brand new plan to fix all of your broken Xbox 360’s which have the three red lights. Microsoft will pay for all the shipping, plus repair your system for free. Call Xbox Support(1-800-4-my-xbox) today if your system is giving you problems(with 3 red lights)
-Michael “Thrills Killa” Pacheco-
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: General
Forum = Dead?
Yeah it was getting spammed to hell and I don’t have time to clear all of it. IT will return..one day
Interesting. I will be testing this out after work tonight.
My name is gandalf, i know a better way to fixing your broken xbox 360, call microsoft and they send you a square box, this no ordanry box it is square. You put you broken 360 into the magic square box and send it back to them, within 15 day you get it back and it works. Much better then some towel.
I agree Gandalf
But some people are way too impatient
my bad
The next generation of 360 will have a disclaimer for nerds that put their house on fire thanks to their toweled 360.
It’s possible that the heat that is trapped is causing some components to expand. If there was a weak contact between two sister boards, the expansion due to heat might cause a better connection. This would explain why it only works for a short period, the components cool, thereby shrinking, and your connection is now weak again.
Well, the square box should be the best solution, if someone answered the goddamned phone.
My XB360 broke down in october, it took me about a month and a half of daily dialing to finally speak with a human. The box arrived, but the documentation was wrong, so i had to insist for another couple of weeks.
I may be able to ship the magical square box this week, about 2 months after the breakdown.
Why didn’t i hear about the towel trick 2 months ago?.
Some of us don’t have warranties aswell. I refuse to buy one myself, a system shouldn’t break that quick. Mines survived since about April or so last year though when I finally found one. If I ever had a system break within 2 years of buying it I’d never buy from the company again myself.
[...] The Towel Trick Fixes 360s? [The Xbox Domain] [...]
[...] The Towel Trick Fixes 360s? [The Xbox Domain] [...]
If only I would of seen this 2 weeks ago when my 360 broke. Sent it in for repair right away and am still waiting….although it was a launch model with no extended warranty and they are fixing it for free.
THe reason why it works is because some hardware in the 360 has a cold solder. a cold solder is when two peices of metal SHOULD be connected through a solder, but they arent, but when heated up, they expand and connect.
YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH !!!!!! I’ts really amazing, my 360 is off since 1 month and this “Towel Trick has saved it. Thanks a lot !!!! I’m going to tell this trick on my french website NOW !!!
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The problem with this 360s cold solder. Some people to the same with a hair dryer… but… I won’t solve the problem.
Some light how to solve it can be found in:
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=579364
This is how some brazilian techs are resoldering the 360’s BGA.
Hoopy froods know where their towel is.
[...] from Mike at the Xbox Domain is a new method for dealing with the Red Ring of Death(R). It’s called the “Towel [...]
[...] [Via TheXboxDomain] [...]
[...] [Via TheXboxDomain] [...]
[...] [Via TheXboxDomain] [...]
WORKED!!!!
I think the towl makes the xbox so hot that the bad connections inside heat up and join again! Fantastic been playing for 3 hours and still going strong! got alot of time to make up! would have called microsoft but my warrenty is void if you know what i mean.
[...] [Via TheXboxDomain] [...]
Geo - If I refused to buy a system from the same manufacturer becuase of a hardware failure on a previous model, I would be out playing real sports and wouldn’t own a single computer or console system… A lot of original PS2’s failed within the first year and I have two friends with red lighted 360’s (mine was locking up before it was stolen! haha). Yes it sucks that these systems fail, but it happens.
[...] [Via TheXboxDomain] [...]
Xbox 360 not feeling well? Is it under the weather and down in the dumpity?
Well apparently the most wierdest way to fix the 3 red lights of death problem for the Xbox 360 has been revealed. Apparently, it just needs to get cuddled up in a nice soft cotton…TOWEL?! Yes, a towel. Someone on IGN forums a way to fix your 360…
Hmmm… since Microsoft has extended almost everyone’s warranty… why not just get them to fix it and not worry about burning your house down.
My system bricked the other night shortly after getting the new dashboard update. I have a third generation xbox 360 and it has already broke. I can understand that its a complicated piece of hardware to mass produce and can accept that it is totally bricked. I should have got the intercooler. lol
[...] from Mike at the Xbox Domain is a new method for dealing with the Red Ring of Death(R). It’s called the “Towel [...]
Worked for me. A mate’s 360 got the 3 lights, and it’s been running perfect for weeks.
hmmmm what a way to fix it. Doesn’t surprise me. So what happens if you leave it for more than an hour? will that melt the joints and turn it into new verstion of XBOX
aha the three lights…..
My trick works too..take a vacume, make sure it has the hose attachment, and suck at the xbox360’s vent for about 3 minutes. It will never turn off again, well mine didnt.
[...] The Towel Trick fixes 360’s? « The Xbox Domain [...]
I don’t see anybody talking about why this would work. In fact… why does this work? I would think it would be a damp towel that would help… hen again the fact that a towel seems to work is pretty amazine.
I guess I better get insurance for the XBOX 306 when I eventualy get it.
[...] The Towel Trick fixes 360’s? The Towel Trick fixes 360’s? « The Xbox Domain [...]
Ow, that was different!
I can even imagine you buying a new one and MS send you a personalized X360 towel! LOL!
Sounds like the heatup causes the solder to reflow, much like the hotair gun fix (Which totally works by the way) this towel method sounds a little more safe and less warranty voiding though. Possibly for the faint of heart who don’t have the nerve to point a hotair gun at their 360 GPU?
Xbox 360: Towel Trick Fixes 3 Red Lights
The “Towel Trick” is an interesting solution to the 3 red lights on the ring of light (ROL). Supposedly, a user experiencing the 3 red lights on the ROL completely wrapped his Xbox 360 in a towel, with the red lights on, and let the Xbox 3…
I wish the box trick worked with my 360. When i sent it off the first time only the hard drive wasn’t working. When the magic box came back, nothing worked!! The next time the box came back it lasted three months. And now five months after the last box trip, my 360 is now turning itself off and on at will!!! Yeah nice workmanship there Microsoft!!
hello there, i would like to say that the towel is a good solution, but you are better off in the long run to get it repaired by microsft
[...] are saying it works, and while I don’t personally have the issue I can’t verfiy it, the Xbox Domain has some more information if your interested on the towel fix, however no one seems to really [...]
… wonder if this will work on my transmission…
Never forget your towel!
said douglas adams in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.
here is just one more application
http://mbcpoetry.wordpress.com
[...] The Towel Trick fixes 360’s? [The Xbox Domain] [...]
i think it has something to do with the thermal paste on the gpu. This trick may be simply allowing the thermal adhesive to melt and adhere better.
[...] January 15th, 2007 in Funny stuff This made me laugh. Anyways it was random. Some things just make technology work for no reason (thinking [...]
