A few issues with an Xbox 360 elite!

[stefan-west1]

Hi all, I have an Xbox 360 elite and am having a few issues with it.

1st of all, after initially plugging it in, it can take up to an hour until I am able to turn it on, the light on the power block is orange the entire time

2nd, when it eventually turns on it stay running for about 30 seconds before going to either 2 flashing red lights or 3 flashing red lights.

finally after resetting, it starts up OK sometimes, it will either go straight to 3 red lights and the power block will flash green and go to orange, or it will run for a minute or two before coming up with the 3 lights but the power block will stay green.

I was going to have a go at re applying thermal paste and re sitting the heat sinks, but is this the actual issue or is there more than one?

Any help you can give me to fix this would be great because it is out of warranty and i do not fancy paying Microsoft £64 to fix it!

 

[Ohayo]

I had this problem few times, What happened was that the power cable kept coming off loosely which made 3 red rings "Ring of death", why is it called ring of death? because it destroyes your games, DO NOT put any CD's in before fixing it because it will scratch your CD, all i can say is check if the power cable is plugged in correctly and strongly.
Thats all i can say, im no expert