Fix Your Xbox 360 Freeze Problems
Last Friday, I bought an Xbox 360 at my local K-Mart. It was probably a mistake getting it from K-Mart, but I sort of decided to buy it on the spot, didn’t really put much thought into it. After getting my Xbox 360 out of it’s box and all hooked up, I started wishing I had made the purchase directly from Microsoft instead. All is fine and well now, but I had nothing but problems for a few hours after setting the Xbox 360 up.
Right off the bat, I had three red lights on the Ring of Light. Not good. I followed the steps Microsoft suggests, after unplugging and re-plugging everything to the power supply, I finally got a green light and the Xbox 360 booted.
At this point, I did the initial configuration on the Xbox 360. I setup my profile and just started playing Need For Speed: Carbon. That didn’t last long though, the 360 started freezing up every minute or two. I kept rebooting it, hoping for a better result, but nothing.
After a few reboots, and barely getting a profile created in Need For Speed, I was presented with the error seen to the left. Click the image to make it bigger, sorry for the shitty picture. My heart really sunk at that point, the description of the E71 error message is rather disappointing: “E71: possibly a dashboard update error, there is no solution at present the console must be sent back to MS for repair.” There’s a nice post over at the xbox-scene forums that covers error codes and what to do about them. After finding the meaning of the E71 error message, I set out getting my Xbox 360 on my network. I was hoping a network connection would force the 360 to check for a dashboard update or something…anything.
Getting my Xbox 360 online wasn’t a problem, the hardest part was finding an ethernet cable long enough to go from my switch in the office to the living room. Once I had the network cable in the Xbox 360, I turned it on and it immediately said there was an update to download from Microsoft. It must have grabbed an IP really quickly from my DHCP server and checked for updates. Had I not had a DHCP server running, I may not have gotten the update. I don’t think I could have gotten into the dashboard to manually configure tcp/ip settings for the 360. It would have frozen up and that would have been it.
Anyway, the update downloaded and was installed, and my Xbox 360 was rebooted. After that, the 360 finally came up and my freeze problems were gone. So, if you’re having all sorts of flaky issues with your Xbox 360, try getting it on a network with an internet connection and see if it’ll download a dashboard update. I haven’t had any problems with stability since the initial update was downloaded, thank god! I really didn’t want to have to send my brand new Xbox 360 into Microsoft for servicing the day of purchasing it.
If you are experiencing problems like I was and this fix works for you, please let me know. This has probably been written about elsewhere, but unfortunately I couldn’t find it.
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can anyone tell me how to fix an E71 error, it’s not an update issue.
I have the regualar 360 with the 13Gb, and I had gotten it repaird before, when I got it it sounds louder, I guess it has an intercooler, works perfectly. I have it in a nightstand with the back out so it has plenty of air, but I have been playing RacePro a lot lately and after about an hour it just froze, so I quickly shut it down, thinking that maybe it just needs to cool down. This is ok right? I don’t want to have to go through all of that again.
Ok I Have 4 Xbox306′s
1)Xbox360 Elite It Freezes After You Play It Over An Hour
2)Xbox306 Core It wont play any games for some reason
3)Xbox360 Core Bottom Right Red Ring Of Death
4)Xbox360 Arcade it Freezes At Any Game Menu
I used 2 have freezing problems with my xbox 360 elite. It would always freeze when I started ANY game. The way I fixed it may help u people as well. I use a DSL router as my internet connection. it only has 1 ethernet port so i would have 2 plugged out the cable when I wanted 2 use my xbox and vice-versa. I got NETGEAR b/c it has 5 ethernet ports and I don’t have 2 keep switching. 1 connected 2 xbox, other 1 connected 2 computer, and last 1 connected 2 my DSL router. Anyways back 2 how it fixed my problem. I moved my ethernet cable connected 2 my xbox 2 1 of the other 2 ethernet ports. Ever since I had no freezing problems. I don’t know if it will help you people but I’m sure you want 2 fix ur xboxes.
ok so i just want to know if there is a way to like remove the NXE dashboard update w/o completely wiping the harddrive
plz help NXE update sucks! :(
yes there is a way… you just need to deleta all of the nxe stuff from your hard drive… im not sure it will work but i believe it will i will try it for you this friday… do not delete it til i try it!!!! i will reply friday night…if it doesnt work i can always restore my xbox….
if you get the e-71 error or any similiar error dont panic… it is a update failure and can easily be reversed!!!!!!!! first turn your console off… wait a few min. press the controller sync button then turn your xbox on and it should restore it to pre-error state… please tell me if this works for you..
