What were you playing when you got the red ring of death?

[digitalpress]

Ah, XBox 360. So exquisite yet so painfully predictable. Ryan and I had opened so many 360's in its first year that we determined that EVERYONE who had one of those early 360's would eventually suffer the "red ring of death". That poor thermal putty, flaking off even with a cooled-off system. The pure "each one is different" assembly we encountered. And of course, the various YouTube fixes that indeed worked until the system heated up again all added to our theory. And so, after finally suffering this death with our store unit this past week, it got me thinking.

We're all going to suffer this. Many, many of us already have. So let's look back fondly and hope our refurbs have the new Falcon board. While we reminisce, let us document...

"What game were you playing when you got hit with the red ring of death?"

For me, on my store unit, it was Rock Band. There I was, getting us set up for a weekend. At first it was a fuzzy gray screen. Uh oh, I've heard customers describe this to me before. Reboot. Same thing. Reboot. Three lights on the ring. At last, my system's prophecy was fulfilled.

What's your story?

[RyanMurf]

In the middle of a clan match in cod2 when my Xbox crapped out. Wrapped it in a towel for ten minutes just so i could finish the match. Then the next day straight to Digital Press for a new xbox 360.

[Dreamcast]

Thats why you get a PS3. Plays blue ray without a stupid add-on at the side. and the graphics are better. and they are more reliable. and the graphics are better. and it has almost the same library as xbox360. and if my english teacher was grading this she would freak out. I am not trolling


F-


SEE ME AFTER CLASS

[Half Japanese]

I was having one of my monthly demo-tryout runs (where I'll sit down and actually try out the recent demos I've been downloading). The game happened to be the Sega Rally Revo demo, which froze and displayed the ring of death when I was trying to supplant its (crappy) music with something more fitting. I turned off the 360 and successfully rebooted and cranked up the demo again before the ring of death made its presence permanent.

[josekortez]

Burnout Revenge, I believe.

[RyanMurf]

Thats why you get a PS3. Plays blue ray without a stupid add-on at the side. and the graphics are better. and they are more reliable. and the graphics are better. and it has almost the same library as xbox360. and if my english teacher was grading this she would freak out. I am not trolling


F-


SEE ME AFTER CLASS
I have yet to see a game on ps3 that looks better than 360. plus i think xbox 360 graphics has more potential. Doesnt it have 512 to memory compared to 256 on ps3. And I really did laugh out loud when I heard the comment the ps3 has the same library as 360 that really did make me laugh. I might be wrong on the specs but im pretty sure xbox 360 graphics are better. I mean ps3's frame rate backs up my argument alone. P.S. at Digital Press I got my first ps3 that had a dusty lens just like the ps2's did in for a repair. So I hate to tell you but it looks like DRE have now jumped over to ps3 have fun!:evil:

[digitalpress]

IF THIS BECOMES A PS3 VS 360 THREAD I WILL LOCK IT

see if it don't.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

I have yet to see a game on ps3 that looks better than 360.
LOL
Yeah really...PS3 graphics look all blurry and shiny and stuff.

[jcalder8]

Is the RROD really an eventuality?

I got my system in August 2006 and I have been playing it for hundreds of hours and I have yet to get one. I actually hope I do at a certain point just so that I can get a replaced system before my 3 years is up, since I bought the warranty.

[ProgrammingAce]

Is the RROD really an eventuality?

I got my system in August 2006 and I have been playing it for hundreds of hours and I have yet to get one. I actually hope I do at a certain point just so that I can get a replaced system before my 3 years is up, since I bought the warranty.

The magical RROD fairy will visit about 60% of the consoles made before the one you bought. Aug 06 was about when they started getting things right, not perfect, but better.

[Mianrtcv]

I gave mine away. The last game I played on it was Tomb Raider. It is stillworking (fingers crossed for my bro in-law, he has it now).

I have yet to replace it because I'm not convinced MS has truly solved the issues. I still have games for it, also a friend got me Call Of Duty 4 & Assasin's creed for xmas (he forgot I gave mine away).
Aghhh. I have a ps3 why did he get me the 360 version???
Oh well, I will get a 360 eventually as I have gift certificates burning a hole in pocket.

[Sothy]

Dead Rising. Sold the game. doesnt come up anymore.

[DJ Daishi]

Thats why you get a PS3. Plays blue ray without a stupid add-on at the side. and the graphics are better. and they are more reliable. and the graphics are better. and it has almost the same library as xbox360. and if my english teacher was grading this she would freak out. I am not trolling

I own most of the games on the PS3....and i just gotta say the quality of 360 games currently coming out are far superior than any PS3 exclusives to date

[GrandAmChandler]

IF THIS BECOMES A PS3 VS 360 THREAD I WILL LOCK IT

see if it don't.

