Mistreatment is the tradition when it comes to easy fixes for electronic gadgets. You basically give it a solid whack to make it operate again. This generally worked because a loose wire or connection would reconnect after enough abuse. But the device would then fail at a later time as a result of other connections getting jarred.
The towel trick is one of these quick fixes for the red ring of death problem. It too belongs to this category of fixing something by abusing it. The cure involves baking the internal chips rather than using mechanical abuse. The idea is that broken connections will hopefully get re-soldered at extreme temperatures.
The towel trick begins with covering the console with several towels. Run your Xbox for about fifteen minutes and it’s finished. Now it’s time to do some gaming. If your Xbox gets the ring of death again simply do the towel fix again.
Why is the towel trick such a bad idea if it fixes your console? The problem is that the internal chips get exposed to extreme temperatures. A prime concern in the electronics industry, is avoiding heat damage to components during manufacture. It’s not an easy thing to get the right soldering temperature without causing chip damage.
In essence, the towel trick is a temporary remedy that works at the expense of damaging the Xbox’s internal components. This damage eventually leads to more problems in the future. When the towel trick is used to fix these new problems, more damage is done which weakens your Xbox even more. Eventually the towel trick will stop working because the heat damage becomes too extensive. Repeated application of the towel trick is a downward spiral for your machine.
Another problem is that it is a dangerous thing to do. A great deal of heat is generated by the Xbox. Since the towels trap all of this heat, internal temperatures get extreme. If your Xbox starts burning, other combustibles next to your Xbox (such as your house) can burn too.
The towel trick is a very bad idea. An undersized cooling system causes the red ring of death to begin with. Trying to solve the problem by applying more heat is like trying to put out a fire with more fire.
Marc Sandford is a gaming addict and writer. Get more Xbox 360 troubleshooting advice about repairing the Xbox 360 ring of death.
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