I have read several accounts of the “Red Ring of Death” with respect to the XBOX. Apparently the problem is / was so prevalent that Microsoft extended the warranty on the XBOX.
However, I thought these “Three Flashing Red Lights” problems only occurred to others who were either hard on their machines, had improper ventilation or dusty environments, or perhaps had the XBOX on its side. Well, I can confirm that it has nothing to do with the care of your XBOX, but instead must be some sort of design probem with the XBOX itself.
As my friends and family will attest under oath, I am meticulous when it comes to the care of my electronics equipment, including the XBOX 360 I purchased for the kids. It resides on a nice clean shelf all by itself with proper ventilation. Only my oldest, responsible child is allowed to load the games and most of the time I do it. They only play the XBOX for about an hour at a time which keeps it from overheating, etc. In a nutshell, our XBOX 360 gets far less wear and tear than is experienced in most homes I predict.
So guess what? The other day we begin to play the XBOX 360 and the screen starts freezing up within 1 minute of playing. I turn the XBOX off, unplug the power, check the cables, and after everything checks out, restart it. One minute later the screen freezes up again.
So, I call XBOX Customer Support and get MAX the automated attendant who proceeds to give me the top tips for troubleshooting the problem. In addition to what I already did, “he” has me check the power supply as well as disconnect the hard drive. After following his steps to the letter, I restart it again and Three Flashing Red Lights! Now that is all it ever does - Three Flashing Red Lights :(
The XBOX 360 will be gone for several weeks for repair. Definitely a design problem. Definitely.
Here is a Microsoft Support KB on it in case you are interested in troubleshooting the Red Lights Problem. Assuming your XBOX is still under warranty, I suspect you will be calling the XBOX Customer Support Team and shipping it our for repair. You're not alone.