Lock it? Hell I will reach through the damn screen and make sure it doesn't if I have to.




Don't make me come over there....

[Slate]

I have two xbox 360s and have never seen the red ring of death on either one... Except for one time when the power went out and came on suddenly, But that only made the system "Confused". Restarting it fixed it.

[Oobgarm]

Dead Rising

[Videogamerdaryll]

I was actually Playing BIOSHOCK..putting a lot of hours into the game..maybe 3-4 a night..that and lots of hours of COD3 online..
............I took Bioshock out of my 360 and put in Halo 2..(but from what I remember the 360 had been off for the night cooled off ,..so somwhere after the previous nights play it RRODed..I always figured that the damage happens after the system is turned off and hot air is no longer being blown out of the system(cooks it like an oven)..this is one reason why I leave the fans that I have blowing on the systems on for awhile after turning the systems off..to cool the systems totally down..

I was downloading an update for Halo 2..My Son wanted to see if the game had online play..(It did have online play that they played after I got the 360 back though I can't get Halo 2 to go online anymore on either 360)

In the middle of the Halo 2 download update the system sorta glitched and I got three Red Lights.(uhh Ohhh..=Halo 2 killed my 360:deadhorse:

When the glitch happened I figured it was just LIve as I have soooo many issues with it..
I tried various things via checking a website to make sure it wasn't just a RROD from some other issue/bad conection HD,Power supply etc..as I had had the red lights come up once due to a bad connection from the power supply into the system.
It as Dead this time..Called MS,I had the codes already to tell them and they fixed it.
But impatient that I am I went and bought a refurb core 360 from EB online..Popped my HD i went online with COD3 I was set....
This 360 Is out of warranty from MS..it has a very early serial number from what I see on other 360s..I think it starts with a 1..my other 6..
..they say they'll fix it for $100.00 if it RRODs

The EB Core Refurb 360 like the second or third day in did RROD(OOHH NOOO!!)..but from looking at the Red lights/code details online it was a connection issue..I unplugged the cords plugged them back in and it was fixed..I cleaned the contacts on the Power supply and AV plug just to be sure they were making a good contact.
This system plays everything fine,except BIOSHOCK..Bioshock lags in the system..
I gave up playing Bioshock on it and waited fot my original premium 360 to come back from MS...
It came quicker then I thought..but it was a replacement with new serial number..the serial number was high in number and has a three year warranty for it.
It also had the faceplate that they told me to keep for the RROD I was sending in ..I guess somewhere there's a lot of broken 360s wth no faceplates.
This system works fine,Bioshock is pefect on i so I continued the game on it and finished it.
I was going to keep the other 360 as a back up but I wound up setting it up with a Live account for my Son..Though we constantly have issues with Live this worked out great..(I hate split screen and now we can play online games together)
I keep the 360s horizontally with turbo fans blowing air in underneath them..some of that air hits my PS3 too as man that sucker gets hot too..


We've put lots of hours on both 360s so far and knock on wood they are ok..

If either 360 RRODs then I gotta get them fixed....But I'll probably wind up buying a new one just for my own Sanity../I'm just not sure which one I need to buy to be void of the RROD issues.(?)

[heybtbm]

1st time: Prey in August 2006. Checkerboard pattern, buzzing, the whole works.
2nd time: Godfather in August 2007. Same thing as above.

I'm predicting my Elite will fry sometime around August of this year.

[Mr. Smashy]

My system got the RRoD while playing the demo for Guitar Hero 3. Sony made some good money off of me that month.

[PapaStu]

Call Of Duty 4. Not a RRoD death, but drive gouging disc#4 to death. The next morning the drive was completely dead.

[rurouni318]

My first 360 got the RROD when I tried to download the Halo 3 beta from Crackdown. Thankfully I was able get it exchanged since I had a warranty with a Game Crazy.

My second 360 JUST got the RROD yesterday. I was trying to download the DMC4 demo and went to look at my friends list when it froze at the friends list, I have had problems with it having some slowdown during these screens so I wait for a good 5 mins to no avail. So I reset the system only to be greeted by a black screen and the RROD taunting me. I'm waiting for the coffin to come in the mail so I can send my system out.

Oh DMC4 how you taunt me....

[mailman187666]

Oblivion, I got the checkered screen and the static sound while playing. I didn't get RRoD until I attempted to pop in Enchanted Arms when it first came out then bang.