If you console was made after Jan 06, Microsoft won’t fix it for free? That’s truely BS. I wasn’t a PS3 fan but, for the cost of the system, the HDDVD drive, and 140 dollars to fix it….it might be better long term. If I can’t get this sucker fixed, I’m going Sony.
Yes I knew all those towels I got for years on Christmas will come in handy. But for know my box works and no need.
[...] The Towel Trick fixes 360’s? (from MS newsgroup) - Everyone’s dreaded the red circle that appears on your Xbox 360 to notify you it’s broken. Recently, there’s been a spread of the “towel trick” and apparently many people who’ve gotten the red circle of death are claiming it fixes their Xbox 360. What you do is wrap your Xbox 360 completely in a towel (basically enclosing the whole thing) and turn it on and wait 10-15 minutes. At this time, your Xbox 360 will get really hot, and I mean REALLY HOT. Turn it off and turn it back on and your machine might magically work. No one really knows why this is fixing their Xbox 360s, but CDMCC suggests that it might have to do with the soldering problem. [...]
Dang, I wish I would have known about this before I shipped my 360 back. Dang … it’s been almost 2 weeks and had I known about the towel method, I woulda tried it. Tell you, though … I am buying the extended warranty when it comes back …
Actually I THINK that this has something to do with a heat sensor. I think this because I had a some what similiar problem with my computer. To get a better understandment let me explain to you briefly what happened with my computer. Okay, I had a computer that was not turning on and for the fix I simply had to blow warm air into the power supply vent after I did this for 30sec - 2min I would be able to turn it on. I am assuming that this activated a heat sensor in the PC thus making it functional once again.
Okay as far as the Xbox 360 is concerned I am assuming that by covering the xbox with a towel it will cause the air inside to heat up and MAYBE trigger a heat sensor in the Xbox that MAY be faulted. This is a simple assumption based on my experiences. (By the way I do not own a Xbox 360 so I am making assumptions).
OMG, IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!
After facing the severe depression that can onset when you realize you have to be without your addiction for a minimum 2 weeks, I decided to google and came across this site. Well, I figured that it can’t possibly void your warranty considering the fact that you aren’t opening it, so I decided what the hell and tried it.
I wrapped it in one oversized towel, completely encasing the 360, turned it on and left it for 25 minutes, then unwrapped it and let it cool down for 15 minutes. I just turned it on and about broke my neck jumping from my chair, nearly slipping on my hardwood floor! Anyway, I just wanted to report that it does work, but I dont have time to talk…Rainbox Six: Vegas is calling me!!!
-Qwest
worked for me too! see how long it lasts… my cardboard coffin shows up in two days. if its still workin by then i dunno what ill do..
This trick actually works.
My daughter had this just 3 days ago. The 3 red lights of death where flashing. So we initially went trough the different scenarios to see weither we could fix the console or determine what was the faulty part.
Nevertheless, all scenarios failed. So I run into this towel trick and after checking on several forums I called my daughter and said to try this. Today 3 days later her 360 is still running.
Taking the gist of this fix I found another “fix”.
At this point I have the 360 disassembled. I unplugged the molex connector for the fans and turned it on. I got 2 red lights rather than the typical 3. I left the 360 run for a while… it got super hot. I turned it off (had to pull the plug from the back to do so) and plugged the fans back in. Voila! The 360 turned on normally and seems to be behaving.
It goes to show that “overheating” is the temp fix.
After all this about the towel trick , it doesn’t matter if you use the towel of not and it only works three times before the actual xbox won’t turn on anymore.
I just want to know who was the genius that figured “Youve been a bad xbox, bad, bad, xbox. Im going to wrap you in a towel you bastard, then Im going to let you suffocate!!! Muah ha ha ha ha!”
After reading all previous comments I thought what the hell I will try anything if it means getting my kids xbox working again so I wrapped it in 2 towels for about 15 minutes turned it off for a couple of minutes then turned it back on after waiting for the box to reboot there was no red lights. I have been advised that 360’s do overheat so buy a fan that clips on the back they r only twenty quid but if the 3 red lights ever come on again i will still use the towel trick.
it does work i thought stuff it I’ll try anything after reading other comments that sed it did work and cor blimey guvner it did thank you, I av been advised to buy a fan though that clips on back cos 360’s overheat and the fans r only 20 quid alot cheaper than buying a new xbox
This trick does work. My Xbox 360 got the 3 red lights so I found out about this towel trick and wraped it in a towel for 15 mins and than let it cool down for other 20 mins and now it works again.
[...] is your friend The Towel Trick fixes 360’s? The Xbox Domain YouTube - fix broken xbox 360 (red lights) [...]
[...] The Towel Trick Fixes 360s? [The Xbox Domain] [...]
(I swear by GOD what I will state on to the next lines is the truth and nothing than the truth)
Here is my story with the threatening Red lights of death…..
It was last Monday 29 January 2007, 7 PM. I just got home from the GYM, and I was Hyper excited to play Gears of War because I just unlock the insane mode, at the same time I also got my order form Amazon (LOST Planet Especial Edition and the Xbox360 HD DVD with two HD DVD movies).
Any Way……………..
Let me describe where and how I set my Xbox 360:
1) It’s set horizontally, and on a class table.
2) Nyko Intercooler is attached to rear of it.
3) The Maximum playing time is 2 hours every day.
I turned on it and insert in the GOW’s DVD.
Blah Blah Blah,,,, The game started….. Blah Blah Blah Blah
Almost done and the game was at the scene where Marcus & Dom about to reach the helicopter,,,,,,,,
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The game’s picture freezed at the same moment of the freezing a chalk scratching sound came out of my surrounding system speakers.
The Picture did not look good, a different size of pixels were spread on the whole picture.
Turned off , then, Turned it on, speak of devil,,, The Red Lights of Death.
I was shocked, speechless, and I looked like a child who his toy stolen from him in front of his eyes.
I looked at my games, controllers and was thinking of the moment when there could be no more gaming, chatting and happy 2 hours,,,,, Blah Blah Blah
NOOOOOOOO, I must be dreaming, that can not be happening,,,, Blah Blah Blah
I guess every body knows the painful moment,,,,,
Any How, I turned it off and left it alone,
I searched the internet for two days, and all the results of fixing it disappointed
I Looked at Microsoft Xbox web site,,,, the same Blah Blah Blah
Then I decided to look in YouTube if someone could post a video of how we can fix it and bringing it back to the life.
I looked at the result of the searching; this topic caught my attention “Xbox360 3 Light Towel Fix”
Out of my depression and sadness, I decided to give it a try,,,,
I did exactly what it has been shown in the video,,,,
• Unattached The Nyko Intercooler
• Unattached the Hard Disk Drive
• warped it with towels
• turned it ON
• left ON for 2 hours
• turned it OFF
• take off the towels, and let it cool for 2 hours
• Put every thing back as they were
• Turned it ON
Surprrrrrrrrrissssssssssssse ……………… YEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Mine is back to life again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, YEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAA YAHOOOOOOO
• I chatted
• I played few demos and videos
• Listened to few mp3
• I played my favorite game “Gears of War”
My Observation after the trick:
I notice something:
• The xbox360 boots up quicker than before
• The loading time of the games is quicker.
