Believe it or not, about half-way through last year, I considered gathering together a list of 360 games I'd want, and plan on trying to receive the console as a gift for Christmas.

Long story short, finding more and more articles about broken 360's and troubles getting those broken 360's repaired have caused me to change my mind.  It's really just Microsoft's loss.

Why did the hardly-ever-fail Playstation 3 get a slimmer, sexier, quieter more power-efficient model only 2 years after it's initial release, YET..


The constantly noisy, 60%-failure rate, overheating, quickly/poorly designed, shelf-dominatingly large XBox 360 hasn't had any significant hardware change.. (a new chip, wow)


Saying that, if the rumoured Natal package comes with a slim, sexy, quiet, wi-fi included 360 system, that'd be an instabuy for me!

the main reason why i have yet to pull the trigger on buying an Xbox360.

edit: the failure rate, not the possibility of a revision with Natal.

Wow, James, that is one epic dose of FAIL. I especially like that the guy's name is "Biff." You could have easily made a reference "Death of a Salesman." You took the high road--something I would not have done. This story, and this story alone is reason enough for me to avoid buying an Xbox 360 of any make or model. This is more horrible than the Red Ring of Death to me, because every day you're sitting there and it's NOT getting done. I would crawling the walls. Pure rage would be spewing from my frothy lips. I couldn't stand it when the Best Buy took six weeks to deliver Soul Calibur IV, for Cthulhu's sake.

Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 is not worth this potential price. I'm sorry, Kasumi. You and your "breast physics" will have to wait.

Hey, look, there's a PSP version coming out. Not kidding! Who's got two thumbs and is VERY happy? THIS GUY.

Keep us appraised, James. As much as your story blows, it's hilariously written.

Also, I think it would be great if you read this on the air on RFN. To read it is one thing, to have it narrated is entirely another.

Wow, what an epic failure of customer service.  Stuff like this is why I decided to go with the PS3 instead of the 360 when I decided to buy an HD console.  Granted, I had to switch out my PS3's Blu-Ray drive a few months after I got my (used) PS3, but I had that thing sent out and back within a week.  Your experience with Microsoft is just incredible...I hope you really put a fire under them and not only get your system back fixed, but definitely some extra benefits for all that they've put you through.

This article is only a is only a stones throw away from one of those nonsensical something awful stories about non-existent corporations which like to quantum link bladders in an attempt to solve the the equally non-existent problem of relieving oneself.

Only this is for real.

It mystifies me as to how such a shoddy product could sell so many millions let alone have fanboys willing to suffer through this Nth number of times talking to people on the otherside of the world who know as much as you do and care as much as a paperweight.

The only silver lining to this situation is the fact that Microsoft doesn't make cars. In any other industry they would have been completely destroyed by the competition, lawsuits or regulation for their continued incompetence.

You should send them a second package with your shoes in it, maybe it will turn into an x-box. Does that work in reverse? could be worth a try.

Send an e-mail to advocate@microsoft.com explaining your situation. A guy named Steve will call you back within 24 hours, and he'll make sure you get your system back ASAP. I should have mentioned this a long time ago if I didn't.

Ha. Dear me. You've got a natural knack for humour, James. I know this story shouldn't be funny, and really, it is abysmal that Microsoft's technical support call centres put you through all this. I mean, they should have the best customer service of "the Big Three", seeing as they probably receive the most calls about their system breaking down.

I also would categorise myself as "Person who has not bought an Xbox 360 because of horror stories such as this" and I will remain this way until Microsoft definitively fixes it (although the fact they have continued to not act upon this mass hardware misfire doesn't exactly fill me with hope).

The VERY FIRST time I turned on my Xbox it red ringed. When I immediately tried to get my Xbox exchanged it was held hostage by Target for a month. They spent that time determining whether or not they should give me a return (I had a warranty through them) or send it to Microsoft to get it fixed. After that, it went through the standard Microsoft hell where its status was "repaired" for weeks.  I buy an Xbox and it is months before I can even play it.... good times.

In other news, my DS Lite broke and within a week of me calling Nintendo I had a new DS.

This should be going to the consumerist. 

Technically I haven't had a 360 "die" on me yet, but the first one I bought (a Pro 20GB) was dead out of the box with a bad hard drive.  Fortunately I was able to take it back to Microplay that day and exchange it for one that actually worked.

I knew that that particular console was also a ticking time bomb, so I sold it on eBay and bought a newer Elite.  I've used it sparingly so its Doomsday Clock has yet to tick down much, but I'm sure it'll roll over and die eventually.

Maybe it's better to have it tick faster so it fails inside the warranty.

James your best bet is to rewrite this into a letter and send (via written tracked means) to every complaints department known to man.I've done this and have snagged some freebies/benefits out of Sky TV, T-Mobile, my last job, and Virgin Atlantic. And grovelling too.

Just suffix it with "Microsoft is the worst thing since the invention of humanity" and you'll be set.

