Niode wrote:2 red lights on the left hand side (1 + 2 when upright, or 1 + 3 when sideways) is overheating problem. It's not life threatening to the consoles --yet. You need to get some pressurised air and give those grills a good 'ol blast whilst using a vacuum on the outside of the system on low suction.
If this doesn't fix it you're going to need to take it apart and give the fan a clean and make sure you get rid of all the dust from the system (don't do this if your 360 is still under warranty). Use pressurised air to blast the dust away from the system. Don't use a vacuum inside the case, that's rookie mistake #1, it's way too easy to knock caps and sometimes suck them right off the board if you're really heavy handed with it.
I do the first type of maintenance on my 360 and PS3s every couple of weeks or so, sometimes more often if I've done a lot of playing that month. I've never had a single red ring on my launch unit.
The reason your old retro consoles are still functioning today is because they are, from an engineering standpoint, very simple piece of kit. They don't generate a lot of heat and are content to be cooled passively. Modern consoles kick out a phenomenal amount of heat due to the extreme amount of transistors in such a small space, simply put, the components used in modern consoles aren't designed to be put under such stressful conditions. The components are way too powerful to be put in such confined spaces. It will affect both the 360 and the PS3 the exact same, coupled with the new requirement of ROHS compliance means that these companies have to use inferior unleaded solder, which cracks under the extreme temps that these consoles can reach under normal use. The main reason the PS3 doesn't fail as much as the 360? It's bigger and has a larger, more efficient fan inside it. It still suffers from the same fundamental flaw though.
I fully endorse this message.
A good cleanout of your 360 after the warranty has expired is safe, fairly easy if you kind of know your way around it, and cheap/free. I do that kind o stuff all the time, and usually all it does is overheat from dust buildup. I do warn though, sometimes when I clean some of them, the overheating issue was not entirely caused by blocking dust, but a sort of pre-RROD. That was more prevalent on the older models, but it still happens.
Cheers!
Oh, and jut a side note. The regular warranty on those is one year, but the RROD warranty and e74 warranty are both 3 years, if the system has not been opened! If you have had your system over 3 years now, then have at it. IF NOT, I would highly suggest just using the compressed air cans until either:
A-the system RR's on you, or
B- 3 year warranty expires.
If you're not sure how old it is, go to support.xbox.com and register your xbox.
