Retailers Reveal Xbox 360 Failure Rate: Over 30%

[PallarAndersVisa]

http://www.gwn.com/news/story.php/id/13201/Retailers_Claim_360_Failure_Rate_Is_Over_30.html

It has taken the mainstream media a while to catch on, but they're finally starting to report on what we've known for years. The Xbox 360 fails at an extraordinarily high rate. Some users have suggested that almost all Xbox 360s of the current design will fail at some point in the first few years of their life due to the design fault detailed recently by a man who reports to have had 8 consoles fail.

Of course, we love the system when it works. We just wish Microsoft would address the very real issues people are having, or at least make some announcement instead of continually denying that there is no common fault with the console.

SmartHouse.com.au has featured a story where they detail some of the 100 letters they've received from consumers who've had their Xbox 360 fail.

According to an EB Games store manager, who wished to remain anonymous,

"At one stage we were getting calls everyday however this has slowed down. The failure rate must be well over 30% which when you look at a PC or iPod the failure rate is less than 2%."

Jun 21, 2007

News by Richard Manley.
__________________________________________________ _____________________


This is huge! 30% is ridiculous, and with the recent findings about the 360 having a genuine GPU heatsink design flaw, you can put 2 and 2 together and say; Those that play on their 360's intesively without an extra cooling unit, will have a dead 360. Those that use an extra cooling unit and/or do not play their 360's for very long periods of time, will have working 360's for years.

Microshit really needs to do something about this. I say free repairs and not just replacing a dead part, but redesigning all of our 360's with the new heatpipe design.

[segagamer4life]

I think M$ needs to reevaluate this, I know they will never admit this high failure rate, or at least acknowlege it, since it would be financial suicide, however, they need to take care of the existing owners with faulty systems... come on m$

[udisi]

eh, this story is pretty week. I wouldn't take any EB Games manager's idea of failure rate into consideration. Sure there's definitly a problem with the 360 and it's 3 rings of death, but I don't know if it's 30%. Funny how people like to complain about the 360 failure rate. you didn't hear that much about the original xbox failures or even the PS2 laser failure rate which I still believe to be the worst failure rate of anything in modern consoles.

[jonjandran]

Umm 30% is just a guess from a stupid Gamestop Manager..... Grain of salt.

I have 2 launch day Xbox 360's with no problems. I know of 15-20 other friends with early production 360's with no problems.

Is there a problem with some 360's ....Yes. Is it 30%....I think not.

[jcalder8]

Holy shit!!!!
Well one guys opinion is enough for me to believe it especially with no proof and pure speculation. Also the fact that he says its slowed down.

Thanks for posting this wonderful article.

[mailman187666]

actually 30% is a pretty good number to base that on. I started a poll a while ago that I just bumped if you want to check it out. Out of all the people that responded to that poll, 30% or so needed 1 or more replacements.

[FantasiaWHT]

If I still worked at an EB, I'd pull my list of 360 preorders, get lists from other stores, and then call each of them to see if they have had to have the 360 replaced. Judging it by how many have been brought back to the store (as I'm guessing the manager in this story did) isn't very strong support for a position, and neither, sadly, is an internet poll.

[Damaramu]

Sounds more like a ploy to enhance PS3 sales.

[Oobgarm]

I wouldn't take any EB Games manager's idea of failure rate into consideration.

Neither would I, neither should anyone else. Too many other factors can/will come into play when determining a final, "real" number.

[diskoboy]

eh, this story is pretty week. I wouldn't take any EB Games manager's idea of failure rate into consideration. Sure there's definitly a problem with the 360 and it's 3 rings of death, but I don't know if it's 30%. Funny how people like to complain about the 360 failure rate. you didn't hear that much about the original xbox failures or even the PS2 laser failure rate which I still believe to be the worst failure rate of anything in modern consoles.

THANK YOU!!!

I was wondering when someone was going to point out the phenomenal PS2 failure rates..

[Gabriel]

Wow, an anonymous EB games manager says the X360 has a 30% failure rate. It must be true!

