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[ASpecialFriend]

I know this has been discussed before, however, I'm getting extremly irritated by this 3 Red Flashing Lights that I'm getting. MS JUST sent me a new (Refurb) 360 on Friday. (This is my 4th X-Box) I turn it on Sunday night, and BAM, after about 20 minutes, 3 Red Lights. So, my room mate buys a 360 yesterday. We hook it up in my room (I have and HDTV InFocus Projector, it's amazing to play on) He bought the Core system, so I attached my HDD and the Intercooler, first time we turn it on I get 1 Red light, lower corner. I turn it off, then back on again, it's fine. Again, after about 20 minutes, it's got 3 Red lights. Mind you, this was a brand new 360 out of the box. (Manufacter date 6/12/05) Now he has to go return this one from GameStop and get a new one, I feel terrible. Do I have the worst luck in the world, or is this my Hard Drive/Nyko Intercooler causing this problem, or could it be my set-up? I will try to post a picture of my set up but for now I'll try to describe what I have. I have it set up in a closet in which I have a fan running at all time almost directly on the 360. The temp. difference from my closet compared to my room is at least 3-5 degrees cooler in the closet. (It is a pretty big walk in closet.) Halfway up the wall I have a wire rack in which the 360 sits, so there is plenty of ventalation above and below the 360. To the left of the 360 about 10-12 inches away I have sitting my wireless network adapter by Linksys and the 360 Power Supply. To the right of the 360, again, about 10-12 inches from the 360, I have my projector. Is there something wrong with my set up? Maybe something causing interference or could it be my HDD or Intercooler? I don't want to get a new one from MS in 2 weeks just to attach my HDD and it to start flashing on me again. MS Customer Care doesn't seem to have any answers for me, so I figured that this would be the best place to go for answers. I really appreciate any and all help that you guys could give me. Thanks alot!

Edited to insert picture.

Here is my set up:

(No, I do not have the 360 set on top of my power supply. I move that over to the left of the screen by the wireless adapter)

(IMG:http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b248/nschoren/360SetUpcopy.jpg)

This post has been edited by ASpecialFriend: Feb 6 2007, 06:37 PM

[RDC]

I don't see anything at all wrong with your setup, in fact having it exposed top and bottom like that on the rack is probably better for it, except maybe the back of the 360 is too close to the wall and with the Intercooler attached that would be even closer.

Ditch the Intercooler, also lay the 360 flat, horizontal, if you're not already and make sure it has room at the back for the heat to get out.

[ASpecialFriend]

Thanks man. Do you think I should call MS and have them send me a new HDD through the warranty? Is there any possible way my HDD could be causing these problems? Maybe even the Intercooler?

[RDC]

It's very likely the Intercooler is, if it's not attached as tightly as it can be the connections aren't good and that causes problems. There seem to be as many people that love it as hate it, but it's something to take out of the mix and see what happens.

The HDD, I would say is not causing your issues, but if you get another one run it without it for a few days to see. It's no big suprise, except to M$, that the 360 has manufacturing problems and it's not unheard of for someone to go thru 3, 4 or 5 consoles before they get one that seems to work. I'm about to start on my third one, but am thinking about waiting until the newer versions come out, see if they actually did any upgrades to trouble areas (CPU/GPU soldering) that need it, instead of just making the die smaller.

[ASpecialFriend]

Okay. So we picked up a new 360 from GameStop today. I will be home in about an hour to try it out. I will not attach the intercooler but I will attach my HDD. MS is also telling me that using a surge protector is also bad. What are your opinions on this? Are surge protectors really that bad? My problem here is that I don't have a wall socket in the closet with the 360. I'm running a heavy duty extension cord to a surge protector into the closet. How bad is that if its even bad at all?

[ASpecialFriend]

Ok, quick update:

It did it again!!!! I went back to GameStop today and exchanged the Core system I got yesterday for a new one. Attached my HDD downloaded my GamerTag info, and was in the middle of a clan match and BAM.. 3 lights AGAIN!!! I am convinced it is my Hard Drive. I will go back to GameStop tomorrow and get my 3rd one from them and let you know how it went. I'm a little past agrivatted right now!!!!

[RDC]

This is the kinda thing that's keeping me for going out and getting my new one, I'd rather not play at all and be sorta miserable than have to swap my 360 out every other day.

As far as surge protectors go, there's really nothing in them that can be bad for the 360. Even the really cheap ones are just metal rails that connect all of the outlets together and have some small amount of surge protection. If you're using a heavy gauge cord from your outlet to the thing it should be fine. I'm sure they'd like, as would anything that uses a good deal of current, for it to be plugged in as close to the outlet as possible, but sometimes that just isn't the case. If you're using a heavy cord from the outlet to the strip I say you're fine.