Anybody that has the freezing issue get an intercooler as well as install the game to your hard drive….I installed all of my games to my hard drive and got an intercooler…the interlcooler will be a little loud if you buy a cheap one…. I bought a NYCO and it is a little louder than it needs to be but it gets the job done…my xboxlive gamertag is iwillbeatdowna… any questions? I can answer most questions thru my xbox or on this site
what is a nyco
e 71 is not only or the real problem is an update fail. after getting rrod i pulled off both x clamps and cooked it. i got rid of the red ring but now get an e71 error.did sing in cleaned up dash board.as soon as i run a disk e71 pops up. the only way to get to the dash is to put in the freezer for ten min,
its very nice 2 c how many ppl have the same exact problems. i just got my xbox 360 elite last christmas. i did that update yesterday morning and then around 7:00 pm it kept freezing. i plugged out the power part b/c i thought it would be heating issues and i did have it on 4 a long time. i went on it after 10(still yesterday) and it still happens. the “red ring of death” didnt appear(yet). how do i do this without sending it away 2 get it fixed? again just amazing how so many ppl have this problem.
You think its the update? my xbox everytime i start it it freezes on the start up screen or the console. I left my E mail if you want to respond.
Get your xbox 360 repaired
To everybody that has a freezing problem get the newest dash update!!!! Then intall your game to you hard drive!!! It fixed my problem 1000 percent!!!
how do u get that
yea i got an x-box 360 a few moths ago and baught a $20 game (forza 2) and it played great, but i baught gta 4 and everything went to hell i can’t play it for 5 minutes without it freezing completely. i got an intercooler thinking it was due to it getting extremely hot and not cooling down but it only added 5 more minutes. i can still play forza but it freezes like 30 mins in. What should i do?
If we could get every Xbox owner who has had problems with their Xbox call the M$ support for one solid week and overwhelm them….maybe they will take notice. Pick one week and then start calling every hour of the day.
I just traded in my Wii for a 360 like a week ago. A bran new xbox with the 60gb hard drive and right away while playing my first game it froze. I’m really disappointed. And now last night it froze twice while playing Prince of Persia… I wanted to give the 360 a chance but it looks like I may have made a mistake. I was aware of the problems but figured Microsoft would have taken care of them by now. Guess not.. very upsetting..
Install the game to the hard drive….. Mine would freeze up every 5 min….. Now after I installed it to my hard drive I don’t have any freezing problems!!!!
mine freezes up all the time looked on there website did it all that helped it still odes it so i called up xbox and went through to there robot and it said the same thing if this keeps happaning im sellin the 360 and all games and gettin a ps3 that dont break down.and my wii dont breakdown at all.Xbox need to do something fast
i think these problems are incredibly ridiculous. microsoft just layed off 5,000 people!! i doubt they care.i really think the only way is to boycott!!! either stop purchasing,or nobody play until they fix the problem.it would suck,yes,but something major needs to be done.im on my third xbox in a year and im sick of it!!! i am not alone.we must do something!!! right now i bought a two year warranty on mine,and i plan to get a new one before the end even if it’s still working,though the chances of that are slim. the point is that they know there are problems,yet no recalls or real solutions and it leaves us all screwed other than playing games with it.this shouldnt be a hassle!!!!
if purchasing a new x box..the magazine suggests a jasper motherboard which is explained in detail in the march 2009 issue of xbox mag.(pg 86-89)
hey.. ive got a problem with my xbox 360.. it used to freeze up a while ago but then it never froze until now.. it freezes up when i start up the xbox 360..
help please..
