Went through 2 XB360's in 12 hours, WTH!

[s1lence]

Yesh. I've owned an NEC PowerMate VP75 for 11 years and it still works great, and can even still get online with no problems. I think NEC should build Xbox 360s for Microsoft, because of how reliable their PCs are (Not sure about Turbografix-16, but their PCs were friggin' tanks)

My mother-in-law has one of those, your right it is a tank.

[bangtango]

A recall will never happen, since it would destroy their credibility. They'd lose the 'blown out of proportion' argument for good.

So yeah.

A recall will never happen because the product hasn't proven to be unsafe to consumers. Unreliable for a certain percentage of people maybe but not unsafe. People haven't been electrocuted or had their house burn down as a result of owning a 360, unless they were extremely careless.

Take the guy from a week or two ago who was mentioned all over the internet after he decided to "cool down" his 360 power plug by submerging it in water, as if Microsoft could have expected that guy to be an idiot lacking any common sense.

Read about him here:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105355&highlight=towel

[YoshiM]

I know. My point is that, yes, the Xbox 360 is several times more powerful than the Wii, but the Xbox 360 is also several times larger than the Wii. Shouldn't the increase in size compensate for the increase in heat? What about the powerful fans in the 360? Are they just there to make noise? Again, Microsoft's engineers seem to have dropped the ball.

You make the 360 sound like it's a gunboat.

If you go to AnandTech (http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2610&p=3) you'll see that except for some space it's a pretty packed system. They've also got a couple of monster sized heat sink on the CPU and a wide flat one for the GPU.

Seeing as how the 360 has some powerful hardware, designing the whole thing to be smaller (prior to the upcoming 65nm chip) would make the heat buildup even worse. That'd be like taking four people who are rigorously exercising and cramming them into a closet while they are still moving. Limb entanglement aside, it'd get pretty hot in there pretty quick. Put those four people in a larger room and it won't get as hot.

Now for the Wii (as seen here (http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-38683-43.html)) you can see that, after the disc drive and wireless module has been removed, mobo wise there isn't a whole lot there. That's probably because the Wii wasn't designed to have a powerful CPU or GPU. Thus you need less power. Less power equals smaller components equals more compact design at a cooler temperature (if I'm not mistaken, I'm not an engineer).

[CreamSoda]

This is bullshit!!!

I guess I can join the club...

I got my first 360 on December 23rd 2005 and it worked perfectly until May of this year. I sent it in, and I was treated to a BRAND NEW 360 console(June/30/07). I've been very busy lately and I have played my new 360 about ten times, today I fire it up for abit of CrackDown and BOOM! Red ring of death, The video kept acting up with weird black lines through it. So I switched back to the R/G/B cables that I got with the system, and when I powered up the system I was hit with the red ring. I even switched back to the crappy s-video cables and I still got the same thing~!!!!! :( :( :( Please excuse the poor grammar, but I am very pissed off here.

I have a couple questions...

-When trading in a 360 system at EBgames do they test it before accepting the unit?

-What do I have to trade in with the console?

-how much trade in value does a 360 unit warrant toward an elite or PS3???

Thanks guys

[PapaStu]

I have a couple questions...

-When trading in a 360 system at EBgames do they test it before accepting the unit?

-What do I have to trade in with the console?

-how much trade in value does a 360 unit warrant toward an elite or PS3???

Thanks guys

Well i've got a couple of answers...

Of course EB/GS tests the systems before they buy them. They arn't going to give you good money for a busted unit that they can't resell without having to put more money into in the first place.

You've got to trade EVERYTHING that came with the system new when purchased. Powersupply/AV cables/controler and system. You could keep the Hard Drive, but then you won't get as much for your system obviously.

And then you go and call MS and tell them your system is dead because they've got a lovely 3 year warranty for all systems now and will replace it for you free of charge.

[CreamSoda]

Well i've got a couple of answers...

Of course EB/GS tests the systems before they buy them. They arn't going to give you good money for a busted unit that they can't resell without having to put more money into in the first place.

