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The red ring of death refers to the three red lights on your console that indicate a general hardware failure. Perhaps you have a new xbox that works just fine and want to prevent the red ring of death from happening to you.

Perhaps you already experienced the red ring of death and don’t want it to ever happen again. Whatever your situation, there are a number of easy to follow prevention steps that you can take.

1.) Your xbox will overheat if air can’t freely flow into it’s cooling vents. Therefore you need to know where the cooling vents are located so that you won’t accidentally block them. There should be lots and lots of open space around these vents. Make sure they aren’t pushed up against the wall and keep them clear of clutter.

2.) Place your Xbox in a clean dust free environment and make sure that your Xbox is kept clean. The reason for this is that dirt, dust, and pet hair can get sucked into the cooling vents which will interfere with the cooling system. If too much dust gets into the vents, the fans get over worked and won’t be able to supply the Xbox with enough cooling air.

3.) The power brick also needs to stay cool during operation. Therefore, it needs to have easy access to the surrounding air. This means you need to be careful not to place it on shaggy carpets that can block airflow. Place it on a hard table or on a hardwood floor.

4.) The xbox should be kept away from sources of heat. Keep the air conditioner running when you are using your xbox on a hot day.

Another point to remember is that the longer you run your Xbox, the hotter it will get. So it’s a good idea to limit your gaming to no more than a couple of hours at a time.

At this point, you may have guessed correctly that the red ring of death is caused by overheating. The xbox has a weak cooling system and doesn’t tolerate heat very well. It’s internal components are very powerful and therefore put out a lot of heat. So the key to avoiding the red ring of death is to do everything you can to keep your xbox running cool.

Marc Sandford is a gaming enthusiast and writer. Get Xbox 360 trouble shooting advice about fixing the Xbox 360 red ring of death.