What's your impression of the failure rate of the NES?

[shopkins]

Do you think the NES has a higher rate of failure than, say the Xbox 360? I've seen that claim made on other message boards but the main problem I've run across is that they get dirty. I've never even had to replace a connector in one myself, a good cleaning always fixed it.

[SuperGamecube64]

Well, it's a cartridghe based system, and msot of them do go evertually. the NES' problem is that the 72 pin connector wares out, but it is a cheap, simple fix. It probably has a higher failure rate than 360s, due to it's age.

[RASK1904]

Only time will tell. 20 yaers from now how many 360's do you think will be working. They can't even get them to work now. Your comparing a 20 year old system to a new system. This can't be good for the new system. The 20 year old systems not suposed to work. The new system..... well.

[Eduardo]

Isn't the Xbox failure rate like 80%? there's still Nintendos (Nintendoes?) around, were there will X-Boxes 25 years from now?

[Arkhan]

It's not even a seriously problem, the NES one.

Simple, cheap fix. The front loader didn't start failing right away. It took what like, 5+ years for them to really start having problems like that, depending on wear/tear/user of system.

You can still find pristine, 100% working ones today if the person who owns it is one of those people that don't slam the carts in real hard.

I don't think the 360 will have that kind of luck. I really dont.

and, the japanese FC didn't have that kind of stuff going on anyways, did it?

[BetaWolf47]

Isn't the Xbox failure rate like 80%? there's still Nintendos (Nintendoes?) around, were there will X-Boxes 25 years from now?

I really, really doubt it's 80%. It's still a significant figure though.

[buzz_n64]

The only systems I've had problems with that I bought in working condition are-

NES- Bought in the late 80s. Still partially works, but too frustrating to deal with. I use my famiclone with an adapter to play my NES games.

Xbox- Lasted from summer 2002 - early 2007. Was my favorite last gen system. :(

360- Bought Fall 2008, still works perfectly. The two HD-DVD drives I bought for it on the other hand have ceased to play HD-DVD movies anymore, only regular DVDs.

[skaar]

I think if they don't fix this problem with the NES now, their sales will be drastically affected!

Nobody will be able to play their games in the future and everyone will look back on it as a failure!

[tomaitheous]

I think if they don't fix this problem with the NES now, their sales will be drastically affected!

Nobody will be able to play their games in the future and everyone will look back on it as a failure!

Hahahahaha :)

[Icarus Moonsight]

I think people have a higher rate of failure honestly.

[somesortofrobot]

Do you think the NES has a higher rate of failure than, say the Xbox 360?

I don't recall the NES eating your cart when you moved it.

That or screwing up due to a badly designed motherboard.

[k8track]

What's your impression of the failure rate of the NES?
I'm against it.

[Eduardo]

I really, really doubt it's 80%. It's still a significant figure though.

54.2% last year, right now might be more.

http://consumerist.com/2009/08/xbox-360-failure-rate-is-542-percent-game-informer-finds.html

80% is just my go to number when i try to BS someone. :fist:

[jonebone]

54.2% last year, right now might be more.

http://consumerist.com/2009/08/xbox-360-failure-rate-is-542-percent-game-informer-finds.html

80% is just my go to number when i try to BS someone. :fist:

But if you read the article, you did see the point where the 360s are also used the most out of the 3 consoles.

Yeah they break alot, but if you are using them 24/7 then what do you expect. If you drive your car to work everyday, yeah it may need a new clutch or transmission eventually. If it sits in a garage everyday, then it is never going to break.

For the record, I do agree the Xbox 360 has a horrible failure rate, but no worse than original PS2s or PSPs. The PSPs had dead pixel issues immediately and the fat PS2s were known for their "failure to read disc" errors.

[chrisbid]

there is a bit of a difference... a red ringed 360 simply will not boot. a red light of blink nes will boot a game, but can be extremely fickle. the results are the same, but the workarounds/repairs are much simpler on an NES. i dont know if there will be do-it-yourself kits for the 360 in 20 years, and even if there will be any demand for such a product. its hard to say.

[RASK1904]

The only systems I've had problems with that I bought in working condition are-

NES- Bought in the late 80s. Still partially works, but too frustrating to deal with. I use my famiclone with an adapter to play my NES games.

Xbox- Lasted from summer 2002 - early 2007. Was my favorite last gen system. :(

360- Bought Fall 2008, still works perfectly. The two HD-DVD drives I bought for it on the other hand have ceased to play HD-DVD movies anymore, only regular DVDs.