[vgc]

Guitar Hero III. Then I tried it again and got a frozen screen, popped in GH2 and got another frozen screen. Glad I got the 2 year warranty for 49.95. Last time I sent it in for disc tray problems it was back in 3 weeks and I got a free month of live. They say it should be like 3 weeks again, not bad. Playing Burnout Paradise and Downloading the New Devil May Cry 4 Demo now on my store system. Mike : )

[s1lence]

I never had the RROD but my first 360 wouldn't read any discs what so ever.

[hades]

I was playing Viva Pinata when I got my RROD. I lied to Microsoft and told them I was playing Gears of War :(

[diskoboy]

I have yet to see a game on ps3 that looks better than 360.

Actually, this is true.

I downloaded DMC4 and The Club demos on both the 360 and PS3.

The 360 versions look better. The PS3 versions won't run above 720p, and looks pretty jaggy, as a result. The 360 version upscales better, and doesn't have that grainy, hazy look.

And to answer the op - when my 360 crapped out, I had just powered up my console. It froze up on the blades, then red-ringed.

[icbrkr]

First time, I was about to beat mission 16 on Worms.. loading up the last bazooka shot and *freeze*

After I got the replacement, the second one is the one I'm working with now - drive no longer reads. I was in the middle of Rock Band on that one. Trying to escalate this through my M$ rep at work since they won't fix it.

[Sothy]

I was playing Viva Pinata when I got my RROD. I lied to Microsoft and told them I was playing Gears of War :(

Ahaha I bet the guy looked at your game history and was trying not to laugh on the phone.

[downfall]

Yeah, mine just happened yesterday. Rock Band - checking the leaderboards, then "BRAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" - the single loudest buzzing sound I've ever heard in my life. Reboot, and nothing - right into the RROD.

Amazing!

[Lothars]

I wasn't actually playing anything, the night before I had played Halo 3 but than turned it off for the night came back the next day and turned on the 360, As soon as I did, it just instantly gave the rrod.

[Nesmaster]

Yeah, mine just happened yesterday. Rock Band - checking the leaderboards, then "BRAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" - the single loudest buzzing sound I've ever heard in my life. Reboot, and nothing - right into the RROD.

Amazing!

Geez, the way you make it sound, it's like it could give someone a heart attack. Let's hope this RRoD situation doesn't actually turn into a "Red Ring of Death"!

[Vinnysdad]

I was playing Full Auto when my 360 crapped out on me. Made it halfway through a race when it froze and when I tried to restart it I got the RROD. I just got a 360 back from repairs yesterday and its working fine so far but now MS Customer Support is giving me the runaround when I called about my Arcade games not working. I hate MS Customer Support.

[dave2236]

I was playing Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires when my system died and RRoD'd. That was about a year ago.

[DJ Daishi]

the gears of war update did it for me....

[otaku]

I was playing call of duty 3 online (that game was always freezing up and causing problems so I wasnt real surprised when it died)

[ECWSandmanECW]

My first 360 had the red rings right out of the box. My second (current) one has been working fine.

[downfall]

Geez, the way you make it sound, it's like it could give someone a heart attack. Let's hope this RRoD situation doesn't actually turn into a "Red Ring of Death"!

It was crazy loud - not like jet airplane loud or anything, but the worst part is that was out of nowhere. Far louder than the volume setting on my TV at the time.

It made the exact same buzzing sound again the other times I tried to boot it up, but it wasn't even remotely close in volume level. Don't really get it.

[Poorfamily]

Which time? RRoD on Bioshock, Rock Band, Forza 2, start-up and even while signing up for Live (prophecy perhaps?). And this console was only 2 weeks old! Still waiting to get it back.

[AZ Legend]

I was just starting to get into Assasin's Creed and boom, lights of doom. Should be getting mine back sometime this week though.

[Niku-Sama]

the first i was playing the HDTV setting page, man it was some awsome fun then. POOF!
was on only a total of 5 minutes
i not only got red rings of death but i got hissing and smoke too!
i returned it to the place i bought it from and got an instore credit that helped bulid a new computer

[CreamSoda]

First system- I got it in December of 2005, played the system nonstop. Everything worked great until the June 2007. Me and my gf had just finished watching a family guy dvd, I decided to put in Gears of War... BAM RRoD.

Second system- I got it in July of 2007, and the system lasted me two weeks(you read it right!). I was playing Crackdown at the time of the incident...

I still have the second console laying around here somewhere, I ended up selling all my 360 games after it died. What a PoS this thing is!!!! :( :( :(

[gepeto]

Mines was the last of about eight friends who bought launch units to go bad. I totally tried to blow off the rrd story in my mind. I was like mines been working fine. I don't know what you guys are talking about.

