Support NeoGAF

[CaptainABAB]

Any suggestions for someone with a premium that can't read discs anymore? The 1 year warranty date has passed.

 

[Pimpbaa]

The reliability difference is night and day. Simply put, the PS3 is reliable and the XB360 isn't. Did you even had to ask this?

Unless your 360 is the falcon revision.

 

[Psychotext]

Any suggestions for someone with a premium that can't read discs anymore? The 1 year warranty date has passed.

Simple. Keep it running until it RRoDs. If you're honest with them that the drive failed but you kept using it for arcade titles and then it died completely on you, they should fix both.

 

[Lord Helmet]

I just want my in game soundtracks on PS3 and then I'm done.

 

[gmoran]

Mine died Saturday night. I was getting ready for a couple of hours of burnout paradise, it took a few minutes for it to sink in that it really was the RROD. I've had it just less than a year. I filled in the the repair form on-line, hopefully I'll get a coffin today; and hopefully MS are doing a decent job with the refurbs they now send out. :-(

 

[itsinmyveins]

I got mine back now and they say they've repaired it (?), and the faulty parts were the mother board and the DVD-drive accoding to the checklist I got back with it.. So, was it RROD or not? My warranty shouldn't cover other stuff than RROD anymore.

 

[Dunlop]

Well mine just bit the dust this morning.

Would someone kindly explain the DRM situation to me? I'm assuming I won't have to send in my hard drive.

If I don't, can I just plug in my hard drive and continue to play my XBLA games? If I do, can I just sign into the new system and redownload my games?

You keep your hard drive. When I received my refurb I just plugged the drive and was back online right away (ok, no I wasn't I forgot about the MAC filtering on my router......). My understanding is that you will need to be online to play any of the arcade titles you have purchased from now on.

 

[pubba]

Well, my launch Japanese 360 died and I bought a Falcon Arcade pack here in Taiwan last month.

It took ages to start the bootup animation after I powered it on, and the shop wouldn't replace it. Sometimes it would take 30 seconds before the bootup started.

Weird thing is, when I swapped the VGA cable for the standard component cable - it started normally, so I just put up with it. I figured the hardware was fine, it was just a weird problem with my VGA cable.

Downloaded the December update from xbox.com (my 360 isn't online), and the bootup starts a bit quicker now, but still not as fast as my old console.

Now I have another weird problem. When I power on the 360, the drive makes a weird grinding sound. It does this with or without a disc inside.

Great hardware, MS. I feel sorry for the people that have had 3 or 4 die on them..

 

[kinn]

Well, my launch Japanese 360 died and I bought a Falcon Arcade pack here in Taiwan last month.

It took ages to start the bootup animation after I powered it on, and the shop wouldn't replace it. Sometimes it would take 30 seconds before the bootup started.

I hear many people talk about this long delay. Well glad you got it sorted out.

Anyway, I bought an Arcade Falcon last week as well. Still bloody noisy! But at least its reading my disks fine.

Will probably keep the old 360 for some system link gaming or maybe pass it onto my bro.

 

[Psychotext]

Now I have another weird problem. When I power on the 360, the drive makes a weird grinding sound. It does this with or without a disc inside.

I could be wrong, but in my experience it's a drive self alignment test. It's a good thing.

 

[itsgreen]

With sadness we have to report that itsgreen's Xbox 360 has passed away.

It happened fast and it was a painless death.

He was taken by the mighty rings of death. A hereditary decease that already killed his oldest brother 'Big X'. The second child, Little X, choked on a disc during birth and didn't make it.

Threesitsy, like friends used to call him, was about to turn 1 year of age.

Rest in peace old friend.

itsgreen's Xbox360, february 2007 - february 2008.

The parent is devistated after the death of his third child. Your support in these hard times is greatly appreciated. The Xbox remains at home till the end of the week before it leaves to its final resting place in Germany.


#1 'Big X': december '05 - january '07
#2 'Little X': february '07 - february '07 (doa)
#3 'Threesitsy': february '07 - february '08

--------
oh btw, if we blame the game, it was cod4 'omfg cod4 killed his xbox'

 

[Psychotext]

Quality post!

/removes hat

 

[itsgreen]

Quality post!

