• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

"My Xbox 360 Died and I Lived to tell the story" Official Thread

R

-Rogue5-

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
my disc drive has been acting funny. Sometimes it just won't open. I press the button to open it'll make noise like its trying but then just lock up? Anybody else have this?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I get that... I just re-push the eject button twice (once to "close" it and again to re-open it up).

I think it's unforgivable that MS charges ($130) for system replacements after 90 days of normal use. Fact of the matter is the system should have no problems for at least a year of heavy use... The machine is $499CAD and they have the gull to try and get me to pay them MORE money to replace their defective product? And they try and claim it's only 3-5% failure rate? Out of six of my friends who bought a 360, four (FOUR) of them have had failures (one of which has replaced his TWICE). Normally I'd be skeptical, but I saw every one of those systems fail first hand. That's complete BS.

Now I have to go get Dead Rising to make sure my system doesn't get FUBAR...horsesh*t.
 
R

rs7k

Member
dakiparu said:
IMO failure percentage of X360 manufactured between launch and feb 2k6 is far over 50%...
Luckily enough MS repair service is fast...at least here in europe!
Click to expand...

So my system was manufactured in Feb., so it's okay? Where did you hear this?

Ugh...im really getting rather scared now, i got a launch system still working fine, but i dont have my warranty sign, i dont even have the box anymore, just the system...Should i get this warranty or whatever?
Click to expand...

I'd sell it, considering I see so many reports of launch units failing online. Sell it (make sure you state you won't take returns), forget about it and buy another one. Or cross your fingers and wait for the PS3.

my disc drive has been acting funny. Sometimes it just won't open. I press the button to open it'll make noise like its trying but then just lock up? Anybody else have this?
Click to expand...

Funny, my Xbox had the exact same problem. Some 360's use the exact same drive as some Xboxes IIRC. As for mine, I blew a can of compressed air in it with the tray open and everything became fine.

I'm almost curious to get Dead Rising to see if my 360 will get affected.
 
V

Vark

Member
Mojovonio said:
So... 3-5% seems like bullshit when it happens to you, huh?

What sucks, is that even if I send it in to repair, i'm just going to get a shitty refurbished one in place :(.
Click to expand...


I'm kinda pissed but you know 'buyer beware'. Especially as these things rise in complexity and coners get cut to absorb the money manufactures lose on them.

If the PS3 launch hardware doesn't have a lot of problems, I will be seriously surprised.
 
N

newsguy

Member
Vark said:
If the PS3 launch hardware doesn't have a lot of problems, I will be seriously surprised.
Click to expand...

That's what makes the $600 price tag just the beginning. If I end up getting a PS3, I'm buying the warranty without hesitation. The more complex these machines get the more we are going to see tons of these things go down.
 
V

Vark

Member
A chump I be. Since i bought my original 360 directly from MS at launch I just went to best buy and bought another one with a 2 year plan. I'll get the other one fixed later and just take it into the office or something.
 
M

Mojovonio

Banned
Vark said:
A chump I be. Since i bought my original 360 directly from MS at launch I just went to best buy and bought another one with a 2 year plan. I'll get the other one fixed later and just take it into the office or something.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm getting it repaired.
 
fse

fse

Member
My launch one died a month a ago and got the replacement one this week.
It died too, shit. now I waiting for the coffin. I am really thinking of doing something if it fails again.
 
M

Mojovonio

Banned
f_elz said:
My launch one died a month a ago and got the replacement one this week.
It died too, shit. now I waiting for the coffin. I am really thinking of doing something if it fails again.
Click to expand...

What can you do?
 
M

madmook

Member
So it seems my 360 has decided to work again! Yesterday evening my 360 froze while trying to load the Just Cause demo. Subsequent attempts to play any game would result in the "checkerboard" screen system freeze. Well today I unplugged everything and was getting ready to put the thing away but I decided to give it another go and re-plugged everything back in... and lo and behold everything works fine again! The Just Cause demo works and I tested some other demos and GRAW all work without issues.

I had read some posts in this thread that said the checkerboard syndrome was a result of some part of the GPU being fried, but I guess that didn't happen to mine... it appears that unplugging the power brick all the way seemed to "reset" the console. Whatever the reason, I'm just happy my 360 lives to see another day.

*rips up "My Xbox 360 died and I Lived to tell the story" certificate* Hope I don't have to come back into this thread ever again w0000000000000000000000000t
 
S

suaveric

Member
These threads scare the shit out of me. Although I did buy the system at Costco for that very reason. Has anyone returned their broken system to Costco? I'm hoping that when my time comes they let me swap hard drives with the new one so I can take my saves with me.
 
R

ryutaro's mama

Member
Got my 360 back today but it wasn't my 360 ( at least not the one that I sent them originally).