• I played Gears of War last night for 2 houre straight with no problem at all.
Now two days passed and my Xbox360 running better than before.there is no consern so far, but I still can’t figure out the secret behind the Towels.
Here’s my story on the red rings of death:
I was playing an OXM demo disk… screen freezes… I restart it again… three red quadrants (It was about that time that I was screaming inside). So I stumbled across this site on the web and tried the “towel trick.” I waited half an hour with the towels on, let it cool and turned the 360 on and started playing Oblivion. It works!… for ten minutes and then froze. Tried it again… It works!!! and once again, a couple of minutes later, the Xbox freezes. So… your technique works… but only for a few minutes. I might try to do the towel trick a few more times, if it doesn’t work… Mr Xbox is going on a trip to the repair shop.
The towel trick really does work. I covered it up for about 30 min. and let it cool. It hasn’t given me trouble yet.
Towelie from south park would have been proud. Anybody want to get high?
Hahaha i looked at this trick and i was likee pshht bullSh*t
but i tried it and it worked. my jaw droped down to the damm floor i couldnt beleive it! now its been working for awhile
screw that 150$
this shit actually works i was real skeptical at first but its been running for 4 hours straight now no problems.
Hello Guys,, This is me Kaddas ,,,,,
@ Chris :- just leave it ON for 2 hours covered with The Towel on, (do not worry nothing bad will happen to yor xbox), then turn it off, take the towel off, leave it to cool down at lease longer than an hour after that turn ON, but back every thing as I said Previously, and see for your self, MY friend do not west your money.
@ WebPage Owner: thanks for the geart this site, its a great, and keep the good job.
It worked !!!!! sweeeet thnx towel man
Those that tried the trick, how long does it last until it get’s the red ring again? Also how many attempts til the trick stop working?
Replay To (– ichii –):
Honestly a week later, I got the Red Light of Death after the Towel trick effectively worked, and I tried the trick once again, and it worked successfully. However I had one doubt when it happened and I doubted my Nyko Intercooler, so I decided to talk it off, and let my machine depend on its own fan.
Why did I doubt Nyko Intercooler? Maybe there are two suspicions reasons.
1) Maybe my Xbox 360 gets unwanted range of extra cooling.
2) Maybe it could be that it draws power from the 360’s power supply, so it is reducing the power going to the Xbox 360.
Once again: Now!!! I mean after I stopped using the Cooler, I have not had any problem so far, No Red Light of Death any more.
More further, I’m playing for more than three hours daily (without any extra Cooling thing)
Trust me guys, this trick is awesome…..
frankly, the question that’s bewildering me!!! what exactly the secret behind that trick?
Does this work with Vista too??
Glad to hear that MS’s £300 device heats things up a little!
Hey people, I’ve been reading everywhere about this trick and I can’t wait to try it when I get home, but the only question that I have is do people try the towel trick with the console vertical or horizontal? does it make a difference? Thanks to everyone that has posted on this site!
The towel tricks sounds like a nice fix… wish I would have known about it a couple months back. Instead, when I got the three lights, I called MSFT, got a person in
wow - I thought my 360 was fried! Who would have thought that wrapping it in a towel would fix it!! I am amazed
Thanks for the reply Kaddas, I’ve been using it very lighty like 10-30mins just play demos or video. It’s been 3 days now, I’m wondering if the position I have it in could cause the 3 red ring. I have in horizontal but there’s only about 3-4 inch clearance from the two sides and about 5-6 inch clearance on the top, The back is about more than a foot away from the wall.
The reason the towel trick works is because the lack of ventilation causes the 360 to heat up enough to warm the poorly soldered joints on the mainboard, specifically on the GPU chip which has a lack of solder. This newly heated solder melts and falls into the correct spots on the circuit board. Once you turn off the 360 and allow it to cool, remove the towel and try it again the newly melted solder has solidified and your 360 is bound to work well again.
Copy n paste from a chap called “textbook” on xbox scene forums…….
First link shows the bottom of the GPU. I see a lot of flat spots .. isn’t there suppossed to be balls of solder there?
http://www.freepler.de/userdaten/38928917/…x360/gpu001.jpg
Second link shows the mainboard itslef. Again.. no solder in some locations.
http://www.freepler.de/userdaten/38928917/…x360/gpu004.jpg
So the solder in the holes on the mainboard re-attaches itself due to the towel trick.
Well all seems very urban myth to me.
Solder melts at about 183C - so you need to get that hot.
Any CPU will thermal cut out - I expect the XBox PSU would then cut out.
The idea that the bad solder balls will go back in place but the good solder balls stay in place is good.
I would expect as many random systems working if you just turned them off - let them cool and start again.
Cooking will just kill them for good.
You need some one to actually look at the real problem - before trying these crazy ideas.
Thats all very well Andy and I agree that MS should look (and solve) the real problem. However, my box was dead - 3 red lights everytime I tried to boot it up for several days so, simply letting it cool clearly didn’t help. MS say its out of warranty and the store I bought it from don’t want to know as it was purchased over a year ago. This really was the only option left open to me.
So to recap: Xbox didn’t work. wrapped in towel for 10 mins, Xbox now works perfectly.
I really can’t see a downside
I wonder if those that say that the trick doesn’t work, are the employees from the repair center because they rather charge us $140 to fix it.
Heya guys, ive tried everything kept getting a 0020 error and figured it was probably a lot like the other errors i have been seeing with the unknown problem with possible overheat issues. Planning on sending in the 360 for a whopping 140$ i figured what the heck i dont have a warrenty anyways why not. Left it on the ground wrapped in a hoodie and a blanket rather tightly for about 30 minutes until the back got reasonably hot. Pulled it out and turned it off. Turned it back on again within a minute and it started fine, put in gears of war and now its working fine. Dont know how long it will last but if you dont still have the year warrenty on it might as well try it doesnt really matter if you make it worse does it? Worked for me i wish you the best of luck!
alright im going to try this.I herd of doing this and wanted to make sure if it worked and i believe it.after it happned the first time it went green automaticly,now it stays red.instead of 400 more dollers coming out of my pocket I might as well at least try it.
My Xbox 360 has been giving me the 3 red lights for about a month now.
I wrapped a couple towels on my 360 and turned it on for about half hour. I could have fried an egg on my Xbox, it was that hot. I turned it off and let it cool for about 20 minutes afterwards.
Wow! It’s been working for about a day now without any probelms.
I’m so glad I hesitated to send it back to Micro$oft.
I just the red lights again, did the trick again and now it’s working like normal.