Hi guys its insane to see how many people have the same problem as me! I just got off the phone to xbox (They hung up on my 3 times) and I just spoke to a superviser. He said its not their problem and now in the UK come 12 tonight on the 4th of Feburary its no longer £60 to fix but £92. (Meaning its now $180)
This is not right and something must be done!
I brought my Xbox back in October, worked fine for months, no issues with any of the games, nothing.
Then, oneday it downloaded this stupid desktop update from the internet, with those stupid avatars… can i play a game for longer then 30 minutes now? can i hell….
the screen freezes constantly when playing Fable 2, which i have been trying to play for weeks now and i am unable to do so thanks to this problem. Microsoft have told me to send my X-box inito them. Has anyone dones this? did it help?
i dont have an issue with it freezeing while playing halo but fable 2 freezes constantly! and other games give me the disk is unreadable message, i bought an xbox arcade at a local gamestop about two weeks ago and i downloaded the nxe and avatar shit
yah same here guys mine freezes cuz of the NXE with Fable 2 but not with other games
Im gonna install fable 2 directly to my hard drive and see if that helps
I have an X Box 360 Elite, which I thought had an updated mother board(due to the steep price) I had it for about a year, and started playing Call of Duty 4. It started freezing up while trying to play it…I tried a few more times and it would freeze before I could even get signed in. I shut it off and figured it was hot so I would let it cool down. Started the 360 up the following day, and it went through to the game. After several minutes…freeze up! There are several reasons for the 360 freezing up, the main reason is overheating! The GPU chip gets too hot and causes the freezing up of the system. The freeze is almost always followed by the Red Ring of Death. If your warranty is up, or you have a used system that has a removed seal, you’ll have to look on google for repairing red rings of death (not too hard if you get the right guide and materials!!) If you still have a warranty, or an untouched seal, call microsoft first! They have extended warranties to repairing the RROD. DO NOT tell them it is freezing up, they may offer to repair the system at their cost! Tell them you have the RROD, and will usually pay for all shipping and the repair. I sent mine in, and have had it back for abot a month or so, it seems to be working just fine. If you really want to understand the system and the changes they have made for the better since the original release, pick up a copy of the new XBOX magazine out this month. It has Resident Evil 5 on the front. Inside, it has a great article about the 360, and shows a disected system of 2005, and one from now. Explains alot!. Hope this helps, and good luck.
I received my 360 as a Christmas gift from my Mom 13 months ago. A week before Christmas this year, my XBOX started to freeze after 2-3 minutes of gameplay on ANY disc. Even the Dashboard freezes up. I called XBOX Support today and they were no help at all. They told me I am 2 weeks out of warranty. I need to come up with $140 or so to get it fixed from Microsoft. Needless to say, I am very upset and angry. Something needs to be done about this.
Help me, i got the same e71 error code. i need to know how to connect to xbox live while having the e71 error code. Thanks, please help me
If you hold the sync controller Button when your 360 is off then turn it on while still holding the sync button it may force it to revert back to factory settings…
funny i bought my xbox used and its been working fine for about 2 weeks. until i diceided to hook it up to xbox live. ha ha BIG mistake it worked for about a week after getting updates and stuff it started freezeing. then i got the rrod once and i freaked out. so i just left it on for 30min. then turned it back off and it worked fine. so anyone having rrod problems or freezeing problems try leaving it on for a while to let it worm up. but im not saying it will fix your problem.
My 1.5 year old xbox 360 froze right as I pulled, what I guess, is the final major move in GTA 4 about one month ago. Now the dashboard works, but all games freeze on startup. Some games freeze at the beginning of loading and some freeze after setting up game options, but I can never get to the point where I’m actually playing. When I put in Halo 3 I get an error message that the disk is unreadable, but that’s the only game that does that. Looks like to get this fixed, it’s another $100 to MS. Seems lame given that this is a systemic issue that affects so many people.