Anyone else get back a different 360 than the one you sent out?
 
W

Warm Machine

Member
I'm on number 2 now. My first got taken out just over 2 months ago and my new machine is dated mid february. It does seem to run cooler and quieter.

The failure rate is pretty bad. I've had it go down with a checkerboard screen on Far Cry, and Oblivion. It simply must be a heating issue.

I love the machine and the Live service but it pains me that this is happening. I do however think in about a years time none of the 360s manufactured will have these sorts of problems.
 
S

Spencerr

Banned
f_elz said:
My launch one died a month a ago and got the replacement one this week.
It died too, shit. now I waiting for the coffin. I am really thinking of doing something if it fails again.
Click to expand...

I'm in a similar situation.

I bought a 360. Happy times! Uh oh, FIRST DAY it wouldn't read games as games, only as dvd's. Weak sauce right? So I return it the next day at the store I bought it from. In about month (July) I get some stupid error. Have to send it in. This takes about a month. Get my 360 back. (Well not my 360. Some crappy refurb.) YES FINALLY I'VE BEEN WAITING TO PLAY DEAD RISING! I had to work a lot and then when I finally get to playing it 4 days later. Uh oh, 3 rings of death. Error Code 1020. (When you hold that little white button and hit the eject button) Sent the coffin off yesterday.

It better work this time when it gets back.
 
D

dakiparu

Member
rs7k said:
So my system was manufactured in Feb., so it's okay? Where did you hear this?
Click to expand...

When I called MS for the replacement they told me they were experiencing lots of failures for consoles manufactured up to march 2006. So they were sendind models manufactured april-may 2k6. I thought it was true since all my friends who got their x360s replaced in june-july had may 2k6 models and their replacement was a brand new machine. So you can really understand my disappointment when, opening the return box, I saw my replacement was a very old and above all dirty machine. Luckily it was broken so MS had to replace it again.
 
S

Sjoerd

Member
Mine just died yesterday. Well, it's not fully dead yet since I can still play for about 5 minutes before it locks up. Had mine since launch and thought it would last forever. It was relatively quiet and didn't run hot at all.

Going to call Microsoft on monday and I'm hoping that I'm not going to get a poorly refurbished one that will die again eventually.
 
G

Gek54

Junior Member
dakiparu said:
When I called MS for the replacement they told me they were experiencing lots of failures for consoles manufactured up to march 2006. So they were sendind models manufactured april-may 2k6. I thought it was true since all my friends who got their x360s replaced in june-july had may 2k6 models and their replacement was a brand new machine. So you can really understand my disappointment when, opening the return box, I saw my replacement was a very old and above all dirty machine. Luckily it was broken so MS had to replace it again.
Click to expand...

Anyone else have problems with 360s newer than May 2006? (Mine is a May2006 I got about a month ago, still alive and kicking, knock on gates' head)
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
And *BAM*!

Seven months of flawless service except for the known PGR3 guide blade freeze bug, and my 360 just crapped out with the 1-3-4 red ring of general hardware fault.

It wasn't even hot; I had just had a nice run of Dead Rising yesterday, not a single problem, and booted her for some early morning fiddling, and it was dead.

Due to an annoying set of circumstances, I don't have an extended warranty because the individual who was shipping the system to me lost the reciept. Congratulations on your 90 warranty for expensive and fragile hardware Microsoft! Have a bag of kittens to throw off a bridge next!

I'm thinking here that I'm not going to play the $130 runnaround with tech support and trying to finagle a discount; too many bad stories of getting sent back a beat-up refurb system. I'm probably just going to head to Best Buy, get a Core and put my HDD in it and buy a Best Buy extended warranty.

Hey look, a stack of PS2 games I never finished...
 
R

Raiden

Banned
Kaijima said:
And *BAM*!

Seven months of flawless service except for the known PGR3 guide blade freeze bug, and my 360 just crapped out with the 1-3-4 red ring of general hardware fault.

It wasn't even hot; I had just had a nice run of Dead Rising yesterday, not a single problem, and booted her for some early morning fiddling, and it was dead.

Due to an annoying set of circumstances, I don't have an extended warranty because the individual who was shipping the system to me lost the reciept. Congratulations on your 90 warranty for expensive and fragile hardware Microsoft! Have a bag of kittens to throw off a bridge next!

I'm thinking here that I'm not going to play the $130 runnaround with tech support and trying to finagle a discount; too many bad stories of getting sent back a beat-up refurb system. I'm probably just going to head to Best Buy, get a Core and put my HDD in it and buy a Best Buy extended warranty.

Hey look, a stack of PS2 games I never finished...
Click to expand...

