One man's fight for his Xbox 360.

coll9947

Hello everyone, long time reader, first time poster. I would like to share with you my Xbox 360 experiences. Here's a link to my post on Microsoft's own Xbox 360 forums. Please give it a read. Tell me if I am off base. I'm trying to breathe fire into this cause, to fight for everyone with a broken 360 which Microsoft will not fix because it hasn't RRoD'ed.

http://forums.xbox.com/17880687/ShowPost.aspx

Thanks guys.

coll9947

"The following is pure speculation. Conspiracy theory. If I was a multi-billion dollar megacorporation, that made a billion dollar gamble on a piece of electronics hardware that began to fail at an alarming, possibly lawsuit-worthy rate, I would do whatever I could to hedge my bet (including hiding the failure rate). I would smile and shake hands and tell people that I was going to do everything in my power to fix this whole mess, and that consumers have nothing to worry about, because I'll take care of it, on my nickel even. I have the power of being the company that developed the hardware and the software, and I know what is causing the error code to appear for most users experiencing a hardware failure, and I have several methods of changing the firmware's behavior to show that error code significantly less for many issues, thus lowering what I will have to pay out of pocket to fix my own mess. I could integrate the change into an online update, or put it as a firmware update on the games to reach offline users as well. Make the consoles error code with three red lights less, and there will be less of them to fix. In fact, if we can convince many of the owners of defective consoles (that thanks to a sleezy update will never RRoD) to actually PAY US to fix OUR own problem, we might even be able to make back some of this money. So perhaps there are thousands of Xbox 360 users out there with error codes just like mine, if not much worse, that six months ago would have had their Xbox 360 fixed on Microsoft's nickel that are now being asked to pay $100 plus shipping. If this were all true it would be very compromising for MS if an enterprising hacker were to stumble upon some code changes deep in the Xbox 360 that could be incriminating. That is of course, IF this is all true, and we all know it isn't. Right? This couldn't possibly be true, could it? I hope not, and I do not believe it, but it's a scenario that I just can't get out of my head in the days of Enron and oil companies paying scientists to refute global warming."

WickerBasket

Awful wordy for what you're trying to say. Also, you get plain crazy near the end.

The RRoD was the fault that caused people the most trouble and MS have responded to that with a 3 year warrantee for that specific problem. However, the failure rate of DVD drive in the console are within industry standard so I doubt MS will change the warrantee on the console itself.

It's no different from how other companies, such as Sony, operate.

Towly

I knew seeing that wall of text it would be a waste of my time to read it.

Willeth

You're SOL. If your console breaks within the 1-year warranty, you can get it replaced. If it breaks outside of that, you're not entitled to jack-shit unless it red-rings.

In fact, IIRC, MS aren't required by any law to offer a warranty above one year in any territory.

coll9947

How can any of you POSSIBLY defend MS in all of this!? This is outrageous!

Unreadable wall of text = you're too lazy. Would you like me to double space everything for you? I'll even make the nouns a different color from the verbs if that helps. I could also get you a pillow for your aching hemorrhoids.

Willeth

Well, you could actually format it sensibly for a start. Paragraphs are a great invention.

If ANYTHING in your 360 breaks within a year, then you can get a replacement/repair no problem. If it's outside the year you're only covered for a general hardware failure, a specific fault denoted by the red rings, not any failure of the hardware.

EDIT: You also claim that they could fix your disc drive with a firmware update. They can't. Your drive is broken. They've improved the disc drives in the new models, which is about all they can do.

EDIT 2: Wait, hang on. Are you actually accusing Microsoft of announcing their 3-year warranty, and then removing the console's ability to display the three red light code? That's libel, and you're an idiot.

slash000

Your conspiracy theory is highly unlikely and ridiculous.


Want to know what happened when Sony had DREs with its PS2s in mass numbers? Let consumers pay for it. Up front.

It took a class-action lawsuit before Sony did anything about it.


At least in this case, Microsoft spared us the wait for a class action lawsuit to file and proceed, and straight up offered a 3-year warranty for RROD. Even if you're past your initial 1 year purchase warranty.



My recommendation is that you take off your tin-foil hat and spend some time contemplating more important things.


Your theory is ridiculous, and would be easily, very easily discovered if MS were doing such a thing.


Also, I think RROD is caused by heat issues, which, if I recall correctly, have been somewhat addressed with newer systems with larger heatsinks.

wobblyheadedbob

coll9947 wrote: »

How can any of you POSSIBLY defend MS in all of this!? This is outrageous!

Unreadable wall of text = you're too lazy. Would you like me to double space everything for you? I'll even make the nouns a different color from the verbs if that helps. I could also get you a pillow for your aching hemorrhoids.

O_o

coll9947

Apparently no one on any forum I go to spends their OWN money on their gaming consoles and accessories, because if you did, and your console went down in a ball of fire like mine, you would be just as angry.

slash000

Also, good luck trying to get people to agree with you by calling them lazy and patronizing them.

Ass.

WickerBasket

coll9947 wrote: »

How can any of you POSSIBLY defend MS in all of this!? This is outrageous!

Unreadable wall of text = you're too lazy. Would you like me to double space everything for you? I'll even make the nouns a different color from the verbs if that helps. I could also get you a pillow for your aching hemorrhoids.

There's no need to defend MS. There's nothing to defend. I explained it in my previous post.

Edit: Also, you may want to consider that it isn't the entire internet that's wrong. Yeah, it sucks if your console fails out of warrantee and you didn't have the extended warrantee but it's the same with all electronics.

slash000

coll9947 wrote: »

Apparently no one on any forum I go to spends their OWN money on their gaming consoles and accessories, because if you did, and your console went down in a ball of fire like mine, you would be just as angry.

