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How Many 360s have YOU gone through?
warder808
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My 360 just got the 3 rings again. This happened to me just 4 months ago in April. April 8th to be exact.
So has anyone had a "repaired" unit break down on them this fast? Is there anything that we as consumers can do to make sure we get a newer working model? I dont know if MS just gives us consoles that are old, so they can burn through their old inventory or what.
I know some will answer just don't play on the 360 anymore. The thought has crossed my mind but I really like the games and online service. I'm just pretty upset, and wondering if we have any options.
I think when I get the next one this will be number 5.
So has anyone had a "repaired" unit break down on them this fast? Is there anything that we as consumers can do to make sure we get a newer working model? I dont know if MS just gives us consoles that are old, so they can burn through their old inventory or what.
I know some will answer just don't play on the 360 anymore. The thought has crossed my mind but I really like the games and online service. I'm just pretty upset, and wondering if we have any options.
I think when I get the next one this will be number 5.
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Obviously the hardware is very sensitive to heat, based on what we know.
Therefore, I think that the people who have had "great luck" and "never an RROD" are people that have their systems in an area that is not only cool, but well ventilated.
The people who've consistently gone through multiple 360s with RRODs, I think these are the people who have their 360s in tightly enclosed spaces, or places without hardly any ventilation, or jammed next to a few other electronics generating heat, or crammed into an entertainment center with some/all of the above.
edit: in answer to the OP, I don't have a 360 (for fear of this very reason), but I have 2 friends with two 360s. Never an RROD, until they moved in together, and put both their 360s in the same small media center. Three weeks later, both 360s RROD'd within a day of each other. Now they have replacements, but cleared out the media center and took off the front panels of the media center and have put large fans in front of the 360s. No RRODs since.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
First time was because of RROD the second time was because the DVD drive stopped working.
As Slash pointed out I think proper ventilation has had alot to do with this.
True, but you'd expect the console to be able to withstand the same environment that other consoles seem to be able to without issue. I mean, you don't generally hear about people on their 3rd or 4th PS3.
How well has the re-design worked for keeping the system more cool / stable? Or is it too early to tell?
I'm going to go with this reason as opposed to Slash's. You could also probably throw in "very bad luck."
If that's not well ventilated, then I don't know what is. Also, I do not live in Death Valley.
When I hear horror stories about people waiting 2 months for their replacement and it breaking down after turning it on the first time,people talking to Indians or whatever during the support call or even that you guys have to pay for the repair when your DVD drive breaks down, I look back to my own experiences here in Germany,where I never waited longer than 9 days for my 360 to come back, I always had perfectly polite and fast working people on the phone and I got 4 months of live and 2400 MS points for free and just blame all the badness on things in America just being bad.
Like, I don't know,having really cheap and bad people working at the repair center. Or the above mentioned support centers in India. That shit wouldn't fly here.
@Kaseius: God I hope now that you have a job you can get, like, a nicer tv rack or something.
Your 360 just....sits there. With the power brick next to it! That's a big nono!
That's exactly the issue. The 360 wasn't designed with the same factor of safety as the PS3 and Wii. It's literally an admitted design defect. It has been partially addressed with larger HSs in some systems and the newer chipsets help not suck in as much power (thereby producing more heat), but the system's basic design is still very sensitive to heat - more so than the PS3 and Wii and most other consoles.
Which means that it literally is not able to withstand the same environment as other consoles, based on its actual design..
I seriously truly believe that most (not all; some RRODs are inexplicable) of the RRODs are caused by the system being in a small or tight space or warm space without good enough ventilation. Often people will jam the 360 in there with a cable box and a DVD player and maybe another console, and the system just can't circulate air through its case well enough, so it RRODs. Other consoles in the very same space have a larger factor of safety built into their design and so don't have issues in literally the same space.
I'm thinking that repeat RROD people have their 360s in a place that is conducive to RRODs.
edit: I'm speaking about most RRODs, not all. Meaning, I think that this is also a large part of the reason:
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
However, my friends are a different story. One guy I know bought a 360 at launch, he has gone through five. I know two others who have each had one RROD.
I asked each of them how they had their 360's setup, and it was always the same, small enclosed spaces in entertainment centers standing upright. I keep my 360 on its side on a shelf that is in the open air.
So either I am really lucky, or that ventilation is really key to preserving your 360.
That's my dresser.
Also, I got my first job and tomorrow is my first day of work!
The power brick is a bit far from it, and it's not on the side that sucks in the majority of the air. This new 360 has been working pretty damn well compared to all the others, though. I had to go through some repair specialist who called me every 3-4 days to tell me how my repairs were going, because apparently having to repair it more than like 4 times is something they don't like.
Happy ending story time...
My 2nd 360 croaked on me a couple weeks ago, video wouldn't show, like yours Graviija. (This one was built in august 2006) I waited a week, and kept trying different things, nothing worked. So I take it into Futureshop where I bought my 3 year warranty. They send it away for me since it was past the time of coverage through Microsoft. They say it'll take roughly 4-6 weeks to come back. Fine.
Speed ahead 1 week I get a call yesterday from Futureshop, saying that Microsoft was unable to fix my 360.....so I need to bring in all the cables, power block, and controller that came with the broken one. I said ok.
