GameStop reportedly fixing and selling red-ringed Xbox 360s since 2009

When the Xbox 360 launched gamers were thrilled at the idea of moving forward from their Xbox to the Xbox 360. Unfortunately, the Red Ring of Death had plans for gamers that would keep them from playing on their shiny new console.

The Red Ring of Death was characterized by three of the four lines that make up the ring on the power button glowing red instead of green. The technical issue was brought on by a disconnection between the motherboard and chip. Luckily, it happened early enough in the consoles launch to be covered by the warranty and Microsoft, upon hearing of the issue, extended warranties.

When your Xbox 360 red ringed, you could send it to Microsoft and have it fixed, this fix could take weeks. A few gamers took Microsoft up on the offer, while others looked for another method — thus the "towel trick" home-fix was born (among other home remedies).

 During this time GameStop was offering a simple solution to affected individuals, sell your Xbox 360 to them. The game store bought red ringed Xbox 360's, repaired them and resold them…and have been since 2009. This news becam apparent during a Bloomberg Business report on GameStop's growth in the gaming world.

A boon for GameStop in 2009 was figuring out how to solve the so-called Red Ring of Death, a faulty connection between the chip and motherboard that rendered Xbox 360 consoles useless. GameStop’s R&D team discovered that the problem could be solved by heating up the top of the device while cooling it from below, reconnecting a damaged chip to the motherboard without ruining it. The fix is now regularly carried out by a $10-per-hour laborer operating a machine that GameStop built itself. A refurbished console can be sold at close to its original price.

By the way, their fix is essentially the towel trick – a fix that only lasts for so long.

In 2012 it was reported by Verge that GameStop employees were told not to accept trade-in for red-ringed Xbox 360s. Whether or not that is what happened since it was reported is unconfirmed as there are anecdotal reports claiming that GameStop stores were both accepting and selling affected consoles.

[arstechnica]

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