/removes hat

God I am so bored now Can't wait till I can ring up support tomorrow morning

 

[Flynn]

Talk about a let down. My red-ringed elite showed up from the service center this morning. I plugged it in totally prepared to drop a shitload of money on all the Rock Band DLC I'd missed. I was also planning to review Rez for The Onion.

None of that is happening because my fresh-out-of-the-coffin 360 flashed three red rings at me. I'm so fucking depressed.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Talk about a let down. My red-ringed elite showed up from the service center this morning. I plugged it in totally prepared to drop a shitload of money on all the Rock Band DLC I'd missed. I was also planning to review Rez for The Onion.

None of that is happening because my fresh-out-of-the-coffin 360 flashed three red rings at me. I'm so fucking depressed.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Perfect combo of post and avatar.

 

[Flynn]

Sorry, couldn't resist. Perfect combo of post and avatar.

Good news. I decided to fool around with the console. Turns out there must have been some data saved on the hard drive that was making it continue to display the red rings. I rebooted without the drive and it appears to be working.

I'm not going to call MS until I'm satisfied that this isn't just a brief respite.

 

[Fallout-NL]

I was finishing up with CoD 4 today when my 2nd 360 died on me, first the funny (or not very funny) artifacts and after a couple restarts, the dreaded red ring.


Just when I bought my new HDtv .


Fuck you Microsoft, now I'm gonna have to hype myself up and prepare for mortal telephone combat to try and get your crap support to send me a falcon unit (cause I'm not gonna have this happen again in a years time when my warranty expires).

 

[DarkJediKnight]

My system I think is about to go. It hasn't happened yet, but showing symptoms of the 3rd premium I had.

Can someone answer this question?

Anyways, what is this "Breaking seal will void Warranty" business? If you open the system just to take a look inside (and clean it with compressed air, will this void the waranty? How would MS know it was even opened if I do no mods to it?

 

[Psychotext]

Anyways, what is this "Breaking seal will void Warranty" business? If you open the system just to take a look inside (and clean it with compressed air, will this void the waranty? How would MS know it was even opened if I do no mods to it?

There's a holographic seal that you would have had to have broken to open the console. Unless you have access to replacements there's pretty much no way of opening the console without it being detectable.

 

[clav]

My system I think is about to go. It hasn't happened yet, but showing symptoms of the 3rd premium I had.

Can someone answer this question?

Anyways, what is this "Breaking seal will void Warranty" business? If you open the system just to take a look inside (and clean it with compressed air, will this void the waranty? How would MS know it was even opened if I do no mods to it?

Take off the faceplate.

Notice how there is a Microsoft seal. If that's broken, your warranty is voided.

Even if you get the box and send it away, they'll be nice sometimes to send your Xbox back with an angry letter.

 

[Saint Gregory]

Got my Xbox back today.

It's a refurb that's a day older than my original Xbox (10-31-05 from 11-1-05) and has a sort of burnt transistor smell that you demand from your high end electronic devices(ugh).

Aside from that it works and isn't much louder than my original. That was important to me since I sit so close to it. With my old Xbox I couldn't tell when it was on without looking at it (don't ask me how I got so lucky) and with this one it's pretty silent without a game in it and with a game I can hear the disk spinning but it's not nearly as bad as some of my friends' Xboxes.

All in all I'm pretty happy. I wish it hadn't happened in the first place but as long as I have a reliable machine now that's all that matters to me. Now back to GH

 

[FirstInHell]

I just had a very entertaining conversation with the Microsoft rep who was assigned my BBB case related to my third RROD console I sent in.

I'll post the details in a bit.

 

[Illuminati]

I have a question, the instruction paper that comes with the console says when they ship you back your console and if there is not a person there for 3 business days to sign for it, it will be sent back to the repair center. Do they actually do that? I'm at work everyday of the week during the day and there is no one to sign for me. I don't want the damn thing shipped back to Texas. Can't they leave the the box by my front door?

 

[mildewproduction]

If nobody is at home to sign for it, you can call the shipping company (for me it's FedEx) and ask them to hold the package at the local shipping center. Then stop by on your lunch break, or after work.

 

[Cornballer]

I spoke with MS customer service last Saturday about my RROD, and they were going to send a coffin. It still hasn't arrived, so I guess I'll call them again tomorrow and try to figure out what's going on.

