Quick and dirty fixes for electronic gadgets have usually involved abuse of some kind. This included smashing, hitting, shaking, or kicking to get the device to work. The abuse worked because loose connections would reconnect if you were persistent enough. But the mechanical shock weakens other connections which make the device fail at a later time.



A well known fix for the red ring of death is called the towel trick or towel fix. It easily fits into this class of quick fixes involving abuse. Rather than using mechanical shock, the fix entails cooking the internal components at very high temperatures so that broken connections might be resoldered and components that are warped get reshaped.

The method of this technique begins with covering up an Xbox with a couple of towels. Then the Xbox is turned on for fifteen minutes and you're done. Then you should be able to enjoy some games. If the red ring of death happens again just get your towels and repeat.

If it works, then what's the problem? As mentioned before, this technique bakes the internal components at extreme temperatures. Heat induced damage during the manufacturing process is a prime concern in the electronics industry. Getting the right soldering temperature for a strong solder join without damaging other components is difficult.

So when you use the towel trick, you get a temporary fix at the expense of damaging the Xbox's internal components. Eventually this damage will lead to yet another heat related failure. Then when you apply the towel trick again, more damage is done which weakens your Xbox even more. You can only repeat this process so many times before the heat damage is too extensive for the towel trick to work any more. This process is a downward spiral that thoroughly destroys your Xbox.

Another issue that's somewhat beside the point of this article is that the towel trick can be dangerous to do. The Xbox generates a lot of heat (hence the need for the cooling system in the first place). Because of the towels, the heat has nowhere to go and builds up fast. If your Xbox catches on fire, flammable things next to your Xbox (such as your house) can burn too.

The towel trick makes no sense at all and in this case, counterintuitive doesn't help. The ring of death is caused by the Xbox producing too much heat and having a cooling system that can't keep pace. Fixing this problem by applying more heat only makes the problem worse.