Replacement Xbox 360 - Return of Red Rings of Death in 60 minutes or less?
Yes, I do more than work with BlackBerry devices day in and day out, so consider this a rant about one of those personal pleasures that has been with me since I was a toddler - console gaming. It started with an Atari 2600 then I became the first kid on my bus route with a Nintendo. Skip forward into this last generation of consoles with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii (not a single issue with the latter two, might I add).
I recently returned my defective Xbox 360 to Microsoft for warranty repair and / or replacement for the heart-breaking "Red Rings of Death" issue. A replacement console was shipped to me about a month ago and I finally decided to open it up. I hooked it up to my new 46" Sony XBR5 LCD TV and started it up. Man, I tell you, high-definition gaming is amazing.
I played Project Gotham Racing 4 for about 30 minutes and then my console locked up. The controller sat in a state of vibration for a few minutes before I finally decided to get up and reset the console. I then decided to switch to NCAA Football 2008 and made it through an entire game (Auburn vs South Florida in the 2008 season in Dynasty mode). But, I made the mistake of trying to start up that week’s recruiting and - BAM - another console lock-up. Thinking that it was perhaps that copy of the game, as there have been known issues with EA Games, I managed to return my copy of NCAA Football 2008 to Wal-Mart and exchange it for a new copy. I got home, tore off the shrink-wrap, put the game in, and was greeted by a nice little squawk and a blocked screen (the same one that broke my 360 the last time around).
Needless to say, when I turned off the console and powered it back on, my good old friend, R. ROD the Third, greeted me with a sinister grin. This unit is dated mid-September 2007. So much for thinking Microsoft improved their build quality, right? Less than one hour of pre-mature enjoyment and another brand new Xbox 360 is now dead. Since BG doesn’t really care (might I add that he’s the most impatient person on the face of this planet, and refuses to send anything in for warranty repair), he’s now on his 6th bought Xbox 360 after suffering the same red ring of death issues. Mr. J Allard, are you really proud of this manufactured creation that has seemingly destroyed any credibility for your vision of a wired lifestyle?
On Nov 23, 2007 @ 11:51 pm, GBallew Said:
You fail to realize that people can mistreat their consoles without knowing it. If you consciencely take care of your consoles, they will last you a lifetime. I still have an original Atari, a Super Nintendo, a Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, PS1, PS2 and Original XBOX. Hell, I even still have my GameGear!
And I’m willing to bet that of that 40% warranty rate, 25% had nothing to do with the product itself.
I work for a wireless provider, and see people’s stupidity all the time. A phone will clearly have water damage on it, but the customer will swear on their lifebed that it has not been mistreated at all.
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On Nov 25, 2007 @ 5:23 am, John L. Said:
This is always debated when people bash the 360. but in my opinion i have the PS3 and the Wii and i have not once had to send it in for repair. My friend has a 360 and he has had it break down on him four times already. And not to mention gamestop has stopped selling warranties for the 360 cant blame them they would go out of business replacing defective 360’s all year around.
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On Nov 25, 2007 @ 11:53 am, Potsey Said:
Just lost my Xbox last night. I bought it right when it came out and have generally been happy with it. No problems up to now. I’m not happy with having 4-6 weeks to get it repaired. But that is better then buying a whole new console. Although an Elite with the bigger drive and HDMI is appealing. I already have aPS3 and a Wii. So far all my PS3 is good for is playing Blu-Ray disks. The main reason I like Xbox over the PS3 is Xbox live. Maybe once more PS3s come out it will be better but for now, despite the failure Xbox is still my preferred console.
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On Nov 25, 2007 @ 5:34 pm, Joel Said:
I to have all three systems. I did not get a Xbox at Launce, b/c there were none avabable. I bough the first system i could find, unforchanantly it was a core system, and i had to do w/o a hard drive for sevral more months. I have been very fortunate (dont bealive in luck0, people need to remember that though some failer may be due to poor care, there is a very high fail rate, and I too will probobly have mine die on me. I hope not, but the main reason that people keep having their consoles fail is not b/c they do not take care of thier stuff, it is b/c thety get a refurb unit that was broken at one time. Which is why people keep getting duds. MS needs to just destroy the units when they get them. Maybe recyle the plastic parts, sucj as the console itself, CD tray etc, but any of the internal guts need to be destroyed and not recycled. MS it is not working. People should only have one failed console. I have talked to people with bad exp w/MS, and it seem that you either have been OK, and had no prob, or had 3 or more units. I dont know anyone who has been ok on their second, some people were fortunate w/ their third, but they have to keep sending them in. Getting an exstended warrenty is the best, too bad game stop is not selling them anymore. That tells it all there. They know that MS screwed up. PS has made allot of mistakes, but at least the unit works, the prob w/ that is up until september there was no reason to tun it on except to watch a blue ray movie. MS needs to release anohter iteration, with a cell chip or whatever they need to do to get the fail rate to under 5 %. If I hadmy way, it would be wirless internet (wirless built in, not add on), and built in HD DVD. Also the unit needs to be black. Well now ill get iff my soap box.
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On Nov 26, 2007 @ 3:21 pm, W-Eagle Said:
WAR EAGLE!
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On Nov 26, 2007 @ 5:28 pm, D2theAVID Said:
@ anyone who thinks the RRoD is caused by owners mistreating their console
First off, I have no intention of getting rid of the 360, I thoroughly enjoy playing my 360. I am disappointed with Microsoft for shipping the console too soon without adequate testing, and for sub-par repairs. I always thought the point of a repair shop was to do repairs, not just replace.