 

[Illuminati]

If nobody is at home to sign for it, you can call the shipping company (for me it's FedEx) and ask them to hold the package at the local shipping center. Then stop by on your lunch break, or after work.

That is what I was thinking about doing, thanks for confirming that. Although I think my local UPS store charges $5 to get something shipped to them for you.

I spoke with MS customer service last Saturday about my RROD, and they were going to send a coffin. It still hasn't arrived, so I guess I'll call them again tomorrow and try to figure out what's going on.

The same thing happened to me, but they say it takes 5-7 business days. Mine arrived on the 7th, business day. MS was lucky they did not have to face my wraith.

 

[FirstInHell]

What a load of bullshit. I just got my 4th console back from the repair and it is a fucking refurbished unit from 8/06.

I wonder if anyone knows the details as to how refurbs work. Is the console I have really some unit that was in some asshole's frat house with beer cans sitting on it? Or is this a unit that has essentially had its guts replaced?

What pisses me off is that the DVD drive does not close every time I click the button to close the tray. I have to push the eject button two or more times to get it to close. I want to complain, but I am not in the mood to go through another 4 week repair process. I am going to fill out this comment card telling them how fucking pissed off I am.

Furthermore, after talking to Melanie my BBB caseworker for Microsoft I am not even sure I want to be bother with this horseshit anymore.

 

[B-Rad Lascelle]

I spoke with MS customer service last Saturday about my RROD, and they were going to send a coffin. It still hasn't arrived, so I guess I'll call them again tomorrow and try to figure out what's going on.

Your coffin will arrive on Monday.

 

[Broktune]

Mine died three days ago. A launch console. Just stopped reading disks, no red rings. I took apart the box to try to clean the lens, took off hd, unplugged, no luck.

I guess I'll buy a new one.

How do you know which 360's are the Falcon's or newer models? Cry.

 

[Mau ®]

Mine will die soon. It had near death experience while playing "Mr. Brooks", suddenly it crashed and then a RROD came. An hour later it worked again but Im sure its days are numbered.

Eh.. TBH I was gonna buy a PS3 soon, maybe today!

 

[Psychotext]

Mine will die soon. It had near death experience while playing "Mr. Brooks", suddenly it crashed and then a RROD came. An hour later it worked again but Im sure its days are numbered.

Might have been a power surge... it does happen. Who knows, maybe you got lucky.

 

[Goreomedy]

Hm... my repair status has disappeared from Microsoft's service site. It did have a status of "received at service center" since Thursday. But now, it's as if I never registered a system for repair.

For those who tracked their repairs, is this typical for the tail end of the process? Or has Microsoft fucked this up too?

If I can avoid speaking with an Indian call center this morning, that would be great.

 

[somato]

Sigh... Mine kicked the bucket on Saturday night after 1 year, 2 months and 5 days of running without a hitch. It has a July 06 build date. Hadn't used it in awhile since I was playing No More Heroes. Turned it on to play some Burnout, the title screen glitched out and all I could think was "oh shit no..." Power cycled it and got 3RROD staring back at me.

Also, when I tilted the console back a bunch of burnt flakes fell out, has anyone see that happen before? I assume it was solder or something else around the GPU.

I'm really tempted to just fix it myself with the x-clamps mod so I don't have to deal with a refurb (my system still looks new), but all that junk falling out the back kind of scares me away.

 

[The Faceless Master]

There's a holographic seal that you would have had to have broken to open the console. Unless you have access to replacements there's pretty much no way of opening the console without it being detectable.

 

[Aaron]

My 360 broke, but I had paid up with the devil known as Best Buy, and only had to wait until they got systems back in before they swapped my old broken box for the new hotness, and because of the price difference between when I bought it and now, I was able to get another 2 year warranty for $10. Yeah, it's something I shouldn't have to pay for, but with the endless litany of horror stories, it was more than worth it.

 

[ccharla]

Talk about a let down. My red-ringed elite showed up from the service center this morning. I plugged it in totally prepared to drop a shitload of money on all the Rock Band DLC I'd missed. I was also planning to review Rez for The Onion.

None of that is happening because my fresh-out-of-the-coffin 360 flashed three red rings at me. I'm so fucking depressed.

