As far as this article goes, I think you'll find it rather soothing, you'll also learn and gain a few tips about how to prevent the worst from happening.

Here are 3 great tips that will help prevent the red lights from happening:

1. If you store your Xbox 360 in a display case or some sort of TV cabinet, then the finest thing you can do for your machine, is to pull that sucker out of there A.S.A.P. Now, the reason for this is, because just about all Xbox 360's have a major overheating problem, and when they begin to overheat, the 3 rings of death start to happen, and it's even worse if you keep the doors shut when your Xbox is stored away in your cabinet or TV center. So, you're aware of this fact, the chance of your Xbox 360 overheating or getting the 3 red light error code, reduced significantly.

2. The second way that you can prevent the three red lights from showing up, is by lifting the power brick up off the floor and placing it on top of an open box. This might sound a bit strange but you have probably noticed that the power brick has little fans located inside of it and needs to have air continuously pump in and out of it, it's a great way to reduce heat. This method can also stop your games from freezing.

3. And another awesome trick is to constantly make sure your machine is clean from dust, just like a computer, if you look at the little crevices, you'll notice dust balls everywhere, making it extremely difficult for your Xbox 360 to breathe.

I think you'll find those 3 tips really valuable, and should definitely increase the longevity of your Xbox 360 and may even keep any of the major problems from even ever occurring.

But, we all know about Microsoft's tacky service and outrageous cost it takes to repair a problem that was their fault to begin with, so for some it just isn't an option to their machine away to Microsoft.

Another choice you can consider is to repair it yourself, you can do this by finding a great repair guide right here online, they well walk you right through the entire process from beginning to end, even if you think you can't handle it as easy as it is, you have nothing to worry about, people all over the world are finding it much easier than anticipated, in fact last time I read up on this, a 13 year old kid from California, barrowed his mothers credit card (while she wasn't looking :-) of course)found a guide he liked and had his Xbox 360 working again before his mother found out the next day.