All this money people spend on Xbox 360s could buy you a killer gaming PC.

Just yesterday I was browsing Destructoid and saw a story about a UK survey that reported more people have had three 360s die on them than have had one PS3 or Wii die.  If they had returned your 360 in a reasonable time frame, it's likely it would have been back in their hands again by now anyway.

Seriously, do the e-mail that I put in my other post. This goes for anyone - the repair status on xbox.com is not very accurate, especially if your system goes to Texas. The guy named Steve will call you (repeatedly), to tell you the status, tell you when it really ships, and after you receive your console.

That still won't play Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts.

That really isn't a big loss...

Neither is ignoring the PC altogether.  :P:

It's worth going thru 3 Xbox 360s to be able to play Rare's latest and greatest, right?

If you don't want a PC, why not a PS3? more reliable and 80% of the same games as an Xbox 360. Is it the gamerscore?

Yeah MS customer service for the 360 is horrendous, took me over 2 months to get mine back.

After the last two generations, Sony's newfound reliability is a pleasant surprise.  I keep wondering if maybe it's really not any better, just overshadowed so completely that no one notices.

I remember someone else who wrote for a different news site (gonintendo probably) was able to get help after being fuck around (hung up on, lie to, etc...) with consumer support line, and from just writing about it their site they where contacted by Microsoft press relations and got a new 360. So just pretend you're are a writer for a important videogame related news site that has more than 15 readers and email billg@microsoft.com and anyone on this list, like others have before, and get them to think you're important. Unlike there other lowly peasant customers.

I did the same exact thing, too bad the PS3 has no good games...

I sent an email at 12.  He called me at 3:30 but I was in a meeting.  We played phonetag the rest of the afternoon.  Wasn't Steve though.

I just got a call from the advocate.  I am impressed.  Hopefully I'll have a full update tomorrow.

And then after a quick install of a few emulators you're playing every game for every system! ;)

User was warned for this post.

LOL

Surely you jest Stevey.

I for one advocate scorched earth tactics. They need to be taught a lesson. Forcing you to go above their heads and using contacts most people do not have is unacceptable.

That Billion dollars they allocated for RRoD alone could have brought a milllion decent gaming PCs.

Burn them, burn them now.

:confused;

Crimm, Microsoft is a petulant child and you are rewarding there bad behaviour. Burn them, burn them now.

That was the first great non-PC game I could think of (and yes, it is great). How about Earth Defense Force 2017?

Earth Defense Force 2017 is very good. Need a port to the Wii ;)

That is a cool story but I had the exact opposite experience and enjoy playing my 360 daily. Woot.

Is that why you do nothing here?  Your system works?

Well I had all three systems die on me; both the WII and the PS3 had drive troubles (the Blu-ray laser needed replacement for the PS3 and on the WII the entire drive was replaced).  My Xbox 360 suffered from E74 error message which is almost as popular as the Red Ring of Death.

For customer support, Big N wins hands down.  Took less than 10 days and I recieved MY WII back--not some refurbished unit.  Hell, when I ordered an replacement sensor bar they nextday shipped it which costed them $17.  That's A+ rating.

Isn't the E74 error just MS fixing the 360's so that the red of death didn't show up and then they can say that that error wasn't covered in the repair program even though they ended up fixing them anyway? Or was that all just some crazy conspiracy theory?

I've had two RRODs, one in January 2008 and another in December 2009.  After the first, Microsoft repaired my console and sent it back to me.  After the second, Microsoft sent me a refurbished one.  In both instances I got a console back around 20 to 25 days after I shipped mine.  The customer service people were generally helpful and fortunately I didn't experience a nightmare like the writer of this article.  That said, I am very disappointed in the Xbox 360.  I can understand that they might have had problems with the console design, but if they truly understand what the problem is, why did my console RROD a second time after they supposedly fixed it?  The second RROD has shaken my faith that Microsoft has resolved the console's issues and I am not playing on buying any additional 360 games.  I already have a large library of uncompleted games and don't want to feel obligated to buy a new one when this one enevitably RRODs.  I now have a PS3 Slim and do most of my HD gaming on it.  It is 10 times quieter than my 360, has a bigger hard drive which I can replace if I choose, and is much cooler to the touch.  In my opinion with the new price, its a no-brainer, if you are in the market for a HD console, buy a PS3.       

I made my own 250GB HDD, so drive noise is no longer an issue for me. Also, E74 has existed just as long as the 3 red lights issue (3 red lights is not *always* the GPU either), and it is very closely related to the 3 red lights (secondary error code 0103), but it's not a cover up or anything like that. It's either the scaler chip going bad, or an "exit point" from the GPU to the scaler.

Yeah, E74 is basically either the GPU or the scaler chip overheated.  You should get 2 rings of death but for some reason you get just the 1 meaning hardware failure. 