Jcalder8 beat me to it, but it still needed to be said again.

[Griking]

I knew that I wasn't reading an unbiased post to begin with when the first two posters referred to Microsoft and "Microshit" and "M$" :roll:

[zektor]

While I hear many people say in threads (like above) that they still have their launch system and their friends do as well with no problems, my friends and I are not that lucky I guess. Mine was red ring of death (half a red ring, dead HD) right out of the stinkin' box. This is the very first time I ever had a defective unit right off the bat. Would have made matters better if MS customer support was more sensitive to the situation, but they are horrible. I called on the problem, and they offered to send me a new HD....yeah...after I sent the old one back first! After much arguing, I just went back to the store and exchanged the damn thing. The exchange unit worked fine for a few weeks, and that started freezing on me.

My co-worker's unit started cracking game discs. My brother's unit died with the red ring of death syndrome after four months of perfect playback. My cousin's unit did the same thing after 6 months. My boss's unit continually locks up.

Forget large scale demographic numbers and let's just go with numbers of the friends and family around >me< that have problems, and the defect rate is far greater than 30%!

I really like the 360, and think the games and online abilities are amazing. XBLA is great. The defects are not. Most people will probably not agree with me (the people that have no problems), but rest assured if you are one of the unlucky people that do, well, you'd be thinking twice before making another Microsoft console purchase in the future.

[Nintendo Gamer]

.....

[segagamer4life]

I knew that I wasn't reading an unbiased post to begin with when the first two posters referred to Microsoft and "Microshit" and "M$" :roll:

I am not bashing M$ by calling them that, its actually, a "pet" name reference I have for them, either way I enjoy my 360 immensly, I am on my second, and it stinks that they have been failing, I would like to see m$ do something more for the consumer, regardless of the failure rate, they should be bending over backwards for the consumer.

[RyanMurf]

Who ever said that the xbox 360 will have an even shorter lifespan w/o an intercooler or other type of cooling unit is correct. The xbox 360 is severeley flawed with its internal design. The darn system cant handle its own heat sources. The main reason for the hardware failure (3 red lights) is because of its processors, heatsinks, and heat sink clamps. This system heats itself to such a degree that the heatsink clamps lift the cpu and gpu of the board. The only way to fix this is by yourself bolting the heatsinks with washers to the board keeping the board from warping and falling apart or having microsoft to redo the board design. This is the link which will show you how to fix your xbox 360 from hardware failure perm.http://rbjtech.bulldoghome.com/pages/rbjtech_bulldoghome_com/XClamp.htm

[bangtango]

Even if you come up with a number, it would be kind of important to learn about the playing habits of people who are experiencing failure with the system. While everyone here will agree that a lot of 360 systems have "failed", including some out of the box, someone has to take into account people who play the thing nonstop for 6-8 hours to a time or leave it on for much longer periods of time without playing it the whole time. Maybe they leave the system on while they go to the store or run to the post office. Perhaps they pause a game and don't get back to it for 40 minutes. Or they fall asleep every night with the system on and it is still on the next morning. Who knows? I know a ton of people who do stupid stuff like that. Shit like that will make just about any system fail, especially a disc-based product. I don't care what kind of fan a console manufacturer puts on a piece of hardware, I ain't leaving it on all friggin' day or night. Either I'll shut it off for a few hours, or several, to give it a break or play a few games I have been meaning to get to on another system.

[RyanMurf]

Even if you come up with a number, it would be kind of important to learn about the playing habits of people who are experiencing failure with the system. While everyone here will agree that a lot of 360 systems have "failed", someone has to take into account people who play the thing for 6-8 hours to a time or leave it on for much longer periods of time without playing it the whole time. I don't care what kind of fan a console manufacturer puts on a piece of hardware, I ain't leaving it on all friggin' day or night. Either I'll shut it off for a few hours, or several, to give it a break or play a few games I have been meaning to get to on another system.