I had a similar self-reparing RROD replacement machine.

I have 2 360s. One was a launch system, which RROD the day the Halo Beta came out (Call it 1). The other was a system I bought that same day, which later started eating DVDs (Call it 2). When the replacement for 1 arrived (call it 1R), which was well after the replacement for 2 arrived (call it 2R), since I didn't get it fixed until MS agreed to fix it "out of warrentee" for free, it RROD out of the box.

Yesterday, 2R started to mess up, so I called MS to get them both fixed, and surprisingly, 1R actually worked when I tired to replicate the RROD. And it has the quieter DVD player.

BUT -- the DVD door on 1R won't open when the console is vertical. The MSFT lady was like "well, lay it on its side" and I was like "omgwtfbbq that is lame, and doesn't work with my delicious setup." The lady was like "Dude, I live in some foreign country and I have to work in a CALL CENTER and YOU'RE complaining about having to put your 360 on its side? Drop dead!"

Then she hung up on me.

I can't really blame her, but has anyone been able to fix this?

 

[Psychotext]

The MSFT lady was like "well, lay it on its side" and I was like "omgwtfbbq that is lame, and doesn't work with my delicious setup." The lady was like "Dude, I live in some foreign country and I have to work in a CALL CENTER and YOU'RE complaining about having to put your 360 on its side? Drop dead!"

Then she hung up on me.

:lol

 

[The Faceless Master]

did you try laying it on it's side?

the tray mechanism may be misaligned and function better horizontally.

 

[FFChris]

So, mine just went.

Bought 25/11/06 and died today on 12/02/08. Getting DMC4 in the post tomorrow as well. Lucky that 3yr warrenty is still valid, it has the 3RROD.

So guys. What should I do? I'm thinking, go on the website. Register the box, get a coffin sent up, send it back without the HD drive. Is that the way it's done?

Edit: Seems like I have to ring them. Will I get charged for the phone call? I can only call via a mobile phone since I'm at University.

 

[Psychotext]

You shouldn't have to ring them. The website link is around here somewhere.

 

[FFChris]

You shouldn't have to ring them. The website link is around here somewhere.

My 360 is out of warranty, so when I registered it and tried to use the repairs link, it said no for some reason.

I'll try again, maybe it was just their system.

 

[somato]

I did this earlier today and mine is out of warranty as well. Make sure that you select YES from the drop down where it asks if you have the 3ROL issue.

 

[FFChris]

I did this earlier today and mine is out of warranty as well. Make sure that you select YES from the drop down where it asks if you have the 3ROL issue.

Well, I'm trying and it isn't showing a dropdown box. I click 'Request a new repair' then this comes up,

A problem occurred, and your request cannot be completed.

Please contact support to complete your request.

For further help, please contact a support representative.

Hours of Operation:

Monday-Friday: 09:00-22:00
Saturday: 09:00-20:00
Sunday: 09:00-17:00

Call 0800 587 1102.
Mobile phone, call +44 20 7365 9792
Hearing Impaired (TTY):0800 587 1103

Useless.

Should I try again tomorrow? I can't afford to phone the guys.

Update:

Just sent them this by E-mail.

I have the three red lights hardware failure.

I would like to get a box sent to me so I can send you the 360 back. I understand it is still under the special three red lights warranty that runs for three years after a systems purchase.

Can you please not send me a refurbished system without the new chipset and heatsync enhancements either please, I would not like to go through this process again.

Thank you,

Chris

Bugger, just realised I put 'please' twice in that last paragraph.

Ah well.

 

[Caspel]

My fourth 360 died a week and a half ago. I sent it away through FedEx through an arrangement I had with the internal repair team at MS (since the repair team that everyone else goes through are dicks) that Edelman set up for me.

I am glad I know a few people in the industry to hook me up since I have never bought a 360 and never will -- glad it was kept this way since the 1-800 reps were adamant on making me.

Also, I'm receiving a free controller for my pain of having no 360 for review purposes.

Altogether, I have received a year of Xbox Live, Two games, and a controller from Microsoft for all my problems (not all RROD).

1st 360 - Had problems with turning on. I had to press the button twice, so I said screw that and sent it away.
2nd 360 - RROD
3rd 360 - RROD
4th 360 - No power was being sent to the 360 -- it wouldn't start up and the battery pack was never green anymore.