I’m with yawl. Had my 360 for about two weeks and it started freezing playing cod waw. It would freeze basically at the same spot on the game in 1 player,then I tried playing two player and it was fine. It didn’t freeze with any other game. As soon as it froze,I switched to another game and all was good. Right now I have no freezing issues even when playing solo
I started getting msg telling me that my brand new cd was scratched. Or it would just freeze on me but only in certain games. It would tell me I had a bad cd when I was playing a demo. My xbox keeps getting worse, and now it makes weird noises and the red rings come on sometimes Im feed up I would send your xbox back asap!
I’ve had my console for nearly two years now. I have recently bought Fallout 3. I’ve levelled up to Level 3 and am now the game keeps on freezing and making funny ticking noises as though it’s a bomb and about to explode!!!
I have to switch of the console and reload from my previous start point to continue. This doesn’t happen to any of my other games, I’ve been playing Fable 2 loads during Xmas and had no problems with it.
I’ve already had the red ring of death, which was fixed rather promptly by Microsoft.
I hope this is not yet another problem with the console. I’m wondering whether I should stop playing Fallout 3 and buy another title instead?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
A. Gill, u said it was the game, does the games have any major scratches, dirt, smugges, ect..??
Your xbox is getting ready to break. RROD. I fix them all the time and that is the main symptom.
thanks,
i had the same problem with ninja gaiden 2…it was a problem with a GAME update…there is a way to delete a game update, but i dont remember how…just look online and you can find out how
I had the same exact ticking noise while playing fallout 3,later i got the polygon problem where all the shading seemed to make strange beams and coming from the sky or some objects, and then the game just kept on freezing every 10 minutes. It happened so often that now the console just freezes up at startup, and if i’m lucky enough to get past the startup ball animation and get to the dashboard… the screen goes blank.
It already happened with other games like gears 2, so i know it’s not the game…
I sent the machine back to microsoft today…
I bought my xbox 360 premium som half a year ago and had no problems until a couple of days ago when it started to freeze up.
The only update i made was for gta IV back when i bought it so it cannot be updates.
If heating problems it means the fan has critically failed, since the console freezes even at startup sometimes.
I don’t get red rings or anything…
crap, i will call some local repair shop later today…
Also i never connected to internet so i have got nothing from there…
desnudas maduras gratis
I got my 360 the tuesday after Christmas, and today it had one freeze. I hit the X button and the menu came up. I could hear the menu sound effects, so I knew that the 360 was partially working. After about 10 seconds I held the X button on the controller to turn it off and the picture came back up again. I finished the level of World at War then rebooted the 360. Its working fine now. Also, what might prevent overheating would be an intercooler. Make sure it is one with its own power supply, or else it will give the 360 RROD.
hey everybody. so ive had my 360 for little over a yr now. worked perfeclty. nothing wrong. till about a wk ago. dec 28th.
my 360 freezes between 5 and 20 min from turning it on. ill be watchin a movie and the screen freezes. playin halo3 tea baggin someone. and it freezes. what the f..k!!! ive read almost all the replys on this page and my theory is that its from the new update on the dashboard of the 360.
cuz seriously, do i call microsoft and tell um to fix my freezing console? i spent alot for my elite system. and as i see it, its not so elite anymore. :-(
hey man (calvin)…seriously know how you feel, i have exactly the same problem and have had my elite for around a year. the screen freezes and goes all checkered and its unresponsive. Microsoft website and xbox.com/support has some suggestions but none worked so far. looks like a repair job. so on the website there is a link to repair and they sent you a box to send it away in. Sucks.