Anyways, my 360 has been on top of my entertainment center 1 full foot from any wall or enclosure, standing up with an intercooler on the back since I got it a year ago. Once a month I hit it with air duster to clean any dust out of it, and I still got the RRoD a couple times. After powering it down my console works again. About 1/5 of the time I turn my console on, I get an error message that also goes away when i reboot it. You cannot tell me my console has problems because I dont take care of it. I shouldn’t have to put this much effort into taking care of it and it STILL hasn’t helped.
And as many have said, Microsoft extending the warranty as far as they have (when my notebook only carried a 90 day warranty) shows they are acknowledging there is a problem with the design of the 360 itself. So anyone who thinks there is no problem with the console itself is a goddamn fool considering the manufacturer has even admitted there is a problem.
For those of you fortunate enough to not have any problems yet, have a little patience, the frustration is on the way.
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On Nov 27, 2007 @ 2:01 am, wickedmv Said:
well I can’t speak for early releases of the x360 but I’ve had my Elite for I’ll say a little over 5 months or so. I’ve had no hiccups or problems with it. My girlfriend also plays it so it gets used quite often even when I’m work she’s playing COD4 on it. I play it often spending well over 8 hours on it when on my days off and when my girl doesn’t want to go out. We both use it and I must say I am very happy with the product.
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On Nov 27, 2007 @ 3:26 pm, RR Said:
I don’t get it. I have had mine a year. Play many hours at a time everyday including times where I have played for 40 hours straight on a weekend and haven’t had an issue
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On Nov 27, 2007 @ 5:23 pm, Justin Said:
shut up
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On Nov 28, 2007 @ 7:20 am, jose Said:
ps3 will NOT be around for 10 years! Why do they say that it will???
Blu ray vs HD-DVD? In 10 years we won’t use disks. It will be super high speed downloads with fuck off hard drives.
In 4 years microsoft will have a new console and I hear dell are thinking of making one. If the PS3 can’t even play pc games that are out now because it’s got no memory yet the xbox can how are they going to compete?
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On Nov 29, 2007 @ 4:51 pm, Cortana Said:
Does anyone have an x-box that RROD, bought a new one, and still has the old one sitting around? I work for an electronic engineering company and would like to dismantle one and see if we can find the problem. My son’s X-BOX RROD for the third time, but he won’t let me near it. He is afraid it will void the warranty. I have a theory this is a ROHS design flaw. Decoupling caps placed next to large thermal masses,such as BGA’s with SAC alloy balls and heat sinks are subject to much greater heat profiles.
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On Nov 30, 2007 @ 10:05 am, Johnathan Said:
I just got my 4th xbox 360 back 2 days ago and BAM RROD withing 2 hours of halo 3 I am so pissed.
It’s a 11/01/2007 !!!! WTF How can this be.
I just want to play my Xbox360 I paid $400 for there should be a lemon law for these POS.
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On Dec 2, 2007 @ 1:16 am, Zantetsukin Said:
Silence is a god-send after listening to the screaming tots of the “live” service(that u have to pay to play). P.S. Just surfing the web on my PS3, few people know the facts of PS3 and it’s true powers, and please stop calling the Wii next gen people!!
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On Dec 2, 2007 @ 1:18 am, Zantetsukin Said:
Reality check please, BTW, I play WoW on PS3
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On Dec 18, 2007 @ 8:09 am, AZH01 M@N Said:
360 is da best and if u dumb bithces don think it is den get da fuck out dis website
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On Feb 8, 2008 @ 9:08 pm, bob Said:
i have had an xbox 360 from the start. And about a week ago it broke. I dont want tpo get a new consoled because im so attached to this one.I have almost half of the xbox games if i gave up xbox360 it would be a terrible loss. I cant sell the games now because most are in pretty bad shape any advice for me?
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On Mar 2, 2008 @ 12:55 am, JD Said:
I’ve had mine since launch day, never had a problem with it. Turned it on a few days ago and what do you know, KABOOM the Red Rings of Death were looking me in the face.
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On Mar 20, 2008 @ 1:32 am, weedycloth Said:
i got the rrod on my first box took it back and got a new one and not even a hour old it got the rrod? explaine that one microsoft! and now i gotta deal with the manufacture[microsoft] because best buy warrenties wont cover two boxes! gay
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On Mar 26, 2008 @ 4:21 pm, C[faith] Said:
Yeah, mine died last fall after about six months. I didn’t even get one of the first editions, I bought it around easter last year. I had continuous runtime on my ‘360. I would practacally live with it when I wasn’t at school or elsewhere. But then I bought Halo 3 as soon as it came out. I forgot to mention all my other games played just fine before that, never even a falter. Then I played Halo 3 and it just suddenly decided to freeze up, so I turned it off thinking it was just a random freeze, and when I turned it back on it had RROD! I’m not mailing it in, I’m just buying an elite, as soon as my dad gets off his butt and gets money.
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On Jun 3, 2008 @ 2:19 pm, Kronos Said:
I have had my console for two years. Play it all of the time, and up until today have had no problems with it. But then, bam, midway through a match of sabotage, my screen freezes up. Restart to a RRoD.
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On Jul 13, 2008 @ 4:37 am, wickedmv Said:
Last time I posted was in Nov. of 2007. Still no problems with my Elite…wish I could say that about my now ex girl friend ….lol. At least I still got my 360.
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