So here's to my 5th 360 -- hopefully when he gets here, he'll treat me a little better.

 

[DeadGzuz]

These stories are great entertainment, but you know what they remind me of?

Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in an abducted hostage, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

 

[Cornballer]

Your coffin will arrive on Monday.

Yup, you called it! Got my coffin yesterday and I'll drop it off at UPS this afternoon. Time table so far....

Saturday, 2/2 - Called MS and requested coffin
Saturday, 2/9 - Called MS again and they said the coffin would be here Monday
Monday, 2/11 - Coffin arrived
Tuesday, 2/12 - Dropped off package at UPS store

 

[Psychotext]

These stories are great entertainment, but you know what they remind me of? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Ahh, we get one every couple of pages.

Oh, and I'm glad you take pleasure in other people's misfortune you pathetic excuse for a human being.

 

[FirstInHell]

I sent in my third 360 a few weeks ago to get repaired and it seems like the repair process is more frustrating than it used to be. When coffins for dead console 1 and 2 were sent to me they were sent UPS 3 Day Select. The return labels and repaired consoles were also sent UPS 3 Day Select. This makes a difference to me since I am in NY and it sometimes it takes 5 days for a shipment to get to me from TX. Microsoft has downgraded this process to UPS Ground ensuring that it will probably take the maximum amount of time to ship at any given point in the process.

When dead console 1 and 2 were repaired I received e-mails every step of the way notifying me at what stage of the repair process the console was. This time I have received no such e-mails. Two weeks go by and I hear nothing.

When dead console 2 was sent in, I received a free game and a free month of Xbox Live. This time, received just a free month of Live.

Dead Console 1 lasted me a year before red ringing. Dead Console 2 lasted me 8 months before getting no video signal. Dead Console 3 lasted all about 6 months. I noticed that with each new Xbox sent to me by Microsoft they seem to die quicker.

I had just had it at this point so I filed a BBB complaint. I find it interesting that Microsoft will go to great lengths to track you down when when you file one of these complaints, but in reality, these people have little power to do anything for you.

I explained to the rep that I was not receiving any notifications regarding the status of my repair. She told me that the rep unchecked e-mail notifications on my account and they she will go ahead and re enable them.

I expressed my concern about my perceived quality of the repaired units that are coming from the factory. I wanted to ensure that I will be getting a working console. She said that she does not have any information as to why my other consoles broke and it is privileged information. I said it was pretty obvious that the system is flawed and MS should send me a new unit with the latest hardware revisions. She says that there is no proof that my systems were flawed since she does not have access to the information as to why the console broke. I told her that I did not care what the reason was. As a customer I know only if it works or it does not work. There have been three occasions where it has not worked. She then started getting inpatient and quoted the warranty.

Moving on I asked why my repair was not expedited considering this is my third ride on the refurb merry go round of hell. She said the agents did not previously have the authority to expedite repairs, but they have changed the policy over the last week enabling people with multiple console failures to get expedited shipping (I sense bullshit).

She then asks me if there is anything else she can do to help. I tell her that I am aggravated and she did not even help me in the first place. She apologizes and considers my BBB case "resolved"

The same day, I get my console. A 8/06 model with sticky stuff on the back of the unit. There is also a dent on the top of the case. The DVD drive does not close everytime you press the button and sometimes you have to push the tray to get it to close. My first night playing it I got a disk read error while playing Burnout.

 

[le.phat]

1st time he beat me - Had problems with turning him on. I had to "press the button twice", but then he said screw that and beat the snot out of me.
2nd time - DV
3rd time - DV
4th time - I came home late an hour late due to a nasty traffic jam. unfortunately he had spent an in the same jam - the only thing that eventually stopped him was his fatigue.

So here's to my 5th time-- hopefully when he gets here, he'll treat me a little better.

i'm so very sorry to hear that ;(

 

[Psychotext]

II said it was pretty obvious that the system is flawed and MS should send me a new unit with the latest hardware revisions. She says that there is no proof that my systems were flawed since she does not have access to the information as to why the console broke.

We have proof that the refurbs are dying... and it's a f*ck*ng joke that MS are still sending out refurbed machines, especially to people that have had multiple failures.