I'll do the same if my 360 fails, since the core is getting a price cut...Lets hope mine lives for yet another price cut by the time it dies..
 
F

Fallout-NL

Member
Kaijima said:
I'm thinking here that I'm not going to play the $130 runnaround with tech support and trying to finagle a discount; too many bad stories of getting sent back a beat-up refurb system. I'm probably just going to head to Best Buy, get a Core and put my HDD in it and buy a Best Buy extended warranty.
Click to expand...


Think theyd let you check the manufacturing date? (as a way to not buy another launch system)
 
Guileless

Guileless

Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
wouldnt they not know yet if consoles manuractured after march aught six were defective? i mean launch window systems have been played for 8-9 months, newer ones much less time. maybe lots of the newer ones will start failing around christmas.
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Guileless said:
wouldnt they not know yet if consoles manuractured after march aught six were defective? i mean launch window systems have been played for 8-9 months, newer ones much less time. maybe lots of the newer ones will start failing around christmas.
Click to expand...

This kids, is why we go with the walk-in Best Buy warranty.

For the next 2 years, SOME sonnofabitch, somewhere, is gonna keep me playing Xbox, and on the the same day, too!
 
T

tahrikmili

Member
Had a scare today, noticed random white dots on the edges of the wipers while driving in PGR3.. Those kinds of stuff can happen due to overheating GPUs in PCs, so I immediately shut down and asked around, apparently it's a common bug with the models and lighting. I guess I should have known, since the dots only appeard on the wipers and a few other places in the car model, but nowhere else. Phew.

Owning a 360 is scary stuff :lol
 
D

Drek

Member
I wonder if MS counts replacement systems in their "10M systems = WINNAR" theory. If so they're probably pretty close to locking down this generation.
 
D

dakiparu

Member
I live in Europe so I have by law a full one year warranty on every hardware piece I buy, but I really cannot understand how is it that in USA no one has already started a class action against MS to have the X360 warranty period extended to 1 year, too! I am seriously thinking to extend my warranty to 2 years since I really do not believe the story of manufacturing dates. I think failures will end only with x360 model 2.0 (coming early next year)...
 
G

GitarooMan

Member
Mojovonio said:
If I get a repair and get a refurbed system, i'm going to be quite pissed.
Click to expand...
I actually ended up getting my original one back, seems to be working so far. Do you actually expect they would give you a brand new system for 100-130 dollars?
 
M

Mojovonio

Banned
GitarooMan said:
I actually ended up getting my original one back, seems to be working so far. Do you actually expect they would give you a brand new system for 100-130 dollars?
Click to expand...

seeing as how the refurbed one I will get will probably fail well within its warranty, and they'll have to send me another system, free of charge, sending me an 06 system might help.
 
F

Fallout-NL

Member
Mojovonio said:
seeing as how the refurbed one I will get will probably fail well within its warranty, and they'll have to send me another system, free of charge, sending me an 06 system might help.
Click to expand...


My thoughts exactly, if my repaired one dies as well, Ill be demanding a brand spanking new system or my money back.
 
J

Juice

Member
tahrikmili said:
Had a scare today, noticed random white dots on the edges of the wipers while driving in PGR3.. Those kinds of stuff can happen due to overheating GPUs in PCs, so I immediately shut down and asked around, apparently it's a common bug with the models and lighting. I guess I should have known, since the dots only appeard on the wipers and a few other places in the car model, but nowhere else. Phew.

Owning a 360 is scary stuff :lol
Click to expand...

Gaming is far less entertaining when you spend the entire time hunched over, worrying over whether the drive is making more noise than usual.
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE

ab-rise.gif


With not much to lose, myself and a nimble-fingered friend tried out this last-ditch strategy:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2006/6/16/4353

Short story: the inside of my 360 was a poster child for crappy heat sink thermal coating job - the CPU may as well not have had any on it. We cleaned the CPU and GPU with extreme care, recoated it with some high quality thermal compound, reassembled and... it works! It's now been on for 2 hours and still running. Also, on my system I noticed the fans kicked into high gear whenever I loaded a disc-based game and made the system continuously noisy. Now, they're not kicking in at all and it's much quieter.

*keeps fingers crossed*

Edit: I should clarify that while the article focuses on some GPUs having a rubbery silver patch in the way - which mine indeed did have as wel - I /also/ found a piss-poor job on coating for the CPU. So we killed two birds with one stone while it was apart.
 
D

demi

Member
I checked my serial and it says 2006 - 03 - 21 -- so I am guessing it's March 21, 2006, is that good or bad!?

Also how do I tell what drive I have? It has two holes in the front.
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
demi said:
Also how do I tell what drive I have? It has two holes in the front.
Click to expand...