Hey just got a 360 about 2 months ago and ive just loved it till now, yea its a piece of shit, so instead of fixing it im going to buy another but the problems is the laser lens and the magnets are off inside it cant read the disk properly. So in other words take your harddrive out, pack the 360 up and go to your local Gamestop and get money and buy a non harddrive one. less hastly and get back to racing,shooter,stragegy what ever your heart desires. Happy Gaming.
my 360 freezes when its telling me i sighned on but it only does it with my game skate i really need help i have only played it twice im so pissed
from the research ive done (about 2 weeks of interneting) it seems the problem with most consoles experiencing the freezing and 3 red lights, are due to the cooling gel applied to the CPU and GPU drying over time, or perhaps from the heat generated from the CPU coupled with unusual CPU placement on the motherboard, witch prevents the cooling gel from working as it should. part of me thinks this is by design considering the ridiculous warranty, m-soft does everything they can to bilk cash from you for any replacement needed. im curious to know how much m-soft has made due to these obvious “design flaws”. also the fact that these problems happen right out of the box to machines from the first generation of consoles, or in most cases after approx 1 year of use. i find it hard to believe that the engineers at m-soft don’t know how to put a computer together. after 16 years my original nintendo still works. ive been through 2 shitbox 360′s in one year. i will never buy another m-soft product again. EVER.we as consumers should not be complacent with having to deal with these problems considering the cost of xbox live, games, peripherals and such. PS3 here i come…
I know what you mean. However, the PS3 is just as prone to freezing after about a year as the X BOX 360 is. My own x box 360 freezes at some games when something like an explosion or other game event happens. If there is a way to fix this please post a comment to explain how.
ya mine i put the two towels around it red ring comes up an i still can play the came after 20 mit of freezen whats up with that
i got an xbox 360 elite for christmas and it was working fine up 2 about 3 days ago. i noticed that when i got my guitar hero world tour it started freezing alot more. is there a link between the two? or is guitar hero a little too much for it, because now i can only play for about 10 minutes until it freezes.
i’ve had my xbox for about 2 years now, never had a problem but i find with the new NXE update the freezing starts to happen more often, NFS undercover is a huge pos..u MUST install that game onto the harddrive to play any of it, EA messed up big on it, but i’ve noticed even on other games i have such as NHL 09 and sometimes fallout 3, and a few times on call of duty World at war. it’s pissing me off having to restart the system everytime it does it, specially if im online and what not. seems the only way to resolve any of this is to install every game you have onto the harddrive..but not alot of us have the 60 or even 120 gb harddrives so it’s near impossible to enjoy games that freeze all the time.
ok nevermind alice. she is right, putting a game that freezes on you hard drive works
I brought an XBox 360 on 31st Dec and got straight down to playing Fable 2. Unfortunately it kept freezing. I tried moving the XBox and power supply to prevent over heating but this didnt work. When the disc ran it was very noisy (much more than on other consoles) so I added the game to my hard drive and went online and installed the update. I now play Fable 2 off the hard drive and it has not frozen once! :D
hey alice how do you add a game to you hard drive?
i have the same problem with fable 2
Hmmmm. I read somewhere that someone’s motherboard broken in some way… I wonder if it is the core problem of most of the problems not involving red lights…
My 360 has been freezing for the last week. I’m thinking it might be due to the never being updated so I’m just woundering if there is any other way that will not void the warrenty and will stop the f ing freezing? if any body can help please do reply on fourums.
mannn, it’s incredible to see how many people are having the same problems.
i may have a way to help, but it’s not the quickest way.
i decided to take matters into my own hands and crack open my console. i’m obviouslysuper pissed about all the freezing[no gay red lights]
so i basically manhandled my xbox open and cleaned it of all the dust that was built up, as well as the dust build up in the power brick.
there is a safer way to crack open your console without damaging it, but if your like me and just want to get to the bottom of this crap.. you’ll just start going crazy.
so i cleaned it of the dust, didn’t bother putting the case back on.
and surprisingly, my xbox doesn’t have any error screens and loads the game just about everytime.
butttttttttt.
there still is the occasional freezing.
i’m going to see if clearing the fans would do any good, no rags or paintbrushes.
compressed air.
if my results are good, i will let you all know.
but if you would like to crack your console open, there’s a guide on how to do it without damaging anything.
i’d say just go for it, not too confusing, barely damaged.
check it outt.
MY 360 always write system error e17 i need to get it to work
i have the same probs. games freeze, red lights and all the stuff. not going to mess with microsoft garbage anymore. just bought a mac and after i smash my xbox 360 into pieces, im getting a playstation 3.
hey guys, well i just got my 360 for xmas and after i downloaded the NXE update, everytime i play fable 2 and only fable 2 it freezes after about 5-15 minutes after i exit the menu and start to play.
