If your Xbox 360 has quit functioning and you are getting the III red rings problem don’t panic, there is hope. With some basic tools and a nice repair manual you can perform the Xbox 360 Repair.
You will need a pack of torx screwdrivers, If you do not have a pack you can grab up a cheap set at your neighborhood hardware store.
The III red lights problem means that there is a console hardware failure. The 1st thing you can try is to dis-connect everything and let your system sit for 20 minutes disconnected from the power. Re-connect everything and try it another time, If you are still getting the problem take out the hard drive and re hook it. It is quite common that they get loose and you get a bad connection.
If that quick fix method didnt resolve it you will have to open it up at this point. The most frequent failures are no video or disks will read. Both can be repaired fairly easily.
If you have no video showing you can try a different video cable, borrow a friends cable cord if you do not have an alternate one. If you still have no video but sound is functioning you will have to check the soldering connections on the mother board for the video cable. Consult the guide before attempting this or any other internal repairs.
If your console is not scanning the disks or getting disk errors make sure your disks are clean. After that you may have to replace the DVD drive or if you have the skills you can remove the DVD drive and replace just the pick up assembly. This is a lot cheaper than replacing the entire drive. Again read the repair manual before attempting this.
Your other option is to send your Xbox 360 off to Microsoft and Wait. Nothing worse than having Halo 3 and not being able to play it. I rather to do my own modifications and Xbox 360 Repair. The system Xbox 360 repair unit is very similar to your home computer, it is actually a small computer. With a little patience anyone can learn how to do there own Xbox 360 Repair.