Xbox Towel Trick

Last week my Xbox 360 got the dreaded rings of death when I was really looking forward to finishing Condemned 2. I switched it on, started playing and it locked up mid-game. I turned it off, back on again and I got the three red lights which basically means your Xbox is FUBARed - a hardware malfunction thanks to a design fault.

I’d heard rumours that if you can’t be bothered to send it back to Microsoft, you can try to fix it yourself by wrapping your machine in towels for 20 minutes.

The theory is you cover the air vents and make it overheat, thus making it somehow solder the loose connection back together. So, I went to the bathroom, laid my Xbox on the floor and wrapped it up nice and snug. 10 minutes later I checked back and there were only 2 red lights - a promising sign. I waited another 10 minutes, unwrapped the Xbox and held my breath. Would it work? Surely it can’t. I turned it back on and - the green lights rotated and the Xbox logo came on my telly. It was back from the dead! Unfortunately a week later it’s died again so I’m toasting it one more time before sending it back to Microsoft!