Quick and dirty fixes for electronic gadgets have usually involved abuse of some kind. This included smashing, hitting, shaking, or kicking to get the device to work. The abuse worked because loose connections would reconnect if you were persistent enough. But the mechanical shock weakens other connections which make the device fail at a later time.

A well known fix for the red ring of death is called the towel trick or towel fix. It easily fits into this class of quick fixes involving abuse. Rather than using mechanical shock, the fix entails cooking the internal components at very high temperatures so that broken connections might be resoldered and components that are warped get reshaped.

The method to this madness starts with wrapping your Xbox with a few towels. Then you turn on the Xbox for about 15 minutes and you’re finished. Now you’re all set to enjoy some gaming sessions. When the next ring of death error happens you just reapply the trusty towel trick.

If it works, then what’s the problem? As mentioned before, this technique bakes the internal components at extreme temperatures. Heat induced damage during the manufacturing process is a prime concern in the electronics industry. Getting the right soldering temperature for a strong solder join without damaging other components is difficult.

So the towel fix does it’s magic at the expense of further chip damage. Of course more damage will cause more problems later on. When the towel trick is used to fix these new problems, your Xbox is weaken further with more damage. There’s a limited number of times that this process can be repeated before there’s too much damage for the towel fix to work any more. This is a degenerative procedure that completely fries your Xbox.

Another problem that’s safety related is that the towel fix is very hazardous. A good deal of heat is produced by the Xbox (and hence the need for fans and heat sinks). Because the towels are insulators, the heat builds up very fast. If your Xbox begins to burn, other things in the vicinity (your house) may burn as well.

The towel trick also defies common sense and in this case, counterintuitive doesn’t work. The red ring of death and several other Xbox problems all come down to the Xbox generating too much heat and having an inadequate cooling system to cope with it. Solving this problem by adding more heat is like baling water into a sinking boat.