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 4 of 4)
8-24-2007 @ 12:06PM
Viridium said...
Jeramy - sorry, but I'm not completely mistaken. I'm with Hak Foo - I've tried everything I've read everywhere, and no matter what I do, NONE of my content is accessible when I am not connected to Live.
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8-24-2007 @ 12:52PM
Jesse said...
My xbox has been sitting in Texas for 8 days. I was kind of hopping to have it back already. I have since given up hope of seeing it before labor day weekend.
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8-24-2007 @ 4:57PM
Screamscape said...
This is day 3 of mine sitting in Texas... getting no where. How long does it take for them to send something back?
Oh the suffering...
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8-24-2007 @ 7:30PM
Adam said...
Yeah, just got my coffin to send it back in, sending out today...luckily i have a backup!
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8-27-2007 @ 11:41AM
jedialbiwan said...
When I took mine to the UPS store, the lady working there asked me if I removed my hard drive, and this was before she even seen the label or I had said anything. Needless to say, she recognized the box right away from the other 360s they have received.
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8-28-2007 @ 3:08PM
jkdoug said...
Just FYI, Micro$oft isn't giving points refunds to anyone any more, regardless of the system breakage being the reason you can no longer access your games or DLC. Completely and totally sucks, given that they know what system your accounts are associated with, and when you guy a game on disc you can play it with anyone you want on any system you want. Thanks for screwing me out of about $60 worth of content, M$!
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8-30-2007 @ 9:22PM
KFelon said...
My replacement July 28 2007 box that shitted out after less than 10 hours time has been sitting at the repair center for a week as of tomorrow.
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8-31-2007 @ 8:57AM
Screamscape said...
As of today, my launch Xbox 360 has been sitting in the Texas service center for 10 days now...
Post #62 - You said on Augst 24th yours had been sitting in Texas for 8 days at that point in time. How much longer did you have to wait, or are you still waiting still?
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9-02-2007 @ 7:48PM
Screamscape said...
For anyone interested, I just decded to check online to see the status of my Xbox again... today will be Day 12 of it sitting in Texas but suddenly noticed it's coming up with an brand new serial number.
Unfortunatly, unless I'm mistaken, this means a refurbished one is on the way instead of a new one, right? Or would a new one also come with a new serial number?
Any way to tell the age of the console in advance, the kind of DVD drive it has (old & loud or new and quiet) from the serial number?
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9-03-2007 @ 2:56PM
flash9286 said...
mine is starting to freeze up, i think the rrod is coming.
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9-05-2007 @ 1:50PM
Screamscape said...
Looks like the end of my own Red Ring Chronical is near.
To recap my own story for anyone looking for the current timeline of things.
Day 1 - August 13 (Monday) - Red Ring of Death in the morning. Set up repair online in a few short minutes and told Coffin would be shipped out by the end of the day.
Day 5 - August 17th (Friday) - Coffin Arrives, Xbox returned to UPS Store for the trip to Texas
Day 10 - August 22nd (Wednesday) Coffin Arrives at Texas repair facility, Confirmed by UPS but not by Service.Xbox.Com
Day 14 - August 26th (Sunday) - Service.Xbox.Com confirms arrival and start of repairs on Xbox.
Day 21 - September 2nd (Sunday) - Service.Xbox.Com listing updated to show new serial number for my Xbox. 1-800-4MY-XBOX reports repairs are complete.
Day 23 - September 4th (Tuesday) - Call to 1-800-4MY-XBOX (asking for "Customer Support" gets live American to answer within 2 minutes in all tries as opposed to sitting on hold for an hour for any other reqest) confirms Xbox repair and they give UPS Tracking #s, which confirm box in UPS hands by that evening.
**Estimated Delivery Date from UPS**
Day 26 - September 7th (Friday)
Just shy of 4 weeks turn-around time at this point, assuming UPS meetings their delivery date.
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9-06-2007 @ 9:54PM
KFelon said...
Mine has now been sitting at the repair center for 2 weeks.
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