I bought a PS2,got married, had two kids , and got divorced , and it still works! Bought a xbox 360 and got the ring of death at 13 months! The morale of this story…. disloyalty comes at a price
My 360 that I bought on launch day 11-22-2005 died on 2/15/2007 when I hooked it up to my new LCD tv. Took it back to gamestop, got some money back and bought a core 360 instead. Well got it home hooked it up and got the 3 red lights again and again. Since I have seven days to return it I will do just that. I like the towel trick but I’ll keep on returning 360’s until I find one that @&$*ing works!!!!!!!!! It would be greatly appreciated IF mircosoft admitted that there is a major problem with the “CRAPBOX” and recalled all of them for an overhaul.
OMFG !!!!! it workes
this is ma Step to step Guied to Fixin the 360 Permanantly
1.rap the 360 in a Towel or put a towel round the External Fan at the bak
2.leave the 360 on for 2 HOURS !!!!! it will be hot bud dont worry
3.switch the 360 bak off 4 5 mins
4.Ettach a Xbox 360 Intercooler on u can buy them from Amazon for £17.99
5.PLAY GAMES i have no problems sooo far and its been a Month of Hardcore gaming playing Lost planet and Gears of War.
Good Luck
Your xbox360 has a one year warranty. Use it
it works ! it works ! it works ! i was just told by microsoft that my warranty is one week over. i was pissed and let them know that i didnt think it was fair that i had to pay half the price of a new system.
she said too bad so sorry. hahahahahah wtf!!!! nice customer service. i just used the towel trick and waaaalaaaaa playing crackdown right now ……………….woooooooooooooot!!!
When I called about my 360, the guy said that the red light thing isn’t a common problem. I wonder if it’s not a common problem why did they extend the warranty to a year?
BTW my 360 messed up again, I’m just tired of doing the towel trick for now. I’ll just use my Ps3 and wii til MS can make better hardware.
this towel tricks works only temporary for me.
I got 3 red light about 2 month ago, did this tricks, at first it work , then got 3 red again, did this again, and work but after a while got 3 red again, and day after day it got more quicker than before…
My warranty is over, so i think i just open the console and blow it with hot air gun, work 4 a moment too, then it won’t work again until now, my friend try reballing the BGA, but it still doesn’t work,
OMG you suck M$..!!!
How come you think you could win the next gen console war, if your next-gen console is like this ?????!!!! well I am a fans of the original xbox if I can say, i prefered xbox than ps2 back there…..
but now I think I must rethink my choice…..
see, microsoft doesnt want you to know about the towel trick cause they
want ur $. right now i am trying the towel trick and i hope to god it works. its hell having no games for weeks. i was stunned to see those red death lights. some times my 360 would turn on at random times when i tried. other times it would flash. well i just hope it works. i will post if it works or not
OH MY
OH MY GOD !!! I TOOK OFF THE TOWEL AND THE 360 WAS HOTTER THAN EVER. THEN I TURNED IT ON AFTER 10 MINUTES AND IT WORKED. WHOEVER FOUND THIS OUT IS A GENIOUS. THANKS MR. TOWEL MAN.
P.SP I WILL TRY TO POST A VIDEO OF THE TOWEL METHOD THAT I DID. ALSO THE GAMEPLAY ACTUALLY IS FASTER THAN EVER. THATS SO BAD ASS.
Well, this morning I came to learn my xbox had the 3 red lights flashing. Looked on on a possible fix (Besides selling it on ebay) and saw the towel trick, wasnt willing to try it but I did, let it run for a hour, and its working again.
Hey, my 360 just died last night (after having it since July). Does anyone know if smoking affects it? I smoke like 1-2 feet away from it in my small bedroom and was wondering if that has any harmful effects on the 360? Oh and any advice or help with getting it replaced?
Haha, today my 360 get’s the 3 light’s of doom, I try the toweltrick and it worked, by the way I didn’t wait for ten minutes but turn it on right a way, it was hoter then an oven and the fan almost flew away but hey I don’t mind, the trick worked so thank you verry much guys
My Xbox 360 did nothing with the towel trick, because when I turned it on, it just flashed lights at me, there was nothing coming out of the holes in the xbox like air or anything, and the power block stayed amber/orange despite being on. Did I just do it wrong or is this a different problem and if it is what to do with this one?
Holy Chit Guys, And Thanx Towel Trick Works
I TOOK OFF THE TOWEL AND THE 360 WAS HOTTER THAN EVER.THEN I TURNED IT ON AFTER 10 MINUTES AND IT WORKED.Holy Chit AWSOME !
wtf, you guys say it works and all this shit
when all it does it make the red lights go away for about an half an hour or so
but within that hour, my xbox still freezes up
yes the red lights may be gone, but i will start to play a game and with 5min of being on it it freezes up.
so i try it again and ir freezes up faster
the
“towel trick” doesnt fuckinh fix anything
you guys are complete and utter dumbfucks who talk out of ass to sound smart
you dont know shit
mr ninja, it is labeled as a temporary fix for a reason. It’s not suppose to fix the xbox completely.
ya. not completly. my xbox still has the red lights after a while. i think it is like a heat sensor or something. oh Jason, the power box thing is a different problem. not sure what but look it up and i am sure you can find it.
After Getting the 3 rings of death, and realizing my warranty was expired, I was devistated. Tryed everything I could, then my buddy sent me the link to this site. Figured I had nothing to lose and IT WORKED!! I can’t believe it but am thankful it did. Towel dude is awesome
WOW another testimony that it worked!!! I too was sceptical! I since have bought an intercooler and use a laptop cooler inderneath to hopefully cool my baby down while I play with her
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2w4OnKCX6Nc
hi i did the towel trick and my xbox 360 work for another 2 hours, then i got red rings again, so i did the towel again, and now it freezes in about 10 min.
Ok heres my story, i bought an 360 over 6 months back when i got home n plugged it in 3 lights were flashing, wtf, anyways i call the company since it was brand new, and i read them the serial number turns out someone already bought the dam thing burnt it up and returned it to wallmart,…..so back to wally world i went and got another one ……few months later i got the flashing 3 lights. damit…..so i was with out 360 for like 2 weeks when i decided to take it apart and cleaned it. it worked fine for like 2 months now 3 lights again the other nite, i unplugged the cables cleaned it all that crap even tried the error code crap,…..i got it to work, for a few minuts,,,, then i did all that agian,,,,i played gears of war and oblivion for few hours then went to bed,,,,today i cant get the dam thing to work at all, the error code it reads is 41423? what the fuck is that? any ways im sick of microsoft but i guess ill try this towel thingy for one last ditch effort
Ok i tried the towel trick and it worked for how long i dont know?
im not surprised it worked though…..once i had a ps-2 for ever and it stoped working so i took it apart and couldnt figure what was wrong, get this when putting it back together i just left the top case off and it played fine , put the top back on and it wouldnt play WTF? ok thankx to the towel guy but i think this is just a tempory fix
Thanks for sending this, my Xbox 360 is working using the towel trick.
