We didn't post about this news previously, because we couldn't be sure if the problem was related to scratched Halo 3 collector's edition discs or not, but now it seems like it's becoming a little more widespread.Over on the official Xbox.com forums and all across the internet come reports from gamers who are claiming that certain copies of Halo 3 suffer from disc read errors problems. Varied first hand reports from recent Halo 3 purchasers talk about certain campaign levels not loading, certain multiplayer maps not playable and just general disc read error problems. Heck, we thought it was a fluke at the time, but even had a first hand Halo 3 disc problem where one of our copies wouldn't work on a certain 360, so we swapped out the disc with another and it fired up just fine. An odd occurrence indeed.
We're sure some of the complaints could stem from scratched discs or other 360 related hardware failures, but with our first hand experience and just the shear number of reports we've come across, we have to be at least a tad suspicious. We'll keep an eye on this mini-Halo 3 disc read error drama for further developments, but until then we advise playing Halo 3 ... that is if you don't get a disc read error.
[Thanks, xUNBOUNDx]
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
10-01-2007 @ 2:35PM
buddyleeWI said...
The first time I put the disk in my brand new 360 Elite I got that message. I took it out and put it back in and it worked fine. No problems since though. I'am keeping an eye on it though.
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10-01-2007 @ 2:37PM
jojopet said...
I work at a certain retailer called *#*$stop and I got a regular edition returned yesterday. It was flawless on the back. We've had a few regular editions have this problem.
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10-01-2007 @ 2:38PM
MY2NADS said...
In a way I'm so glad that I bought the Legendary edition since that has less of a problem apparently but now I have to return 3 of the legendary since I preorder too many, ok I was going to ebay em but it seems that no one wants em.
Oh well I guess get my $400+ dollars back and use that money towards a new puter.
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10-01-2007 @ 2:42PM
jm6k said...
I have had a problem with Halo 3 giving me the disk read error. It happens to me either right before I start a campaign level, before I enter Forge, before I enter the Theater, or before or after I get done with a game online. I've swapped my disk out twice now, and they both have been giving me problems. I'm beginning to think the Gamestop where I got mine received a bad batch of Halo 3 copies.
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10-01-2007 @ 2:51PM
kakoschris said...
Yeah, this happened to me launch night when I bought my legendary copy and a regular copy that came with my new elite (which RROD'ed the next day subsequently).
I figured it was because my 20gb drive is from launch 2005 and that its so fragmented from repeated moves, deletions etc that halo 3 which is optimized for the hard drive coulnd't write clean sectors to the HDD, I backed up everything to a memory card and formatted the HDD and no problems since
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10-01-2007 @ 2:58PM
Andy said...
Haven't had "disc read" errors, but it has frozen on me about 2-3 times while initially turning on the console, firing up the game and accessing "Resume Campaign". It'll take forever for the "halo-drawing" loading screen to finish, and will sometimes hang entirely on a black screen afterward. It's a bit annoying--I'll have to restart/reboot my console, and it'll start fine the next time.
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10-01-2007 @ 2:59PM
DeadPlasmaCell said...
No issues personally, I play with about 5 or 6 people and one did have that happen to him once, but only once so far.
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10-01-2007 @ 3:02PM
Jim said...
I've never had a problem, until I put in Halo 3. Ever since the 1st time I put the disc in, it freezes 6 to 10 times every nite. It's not just disc scratches, I returned my 1st disc hoping that was the problem, no such luck. STILL FREEZES. Now, I'm sure I'll get the 3ROD.
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10-01-2007 @ 3:07PM
Spitkicker said...
Well I have been playing it like crazy since it's release with absolutely no issues...then again I could be one of the lucky ones.
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10-01-2007 @ 3:11PM
Si said...
Working fine for me...
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10-01-2007 @ 3:14PM
poprocker said...
isn't just halo 3. all of my disks do that from time to time. nothing permanent or anything. i think it's just the flaky, Noisy as heck dvd player.
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10-01-2007 @ 3:21PM
Aki said...
I have the basic Halo 3 game and the disc is visibly scratched already. I cannot play the first mission anymore, I get the 'disc is unreadable' everytime after the animation before the actual 1st mission gameplay begins.
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10-01-2007 @ 3:32PM
xVOLTAx said...
I have had this problem with my regular edition Halo 3. Will not load single player, but the multiplayer is just fine.
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10-01-2007 @ 3:35PM
RangerPrimeX said...
no problems here
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10-01-2007 @ 3:50PM
Andy R said...
Hasn't happened with my disc.
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10-01-2007 @ 3:57PM
Ruhmann said...
I used to get a lot of disc read errors for another game I had. I learned a trick that shouldn't work, but it does. When you start up your 360, always open and close the tray before playing. Ever since I started doing that, I haven't had a single disc read error. Strange, but true.
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10-01-2007 @ 4:00PM
Edog said...
xUNBOUNDx here. I'm starting to think that there is a bad batch of disc out that is only evident on certain 360's. Sounds weird but reading Dustin's first hand disc problem and hearing a rumor on xbox forums that a phone tech let slip that M$ thinks it's a combo of two problems make this an interesting "issue". I had returned my disc 3X already, no scratches, all with the same disc scratch error. On a positive note if it weren't for my Haloz woes I wouldn't have played Stunman for 3 hrs. straight last week to get me my 1st #1 ranking on xbox live. yeah.
http://profile.gamebattles.com/UnboundEdog/photo-399993.html
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10-01-2007 @ 4:03PM
Al Miller said...
The DVD drives in the original Xbox and 360's have always been flakey. My launch day Xbox would only read Halo about 20% of the time. I returned it right away and the new one worked flawlessly until last month.
I think there is so much data and copy protection on these game disks now that if the DVD drive is even a a hair out of alignment, it won't read game disks.
I'd be willing to pay $100 extra for them to build an fricken Xbox 360 with higher quality parts then the Sh*t parts they have been using thus far. Sony has really screwed up this generation of consoles as far as games go, but their machine is soooo much more stable than Microsoft's IMO.
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10-01-2007 @ 4:15PM
angryguy77 said...
The only thing that this game is suffering from is lazy level design. The last three levels inspire me to never play the game again. I loved Halo 1 and 2, but Bungie could have did much better. Fighting the flood sucks bad because you can't fight, you have to run. Why in the world did they make a level where the only way to get out is to run. Its not fun. The first part of the game rocked, but those last 3 levels were boring as hell. I didn't let the hype get to me, but where were the levels like they had in the ads? When I watched those, I really thought there were going to be some epic field battles. But I was wrong. And why did they cut corners? Because they had to focuse so much on the mp. I enjoy the death match like everyone else, but am I the only one that is seeing a trend where the developers are neglecting the single play mode in favor of online?
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10-01-2007 @ 4:17PM
B-RYAN said...
I have had BIG Problems. First Halo 3 was messing up with me on campaign. It would freeze up and I would start the system over. It still kept messing up. So I went and got it exchange at game stop with no problem and it still kept doing it. (mind you there are no scartches on the game). So I called microsoft and they help me do a memory maintance on it. It work for a day. The next day i was playing it and it stop on me agin. So I cut it off and was Greeted with three lovely RED lights. Now I am piss because this is the third time in less then a year that I have to have my xbox sent off to get fix. Not only that NO Fucking Halo 3. My girl is more piss then anything. I am trying to get a replacement sent instead. But major bull. Anyone else having problems like me?
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