NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

mine did like that 3 or 4 times.
first time I sent it to repair, and got back a different one in no better conditions.
when it did the red ring couple more time I just turned off, punched it hard on the case and was back in action.

I have a cooling system for mine. I took it off after it caused me to get RROD. For some reason it wasn't allowing enough electricity to get to the 360.

thanks for all replys so far, getting some good ideas of what to do- it just happened again :( i dont think ill be able to magic this one off... grrah

must be overheating then... cus i turn it on again and it does it almost straight away- it ussually gets way hotter then this though, maybe something is touching something else inside making something go wrong inside or something like that ; . ;

Like I said before, my only RRoD was caused by the power cord not being completely in. Even after I got it all the way in, it didn't stop until I took the cooling fan off the back and plugged the power cord directly in.

Do you have a fan? My computer occasionally starts overheating (I need to fix the heatsink) and I just point a fan at it until it stops. It doesn't fix the problem but it might allow you more play time until you decide what to do.

never used a cooler, i checked all cables and they seem fine. and i actually have my fan pointing as it but it still just overheats... i feel its a good excuse to get an elite... i just need the money lol

truly, I'm not kidding.
I've managed to get it back working by hitting it in the midle of the case.
I think is something to do with heating but related to the heat sink that is not properly fixed to its position, so punching it has a change to place it back to work condition.
(I cant guaratee it will work for you)

When the xbox is laying down or standing?

I dunno I still have a working first gen Xbox, I think they had the right path with it but rushed too fast to get 360 out which is what I think happened, Im not a MS fanatic and your right about XP lol(who knows Win7 might be good), but I hope they fix these problems in a nexgen system, they have some exclusives that are good. Bottom line tho is PS3> 360 always and forever, MS has to throw in a nexgen system that compares, maybe not graphic wise but hardware wise(stable, long lasting)like Sony did(although there might be some faulty PS3s out there).

hitting it seems to have helped lmao

You sir are a genious and i love you, i have had it on for hours and hours with no trouble, and im turning it off out of choice ^0^, also bashing it up was fun XD

Sounds more like loose wiring then.

I did lost mine.. i had 32,100 CP in windy... Bought it... came back to sandy...
So now im back in windy with 2k CP -.-;

go on newegg.com and put together a $600 pc. problem solved.