It work as promised, later I will post how much time this solution work.
My 360 lies on the floor, wrapped like a dead body flashing hints of red through a light colored towel. It’s been about 7 minutes now, so I’ll wait a little longer before I let it chill-out. The red ring that rules them all has been intermittent for quite some time now, and as with anyone who looks forward to a good game and a spliff, you can imagine the pain that wrung through my gut.
If this towel thing does work, I’m never washing it again.
ive put my towels round my xbox and i left it for 15 mins and swiched it on and nothing happened,i thought this was supposed to work.
leave it on for about 30-40 mins, then let it cool for about an hour. I think I might just give in and by a new core system when Blue Dragon comes out.
ive just taken my towls of im going to leve it for half an hour and then the truth will be revilled does the towel trick realy work.
yes it worked for me my xbox had the 3 rings of death flashing. i wrapped it in a towel and turned it on for about 10 mins then turned it off then back on again now it works fine it only froze up on me once so far when i was playin marvels ultimate alliance….other then that it worked…..but i think why is do to the boards haveing lose or weak conections and the heat helps it but this is also bad to have it wrapped up for long time in a towel because heat is the componets worst enemy…………but honestly microsoft built a shitty product again “Thankx again TOWEL GUY WHO EVER YOU ARE”
OMFG it Worked lol thats crazy WOW ne ways i was in disbelief it was nonsensical at first but i lapsed into a state of utter shock—[bang bang]—♥
This trick is the best fucking trick on the planet. The microsoft bitches made a shitty product. Thanks so much for fixing my damn Xbox
[...] Remember the Towel Trick? [...]
Just got the red lights today… but something weird too…
For the last few days when I was playing Crackdown, I would start up my game and the picture would have a green hue in certain places, like the color scheme was messed up or like when you change your computer settings to a smaller color palette. It would do that and then switch to regular colors after awhile. Anyway, tonight I got the three red lights. Has anyone else gotten the green fog??
The microsoft web site says that since my power supply has the red light it might be a problem with that… I would hope it’s that easy.
Lord I hope it’s still under the extended warranty I bought at Gamecrazy.. damn where is that receipt????
did it yesterday and its been working fine since then awesome
Oooops? Kids 360 boned us yesterday after a good year of gaming. We totally kicked it’s butt though while it worked. It is almost certainly running over five hours a day for four to five days per week.
After messing around with the 360 and the three blinking lights last night I got on the phone with the “Service”? techs. They suggested they could fix mine by sending me sonemone elses broken one?
It was during that moment of disappointment that I may have discovered a fix to the three blinking lights. I went to bed.
Kids called me at work to explain that I had left the 360 on all night. It had been running all night.. that’s 17 hours of red flashing lights.
After turning it off they sparked it back up and it has been running for three hours again. We don’t believe in taking it easy on the weak.
Anyway I’ll try the towel trick if I have any more problems.
I’ll let you know.
DON’T FORGET TO BRING A TOWEL!!! - Towlie says when your Xbox360 doesn’t work you should wrap it in a towel. Wanna get high?
This ‘trick’ is basically like ‘re-balling’ the GPU/CPU’s, so a better method would be to use a hot air gun directly over the CPU and GPU, otherwise your also melting all the other components including your DVDROM and RF Unit, which just isnt a very good idea.
If it’s under warranty, send it back, if it isnt, then don’t be scared to pull that biarch apart and heat gun it, it’s better than the towel method because it’s more directly targeting the problem.
I also want to say how appalling it is that Microsoft have made such a dud of a machine. Yes it has great features but OMG, the failure rate here is just boggling, and there warranty is only covering probably 20% of actual failures because alot of people have custom cases or what-not that has voided their warranty (which is also BS). I have called M$ support before and that was an experience in itself, I’ve had better conversations with Aliens than those m*tha-fkas!
You suck M$. I hope Nintendo and Sony wipe you out.
I tried it and I couldn’t believe my eyes, It wrkd, for about 5 minutes. As soon as I loaded a game and made the GPU work, it frose and I got the lights again! I will try this again and let it run for significantly longer (I ran it for 20 mins wrapped) to see if that makes any difference. I have nthing to lose too since it is out of warranty. But I called MS anyway and they said that since the seal is broken (I opened it) they won’t even look at it! BS
Yea…i wrapped 3 towels around this damn thing and im reading all of this good stuff…and it will really suck if it does not work…But i have faith and hopefully it will work hope u guys are not lying
GamerTag-DnaKing
Urban Kings Co-leader
tried this for 15 minutes. nothing changed. Although now I got 4 red lights! (wierd!) I’m wrappingit up again and leaving it on for a longer time to try it again. Man, I hopet his works.
ok. left it on for about 30-40mins. Then let it cool for another 20 min. Tried it and holy crap, it went GREEN! I downloaded some trailers/demos and played a bit of MLB (downloaded demo) and it played fine for a few minutes then the console froze up. Re-booted and went back to play and a freeze occurred in a shorter time. Such a strange kind of thing and I thought it wouldn’t work, but it did (although not completely fixed). Still, I’m gonna send it back for repairs on my store extended warranty and hope I get a new one back.
IT WORKED , I got the three red lights of death , didnt know what to do then , I am not in US and shipping this to the US or Europe will be very expensive , we dont have xbox support here in the middleeast…so I tried the towel trick , 20 min only , and I am bck online again
Note: I only covered the fan part “Next to the Hard disk” , not the whole XBOX and it worked…
Its amazing how a towel can fix a red light problem i wrapped mine for about 15 minutes and presto it works again… figured its worth a shot before spending 140 bucks…. then it froze on me so i wrapped it again for another 15 it came on but i left it wrapped while playing… it got so hot that it shut down and just left the fan running… well 3 days later and im still running fine. well if it dies again its the trash can for it and on to sony i go hi ho!!!
****HMMMMMM****
Anybody ever think that maybe MicroSoft, did a subversive tactic and released this towel fix themselves?
There would be no way that they could endorse wrapping thier product with a towel, and letting it overheat. Especially due to fire risk. But say they had an employee make a post on a website, for this clever fix. All of a sudden half of all “ring’s of death” boxes are being fixed by owners.
Anyways just something to make you go HMMMMMM……..
lol thats the stupidist conspiracy i ever heard but then again microsoft are some shadey bastards
Bad and good news.
Last night second time my xbox 360 died ( 3red lights) 2 days before some frezzes.And frezzes also at loading intro-screen. And yesterday also an error E71. Today I tryed for 15 minutes and look it works again. Will post a video.
TeD
Yo i had the 3 red lights and i used the towole trick and left it for 1 hour and turned it back on and the d** things works again its alive its alive that trick really works
My Xbox still works without problems, on March 6 I posted a message, and after 11 days, my Xbox is working like new.