Hey retard, most of us here have spent our own hard-earned cash on our consoles.

But instead of whining about it and devising the most absurd and ridiculous conspiracy theories, we took MS up on their free offer of replacement.


Shit happens. At least MS came out up front about it and did something without dragging it out over a lawsuit.

Pheezer

Here's the thing: There's a lot of text on the internet that I could be reading. To make me choose to read yours you need to present it in a manner that doesn't make it any more difficult than it has to be. Your lack of proper formatting (PARAGRAPHS, ASSHOLE) makes me not care about whatever it is you think I should know.

Basically, stop acting like you deserve readers. No one cares, we've heard it all before, and this time the re-telling is sloppy and boring.

Also nobody cares that your DVD drive failed after it was out of warranty and that you feel this to be an outrage. It's a pretty rare occurrence at best anyhow, and MS's handling of the RROD situation is far more acceptable than Sony's handling of the PS2 DRE situation. Not perfect, but all the same, more than fair.

coll9947

I'm not endorsing the theory, merely putting it foward. I even say in my actual post that I don't believe it.

Willeth

coll9947 wrote: »

I even say in my actual post that I don't believe it.

What the fuck.

Pheezer

So why did you write it then

Or are you just co-opting someone else's text

In which case why do you care that no one cares?

Man, you know, just fuck off. You're not doing a very good job of this thread.

slash000

coll9947 wrote: »

I'm not endorsing the theory, merely putting it foward. I even say in my actual post that I don't believe it.

Then what the fuck do you hope to achieve here?

MS fucked up, they are currently fixing the fuckup in new editions of the console, and anyone with previous iterations of it are covered - for free - for 3 years, without making all of these people wait for a class action lawsuit to be filed and ruled upon and enforced.

They manned up about it.


I'd be pissed off too, but there's nothing we can do about it - except get it fixed for free. Don't like it? Stop buying their products. Vote with your wallet.

APZonerunner

coll9947 wrote: »

Apparently no one on any forum I go to spends their OWN money on their gaming consoles and accessories, because if you did, and your console went down in a ball of fire like mine, you would be just as angry.

In the immortal words of Peter Moore, things break. And MS have given everybody a one year warranty.

The big problems with 360 consoles all are symbolised by the RROD. The lesser problems aren't The design flaws are (mostly) symbolised by the RROD. Other issues, the kind of things that plague every system later on in life, aren't.

MS have openly admitted design flaws and extended the warranty for the RROD. However, they also say categorically that non-RROD problems are infrequent, and so they haven't extended that warranty. That to me is fair. If you're outside the warranty, sorry, but the year was there. You shouldn't be asking them to honour the 3 years for non-RROD problems, as they don't have to offer 3 years at all, even if units have design flaws that result in the ring.

slash000

I don't think you realize, Coll, just how quickly and easily something like what you've put forward would be discovered, and just how deep of shit Microsoft would be in for doing so.

They've already set aside a billion bucks to correct this. They don't need to sneak in secret updates to hide some problems. That would ultimately result in some serious legal action very, very quickly. And ultimately cost them a fuck of a lot more than fixing these issues right here and now. Not to mention the loss of consumer faith, which they've been trying to straighten out by offering the 3 year RROD warranty.

slash000

Hah, his thread in the xbox forum is just as laughable as this one.


He jumps on a guy's ass for "defend[ing] a multi-billion dollar corporation like that" when all the guy told him was that an open letter should be professionally written and not filled with profanity and poor grammar. And that nobody of importance at microsoft is going to take such a letter seriously; which is just plain and simple truth.

Goes on to bitch at everyone not immediately joining his anti-MS brigade and listening to his outrageous conspiracy theories, claiming that they must be paid off by MS.


Oh, and his thread (just like this one) on the MS tech support page was deleted. He claims they're trying to silence him. I bet it was for using profanity, if not for being ludicrous and often off-topic.

Nova_C

Coll, your attitude is ridiculous. I don't even care about your hardware anymore considering your response to anyone that doesn't shout 'Hallelujah!' Basically, you come across as a troll since you can't take any kind of criticism maturely.

Also, you freaking out about people 'defending a multi-billion dollar company' comes across as plain old entitlement. Are you entitled to your entitlements? Because the vast majority of society doesn't think anyone is entitled to squat. Your warranty has expired. Suck it up, shit happens.

Also, you condescension concerning people spending their own money on a console is pretty retarded. A lot of people spend a lot more on tech stuff and get burned than you have, so dial it back.

tofu

coll9947 wrote: »

Unreadable wall of text = you're too lazy. Would you like me to double space everything for you? I'll even make the nouns a different color from the verbs if that helps. I could also get you a pillow for your aching hemorrhoids.

That's why paragraphs were invented, dawg.

Drez

coll9947 wrote: »

How can any of you POSSIBLY defend MS in all of this!? This is outrageous!

Unreadable wall of text = you're too lazy. Would you like me to double space everything for you? I'll even make the nouns a different color from the verbs if that helps. I could also get you a pillow for your aching hemorrhoids.

It's not a matter of defending MS, it's a matter of pointing out that you are crazy.

Drez

coll9947 wrote: »

I'm not endorsing the theory, merely putting it foward. I even say in my actual post that I don't believe it.

If you're looking to share fiction, The Writer's Block is over yonder.

darleysam

And people who might care for longer than us available here.

Accualt

This man has been well and truly debased in the greatest stylings of PAforum culture.

Nothing really left to do.