What about Dreamcast. Google Dreamcast problems. Theres like 80 different things that could be wrong with them.

[HappehLemons]

But if you read the article, you did see the point where the 360s are also used the most out of the 3 consoles.

Yeah they break alot, but if you are using them 24/7 then what do you expect. If you drive your car to work everyday, yeah it may need a new clutch or transmission eventually. If it sits in a garage everyday, then it is never going to break.

For the record, I do agree the Xbox 360 has a horrible failure rate, but no worse than original PS2s or PSPs. The PSPs had dead pixel issues immediately and the fat PS2s were known for their "failure to read disc" errors.

I've been thru 4 360s since launch and 3 ps2s since launch. I'm pretty sure the fail rate of Xboxs are higher.

Also I have owned about 3 or 4 psp (3 phats and 1 slim) and never had any problems other then a dead pixel or 2.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I broke 3 different NES decks as a kid trying to get them to read the cartridges (bad connectors) and I've had 2 Xbox 360s red-ring, so it's about the same for me. I'm a lot more careful about DVDs than cartridges, though :)

And yes, the trick where you push the cartridge to the side to get it to read the contacts better does break the actual deck.

[Sabz5150]

Yeah they break alot, but if you are using them 24/7 then what do you expect.

I expect them to work.

[ConsoleAddict]

How reliable are those top-loading NES consoles? I'd want to buy one of those someday. If it's as reliable as the "indestructible" SNES, then I have nothing to fear.

Xbox 360s break because people just shove them in a tight shelf on their entertainment center and think nothing of it. A 360 will last much longer if you give it air to breath in the open. The innards won't melt as quickly. Of course, little kids don't think having your consoles out in the open is cool.

[Ponyponypony]

Like many others have said, the NES's issues are primarily with dirt and corrosion. When we brought Amy's NES home, it wouldn't load games. We ended up taking it apart completely and giving the 72 pin connector a thorough cleaning, we clipped the error-checking pin, and went through each game and cleaned them. It works fine now. I bent the 72 pin connector's contacts out so that they'd make contact again, and now we don't even have to push the cartridge down into the system for the games to work. It's actually pretty sweet. That fix took maybe 2-3 hours and $10 in supplies.

My xbox red-ringed, and I replaced the x-clamps on it. That took maybe 8 hours to get everything just right, as well as about $30 in supplies.

She had her NES for about 16 years. I had my 360 for about 16 months. I don't see the issue with the NES failure rate. To find a truly dead system, it would have to be struck by lightning or something similar.

[Blur2040]

blankblankblankblankblankblankblankblankblankblank

[SpaceHarrier]

Both my NES systems still work perfectly fine with the games I've had since I was a kid. Every single game I've bought since then, well that's another story.. not a one of them will boot up without multiple attempts.

Otherwise, I thought RASK1904 answered the question pretty well:


Only time will tell. 20 yaers from now how many 360's do you think will be working. They can't even get them to work now. Your comparing a 20 year old system to a new system. This can't be good for the new system.

[somesortofrobot]

It's interesting that the NES still has repro parts made after 25 years.

Do you think the 360 will have that kind of support? I think after the next system comes out, everyone will move on and the 360 won't be bothered with.

[CapnCrunch53]

I think its a bit different, and the Xbox 360 is by far the worse. I mean, with the NES in my experience its pretty rare for a unit to actually *die*. Usually its just the connector, which needs to be cleaned or replaced. It's something that doesn't work as well as it used to, but it never really "failed". Also, this is a big problem now, but its 20 years old. I wasn't around when it was new but I doubt it was as bad as it is now on abused systems. Regardless, it can be easily fixed.

The 360, its pretty much a complete hardware failure most of the time. Its dead, pure and simple. Not something that's sorta unreliable, when its dead its dead. And its been a huge problem since its release. I'd say its definitely the worse offender.

[Robocop2]

I'm honestly surprised the 360 would come up in any hardware failure comparison other than maybe the Jaguar CD. I'd think that other than that it would be far and away the loser.

[The Manimal]

I wasn't even aware there was a significant failure rate of the NES.

The only problem I've ever seen is corroded pin connectors, and those can be replaced easily.

Unless people have caps, transisters, and processing chips dying on them. Dunno.

[BetaWolf47]

Thing about NES is that it wasn't a faulty circuit. It was just a set of copper pins that were prone to being bent out of shape. The system doesn't overheat, fry, or die, physically. It's just a connector that needs to be cleaned.