But you see it doesnt matter. A system should be able to run 24/7 w/o any problems. Any system that cannot handle extreme play times is not ready to be an item bought in stores. The xbox 360 is flawed. Have you seen a original xbox or ps2 shut down from melting its own components?

[camarotuner]

I personally package up about 20-30 defective 360's per month. My store is not unique in regards to the failure rate. I'm currently ballparking it at around 10% realistically. Now, casual players didn't seem to be having issues. It's was my hardcore guys that were eating the systems. But even THAT seems to be reversing itself as casual gamers start having their systems longer. I swear these things are just gonna keep dying until MS fixes the overheating issue.

Oh and the record by any single customer is he had 6 in a 13 month period before calling it quits and getting a PS3 instead.

But on the flip side, my one friend has had his since launch. We added alot of aftermarket cooling devices but once that was done ain't had a single problem since. Liquid coolers, auxihillary fans, hell try something. Give it an air conditioner. It basically is just the heat issue.

[bangtango]

But you see it doesnt matter. A system should be able to run 24/7 w/o any problems. Any system that cannot handle extreme play times is not ready to be an item bought in stores. The xbox 360 is flawed. Have you seen a original xbox or ps2 shut down from melting its own components?

There isn't a game system, television or computer in the world that I would leave on 24/7. Period. Sure, I suppose some computers can take it but I don't go out of my way to find out if mine is one of them.

[RyanMurf]

Yes I understand but you make it sound like its the owners fault for leaving it on too long you should be able to leave it on as long as you want with out any problems. The xbox 360 is flawed. Again I will use this example the ps2 and xbox can be left on for days with out any problems.

[Slate]

I must have a super unit because I haven't had any problems. And I leave my 360 on for 6 - 10 hours every day. (It has seen some 2 day runs too)

I don't have any accessories that cool it down, Either.

[BydoEmpire]

I'm not sure I trust this source, but while I haven't had any problems with my 360, I know a BUNCH of people who have. Way more than any other console, ps2 included. It's not even close. And I'm pretty certain these people treat their machines well. I think for MS's own sake they'd fix this problem asap - it's got to be costing them a fortune.

[ProgrammingAce]

Again I will use this example the ps2 and xbox can be left on for days with out any problems.


Try that with a slimline PSTwo and let me know how that works out for ya. Or Apple's G4 Cube. Or any other consumer product which had overheating issues over the years.

If you crack open a Version 1.0 Xbox1, you'll find it has a second fan installed over the GPU. The prototype units they made a few weeks before launch didn't have that fan, and the systems that came out after launch didn't have a fan, so why did MS decide to include it? Even though the engineers knew the system wouldn't have overheating problems, MS didn't want to risk the consumer backlash if the systems failed. So they threw in an extra fan last minute.

Sadly they seem to have forgotten that philosophy...

[chicnstu]

I am not bashing M$ by calling them that, its actually, a "pet" name reference I have for them, either way I enjoy my 360 immensly, I am on my second, and it stinks that they have been failing, I would like to see m$ do something more for the consumer, regardless of the failure rate, they should be bending over backwards for the consumer.

Yeah, they seem to be having major backwards compatibility issues....

[jonjandran]

Try that with a slimline PSTwo and let me know how that works out for ya. Or Apple's G4 Cube. Or any other consumer product which had overheating issues over the years.

If you crack open a Version 1.0 Xbox1, you'll find it has a second fan installed over the GPU. The prototype units they made a few weeks before launch didn't have that fan, and the systems that came out after launch didn't have a fan, so why did MS decide to include it? Even though the engineers knew the system wouldn't have overheating problems, MS didn't want to risk the consumer backlash if the systems failed. So they threw in an extra fan last minute.

Sadly they seem to have forgotten that philosophy...

Exactly. I've had to replace the laser 3 times in my kids PsTwo because of them leaving it on for days to get some stupid cheat codes to work.

Same old argument as with the PS2. Half say no problem, other half say there is a problem.

If it breaks MS should fix it, it's that simple. Sony had to do the same thing with the PS2 for a while.