Since you've been thru a few of these things now, IF it happens again check and see what the secondary error code is before doing anything else with it. Check the one you have now if you read this before you take it back.

Fire up the 360, wait for the error lights to blink.
Press and hold in the "Sync" button (keep holding it)
Press the eject button and the quadrants will flash faster, and possibly a different number of them, remeber how many quadrants flashed.
Press it again, then again, then again, then again remembering the number of quadrants that flashed each time. The last time it will return to the original slow blinking main error code it started off with.

An example of the secondary code is the very popular 0102, that would start off with the 3 red lights flashing, then you hold Sync and press eject and see 4 all quads flashing, press eject then 1 flashes, press eject then all 4 flash, press eject then 2 flash, press eject again and you're back to the 3 red lights it started with.

[ASpecialFriend]

6:00 a.m.  

Well, after reading your last post, I got a little confused, however, managed to run the test. I came back with "0001". I quickly came back to my computer to see what the error code was, and it said, "Power Supply".

At this point, I'm thinking to my self, "No way, that can't be the problem!" Well, I went back into my room, took off my old Power Supply, opened the new one, and compared. My old one seemed to be missing a connector. Hmmm...

So I plugged in the new connector, without the HDD, and it's been running for at least 15 minutes no problem!!! I even had a chance to see my screen saver take effect!

The ultimate test will come in a few minutes when I start to play a game and attach my HDD. I'll keep ya posted. Goodnight....

[RDC]

Missing which connector on what plug?

[RBJTech]

QUOTE(RDC @ Feb 8 2007, 11:06 AM)

Missing which connector on what plug?

If we're talking UK PSU here, then later PSU's don't come with an earth connector as it double insulated so doesn't need it - not sure if any US PSU versions have this setup .. ?

I wonder if your mains has an earth leakage problem that setting off your PSU in panic mode or something ?  Could just be your 3 pin PSU is broken ?

Regards,

Richard.

[RDC]

QUOTE(RBJTech @ Feb 8 2007, 06:44 AM)

If we're talking UK PSU here, then later PSU's don't come with an earth connector as it double insulated so doesn't need it - not sure if any US PSU versions have this setup .. ?

I wonder if your mains has an earth leakage problem that setting off your PSU in panic mode or something ?  Could just be your 3 pin PSU is broken ?

So earlier UK PSUs had all 3 pins then? I was under the impression that the UK PSU has 2 on the mains and the US version has all 3. I haven't seen any 2 pin US versions, but I haven't seen a ton of them either.


@ ASpecialFriend - If you can get a pic of the 2 plugs side by side you're talking about that would be great.

[ASpecialFriend]

If you're talking about the pins that go into the wall socket, that was something I noticed as well, that was different. My old one was 3 pronged, and this new one was 2 pronged. However the pin I am talking about is a gold connector on the end that goes into the back of the X-Box itself. I tried taking a picture but you can't see it so I will insert a diagram of what I'm talking about below. I haven't yet tried the 360 today but last night it was running (Both my Core system and my Premium system) just fine for about 30 minutes or so. I was going to pop in some Halo but then realized that I may have accidentally returned my copy of Halo to GameStop inside the 360. Oopps. Yeah, yeah, I'm an idiot. I'm gonna call them in a few minutes and see if I can get it back.

Edit:

So Icalled them and they said that there was no disc in the tray. Hmmm. Maybe I just misplaced it. Who knows. Anyway, Photobucket is not working right now, so I will come back later and post that diagram for you.

This post has been edited by ASpecialFriend: Feb 8 2007, 11:19 PM

[ASpecialFriend]

As promised here is the diagram of my power cords.

(IMG:http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b248/nschoren/360Diagram.jpg)

So far, after swapping out my power supply, my X-Box has been running like new. I have played a game over Live as well as in the process of downloading a demo. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed, but I believe I have fixed the problem. Thanks for all of your help on this, it is greatly appreciated!!!

[RDC]

That missing pin in your PSU (Power Supply Unit) connector is for the 5v standby, weird that it decided to break.

As for the 2 pronged power cable, are you in the US or the UK? and does the other end of the power cable match? as well as the socket on the PSU for it?

[xdude335]

QUOTE(ASpecialFriend @ Feb 6 2007, 05:51 PM)

I have and HDTV InFocus Projector, it's amazing to play on

Doesn't everything look fuzzier than on a regular screen?
I've seen stuff at my friend's house that still makes me vomit every time I think about it.