You've got to trade EVERYTHING that came with the system new when purchased. Powersupply/AV cables/controler and system. You could keep the Hard Drive, but then you won't get as much for your system obviously.

And then you go and call MS and tell them your system is dead because they've got a lovely 3 year warranty for all systems now and will replace it for you free of charge.

Thanks Stu, maybe I was getting abit worked up over everything, I'm sorry. It's just so DAMN frusterating!!!! :(

[dairugger]

well i guess it had to happen sooner or later. my 360 that i bought 1 year and acouple days ago (days after my bday) has rrod. now i take very good care of my things, especially systems.

the 360 is on a open entertainment system, with plenty of ventilation. and i dust it twice a week (im a little ocd with cleaning), and dont play it much-except for blue dragon or eternal sonata. i played everthing else because i was afraid of it overheating. all in all id say ive logged maybe 100 hours playing on the thing, as the general types of games released on xbox arent my thing, fps and sports games,etc.

sucks big time!, i hope i get my original or better back as the case is in prisitine condition and id hate to get a console that belonged to a careless 11 year old.. guess we'll see.

sorry about the long post i guess i just needed to rant.

[Juganawt]

Am I the only person on the planet that has had 2 360's die, but with NEITHER of them getting this fabled Red Ring of Death?

Both of my 360's died from over-use... I killed the DVD drive motors / lenses from playing almost every waking hour of the day. The first machine lasted 10 Months (Dead Rising's constantly spinning disc for 20 hour sessions put the nail in the coffin), and the second one is starting to die now (probably due to Bladestorm and VF5. Had 16 - 20 hour sessions on those every day since getting them).

Yeah, the 360 dies more than it should, but it's nowhere NEAR as bad as PS2 was. I went through 5 PS2s, and didn't use them even half as much as I've used my 360.

PS2 is still king of shittiest hardware ever, but 360 definitely has taken 2nd place with no question, as apart from PS2 and 360 I've never had a single machine ever die on me prematurely (unless you count a PS1 dying after 7 years of daily play as prematurely anyway).

[s1lence]

Am I the only person on the planet that has had 2 360's die, but with NEITHER of them getting this fabled Red Ring of Death?

Both of my 360's died from over-use... I killed the DVD drive motors / lenses from playing almost every waking hour of the day. The first machine lasted 10 Months (Dead Rising's constantly spinning disc for 20 hour sessions put the nail in the coffin), and the second one is starting to die now (probably due to Bladestorm and VF5. Had 16 - 20 hour sessions on those every day since getting them).

Yeah, the 360 dies more than it should, but it's nowhere NEAR as bad as PS2 was. I went through 5 PS2s, and didn't use them even half as much as I've used my 360.

PS2 is still king of shittiest hardware ever, but 360 definitely has taken 2nd place with no question, as apart from PS2 and 360 I've never had a single machine ever die on me prematurely (unless you count a PS1 dying after 7 years of daily play as prematurely anyway).

I'm only on my 2nd and my first died with no red rings. I can't even blame the hardware, I can blame my kids and friends. They pulled it off the short shelf it was one.

[jonjandran]

Am I the only one here with 2 Launch Day Xbox360's that are still running perfectly :)

[rcc8756]

I played dead rising--never froze,although bioshock did freeze prob 6 times over the whole game.

[Rob2600]

PS2 is still king of shittiest hardware ever, but 360 definitely has taken 2nd place with no question

Working at a few different video game stores in northern NJ, I can say that the worst hardware was a tie between the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2. People would constantly bring in their PlayStation consoles asking if we fix them. We'd say no and they'd buy new ones. No wonder 100 million were sold.

People would also constantly bring in PlayStation 2 games with rings scratched into their surfaces asking us to exchange them for new copies. It seems a lot of people had PlayStation 2 consoles that were physically ruining their games.

For the second worst hardware, I'd say it's a toss-up between the the Xbox and the Xbox 360.

