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Identification ¶ 

The two generations of Xbox consoles look quite dissimilar to one another. The original Xbox had a black/green paint scheme, and its top case formed a large "X". On the other hand, the Xbox 360 has its name inscribed on the front; rounded corners further distinguish it from the original.

Model History ¶ 

The original Microsoft Xbox was first introduced in the United States on November 15, 2001. That model featured a 700 MHz Pentium III processor. The Xbox 360, introduced in 2005, transitioned to a 3.2 GHz PowerPC Tri-Core Xenon processor. The PowerPC CPU is notable since it's based on the same architecture as processors found in older Apple laptop models.

Troubleshooting ¶ 

Microsoft gaming consoles have characteristically been plagued by overheating issues, particularly in the first release of each specific model causing waves of recalls. In the original Xbox, this problem manifested itself when the system would randomly freeze, either mid-game or while using the dashboard. In the Xbox 360, overheating presented itself in the infamous Red Ring of Death (RROD), where three quarters of the circle around the power button would be lit red.

This problem is so common due to a combination of high heat output from the high-performance technology in the consoles, bad heat sink design, and brittle lead-free solder. Solutions to these problems specific to each model and available on the respective device pages.

Additional Information ¶