Since the inception of home video game systems, gamers have always had to deal with the occasional technical difficulties. Any long time gamers remember the days of blowing out your Nintendo cartridge, and praying that it would work. But the latest generation of consoles has been plagued with a higher degree of errors and breakdown, most famously, the infamous Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death.

Microsoft’s approach has always been to get their product to the market, and worry about small bugs later on. This has become something Windows users have just gotten used to. But, the Xbox 360 failure rate has been estimated at more than 50%, something unheard of for the console world.

What causes the Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death? Fundamental design flaws in the product mean that physical breakdown in the components is almost an inevitable occurrence. The heat sink clamp has a design that puts pressure on the main CPU, when it gets hot this can bend and break. Microsoft also decided to use lead free solder to protect children, but this soldering is very brittle and can break down quickly under extreme heat. If the airflow of your Xbox 360 is obstructed, you’re favorite gaming machine is on a sure course to failure.

There have been some risky ‘home fix’ ideas presented by many users to fix these kinds of problems. Everything from baking your Xbox 360 in a towel to freezing it for an hour has been suggested. But there are some more practical things you can do to keep the red ring away in a proactive way.

Since all of these issues stem from overheating, a few small changes to your set up can make a big difference. Clean your Xbox regularly; Use canned air to blow dust out of the innards since this leads to heat buildup. Set your Xbox 360 on its side so air can come in and out freely. Don’t leave your Xbox 360 on for hours, most games can be saved incrementally, so give it an hour or two rest in between sessions. Some of these issues stem from the Xbox not getting enough power. Make sure it’s plugged directly into the wall. The old adage of ‘try rebooting’ works here too; sometimes it’s just a software issue and easily remediated.

The Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death is an unfortunate result of rushing to the market with a new gaming system, but if you take preventive steps, your Xbox 360 should have a longer lifespan.