[FAMOUS]

Got mine 6 months after launch & its starting to back talk to me and play RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT! Heres for me and everybody whos having problems
http://culturekitchen.com/files/images/crossed_fingers_0.thumbnail.jpg

[Wolfrider31]

Working at a few different video game stores in northern NJ, I can say that the worst hardware was a tie between the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2. People would constantly bring in their PlayStation consoles asking if we fix them. We'd say no and they'd buy new ones. No wonder 100 million were sold.

People would also constantly bring in PlayStation 2 games with rings scratched into their surfaces asking us to exchange them for new copies. It seems a lot of people had PlayStation 2 consoles that were physically ruining their games.

For the second worst hardware, I'd say it's a toss-up between the the Xbox and the Xbox 360.

I know I'm jinxing myself here, but I never have problems with hardware. My PSone and PS2 have been fine and all around me I've watched friends lose theirs to disc read errors and the weird lens issues the PSone had. Then again, I have a tendency to be very careful with my consoles (give 'em room to breathe, don't move them, dust regularly, never leave them on - with the exception of standby mode).

I think the issue with the 360 is largely moot now. New heatsinks and a three year warranty should be enough to satisfy anyone. Still, and I'm not accusing people here of doing this, but I've seen people be really hard on their 360s. And given the large demographic of frat boys that tend to get their hands on this thing, it doesn't surprise me that these things break.

[Nesmaster]

After just over 22 months of use, I think my 360 drive is finally kaput. All I'm getting is the white screen in 10 different languages telling me to insert a DVD or 360 game. Happened after playing TimeShift, when the drive wouldn't open at all, so I had to pry it open to get the game out. Now it won't read anything... I'll try after it cools down again... looks like I may be forced to buy that HDMI Falcon unit I've been wanting for a while.

EDIT: Well, got it to read TimeShift, but who knows how long that'll last. I see an Arcade in my future shortly.

[RyanMurf]

Im begining to form a theory that the discs may be causing alot of these red rings.

If you've ever noticed, when you get a new 360 disc out of it's case, it has kind of a staticy feel. I've always made a habit of wiping down my games with a microfiber cloth before first playing them.

On most discs, when you wipe the bottoms, they feel sticky or staticy, when you first take them out of the case. I'm wondering if you put a staticy disc into the drive, if that could somehow affect the hardware, on the older systems?

I think that this could be possible in high amounts of static energy but the amount of static on a disc isn't great enough to do any damage in my opinion.

[RyanMurf]

honestly right now it's not worth trouble. All xbox360's are faulty and have the potential to fail. I would wait til microsoft works that shit out for good before buying one. 360 owners will be kicking themselves later when microsoft releases better hardware.

This is not entirely true. Microsoft has already revised their hardware when it comes to processing. As far as I know I havnt seen any problems with the revised hardware.

[Nesmaster]

So it started when I loaded TimeShift, but as soon as I tried to reload it or another game... same thing. Decided to open it and clean the DVD lens, didn't work. Decided to use the "hidden" code to clear my cache for whatever reason and blam! Loads every game, every time so far, and I tried 4 different games about twice each.

The culprit? My guess is something to do with the latest R6V update doesn't agree with my 360, because it started doing it RIGHT after I updated Vegas and quit out of it. Looks like my 360 might just make it to 100 000 gamescore yet!

[ShadowBlade]

IMO, the reason why a lot of 360's are dying is because of the ventilation. Now I'm not saying ALL broken 360's have been in the equivalent of the original box, but just that I think that a lot of 360's have been.

The reason I think this is because consoles are getting similar to PCs (as someone earlier on said, I think). Now PCs are pretty big (you could probably fit a 360 in my PC's case, excluding some of the fans) and usually have more fans than a 360 does. Another thing is people probably wouldn't stick a PC in a entertainment centre, with hardly any room near it's fans to get air in and out.

What makes me think a lot of people are sticking 360's in entertainment centres is that, from what I've seen, people - usually teenagers (all of my friends are TERRIBLE with their consoles and optical media, it makes me wince sometimes, I'm 14 BTW) and people with the "she'll be 'right" attitude - really just don't care about their hardware or games.