Maybe as mentioned before by other user, this fix was released by a microsoft employee, it is a very strange solution, that only an employee by microsoft would like to know the solution, because they know perfectly what is the problem with the xbox.
I think that a lot of xbox 360 now are getting the 3 red rings of dead, maybe after some time almost everybody will need to do this fix.
I’M SO HAPPY! I’M SO HAPPY! THANK YOU WHO EVER THOUGH OF THIS TRICK. I JUST READ THIS 17 MINUTES AGO AND DECIDED TO TRY IT. MY 360 WORKS! HELL YEAH. i DID IT EXACTLY 15 MINUTES AND IT WORKS. f@#K MICROSOFT IN CHARGING US 130 DOLLARS! I SAVED 130 DOLLARS HELL YEAH! I WORKS
WOW…It Really Works…..Im back online its been 3 days now and today i had to do the towel trick again but know it works…this is amazing…and i noticed that it actually runs faster now…
-GoW DnaKing
Here is the video of my 2nd fix that worked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QobC5rlxjpw
lp
TeD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIb4i224L4k
add anotherone to that list, towel trick worked here also , hope it holds up ,
im 3 month out of warrenty on my second system (launch system was faulty, replaced by microsoft) and MS wanted £85 for repair and wouldnt budge .
wasnt prepared to pay that so tried the towel trick .
all is well sofar , but MS should be ashamed trying to charge us for repairs .
HOLY SHIT! After fearing my 360 was bricked for good I scoured the net for tutorials on how to fix it. I can’t believe the towel trick worked. Sign me up as a believer!
do trick work like 15 trys now when i try it my 360 don’t come maybe im doing it wrong i done this 15 times and it work now it not. Should i take off my hard drive while doing it and i overheat it for 15 and let it cool for 10 is that ok
I just got the rings of death and was just about to try the towel trick. Then at the last minute I remembered hearing something about MS repairing all 2005 xboxes for free. I goggled it and quickly came up with the official statement that they are indeed offering this. My xbox is from 2005 so I’ll just send it in for a new one. Truth is I have to force myself not to try the towel thing, it just sounds so good. If I had to pay 140 for it thought, I certainly would try it.
forzagenius, can you please post the page where you found this? I heard this somewhere, but I could not find any statement by Microsoft on it.
Thank you!
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/21/microsoft-offering-free-repairs-for-all-2005-xbox-360s/
or just google xbox 2005 free repair and you’ll get plenty of links. However, Wikipedia say this:
Main article: Xbox 360 technical problems
Much like modern operating systems, the Xbox 360 displays a Screen of Death if it encounters a serious error. In addition, the “ring of light” display on the front of the console itself changes from green to red, the amount of sectors illuminated informing a user what category the error falls into. On September 29, 2006, Microsoft released a statement saying that they will waive the cost for repairs on all Xbox 360 consoles made before January 1, 2006, and refund any fees already paid.[68] However, as of January 1, 2007, Microsoft has discontinued the policy to fix the pre-2006 consoles for free. On December 21, 2006 the warranty for all consoles purchased in Canada and the United States was extended from 90 days to one year.[69]
But I did call customer service and they are doing it all for free, so I don’t know what to tell you. I called and very mattter of factly told the guy that I am getting fixed for free and he didn’t complain.
Thank you!
I figured there was nothing to lose trying the towel trick.
I wrapped it for 15 minutes, then let it cool for 30, it worked, but soon stopped.
I repeated this, same thing happened.
Ugh! I just want to play already. I think I’ll just send it in.
IT WORKED !! I JUST GOT THE DOTS AND WENT TO GOOGLE FOUND THIS SITE AND TRIED AND IT WORKED THANKS
if you put a towel on it when your not playing will that fix permently?
been reading up on this fix the last day or so but am going to try it out right away. It’s weird how for me the problem started after playing Jade Empire yesterday. I turned off my 360 waited a while then I got the dashboard and played some Gears for about 30 minutes. My 360 worked fine, then today I decided to try playing some more Jade Empire and it happened within 15 minutes of playing.
My extended warranty literally ended 4 days ago for my console which was manufactured Nov 26, 2005 so before I send this to OSG, I’m trying the towel fix.
It WORKED!!! After leaving my 360 wrapped in two towels for 50 minutes I unwrapped it to find the two left quadrants blinking red, meaning that it was overheated. I cooled it down for about half an hour and was pumped to pop in Gears. Lo and behold my 360 was revived and I played for about half an hour, then popped in Need for speed Most Wanted and played for another half hour. This totally beats paying the $160 Canadian that microsoft was going to charge me when I called them during the time I had my 360 wrapped and running. If the towel technique didn’t work my next resort would have been to have it fixed by the Old School Gamer. Glad it didn’t have to come to either them or Microsoft.
My Xbox gave me the flashing red lights of death and after messing with it for a couple of hours i tried the towel trick and it would get it working for about 5 to ten minutes but would lock back up, i found another way to fix it.
The Walmart trick
1. Buy a new xbox
2. swap out the case and serial
3. Return to walmart
Walmart will take back anything.
so im trying this method right now… its funny as hell because i have my power supply hanging from a string and my 360 covered in towels… i stuck my hand inside the towel and it was hot as hell, ill let it run for another 10 minutes before i attempt to test it…. hopefully all goes well, will repost with results.
i did it and much to my surprise i could play gears of war for about an hour before it overheat, good improvement tho from the 3 red lights.
It worked and i was soooo gutted that my 360 had broke
Thanks a million guys
hey i did the xbox 360 thang it worked for about 2 weeks and then the 360 froze on me i restarted it and its giving me 3 red lights agin and i tryed the trick agin and agin and when i tearn the 360 on it gos to three red lights.
3 more min. til it comes out of the oven haha…
OK here it goes…i put the towels for 30 minutes and let it cool for 20 minutes…YAY!…IT WORKS!
Have now 4 times relived xbox 360 with towel trick. There must be overheating something because in dashboard and arcade games it does not freeze annd giv me 3 red lights. But The trick is temporary solution. I am going to open my box give 1 fan to cool CPU and GPU inside horizontal and 1-2 fans(ventilators) outside the box where the air is sucked in. i will maybe do the thermal past renewal and put out the rear plates where the 2 fans are blowing out.
lp
TeD
The towel trick does work! Tried it on my sons’ xbo 360 that was out of warranty and sure enough it is terrific! Thanks for the input.
I just did it for an hour, let it cool off, and now it works. Amazing.
