Death of a 360

[Hannibal]

So my 360 died while playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

Good thing I bought the warranty.

I'd move on to PS3 but they don't have Mass Effect.

 

Does anyone know if the Elite has the same problems as the regular 360?

[Prime]

I don't have one yet, but I'm still going to get one.

 

Sorry to hear about your issues...

[Master Zionosis]

I'm still going to get one, in about a week and a half actually, hehe.

 

Sorry to hear about yours.

[Balderdash]

What's the elite? Is that just the version with the 11GB hard drive (which I have), or is that something else?

 

Mine gets pretty hot and makes a lot of noise but I've not had any serious problems with it thus far. Although, I can't get it to connect with the internet to get Live, which is annoying. I think I'm probably doing something wrong though.

[Lynk Former]

The Elite is a version of the Xbox360 that is black, has a 120GB hard drive and a HDMI port.

 

 

And about your troubles Hannibal, I'm not surprised, hopefully your next one won't turn out to be another faulty one. I haven't heard of any elites dying yet though.

[Jeff]

Yeah I hear a lot of stories about people being on 3+ consoles when it comes to the 360... Sorry to hear about your troubles. I also plan to own one in the future.

[Sabretooth]

So my 360 died while playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

 

Yeah, well be happy you didn't get a hundred a blue screens slapping your face like my dad's recently deceased Windows ME. Microsoft isn't so bad after all.

[PazaakPrincess]

I am so glad I've been waiting to buy this after reading about how many people this has happened to. At last MS is offering to fix or replace them even outside warranty

[Hannibal]

At last MS is offering to fix or replace them even outside warranty

 

Only thing about that is that MS has been sending back someone else's fixed 360. You send yours in then the send you back one that has been fixed already. Which is why I think they have been dieing multiple times.

 

I waited a year to buy mine and it lasted 8 months. I bought a Best Buy warranty with it and get back store credit so I can get a totally new one. Which I prefer than a fixed one that might have been in someone else's living room.

[Master Zionosis]

Yeah, I just read about the warranty thing on game.co.uk, this is good news, just in case something happens to my new one.

 

EDIT:

 

Only thing about that is that MS has been sending back someone else's fixed 360. You send yours in then the send you back one that has been fixed already. Which is why I think they have been dieing multiple times.

 

I waited a year to buy mine and it lasted 8 months. I bought a Best Buy warranty with it and get back store credit so I can get a totally new one. Which I prefer than a fixed one that might have been in someone else's living room.

 

Ohh dear, that has slightly annoyed me, well now i have to get a best buy warranty, grrrr.

[The Source]

After seeing the report of machine failures, I am glad that I have waited to buy the 360. I will probally invest some cash into the console in about a year or two. There is plenty of time to watch how things progress. I am too worried about buying a console that breaks down easy.

[mimartin]

I haven’t had any problem with mine, but with my luck it will break down the day after Mass Effect is released.

[Hannibal]

The 360 would have had an incredible year (and still will) if not for all the break downs. The games they have coming out at the end of the year are amazing.

All the former Sony exclusives that we won't have to wait a year(GTA4, Assasin's Creed) for are great plus all the 360 only games(Bioshock, Masseffect, Splinter Cell Conviction(also on PC))

[Boba Rhett]

Great googly moogly, there's 360s blowing out everywhere I turn.

 

There's a new 65nm process 360 coming out this fall. This means the redesign must generate much less heat and we will see a dramatic drop in the amount of 360 blowouts. So this fall is the time to strike as far as 360 buying goes.

 

Sorry for your loss, Hannibal! Don't get a PS3 though. Wait for the new 360s.

[swphreak]

My 360 Red Ringed on me not too long ago, and I made a log of it, which you can read below.

 

If your 360 Red Ringed, you should be able to get it fixed for free. Any console sold now has a 3 year warranty (which only applies to Red Ring failures), and it's retroactive. Which means I'm getting my $140 back and a 3 year warranty. According to Microsoft, it's going to cost them a crap load of money to do this (+$1 billion).

 

There's also stuff going around that Microsoft is putting in heatsinks and doing other stuff to repaired consoles. So odds are your brand new one will break down eventually.

 

Personally, I'm going to mooch off this 3 year warranty deal. By then, the "Falcon 360" will probably be on shelves and I'll pick that up. Screw the Elite.

 

 

 

360 Death Log

 

Zero Hour [5/02/2007]:

It's approximately 9:50 PM, the computer was boring me, so I decided to pop in Saint's Row and listen to some podcasts. The Dashboard loaded just fine, placed the disc in, the game loaded, I signed in, and loaded my saved game. I stepped away for a few minutes to take care of some other business, and come back to see the game frozen. At first I thought nothing of it. Saint's Row freezes on me now and again. I restarted the console, but there was an unusual delay for the system to load...

 

BAM! Red Ring of Death.

 

I tried a few of the things mentioned at various sites to self troubleshoot. Unplug and replug everything, take out the harddrive, power brick's light is still green. Nothing worked, but I did get a nice screen with an error code (E 79) and text in 50 different languaged telling me to contact support.

 

Unfortunately, I ran out of time. A house guest was spending the night, so I had to go downstairs and wait til tomorrow.