Once again, I'm not saying everyone that has had the RROD is bad to their consoles. I'm just saying that if people didn't take such bad care of their stuff the breakdown rate maybe reduced to, say, 12% (still worse than normal, but its better than the 30% that has been getting around).

Thanks for reading my post/opinion :)

[Rob2600]

The reason I think this is because consoles are getting similar to PCs (as someone earlier on said, I think). Now PCs are pretty big (you could probably fit a 360 in my PC's case, excluding some of the fans) and usually have more fans than a 360 does.

What about the Mac Mini and all of the other slim towers on the market? They're tiny and they don't overheat and cause the GPU to melt.

[Lothars]

PS2 is still king of shittiest hardware ever, but 360 definitely has taken 2nd place with no question, as apart from PS2 and 360 I've never had a single machine ever die on me prematurely (unless you count a PS1 dying after 7 years of daily play as prematurely anyway).

Not at all, The PS2 is at least 1000x more reliable than the Xbox 360, man IMO the xbox 360 has almost no reliablity at all, at least with the PS2 I knew it would last especially since I still am on my launch ps2 but with the 360, I'm gonna be on my 3rd right away because my 2nd one just rrod tonight and is getting shipped back.

I can't believe anyone would say that the PS2 is made of worse hardware than the xbox 360, man the xbox 360 is a great system but easily the worst system ever released in reliability.

If anything I really wished that Microsoft would be forced to take every single 360 back from launch to at least August 2007 and give you a new system.

[Lothars]

Once again, I'm not saying everyone that has had the RROD is bad to their consoles. I'm just saying that if people didn't take such bad care of their stuff the breakdown rate maybe reduced to, say, 12% (still worse than normal, but its better than the 30% that has been getting around).

Thanks for reading my post/opinion :)

Well I disagree that it would only be like 12% I still think it would be at least 25% especially since almost everyone on my friends list as well as everyone that I knew that owns one by me has went through at least 2 360's

Some of it of course is people being bad to thier consoles but a huge part is how bad the system was made with reliability in mind.

[ShadowBlade]

What about the Mac Mini and all of the other slim towers on the market? They're tiny and they don't overheat and cause the GPU to melt.
Yes, but are they as powerful as the 360? (I honestly have no idea on these premade PC's)

[vincewy]

Just for comparison, I'd like to ask anyone who've gotten PS3 since launch, how's the system holding up? I recently scored a 60GB PS3 manufactured in early 2007, I've noticed the unit heats up very quickly in a few minutes.

[gepeto]

Once again, I'm not saying everyone that has had the RROD is bad to their consoles. I'm just saying that if people didn't take such bad care of their stuff the breakdown rate maybe reduced to, say, 12% (still worse than normal, but its better than the 30% that has been getting around).

Thanks for reading my post/opinion :)


Not really. I have mine well ventilation. Out of all the sysytems I have owned this one gives me the most trouble It is up there with the original ps1 lens debacle.. I have a few systems original xboxs gamecube saturn dreamcast seven the sega cd turbo duo turbo cd 3do. All still running like hardened troop soldiers. What are people doing differently that they are not doing before?

[marcus12024]

I have some actual sales/broken 360 numbers for you, direct from my friend who is the Manager of an EB Games store. Please note: all numbers are from the last six months, for the period of July 1, 2007 - December 31, 2007.

Total XBox 360s sold, of all types: 2742
Total XBox 360s returned during first 30 days due to problems: 847

That's nearly 31% of the systems that have had issues (red ring, DRE issues, not turning on, DOA, etc.) in the first 30 days! The numbers for systems needing to be returned after 30 days are unclear, because after this point the store passes the warranty service off to Microsoft, and the customer often doesn't come in to ask, they simply call Microsoft.

From personal experience, I can say that my 2 of my friends, as well as myself, have had 360 Premiums that have Red Ring'ed in the first year of owning the system, and we never move the console, it's well ventilated, and we don't ever really play for more than 2-3 hours at a time. The one guy has had to send his system away 4 times in 14 months! There's definitely something wrong. :(

[PallarAndersVisa]

keep your systems well ventilated!