I WARPPED IT IN A TOWL AND Dropped it and it stop flasing the 3 red lights
my went back to 3 red light so when i fix it i put the towl back on when im playing games so it dont fuck up again
I’m truly upset with my 360 I bought the 400 dollar one the whole shabang sorry I’m 14 and I still can’t spell that well *sigh* anyway I was really pissed when the “circle of death” appeared I had it for about 2 months when this happened, it happened very slowly I never used the towel trick I just turned it off and followed MS instructions which BLOW btw and it would work for 10,5 minutes and one day… it died =( and I’ve gone 2 weeks without it and finally found this site thank god for whoever thought of the idea I haven’t tried it yet but I will as soon as I’m done typing this extremely long post, but I just wanted to state that Bill Gates can go cut himself honestly I’m very upset with whoever the hell is responsible for screwing us all over on our 360s
slight problem guys, I believe the towel trick can work but mine only got to the middle of the game and then FREEEZEEEE GONE BUBYE, x(
DUde the towel trick really works!!! I was about to buy another one cause i got the 360 fever playing at my cousins!! but I only left it in the towel like 15mins cause my little bro turned off the power I turned it back on and it WORKED!!! So I don’t know I hadnt really had time to play the past 3months so I don’t know if had stopped running cause I hadnt used it for a while but soo far its been workin!!! Thanks
Allright its time for me to explain (sorta) Why it works
now if you ask anyone who’s had the red lights they say “oh but somtimes when i turn it on it works but later it screws up with the spine breaking scrreeeeetch”
For some strange reason the chances of the 3 lights of doom on an xbox360 working varies on how long you left it off or on
Example: Kid just keeps rebooting it keeps giving him the 3 lights … Kid waits 30 minutes it works but after 50 minutes it dies he keeps rebooting it it works
I”d try to explain a bit better but im in a rush
It works! Put it in 2 towels for aprox. 20 minutes, cooled it down for another 20, then tried it and it worked! ^^
Thanks guys! My gamertag is Ashikun. See you on Live maybe!!
Didnt work for me - wonder if Microsoft will give me a prize - bought the xbox yesterday, and got the Ring of Death after 6 hours - someone might have beat me on this.
What a load of rubbish, wish I had gone for the PS3 now.
Mike
The second video at the top shows 4 red lights, not 3. 4 red lights means bad video connection. This is confirmed by the purple screen he got on the first boot up. If you have 4 red lights, first check your video cable connection, that’s probably the problem. 3 red lights is hardware failure, that’s the big one, not 4.
trying the curry test now hope it works
gary
after useing this trick for a long time my xbox 360 start to crash all the time now i have to get a new xbox 360
[...] I might just have good news for you! I just did this to my poor, broken 360. Would you believe me if I said it was playing PGR3 right now? I wrapped [...]
OMFG!!! it wurked i cant believe it!! tanx mr. towel guy
OMFG, this shit really worked! I read it here, didn’t believe it, but tried it anyway.
Covered the 360 with two towels, left it running for 25 mins. I then unplugged it, let it rest for 30 minutes, and BAM!!! Booted up with no issues. I threw in GRAW2, and started playing.
Thing is, I really don’t trust the 360 anymore. I think I’m gonna go ahead and turn this bitch in and get all I can for it. What sucks is that I haven’t decided if I should get the Elite when it comes out, or if I should take the hit for the games (I have 12 of them) and get as much as I can for those too, then buy a PS3……..
I’m on my way to Gamespot in the a.m., but for right now, I’m telling you that if you think this is a prank, you’re in for a pleasant suprise - it isn’t. Jesus, I hope nobody out there burns their house down trying this shit, but I have to tell you that for me, for now, it appears to have worked. I don’t know how - don’t know why - and I don’t know how long it will last - I just know that it worked.
I have about 6 times done that trick with success but it is only temporary. I think the problem is that the thermal paste or maybe bad connection betven heatsink and GPU and PCU. The towel fix works because the PCU or GPU get so much hot that the thermal paste deforms it self and stick together . I saw a lot of bad looking thermal paste using in xbox 360 so I am going for Artic Silver 5 if I get it if not some other.I am going to renew the termal paste and maybe do a X claims fix.
Will report.
TeD
Europe
I just tried this trick and so far so good….I wrapped the system in a towel for about 15 minutes, turned it off, then back on again. Popped in a game, and so far so good. I’ll keep the board posted, I’m still in shock that it worked!
I got the ring of death about two weeks ago and didn’t wanna send it off and it cost $140. I called the tech line for repairs and argued about the problem on the first systems and asked for a supervisor and they knocked off 25% which made the repairs $104. So I got to reading online and found the TOWEL TRICK an dit works I couldn’t believe it but it woorks you have to try it.Thank You
I can understand how this would work, the standard now in electronics is non lead based solder, which has a lower melting point, therefor with a relatively small amount of heat (comparative to soldering) you could re-establish a poor or broken connection. So using any kind of method to block airflow and cooling may expand or even slightly melt the solder and reconnect it. But computers and chips are cooled for a reason, if theres enough heat to expand or melt solder, there’ll be enough heat to crack or permanently damage the motherboard, GPU, memory cards or any of the chips in your xbox.
My advice if your xbox is still under warranty is to contact microsoft and give them enough hell until they do the repairs or replace your console, before you try the towel trick. If you try it and it doesnt work, theres a high chance you’ve damaged it even more by overheating, which could void your warranty (any computer tech can spot heat damage and microsoft will bone you if they spot this) and cost you more in the long run.
If your xbox is out of warranty, and you are too poor/lazy to get your xbox x-rayed or reballed by a qualified tech (which costs a packet anyway) go for it. Even if it messes up you’ll only have to buy another xbox.
By the way who ever thought of putting a towel around their xbox in the first place?
I was freaked….. One weekend I am loving my Xbox360 the next the sharingan from Naruto….
I tried the towel technique, but I did it pretty lazily. It worked but the system still froze. I tried it again and wrapped it tighter and let it run for over an hour. I let it sit for over an hour and BLAM… worked like a charm. It’s been a week… Hope it lasts this time.
[...] then I found this site. According to the article, someone claimed that they had had the same problem mine did, and so they [...]
OMG…This towel trick is for real..I just found this site and put the towels on for 30mins and after that removed the towels and let it stand for about 15 mins,After which i hit the power button and all the light were Green.
Thanks all!!!!
