It looks like the Red Ring Chronicles have come to an end. After languishing unnecessarily in a Texas warehouse for several days, my 360 was picked up by UPS. I knew this because the tracking number I'd gotten over a week ago from Microsoft was finally recognized by the UPS website. The next day was a feverish wait for the UPS truck, a wait that did not end until well past 6:00 PM. Twilight Princess and hard liquor were all that stood between me and a state of feral insanity. And then, there he was: the UPS guy. I had discovered a while ago that I would be receiving a refurbished Xbox 360 -- I saw that my serial had magically changed on service.xbox.com, you see -- which is unfortunate. Still, it was all in one piece, no weird rattling or anything like that. The package came with a note and a free 1 month Xbox Live subscription. So, that's nice. But, as any 360 enthusiast knows, there is more to getting back your Xbox than simply plugging it in and making sure it works. Oh no, getting back into the swing of things is a process.
First thing's first, you have to flip that Xbox over and see when it was manufactured. At first, I saw the numbers "07" and was excited that I had received a brand new box. Alas, the feeling didn't last as I collected my thoughts and read the date properly: "2006-05-07." In reality, the box was from May of last year. A bummer to be sure. But wait, what about those fabulous new heatsinks? Was there one in my box? Time for an endoscopy.
From what I could tell, there was definitely something else in there, and judging from other photographs on the net, it looked like I had the new heatsink (note the telltale copper nub on the far left). So, while my box might be refurbished, Microsoft has girded its proverbial loins from future breakdowns at least. Now to see if the dangblasted thing works properly. The power button is a little squishy, lacking the satisfying click of my old box, but I digress. I power it up. I am immediately stupefied by the HD dashboard. Having seen nothing but SD Gamecube and DVDs for several weeks, I had forgotten how pleasing HD really is. I had missed it, perhaps more than I knew. But, time to begin the Gamertag recovery process, which takes nearly 20 minutes, so I stick the progress bar into the "picture-in-picture" on my monitor as I play Zelda. After some productive dungeon exploring, the recovery is complete. I immediately begin downloading everything I had missed and switched on XBLA automatic downloads. BioShock demo: bliss.
So, all told, from the time I shipped my box, August 8th, to the day I got it back, August 22nd, it took fourteen days to turn it around. Not too shabby. Sure, it's a little annoying to deal with a refurbished box (I still have to re-download all of my XBLA games, for example) but at least it's got the new heatsink. If there is one thing I learned from it all, it's that Microsoft has created quite an addictive little machine. The feeling of absolute relief upon hearing the trademark "boo-doo" when I logged into Live is almost alarming in retrospect. Seeing friends online and messaging me right away was pretty cool as well. Now, if this one manages to live a long and healthy life, we'll be in business. I guess the best way I could put it is:
Let's never fight again, okay?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
8-23-2007 @ 6:23PM
a ham sandwich said...
dude, your drive tray's white! did u have a core?
and wait, why do the memory card slots and usb port cover look fake? is this last picture real?!
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8-23-2007 @ 6:24PM
JAKEJAX said...
Did they give you any credit for your xbox live?
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8-23-2007 @ 6:29PM
Mauricio said...
i agree with Sandwich. that last pic looks really fake. Kind of like a Ken dolls 360. *Shrugs shoulders*.
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8-23-2007 @ 6:34PM
KFelon said...
Just got my coffin in today to return my replacement Xbox 360 I got 2 weeks back... good luck dude, hopefully yours will last longer than 1 week. My "refurb" had the new heat sinks and a 7-27-2007 manufacture date.
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8-23-2007 @ 6:35PM
hecsan008 said...
Hmm iam from texas too. and i got the red rings. i woke up in the morning put my C&C3 game and BAM! RED RINGS.. the box to sent for repaor came in no time. now iam stuck playing the waiting game.
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8-23-2007 @ 6:35PM
Outinthedark said...
@ JAKEJAX
You get a 1 month prepaid card to redeem for the time out
Mine just got back Monday and I actually didn't send it in with a faceplate [I took off my custom faceplate I had painted up and laser cut and just threw it in the box] and got a new fresh canvas to work with for another custom faceplate...!
On a sad note I have had the box freeze up 3 times already during startup, retail, and XBLA already...but it was manufactured 2007-08-05 so I'm unsure how it's a refurb xbox...
