Xbox 360 Fanboy

I have a dead 360 sitting downstairs. I haven't decided whether I should send it in for repair or not. Considering that almost everyone I know has had to send it in more than once. It seems like I'll just get my heart broken again. I think I'm just gonna get a DS or PSP and forget I ever got a damn 360.

I just wish MS could at least acknowledge that the problem exists. At this point it's common knowledge that the console has some serious issues. Once they do that, I can forgive them.

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I guess I'm just lucky I've had my 360 for over a year and a half without a problem. Looks like if I do have a prob the new heatsinks will fix it.

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makes you wonder if the elite 360s are better

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im on my launch console, and havent had any issues. Its a shame people get so frustrated that they will give up on a great system.

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This is actually the first semi-official statement I've ever seen about this. I mean, granted it's not from MS at all, but it's from someone actually involved in the repairs to some extent. Certainly a bit more convincing then the ever elusive "guy at Gamestop".

Mine is fine, but it's obviously been ridiculous for a while. I'm sure some level of these claims is based on user fault, but clearly a good deal of them are not. It would be in MS's best interest to finally say and do something about this once and for all before the mainstream media actually bothers to pay any attention to it.

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A dead xbox is the saddest thing in the world. Now its even sadder :(

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My 360 got the red rings of light last week. And i fixed it with two towels!!! I know you may not believe this but wrap ur 360 in bath towels so no heat can get out. Turn it on for 30 mins. Then i turned it off, removed the twoels, let it sit there for 20 mins, and it has worked ever since. There are many videos of ppl doing this, and I;m 100% serious that it worked for me, but who knows for how long... Heres one video from youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w4OnKCX6Nc

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the towel trick definately is a temporary solution but can ultimately break the system beyond repair. so unless you only plan on doing the towel trick once and immediately unloading the 360 on some sucker or used game store, it's best not to repeat doing it. If you don't have a warranty, the best fix is to do a X-Clamp replacement. Google for a tutorial but I did the towel trick for a friend and it worked for 2 weeks then it came back...then I started doing the X-Clamp replacement for several friends and they have all been going on strong now for 3+ months.

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I've made various post on the subject:
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/06/27/gamer-replaces-11-360s-records-audio-proof/2#c5672228
"33. I'm a electronics tech in a top biometric device firm. My job is figuring out why stuff doesn't work in prototype and full production devices. Here's the deal. The x-clamps are to blame for the majority of the 3rlod issues. I'm 100% convinced of this.
My 360 got the 3RLOD and rather than send it in, (heard from a reliable source that all MS does is clean heatsinks and reapply the paste-which to me alleviates the problem,much like the extra 3rd heatsink that are showing up now, but it doesn't FIX the problem), I choose to fix it myself. Just by replacing the x-clamps with nuts & bolts from a hardware store. And guess what? Problem fixed.
IT'S AN INHERENT DESIGN FLAW. All the evidence points to this. The glued down sides on the chips for the elite, the extra heat sink on "Fixed" 360s. The fact that practically all desktop mother boards have center bosses to keep the MB from warping too much and causing this issue in PCs. PCs have x-clamp designs that work fine, But the 360 is missing is that center boss and only is supported from the ends of the device."

nuff said: But to put it in perspective. Total recall = $$$, so M$ is playing dumb.
I love my 360, but hate the suits.

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I'm still of the opinion that the issues are related to MS's manufacturing partners. They dropped one recently I believe and this may be part of the reason why. The issues just seems so sporadic. Some drives work perfectly while others bork up discs. Some 360s last forever while others die within a couple of weeks use.

The other issue is MS sending refurbs out to replace customers that sent broken ones in. Is it any wonder that some customers end up having to send their 360s back in multiple times?

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I know a guy who has a launch 360 that has never had a problem, so there is obviously not a flaw with the 360 (that's called sarcasm).

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What a shame, this is the only knock against the 360, yet it's pretty much the worst one to have.

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the tutorial that I personally used with great success:

http://copronymous.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/fix-for-the-3rlod.pdf

there are others out there but they all use the same general principle. just make sure you clean the old thermal paste completely and be very careful when prying off the x-clamps.

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@bigd7387

You're a very lucky guy, and I truly wish all of us could say the same as you.

But just keep in mind that it's not us who are giving up on this system, it's our systems that are giving up on US.

This is no longer a technical issue, it's become one of ethics, and MS is failing by not taking responsibility on this. We all know why the denials ($$$), but it's still unethical to the max.

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With all the jumbled stories of 360's getting repaired multiple time there is no way to know what the failure rate is. So, Microsoft should figure out some way of organizing how many consoles have been shipped to retailers and how many consoles have been repaired (once, twice, three time, it does not matter, just once and it is on the list, twice and three times and fourteen does nothing else). That way they can see if there is actually a situation going on, and than assess it. I would say 11% or higher failure rate would mean some kind of action would have to be taken by Microsoft.

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We have a poll going on over at adultgamingenthusiasts.com. The results are alarming (59% have needed repairs).

http://adultgamingenthusiasts.com/blogs/age/archive/2007/06/28/poll-how-many-times-has-your-xbox-360-been-repaired-replaced.aspx

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I had my 360 since day one with absolutly no problems. But I repair systems for other people and I have to say I've repaired about fifty 360's from the three red lights and unknown error. Most of the repaires end up going back to three red lights after awile, so it is basically a waste of time. Because I had to end up giving the money for the repair back to the people. So I understand why this company stop repairing them.

This is a shame, a goddamn terrible shame! No other video game system had this type of hardware failure that the manufacturer does not even no what the problem is. The only thing that comes close is the pos2 and Sony intentionally made the hardware fail(data read error) for job security or to continue the money flowing. I hated Sony for that! But, I made alot of money from it.

Over the course of time I've collected 27 different video game systems and they all work including my 360. But what makes me feel bad is when some poor sap buys a $60 game to only come home and play it and it breaks there $400 system. Thats wrong!

At first M$ was collecting $140 to repair these systems( I think they wanted to do the Sony thing), then they got overwhelmed with too many bad systems and could'nt justify charging people anymore, so they extended the warranty. I think this hardware failure was intentional for job security, but something went wrong and it is backfireing on M$.

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Not important but still interesting: Around 65% of the 360's on the market are still under warranty (12months/18months). This is as long as sales were steady (they never are).

Most people complain about system failure within the first year. That is why people who have a working 360 for over a year are considered "rare" on the internet.

So wouldn't that mean that most people were covered by their insurance plan when their 360 died? And wouldn't that cost Microsoft a lot of money to repair each of the so many units if it were too much larger than a regular failure rate?

This is why I feel the failure rate probably isn't too high, but is probably still higher than normal. I'd like to think it is somewhere around 8%.

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@16 - I don't know that it's alarming. I mean, most people who will bother to vote at all have probably had a problem. In addition, who is to say most of them are even telling the truth.

Obviously there's a problem, but it's hard to apply 59% of 200 something people to anything, really.

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I've had mine since march of 06 and have not had a problem other than 2 or 3 freezes. On the other hand, I don't play for more than a couple hours at a time, and have a very well ventilated (front and back), clean spot for it. And I've got it horizontal, too.

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