Hitachi/LG.

I checked my serial and it says 2006 - 03 - 21 -- so I am guessing it's March 21, 2006, is that good or bad!?
Click to expand...

It would be nice to think that later is better. All are 1.0 revision circuitry, but perhaps the assembly has gotten better (like, bad solder joints that cause memory chip problems).
 
V

Version 3.0

Member
I fixed my 360!

It's been completey broken for a few weeks (always boots to 3 red lights), and was intermittently crashing and showing 3 reds for a while before that. After reading about the hot air gun solution in this thread, I tried this:

dashboardxbox.jpg


:lol

I live in Las Vegas, so it was incredibly hot in there. I left it there all day today. And it worked like a charm! Once it'd cooled down, I hooked it up, and it booted right to the dashboard. I was so happy to see the nice green lights after so long.

...and then...

before putting it all back together, I decided to put some better heat transfer compound goop on the CPU and GPU. I wiped off the crap they had on there, put on some good Antec stuff, put it all back together...and it doesn't work anymore. What's worse, I think I broke something more critical. It used to take 3+ seconds from boot to decide to show the 3 reds. Now, it does so immediately. So close...

Well, anyway, I've decided not to replace it or get it repaired until after this holiday season. I've got way too much money to spend on the competition.
 
A

adamsappel

Member
Maybe you fixed it the first time, Leon, maybe not. For me, it was a fast slide from 3+ seconds to booting to immediate red lights, with some teasing green lights in between.

I think my overheating came from an afternoon of Battlestar Galactica season 1. Great show, but not worth $500.

What's the GAFstimation on the true error rate? 48 people have dead 360s in this thread (plus 7 additional dead units from within that group) and 5 others are experiencing problems that will probably result in failure. 60 dead units?! Are there 2000 GAFfers with working 360s to bring that in line with Microsoft's claim of 3%?
 
T

Tabris

Member
I've gotten 3 red lights twice so far.

All I did was turn it off, push in connections and turn it back on. Loaded up fine.

I'm worried though, I've never had a console break down on me ever (including cart blowing nes, overheating psx, and disc read error ps2).
 
M

Mojovonio

Banned
after filing a complaint with the BBB, a Microsoft Representative called my house and left me a messege. She gave me a case number and told me to call the 1-800 number. I called, the guy said she's in a different call center and that he'll leave a note in my file for her to call me back.

I'm hoping I could resolve this with Microsoft, because i really want to continue being a customer of theirs.

Though seeing as I had to file a formal complaint against them to get any sort of compassion, its not looking too good.
 
G

gkryhewy

Member
Mojovonio said:
after filing a complaint with the BBB, a Microsoft Representative called my house and left me a messege.
Click to expand...

Good for you. I might do the same if my 2nd 'replacement' is DOA like the first.
 
Z

Zen

Banned
My Xbox 360 (and I use that term loosely since I'm borring it from a friend as a part of his insane plan to get me hooked on the 360) has been acting a little odd lately. Mostly it has been freezing up during demoes, no heating problems yet... However I just started playing Halo 2 with my friend over Xbox live not 1 day ago and now the Xbox 360 won't read the disc. So I took it out only to find the laser had burned/scratched the disc in some fashion, rendering my copy of Halo 2 useless. I had played Shenmue II on it fora short period, and upon further observation it bearsthe same mark, but much fainter...

Meaning my 360 is probably cursed, and I won't be able to actually play any freaking games on it... Time to ask my friend about if he got the warantee or not.
 
U

unomas

Banned
Mojovonio said:
If I get a repair and get a refurbed system, i'm going to be quite pissed.
Click to expand...

I got a refurb, my 360 died in June was back in my hands in roughly 3 weeks and I've had freezing issues with both Moto GP 06, and Madden 07. The refurb only has a 3 month warranty........so about a week before that warranty expires I'll be purchasing the two year warranty from Microsoft.

WonMore
 
M

Mojovonio

Banned
ok, so I got a call from a woman named Sarah, a very personable and rational woman. She said she would give me a 50% reduction off the repair cost and give me a free 1 year warranty on the system I would recieve back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

What is the worst situation that happened to you where you controller died or system shut off?
40
1K
Krathoon replied
  • Poll
Why Xbox Abandoning The Traditional Console Business Model, Makes Business Sense
Business Analysis Platform 2
72
5K
WitchHunter replied
My first 3 months with a PS5 is kinda a mixed bag...
2 3 4 5
200
12K
TropicanaTwista replied
My family has owned a lot of pet's. I want to tell you about them
25
1K
Badlucktroll replied
Coming Soon to Game Pass: Far Cry 6, Remnant II, SteamWorld Build, and More
37
2K
Jesb replied
Top Bottom