The Ring of Death

Nick's Xbox contracted the "RED RING OF DEATH" last week. Apparently the ring is pretty bad and it is the fear of every young Xbox owner. Once you have the red ring of death your Xbox is useless and you have to hope your Xbox is still in warranty so you can get a new one.

So Why Does the Red Ring of Death Happen in the First Place?

Causes for the Red Ring of Death

Well it seems that Microsoft's 'get the product to market first, deal with the bugs later' approach has left the consumer with a product full of design mistakes. These bugs can either act alone or work together to shut your Xbox down.

Six of these are explained below.

1. Heat ;Xbox 360 heat is excessive.

2. Lead free solder; Xbox 360 solder is brittle.

3. Flawed heat sink clamp design; Xbox 360 heatsink causes motherboard to flex.

4. Left over foil on the heat sink; Xbox 360 heat sink has foil attached.

5. Deficient Manufacturing Process: soldering Temperature Was Too Low

6. The Graphics Chip Puts Out Too Much Heat; graphics Chip Was Designed on the Cheap by Microsoft.

Nick handled things very well; he immediately called Microsoft and spoke to a foreign lady (whom he could barely understand) who proceeded to give him instructions on how to ship his Xbox.

I was very proud of Nick. He was on the phone for over an hour speaking to this lady and he handled it better than most adults. He now is in waiting.... or in mourning for his Xbox. He will get it back in four days but it will have been gone for over 2 weeks. 2 weeks to a 14 year old boy without his Xbox is like an eternity.

I, on the other hand, have enjoyed the Xbox not being around. I have watched Nick participate in activities that engaged his mind so much more than the Xbox ever dared to.

Here are two videos he has been working on.......





Greg got in on some of the fun too. This song is the song Nick learned to dance to in 5th grade for a school play..... the Halo dude is dancing the dance too (minus the break dancing). Pretty cute.



This Xbox scenario has reminded me of my walk with Christ. I am much more in tuned to him when I s-l-o-w down. At times, when my heart contracts it's own "red ring of death", I need to remove all distractions and focus on Him. When I do this my heart feels lighter and renewed. I feel myself thinking clearly, behaving in a way I know I am supposed to as a Christian.

For the life of me I do not understand why I struggle to do this at times. I guess it is a lot like eating healthy and exercising; we KNOW it is good for us and we KNOW it will make us feel better yet we still do not do it as often as we should.

I am so thankful I have a Heavenly Father who gives out life time warranties. He will take back my heart when it is broken and spoiled and return it to me good as new as many times as I need Him to.

Each time Nick talks about his red ring of death I keep singing the song Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.... I can't help it (click HERE if you didn't read earlier post about my singing).

AND if you have never heard the song by Johnny Cash, first of all what rock have you been living under?....BUT if you seriously haven't.... click HERE.

I hope the creative activities continue post ring of death.... time will tell.