My Xbox 360 Won t Read Games!

Everyone who has an Xbox 360 enjoys using it. The games are great, and the graphics are incredible. It's rather unfortunate that a number of hardware failures seem to come with the package. Every Xbox 360 owner has had at least a few problems with red light failures. One particularly annoying problems is when the Xbox 360 won't read games. Everyone has experienced this problem at least once, but what is the cause?

As with most problems involving the Xbox 360, heat seems to be the reason why your Xbox 360 will not read games. For some reason, perhaps because the system is so powerful and tightly packaged, heat cannot efficiently escape from the unit, and it overheats. Sometimes the heat directly affects the GPU and the CPU and the entire system freezes up. With the DVD drive failure, however, it appears that the overheating is concentrated mainly around the DVD drive.

One temporary but repeatable solution is to shut the Xbox 360 down and let it cool off. This is annoying when you really want to play a game, but it will work. It's really not a fix, though, because it will keep on overheating after you play it for a while. A permanent fix will require finding a way to keep the DVD drive at a safe operating temperature at all times.

If your Xbox 360 won't read games, but is still covered by a warranty, you can send it to a Microsoft repair center for repairs. It will get fixed, but you'll have a bit of a wait to get it back. It is also possible for you to fix the problem yourself, but it's going to take a little education and a good repair guide. There are some available online that have video instructions of what to do to divert the heat from concentrating around the DVD drive. Even with the guides, however, you'll need some electronic repair skills. If you're lucky enough to have a friend of family member who is an electronic technician, you may get it fixed for free.

If your Xbox 360 is no longer under warranty, and you don't feel comfortable about fixing it yourself, there is only one other alternative. Send the system off to a Microsoft repair center, pay about $140 for repair and shipping costs, and wait for as long as two months to get your Xbox 360 returned to you. It's admittedly a sacrifice for the avid game player to be without an Xbox for that amount of time, but if your Xbox 360 won t read games, what choice do you have? Bite the bullet; get the Xbox 360 repaired, and rent a system while yours is returned.