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8-23-2007 @ 6:43PM
Gemini Ace said...
So, are you going to call Microsoft and get MS points to re-buy all the arcade games and extra content? Since you have a new box, you won't be able to play with all that stuff unless you're connected to XBL so it can verify that you own it. I got a refurb, and I was disconnected from Live the other day while trying to play Crackdown. It wouldn't let me play with the new content until I connected to Live. You should extend your Red Ring Chronicles to verify how this process works, Richard.
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8-23-2007 @ 6:51PM
sk8tbrdngpetey said...
I get mine back today too. But the ups truck hasnt come yet
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8-23-2007 @ 6:54PM
Mauricio said...
Hey Sensei. Glad to hear you got your 360 back. I know exactly how you feel.
You dont need to buy all your XBLA games again. the games are on your HDD. so unless you canned it or returned it with the original
360. You still have them you just need an internet connection. Plug in the Cat5 and double check.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:02PM
Mauricio said...
well, counting from the day you called Microsoft, in actuality it took 22 days.
check it out...
Red Ring Chronicles Pt 1: Death (21 days ago)
Red Ring Chronicles Pt 2: the Coffin (14 days ago)
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8-23-2007 @ 7:04PM
Lharmon said...
@#1 He had a core to begin with, check the pictures in the gallery.
@#2 Yeah, if you read the whole story you would have seen that he got one month of live.
@# 7 is correct. There are a few more steps in the process! Make sure to get a refund of your MS points! Shadier characters *cough* MAY use the points for new content, and just make sure to stay connected at all times.... This process will take around 5-7 days.
13 days is AMAZING turn around. Mine took 32 days to get back. That was AFTER my Better Business Bureau complaint was filed.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:10PM
Screamscape said...
How did you find out in advance that your new replacement box was a refurbished one? Is there a way to sell from the serial number?
Mine got to the Texas facility early yesterday and I'm waiting for any word that they're done and sending it or a replacement back still. How many days do they sit on it before they send something back?
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8-23-2007 @ 7:15PM
DjDATZ said...
Well according to this, my box should be at my door tomorrow...but i know it won't be. I've been exactly a day behind richard on everything...calling in my box, recieving my coffin, shipping it off, although...i have YET to recieve an email with my tracking number. :(
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8-23-2007 @ 7:15PM
Lharmon said...
@12, you'll get a different serial number. If for some crazy reason you don't have your original serial number or access to it, you can pull the face plate off when you get it back. There will be a silver Microsoft sticker inside, if it has two black dots on it... it's a refurb!
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8-23-2007 @ 7:26PM
Kryptinite said...
Dude that's insane because I got mine back yesterday. Guess what the date was??
2007-08-07
That's right, the sent be a brand new one with heat sink and everything. No HDMI though.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:28PM
Kryptinite said...
Correction: 2007-08-09
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8-23-2007 @ 7:36PM
Josh said...
I have had two refurbs and I never had to redownload any XBLA arcade games.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:38PM
Richard Mitchell said...
Oops, 14 days. Fixed.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:39PM
Scooter said...
If you kept your hard drive, like you were supposed to. There would be NO reason to re-donwload ANYTHING. And no reason to recover your gamer tag. So there is no reason to include that info in your story.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:43PM
Viridium said...
People are not understanding the Live Arcade game issue (Josh, Mauricio).
I got a refurb console back. Popped in my hard drive, essentially good to go.
EXCEPT - when I am NOT connected to Xbox Live, I CANNOT play ANY purchased downloaded content, be they expansions for games or XBLA games themselves. In addition, my wife's profile, whether connected to Xbox Live or not, cannot play ANY of the content downloaded with my profile prior to having received the refurb.
This is because any downloaded content is tied to the Console ID of the FIRST console it's downloaded on. Any use on a subsequent/different machine requires a connection to Xbox Live to verify the purchase - and any other profiles on the box are completely out of luck.
I cannot believe Microsoft STILL do not have a way to migrate content to a new Console ID, in the event of a console repair/replacement.
I phoned MS and complained, and they gave me enough points to repurchase all previous content using my wife's profile, so that we now have access to it when the box is not connected (and she just has access, period).
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