I tried it for 5 minutes, the green light kicked on but no picture, So
I took the machine apart, cleaned up the thermal paste, got an old copper heat sink placed on top of GPu got out my torch heated up the heat sink to 160 then did underneath with the torch only, using a infrared digital thermometer, i brought both sides up to 180 to 200 f
let it cooled off did the same thing on the cpu ,after it cooled , I added new high quality thermal paste
I put it back in its metal heat case ,hooked it up for a test run IT WORKS ..
running king kong, the temp at the rear is 112 F or 45c
what is the extream temp
want to make sure this does not go the dreaded flashing three red lights
I got the redlights of doom last night around 10:30 while I was d/l the demo for Monsters in Suburbia and Boom Boom Rocket. This is the first system I’ve owned that has crashed on me. Did not know what to do so I called MS they told because it was out of warranty(bought it on release date) it cost me $149 to fix, I decided I was not going to pay half of what a core system cost to fix it. I find this towel trick and wrapped my box in a fleece blanket for about 5 minutes, turned it off and restarted it and the red lights of doom were gone and I was able to finish d/l the demos this morning. My only fear is how long will it be before the red lights come back on. I will keep everyone posted. Hopefully I’ll never see them again.
i thi8nk they break to quick really!
tryin rite now hope it works the towel has been on for around 20 min gonna tak it off soon and see if it works i hope it dus otherwise this is gonna suck. i miss my 360 im an addict like most other people and i miss playin dead rising… im so broken and alone witohut my 360 *sniff*
Just wanted to update. My 360 is still operational. The key thing I’ve found after using the towel trick is to keep the power supply lots of open space. Don’t leave it on the floor, you’ll surely get the 3 red lights again. If you’ve ever gotten a spindle of blank cd’s or dvd’s the clear cover works great as a stand for your power supply. Just prop your power supply on top of the cover open side up and you’re good to go. It’s been 3 weeks since the towel trick and my 360 works great!
well guys i tryed it wrapped in towel 4 about 40 mins and unplugged it let it cool 4 20mins and still the 3 red rings have no idea MS suck the big one im affraid wife did tell me to wait for the ps3 now ill never hear the end of it
Well, my 360 died about 3 weeks ago I tried this trick it fired up for a bit then froze. Repeated it it fired up again so I put halo2 in; guess what? it froze again! I don’t know if its just the fact that it has to emulate old games or what but I’m trying it again but I’ll try a different game this time.
k, so i let it cool it fired up and froze after .. maybe 2 minutes.
DAMN!
k further to my reply 2 or 3 up i have contacted MS and they will take it back and fix it wich means i get another 90day warranty my original warranty still has about 2 months on it my predicament is i tryed the towel thing 1 more time for anout 90 mins and let it cool for about 1 hour now its workn no red lights son is playin GRAW now been about 15mins no lock ups etc what do i do keep it and hope it goes again within the 2 months ihave left if its gonna go blink that is or do i send it back ne advice would be appreciated thanx
I looked on all the forums and thought this solution was down right stupid. But hey what else is there to do but let MS keep my system for 2 months to repair it so I tried out the towel trick and…. IT WORKED! Been working for 2 days now with no issues. Let the xbox completely covered for 20 minutes… unplugged the power supply and cool for an hour… then plug back in and it worked.
Hi Guys.
i woke up this morning turned on my 360.
and my heart broke as i see 3 red flashing lights on my xbox.
i thought omg. it happened the nightmare has come true.
well i looked on the net acctually i found the towel trick on youtube.
i rapped my little baby up well. then left on for maybe 20 mins maybe just a little bit more.
but the god damn thing works just fine now.
dont know for how long. dont even know why.
and iam not going to guess why.
all i know is it works again.
for the guys whio are saying why dont you just calll microsoft and get another.
no1 they charge you alot of doller. this is a fault of theres why the.f**k should we pay for there sloppy mistakes.
also when you are out of warrenty. and you always are when the red ring of death comes knocking on your door.
you are a little buggerd getting it fixed free.
i know people who have got a new machine from microsoft. and within 2 to 3 months they have had the red ring of death on the machines from microsoft.
so if you dont beleive this is a good idea.
then your a fool.
it is a life saver.
and i think who ever worked this out is top. topman.
round of applause.
we dont all have tons of cash.
we cant all afford to give away cash to loving microsoft to fix there faults.
so………….. we are very lucky to know there is a fix for our machines.
and its a fix that works very very well. yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh…
Holy cow! After owning my 360 for 13 months (that’s right, just enough that the warranty was no longer in effect) I got the red ring of death. I freaked, and then tried the towel trick and, bang. It worked. Now to see how long it still works.
i was thinkin about doin the trick and trading it in to gamestop for the elite
My Mr. Towelie worked!! I still called to have the little white box send to me. So it’ll work until I get it. I’m just glad my best friend’s ok
Hello all I bought a dead xbox 360 on ebay made in 12-05 so yes I will be getting it fixed for free thanks to Microsoft. I can 100% guarantee the towel trick does work. I got the dead console today in a ups box, I wrapped it up completely and left it on for 10 minutes. Then i shut it off and back on and Presto ! Worked like a charm. This method does work !!!
I got an xbox 360 on April 17, it froze when I was in a menu, and when I restarted it all I saw was three flashing lights. I called MS and they will warranty it but I got impatient and looked around for any fixes. Came across this site and the towel trick, I thought “what the hey I’ll try it. So off I was like an eager beaver and grabbed a light weigh bath towel and wrapped that 360 and let it run.
10 mins later I shut it off unwrapped it and restarted, to my amazement it actually turned on. Popped in Ghost Recon and started playing. While waiting for the MS return box to arrive I kept playing this thing. It is now April 23/07 and it is still running but it did freeze once, and that is because I didn’t keep my cabinet doors open.
This Does work!!
YEA THE TOWEL TRICK WORKS FOR ABOUT THREE HOURS THEN THE THREE RINGS COME BACK. I DONT THINK U CAN KEEP DOING THE TOWEL TRICK OVER AND OVER AGAIN BECAUSE SOON ULL HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM
I got an xbox 360 yesterday and it had the 3 red lights on it as soon as i plugged it in, i rang microsoft and they said they will repair it. while i was on the internet i came across this TOWEL effect. i tried it, and amazingly it worked! i was so relieved to see those green lights :)! and its been working since
thanks to whoever found this solution!
i thought bo**ocks when i read this, what a bunch of nonsence but i tried it, i was well chuffed when it worked ;-D
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hey i did it and it works great i get about 8 hours of game play its sick!
This actually worked…how long it will last, I don’t know but it saved me the hassle of sending it to Best Buy replacement service…the original 360 warranty ended last month…
do i need to use a extra fan for the xbox 360? coz on mine the red lights have gone but it still freezes. please can some one help.. cheers!
well mine now has been goin 2weeks since my post up higher and still fine no lock ups or ne thing my son has been on holidays and has playd for 6 hours straight now and not a problem ppl say it goes bung again soon after towel trick well mine is fine am sending back to ms on monday though to play it safe
Just wanted to let you guys know, that I did the towel trick right after I got the lights of death, and voila, it worked.
HOWEVER…..
That was about two weeks ago. I just booted up my 360 now and it keeps freezing on me when playing Guitar Hero 2. I’m going to try the towel trick again, and I hope it works for good this time.
Just got a Bravia 40″ LCD…then Ring of DEATH!. Oh the humanity, then I chance upon a Youtube video…he said use a towel. A Towel! A stinking towel…WORKED! Don’t throw in the towel…you will need it for a toasty XBOX. Bill can kiss my 139 bucks goodbye…for now. Great info!
o