I had just turned it on. The lights came up I crapped my pants. I cut it off went to the bathroom came back and was scared to turn it on . I hit the power button and same thing. I repeated the on and off sequence 5 times then called microsoft.

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy. Then I took my Intercooler off and the red ring disappeared.

[vgc]

Holy Smokes. I just got my XBOX 360 Back. Must have been a total of 10 days from when I first called to when I received it back. Yahooo for Microsoft. New AC, I month Live Gold and Possibly a different system Included. Theres a protective thin clear plastic cover over the IR on the system that I am sure wasnt there before. Mike : )

[FAMOUS]

Not mine but my room mates died while playing cod4 WAR ROOM..It was funny he could still sign into live and play with the blades but once a game went in it would freeze all with the rrod there, kinda odd..

[josekortez]

Arrgh, I was playing the Arcade Compilation and mine just shut itself down earlier. I'm playing Uno of all things when it just turned off. No red ring of death, though. When I checked the power brick, the connection wasn't tight, so it turned back on just fine. It was scary, though, kind of like when a girlfriend says she might be pregnant. Yeah, it was that scary...

[zektor]

Well, initially, I never even got to play a game...RROD right out of the stinkin' box. Funny, I attributed it to my poor luck that day...

After getting a "good one", I played for a few months and it happened again during Ridge Racer 6. I had it replaced and sold it...never to make a re-attempt.

I wonder how many WORKING 360's will be around a decade from now...

[zdan80]

I have my original 360 from long time ago...

I got a RROD playing Rock Band just a few weeks ago, fuzziness, restart, RROD again...I was able to reseat the AV cable and it works fine now though :P

Scariest moment in gaming for me had to be when I heard a ginormous POP come from my TV when I turned it on (46" DLP HD) happened about 6 months after we got it....luckily it was just the lamp dying that was still under warranty, but man that's a scary noise to hear coming out of a new expensive TV :P

[briskbc]

None of my 360s ever crapped out while playing a game. They were all DOA or ringed while powering on to start a game.

[campbell828793]

lol mine crapped out when I was about to watch Labyrinth with a friend(yes, the movie with David Bowie in it, and yes, i was also not the only one). It did it on the main menu, reset it, red-ring, never happened once it got shipped.

[spoon]

My launch 360 died a few months before the Elite came out. I had just finished up winning the super bowl in Madden 07. This was before the free fix was issued. M$ wanted me to spend 150 to send it in to get fixed. Glad I didn't have the money and decided to wait. I sold the fixed 360 to my brother for 200.00.

Picked up an Elite when it came out. Still works.............for now.

[GrandAmChandler]

Take your pick.

Bioshock
Rock Band
Halo 3
Time Pilot

I think the first time was Halo 3, but it seems totally random.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I'm on my 5th 360 ... and amazingly NONE of them have had the RROD!!

I think I've experienced every OTHER type of hardware failure that the system can have ...

the first three units I went through were launch premium bundles, which all were returned to the Best Buy on the day that I purchased them due to the audio cables producing AWFUL buzzing noises through my TV setup during gameplay.

On the third return I decided to go with the "basic" bundle (the launch unit with no HDD) ... which was fine, and didn't produce the buzzing problem that the others did ... but about a year later that unit's DVD TRAY MOTOR died ... and it would no longer eject the discs!!

I 1:1 swapped that unit out at a GameStop for a used unit ... and that one has been working fine ... until recently it began to give me those awful sounding "screeching" noises on boot up and spin-down (exiting to the dashboard) from the DVD ... but thanks to RyanMurf, I discovered that that is caused by a dusty DVD spindle.

I found a good walk-through, cracked open my 360, and found that (likely the previous owner) had let this thing get pretty filthy inside .... I cleaned the spindle thoroughly with rubbing alcohol and foam swabs, and dried it all off, and it's been running like a charm ever since - no screeching, no buzzing.

Knock wood. :frustrated:

[DJ Daishi]

did I ever mentioned that it happened to me again...about three days ago:grrr:

[COUNT SMRIFNACK]

Rainbow Six Vegas was playing, two days before Vegas 2 was released. Still waiting:sob:

[RPG_Fanatic]

Bioshock

[Howie6925]

I think I was playing dead rising and gears of war the 2 times it happened to my system. I dont think it was really from the games as it was the nyko intercooler that caused the problem, after I removed it it never happened after that.

[NinjaJoey23]

I was just booting up to stream media. No disc.