 

Day One [5/03/2007]:

Sometime around 10:10 AM, I call the 4MY-XBOX number. After my second try with that retarded robot, I'm waiting for an "Agent" to speak with me. I've been dreading this all night. My Agent is probably going to be some Indian woman with a horrible accent on a bad phone connection breaking up. I'm sure it's all part of some evil conspiracy to prevent people from calling customer support.

 

Finally the phone rings, and some guy answers it. I don't know where he's from and don't care, I could actually understand him (though the connection was still breaking up). I explain to him my situation, tried the various steps, ect. He says I'll need to send it in, and I ask him how much it's going to cost me. I read off the serial number and he says $139.99. I suppose that's cheaper than buying a new core system. Now to wait for UPS to deliver the prepaid box.

 

Day Seven [5/09/2007]:

Grabbed the prepaid package off the porch at 4:37 PM. Packed the 360, and going to stop by the UPS store tomorrow.

 

Day Eight [5/10/2007]:

Dropped off 360 at local UPS Store.

 

Day Nine [5/11/2007]:

According to UPS tracking, the 360 is out for delivery.

 

Day Eleven [5/13/2007]:

I checked my email and received two emails from Microsoft telling me they got my 360, and they've sent something back. I don't know if they've sent me a "good as new" refurbished console, or actually fixed mine. I'll find out when I check the serial number.

 

Day Fifteen [5/17/2007]:

I was getting really impatient waiting for UPS to deliver the fixed 360, but it finally came. It turns out they sent me a replacement 360 with a manufacture date of 3/22/2006, and a free month of Live. It powers up fine, but there's the whole problem of all of my Xbox Live Arcade titles are stuck in trial mode unless I log into Live. I've read Microsoft will give you points to rebuy the stuff, but after two tries, I can't get connected to an Agent. It's well before 1 AM, so I'm thinking they're probably getting swamped by the Halo ****tards.

 

 

Final Thoughts:

The customer service call wasn't that bad. I'd be happier if the conversation wouldn't break up every ten seconds.

 

It's nice they're adding a year warranty to my replaced 360.

 

When trying to contact support about my Arcade titles, couldn't get connected to an agent (twice).

 

I really wish my 360 would have survived til the new 360s with better hardware come out.

 

Update:

I called support a few weeks ago about my Arcade games, and the guy told me to download them again via Download History. Worked like a charm.

 

Timeline of Events:

Ring of Death: 5/02/2007

Recieved Prepaid: 5/09/2007

Mailed Console: 5/10/2007

Arrived at Repair Center: 5/11/2007

Left Repair Center: 5/14/2007

Recieved Console: 5/17/2007

 

MFR Date: 1/25/2006

Replacement MFR Date: 3/22/2006

 

[Aash Li]

I had a smart-ass comment about weasles and the code name until I remembered that the crack refers to weasles not getting sucked into jet engines. lol

 

Anyway... I kinda want to get a 360 to play mass effect, but since thats the only game Ive found I want to play, and that the PS has more games (not to mention Japanese ones) that Id like to play, Ill likely get one of those.

[Negative Sun]

My consoles never died on me, so far *touches wood*...Then again I stay away from the ones Microsoft makes.

[King Dando]

I still plan to get a 360 at some point (and a Wii ), although I'm glad I waited, what with the numerous breakdowns I've heard about. I think my friend's 360 has red-ringed on him, twice.

 

That being said, the only problem I've ever had with any of my consoles, was my Gamecube, although its not actually broken, the lens just needs cleaning, and I'm lazy.

[Aash Li]

Whats red-ringed? O.o

[stingerhs]

well, at least the fix is free. its one of the few times that i've seen Microsoft really step up. admitting that they had a problem was likely hard enough. making it so that they paid for it is a huge step in making me like Microsoft's game division.

 

the biggest point is that they're still making a much better reputation for themselves than Sony and the P$3. even with the price cut, the P$3 still isn't on par with the 360, IMHO. not to mention that i have yet to see Sony make amends for their arrogance they displayed to the world before the P$3 launch.[/rant]

 

anyways, good luck with the fix. i can't imagine that it would be a very difficult problem.

[Lynk Former]

Whats red-ringed? O.o

Think blue screen of death, except worse cause it usually means your 360 has died for whatever reason and you need to get a new one.

[Reclaimer]

I have the very first 360 that I bought on day one, and the Elite.

 

I've had no problems with either.

 

Maybe it's your game? Or maybe I got an awesome 360.

[stingerhs]

Think blue screen of death, except worse cause it usually means your 360 has died for whatever reason and you need to get a new one.

well, not exactly. i have a friend that has had his 360 red-ringed several times, but after turning it off and back on again, it usually starts right up with no problems. he actually won his 360 through that "Every 10 minutes" giveaway through Mountain Dew; so, his 360 is definitely one of the first 360's made available to the public.

 

but, yeah, some people aren't that lucky. with some people, a red ring (the lights on the outside of the power button that are usually green) means that their particular 360 will never live again.

[Lynk Former]

Again, I didn't say anything about absolutes with what I said, just that in many peoples experiences, it's never a good thing. My brothers 360 died 2 weeks after he got it, not to mention my Xbox crazed friend who threatened to kill me if I said "I told you so" to him XD lol

[Cygnus Q'ol]

I've had it lock up a couple of times, but nothing serious.

 

The only real problem I have with the 360 is that there's not enough time to play with it.

 

 

 

 

That'll all change this November.