It is estimated that one in five Xbox 360 will get the Red Ring of Death. With these staggeringly high numbers, Microsoft and other corporations have established excellent solutions. You can repair your Xbox quickly and for a low cost, Yes You know what to do. With that said, let’s take a look at our options.

In general, we have two possible paths to repair your Xbox. We can repair it ourselves or send it to someone else to repair it for us. Every possible repair advertised on the net is one of these two possibilities, but each has its pros and cons. Let’s take a look at these in greater detail.

First option, send your Xbox to someone else for repair. This is what almost everyone will end up doing. There is only one advantage to this and that is the fact that you really can’t go wrong. That is, there is no room for error instead of fixing it yourself. The disadvantages of this choice are cost and time. Your repair service likely won’t be free (unless you send it back to Microsoft while it’s under warranty), and depending on where you live, you may have to spend countless hours waiting for your console to be returned. Final Tip: If you’re shipping your Xbox, I don’t recommend using any services other than Microsoft (the original system manufacturers).

Second option, fix the Xbox yourself (DIY repair). This option is a bit more interesting. I’m sure you’ve probably seen ads to fix your console in less than an hour. Do you think those ads are true? Actually, they are! The advantages of a DIY repair are time and cost (the disadvantages of the first option). You can get an inexpensive (cheap, not free) guide that will walk you through the repair process and have you back playing your games in less than 60 minutes. However, before you get too excited, let’s take a look at the cons, the expired warranty, and the potential pitfalls. When you disassemble your Xbox 360, you instantly remove any warranty you may or may not have. Also, you might accidentally make a crucial mistake and never see your console alive again. Still, even with these downsides, I personally think a DIY repair is the best option (and it’s fun, too!). Final tip: don’t try any “free” methods to fix your console, like the “towel trick” or the “X-clamp”. These temporarily imply harmful your system to get a few hours of gameplay.