To fix the issues you can fix them yourself 90% of the time.  You just remove the GPU's fan; restart the console--you'll get the 2 rings then which means overheating; reinstall the fan and use LOTS of thermal paste; and then buy an Ram heatsink and chop it to fit on the scaler chip; install it and add a bit of weight on it (people use stacks of pennies--I used cast iron bits).  Once you restart the system it should be fine. 

There's plenty of youtube files to help you.  I fixed one myself so it's fairly easy.

Doesn't lots of thermal paste reduce the heat conducting ability since the stuff is only meant to fill the cracks, not replace the metal-to-metal contact?

The less paste you use, the better. It needs to be very thin and even to work properly. You could put a *very* thin layer on the bottom of the heatsink and use a credit card to go *across the grain* to fill in tiny cracks though, and removing any "surface" paste. This will *never* fix the issue, but it may make it go away for a while. E74 is not overheating, btw - overheating is 2 red lights, which is an easy fix.

No if you read my post you'll have to overheat your system in order to reset the lighter otherwise it'll just stay with 1 ring or 3 rings.  Some people use the towel method but I wouldn't recommend it because it causes more harm then good.  It's easier just to remove the silver heat sink on the GPU and restart the system causing it to blink 2 rings within seconds.  Once you do that you'll be able to restart the system and it'll go though the normal check system. 

People use the towel method (basically cooking the XBox by blocking the case intake) which will overheat the system but it takes like 40 minutes and could actually warp your board.  Alot of people use this method because it doesn't break the warranty sticker and you can sell it on Ebay or trade it in Gamestop because the system wil function but it's not going to last.  To fix the issue you really have to break into the system.

As for the themeral paste I used more than enough because the problem really has to do with the clips.  The heatsink is held down by these crappy clips which is why the heatsink seperates from the chip.  I didn't have any replacement parts for the clips (some people state you should have them replaced).  Hell some people didn't like the heatsink at all and replaced it with a much larger one.  I didn't brother with all that but I did add vent holes directly above the GPU. 

:O 5th of December! I got an email on that day it read.
Thank you for contacting us.
One of our consultants will contact you to assist with your enquiry.

We aim to respond within two business days however due to a larger than expected demand for our services wait times are currently exceeding four business days.
 
Your reference number is  INT 1-26211720859, however if your request is urgent, please ring us at 132200.

Ymeegod - that's old school thinking. Overheating the system is bad, no matter what, even if it's just the GPU (I used to use this method) - it still causes the board to warp, which is actually why the system works afterwards, because the board warps in the opposite direction. Also, while the "X-Clamps" probably aren't the best architectural design in the world, the warping issues have more to do with the lack of evenly placed spaces between the motherboard and the metal chassis, and the lead-free (cheap) solder used to adhere the GPU and CPU (and everything else, but these are the main problems) to the motherboard. Luckily, the switch to the 65nm GPU (Jasper systems) has basically fixed this issue, as (unless you have the system enclosed in a box or small cabinet or something) the console never gets hot enough to cause the motherboard to flex.

Every time I consider getting an XBox 360, I am reminded by stories like this why I shouldn't.

Get one, a new one. It will not break, plus you get 3 years anyway.

Actually the new ones break just as easy as the OLD ones, Jaspers didn't fix nothing other than now you get different error messages along with RRoD.  Really the only way to avoid the issue is to tackle it before it becomes a problem which voids your warranty.

MS really haven't fixed the issue.

Jasper fixes the problem, dude. Sure there are probably a couple that will still break (could even be a cold solder joint from the factory), but the systems simply don't get hot enough to make the board warp anymore. I'm not saying they're all perfect now, but they're much more in line with the 3-5% failure rate that comes along with most consoles.

What's the serial numbers that indicate a Jasper board?

Don't worry about serial numbers, go buy manufacturing date and/or power supply info. If the 12v says 12.1 A, then it's 100% a jasper, also just about any console with a mfr date of 11/08 or later is guaranteed to be a Jasper, unless it's an elite, which probably started showing up last March, maybe a little sooner.

Also, the Jasper systems come with a 150 watt PSU (though they can use the older 175 watt or 203 watt PSU as well, but no other systems can use the 150 watt).

Looks like I got one of the last non-Jaspers then.

Sometimes the info is wrong on the console too, though. What is your mfr date? Even if it's a Falcon, they still last a wee bit longer than the (much) older consoles, typically.

My first 360 behaved weirdly after a very short period.  I would turn it on, and the video wouldn't display.  Then I'd turn it off and back on and it would work fine.  It was completely reliable otherwise and this behavior was reliable like clockwork.  I sold it on eBay with an explanation of the behavior and included the original receipt (with 9 months of warranty left) and got the going market rate for a working 360.  That was a surprise.  I purchased a new 360 with HDMI port and haven't had any trouble with it (despite playing it twice as much as the old one if my increased gamerscore is a reliable indication).