Please help, cause it really PISSES ME OFF
I know man i have fable 2 and now its got a HUMOUNGOUS scratch on it and my 360 freezes so i have to get it swapped for a new one and a new fable 2
yeah im gonna try getting a new disk first b4 i look at my 360
I’m the exact same. The update was ok. But then when i hooked up to live it started freezing every 10 minutes. I enjoyed Fable 2 when it didn’t stop every 10 minutes!
i have the same problem. When i start up my xbox 360 it works fine. but when i play Fable 2 is freezes. I play CoD4 and CoD5 fallout 3, dead space, Galo 3, Midnight club LA it works fine. i can play. but when i put in ffable 2 it wont let me it freezes at the loading screen.
help me with Fable 2.
if u do i can give u money on fable 2 as a reward.
hey my midnight club la keeps frickin freezing its PISSING me off!!!! smtimes it will freeze from the point when i exit the garage, but sometimes i can play for up 2 45 mins and then it wuld freeze, plz help me cuz i really like the game!
dude
ive had my xbox since the first christmas it was out.
ive never had problems with it until now and its REALLY startin to PISS ME OFF!
anyone have any ideas??
my bro got one the same day and he just had to send his to microsoft recently…
damn
i dont wanna do that lol
As I said the best thing to do is to send back Microsoft all their chinese made consoles and shove it where the sun do not shine.We got this box did not even work out of the box,after reading everybody has a problem I do not feel singled out,I truely feel what you get what you pay for.
i dont have xbox live on my xbox. got any other ideas?
My Xbox 360 keeps freezing up. I have no idea what to do? It use to come up with E71 but now its gone… How do i fix it?
yeah i need a new motherboard
all right i think i figured it out.
take the brick looking power source thing.
and suspend it in the air.
make it so it not on the ground so more heat is released.
its worked for aabout 10 minutes for me.
and thts like a record.
hey guys.
mine did the same thing for a while.
after it goes to 3 red lights.
put tape on the back and let it run until the 3 lights turn into 2.
turn it off and let it cool.
start it back up and it should run.
this works for about a day then itll freeze again.
it pisses me off.
so if anyone has a permanent solution tht would be great.
email me at glitch92@hotmail.com
arron im getting the same thing my issue occurred after the update.i unplugged all the wires,tried without the harddrive.
my 360 freezes with 3 red lights and sometimes with 1 red light so i did the secondary code trick .i got 1033 (unknown) and 0102 which could be an issue with the gpu or something on the mother board.
secondary code trick after u get the red ring hold the sync button on the 360,then press the eject button ,do this 4 times,not fast ex: after the three lights ring hold sync button press eject (light should flash 1 quadrant 2 ,3 or all 4.each time u press eject a different light or lights flash do this 4 times ,write down how many flash each time,
this will shed some light as to whats going on.
key :1 quadrant or light code is 1
2 quadrants code is 2
3 quadrants code is 3
4 quadrants code is 0 (not 4)
my error is 1033 and 0102
email me at percymiracles@hotmail.com
i couldnt email you but heres the thing. i unplugged the xbox plugged it back in and it had no red ring but is was and still is freezing
aaron how many red rings flash when it happens? email me at baseball_playa04@hotmail.com. maybe i can help
now my 360 has the red ring email me about it
now my 360 has the red ring please tell me if you know what is wrong
my xbox 360 ran fine ever since i got it. Then one day after i got back from the gym, i started my 360 up it was fine for about five minutes than it froze and it still freezes. can you tell me how to fix this
Yep my xbox had the red rings about eight or nine months ago, sent it away and it worked perfectly till today when the freeze problem occurred playing call of duty world at war, well didn’t actually get as far as playing just the opening section, then kaput. Not happy with Microsoft, this is the second time, and clearly I am not alone with this problem, don’t know whether to give the bastards more of my hard earned money by buying a new console, or go for the PS3.