Come On Back

So there I was, smack dab in the middle of an online game of Call Of Duty 4, when it happened. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was top of the board and it was all over in one quick moment. I couldn't even tell my buddies online what had happened. My Xbox 360 had frozen up. It happened to me, just like it happened to my brother shortly after he purchased his Xbox 360. I got the three red rings of death and it stopped my game playing dead in its tracks. I knew what was next and I wasn't looking forward to it.

If this happens to you, the first thing you need to try is to unplug all the cords from the unit and set aside to cool down for an hour. After the console has cooled down for about an hour, plug everything back in and power your Xbox 360 back up. If you are lucky, the red rings of doom will have gone away. But there is always the chance that your console will not come back up, so be prepared.

Make sure you have adequate ventilation around your console. If it is in your entertainment center, make sure that it is not sitting below other electronic devices that create heat.

If you system is truly dead, you have more than one option. Your first option, and the longest one, is contacting Microsoft for a shipping box, wait for the box, pack your console up, and send it back to Redmond for repairs. This method took my brother quite awhile and it was no fun waiting for his 360 to come back. After he received his console he began searching the web and discovered that he could have repaired the unit on his own. There are a number of guides that walk you through the process of fixing your Xbox 360 yourself, and they would have had him back up and running that night, not two months later.

If you don't want to ship your Xbox 360 back, try fixing it yourself with this handy guide:

Check out the Xbox360 Repair Guide

Reuters - Combat between Israeli troops and Hamas militants raged on Monday as Israel pressed home its ground assault in Gaza in the face of French-led diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire.