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No! It is NOT happening. It can't be happening at 7:30 on a Wednesday night. I'm just playing a little Guitar Hero on my Xbox 360 and it happened. The friendly green light is gone. In it's place, the one thing a hardcore gamer like me does not want to see. Yup, the red ring of death! I had heard enough about it to know that this was bad. Really bad. But was it permanent? There are a few things I should take a look at before I get in the car and go to the store and buy a new console.

One of the things that can cause the red ring of death is heat. I've taken the necessary precautions as far as setting it up goes. I don't have anything on top of it. There is plenty of ventilation around it. It doesn't feel very hot. I groaned inwardly. This is not a good sign.

Well, I guess I can let it cool off for a little bit, hanging on to whatever shred of hope I had left. I figured now would be a good time to do some of the things around the house. An hour is a good amount of time to let it cool off. Here goes nothing. I plugged in the TV cord, and the power cord, and with a silent prayer, I closed my eyes, and pushed the button.

So, I was not one of the lucky ones. There was no way I could go a month without my Xbox 360! So, off to the store I went with the emergency credit card. When I got home, I packed the old Xbox 360 into a cardboard box, and prepared it for the journey to Microsoft.

To this day, the red ring of death still scares me. So make sure your Xbox 360 is well ventilated and dust free. You may be able to avoid this unfortunate event!</div>