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Xbox "Red Ring of Death" still alive.

BBC Watchdog report reveals excellent turnaround time on repairs.

A minor buzz was created around a BBC Watchdog report that they have received over 250 complaints about Xbox 360s crapping out within 2 months of the warranty expiring. Now there's no question that it's a bummer to have something break that close to the warranty end. You get the feeling that there must me a timer chip in there that counts down the days before shorting out the whole thing. Well, at least that's how my mind works.

Since I don't have an Xbox, I'd never heard of the "Red Ring of Death" that signals a major hardware problem. So like any red-blooded web surfer I googled it. Surprisingly there was some accounts of decent turnaround time for repairs (here, here, and elsewhere), but also that Microsoft extended it warranty to a year, and it's retroactive for those who purchased their Xbox in 2006. What does this mean? That Microsoft sees console gaming as the anchor of the converged digital living room and is willing to bleed money now so it can be the market leader in five to ten years.

But back to the Red Ring of Death. While Microsoft's suggestions are typical of online tech support: No matter what the problem, do this (in this case: turn it off, disconnect/reconnect all cables, turn back on. Oh, thanks for the help.). IGN's Team Xbox explains what all the different red lights on you Xbox might mean. For your convenience, I've summarized it here:

All of the lights but the first section are flashing means a general hardware failure. (Needs to be sent in for repairs.)
Red light in the second quadrant indicates overheating. (Unplug and let cool down. Place in a more ventilated area.)
Red light in the third quadrant also means a hardware failure. (Again, repair needed.)
All four lights flashing red means the AV cable is not connected correctly. (Disconnect the cable and reconnect, listen for the click.)

And of course you can always use the Xbox zChannel if your having other troubles.

Full disclosure: I'm not actually like any red-blooded web surfer. I'm an Information Scientist (nee librarian), so I used Google's Blog Search since I felt that would give me better results for this particular search.