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 2 of 4)
8-23-2007 @ 7:48PM
Richard Mitchell 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."
Ah, I recovered my Gamertag on my brother's box a couple weeks ago, which is why I had to recover it with my new box. Took freaking forever.
As for XBLA, yes, they work fine when you're signed in. The full versions, however, are tied to your console. Otherwise you could just give them to anybody free of charge.
In order to make them work offline, you have to re-download them. So far I've just been deleting them and selecting the "Download again" option. Seems to work just fine.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:50PM
Thomas said...
I guess i was lucky.. i sent in my x360 a few days before easter and still it only took 8 days. But i live in Norway, and our 360's get sent to Germany, so it might not be that comparable.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:58PM
AoE said...
congrats on getting it back Richard! Out of interest though, did you have a core originally? If not, you should call and complain, chrome > off-white plastic accents any day... Actually, you should call and complain that you sent in a pro either way ;)
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8-23-2007 @ 8:18PM
Michael Hyatt said...
I also sent mine in for a second time, but when mine was returned It came in 2 boxes...They sent me 2 360's!!!
now I just need to get a new HD and power brick and me and my brother can get in some serious head to head...wait that sounded dirty
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8-23-2007 @ 8:49PM
MDJ2010 said...
HAHA, That DID sound dirty!
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8-23-2007 @ 8:49PM
Adam said...
Rich Mitch, I have to commend you on your beautiful yard. That's all.
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8-23-2007 @ 9:04PM
Mauricio said...
Dude, serious. i didnt notice before but your lawn is IMMACULATE.
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8-23-2007 @ 9:05PM
adam said...
I sent mine off to Microsoft today. And when I did there was another guy sending his off. I dont live in a big town, so I asked the UPS store how many get sent off. The manager told me that the past few months they have sent at least 200 units back...
Ive thought about just buying a new Elite. But Im just afraid of it happening again. I wish Microsoft would just send new units back instead of refurbs.
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8-23-2007 @ 9:15PM
SpectreGadget said...
It's taken 10 days for me to just get the dang coffin! I'm worried that my Elite won't get back before my Halo 3 arrives... :(
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8-23-2007 @ 9:17PM
Jack said...
Yeah. You're so lucky to have it back within 14 days. I Read your article and called XBox asap even though they haven't gotten it yet, the little automated thing says they recieved it and shipped it back already and i should expect it to be here within 5 days, but the wait was too long to talk to a CSR so i'm gonna try again tomorrow. anyway. With the new heatsink are you stille expierenceing major heat problems? I Bought my 360 in August of 2006 and I SWEAR it could have been used as a space heater in the winter that year...
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8-23-2007 @ 9:31PM
Jack said...
Oh Yeah. I Forgot to add, when I Originally called to tell them I had shipped it, they said it could take up to 30 days and I May not have it in time for Halo 3 :( Such a bummer. I'm gonna be pissed if I get back a core and I sent in a premium
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8-23-2007 @ 9:37PM
lachlan said...
it took a week from the day i posted it to the day i came home from work and it was sitting at my door.
we don't get coffins here so it we have to make our own. the box i got back though will make a good coffin if it happens again.
i thought that if you deleted all the games off your hard drive and downloaded again it would work? i got my original back so i haven't tried it.
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8-23-2007 @ 9:41PM
ccc said...
@Mitchell
Has MS given you Ms point codes to repurchase your Xbox live arcade games on this new system so you dont have to be signed in to play what you have purchased? If not, get on the horn and pursue this, perhaps the "Red Ring Chronicals" will continue.
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8-23-2007 @ 9:43PM
ccc said...
Ah Nm just read ur last post. Thats what I get for not reading all the post I suppose.
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8-23-2007 @ 9:43PM
Justin said...
Why did you have to recover your account? Did you send in your HDD too?
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8-23-2007 @ 10:13PM
Jayslacks said...
I agree with you, Richard. I just cut off my box after about two hours of Big Daddy fleeing and Splicer cursing. When it works and works right, the 360 becomes closer to you than, dare I say it, a loved one?
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8-23-2007 @ 10:20PM
pclyons said...
I shipped my xbox on the exact same date and got it back today.Couldn't wait to try out Bioshock...BUT...I got the 3Rod again.Can't believe it. MFR:2007-08-05
Any Ideas?
Already called the repair center.They said it's going to take another 3 weeks or so.
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8-23-2007 @ 10:21PM
KFelon said...
@21 I had this issue too, called support & they told me to sign into live & redownload several games, sign out and see if they worked. Every game I redownloaded now worked fine even though I wasn't connected to Live.
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8-23-2007 @ 10:26PM
KFelon said...
@37 I had similar shit happen, mine lasted a week. Did they give you a free game? Not that it makes up for it, but they offered me a free game from a short list of 4 titles I already owned... I got the coffin and free game today. Ghey. 7-27-2007 MFR Date
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8-23-2007 @ 10:27PM
Emerald said...
Man you got lucky, getting my 360 fixed was a nightmare,
49 days... 39 of them waiting for the goddamn box to arrive. First they told me my xbox had been sent, then they told me only my boxes labels had been printed up and they would be sending the box shortly, then they were out of Boxes and had no clue when they were getting new ones. Then all of a sudden after arguing on the phone with them for 3 hours they were sending me a box and I got a real customer service rep (one that lived in NA and actualy new what customer service was) 15 days later I had my 360 back.
Hopefully most people don't have to go through this, Seriously I spent 3 hours bitching on the phone to the guy from the 1-800-4MY-XBOX agent to Rob Walker head of the MS customer service department ( Who tried to tell me he has nothing to do with xbox )
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