She then proceeds to say that they will have to give me a new one from off the shelf. (needless to say I'm stoked about that)
I go in with all my used stuff, and then the woman walks over to the shelf, brings back a nice shiny new constructed in April 2008 360 PRO with HDMI port.8-)
To quote THAT GUY- "Awesome...awesome to the MAX"
I am on my second 360, and knock on wood it will be my last one. I will have to get a new hard drive though, I only have about 3-4 gigs of free space left on my HDD.
I would say a great majority of people do not have the 360 properly ventilated. The hot exhaust needs to have an unhindered exit or the intake on the thing will just keep sucking it up. I am sure this is how I killed my first 360, by placing it an entertainment cabinet with the doors closed (D:) for the first few months I had the thing. I have the second one setup so that it gets a nice cross breeze and the exhaust dissipates harmlessly outside.
My 360 was kept on my wire-frame shelf, which is not only kept cool because I have three fans in my room (I get hot easily), but also the underside of the system as well as all the sides are kept well-ventilated due to the frame of the shelf. It still died.
So I went through one. Sent it back, I got a Wii in the meantime to ease my pain, and then won a PS3 in a raffle at work. Got the 360 back and it just sat there in its hermetically-sealed bag.
I know my 10-year-old nephew really wanted Rock Band, but his parents couldn't quite afford a next-gen system and the game, so I sold his parents the 360, Rock Band and all the accessories for $150.
Very cool of you, good stuff.8-):^:
I have this problem as well. It is extremely irksome.
Yeah this has happened to a couple of my friends, at first I just tell em to get new cables...which they did, and then that didnt work, and...then theyre angry >.> video dying is bullshit but sadly pretty common from what I hear.
Edit: oh and the reason I tell em to get new cables is that this happened to me once, I then bought new cables and my video worked again! So I guess I got lucky (or not because that was my first 360 so it then stopped reading games shortly after) but yeah >.> woot...
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Red ringed on me 3 times now and is still going strong.
And proper 3 red rings, not the one for not connecting the power properly.
Leave it for a couple of days, come back and BAM it has returned from the dead!
I think if I play Resident Evil on it there will be some kind of time paradox.
It's such an extremely odd problem. The whole RROD thing. It's been admitted that heat is the cause and the issue. But how do RRODs occur in situations like yours or Kaseius's? Very baffling. Obviously something else is at play here (in addition to the design defect). I'm guessing that some units were just not built properly (and certainly not repaired/replaced properly). I dunno.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Microsoft had a 360 on display at the last GDC. It red-ringed for all to see.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Another thing that could be contributed to the problem is amount and duration of gaming sessions, I would think.
Mine's always been in a totally open area for it to breathe, but I did play it a lot and have had a lot of heavy gaming sessions.
DAMN YOU! You quoted my post missing the words "electronic store".
360 Nr 2: Also scratched discs but much less, only "streaks" on the discs that did not affect gameplay.
360 Nr 3: (Refurb). Works, but sometimes I get a clunking sound when it changes tracks on discs. Optical drives do not like me, although no RRoR so thats something I guess. Since hot air is expelled towards the wall: does it dissipate or build up & become hotter & hotter?
I would angle that 360 to the right instead of towards the wall.
Well like you said, the actual design is inherently flawed (or at least, has a lower tolerance), and so is more prone to overheating. So you'll sometimes get rare cases of overheating even in favourable conditions.
MS pushed the 360 out too soon. They managed to beat out Sony quite soundly by this (by the time the PS3 launched, the 360 was getting it's first proper AAA titles), but I'd be willing to bet that this cost them a LOT in terms of replacements and maintenance. They've really established themselves as a platform this generation as a result, and a company like Microsoft can probably absorb the costs involved, but it's still a major pain for the buyer.
Having to send your console away for 3-6 weeks shouldn't be a standard experience or accepted risk of merely owning it, and I sincerely hope MS take care to do more thorough testing when the next generation rolls around. They've established their reputation now, they can afford to take a little longer and get it RIGHT next time so that when the console launches, it's REALLY ready for the marketplace.
1, its on
2, its off
3, its horizontal
4, its vertical
5, not enough ventilation
6, too much ventilation
7, Phase of the moon
7, it exists
8, it doesn't exist
But even so. When you've got this thing with a tiny factor of safety, the smallest unforeseen variables can cause failure. Unfortunately, it seems that for some units, probably ones that were not built "as well" as some of the others, are probably in a situation where the system's own heat can build up enough, over the course of playing a game for long periods of time, can cause it to RROD, even when it's not jammed into a tight place.
The only other reason that a system can be building up excessive heat inside its own case is when you have a ton of devices plugged into it. Like stuff plugged into the USB. The usb devices, small though they may be, are self-powered; meaning, they pull power from the USB port, which takes its power from the system, which brings it in from the power supply. Thus generating more heat inside the unit. Normally, for computers and other consoles, that amount of heat is negligible. But for something like the 360, which is already squeezed into this tiny margin of acceptable heat ranges, anything no matter how small probably has an effect.
That's why it's a bad idea to buy those cheap third party USB-powered external case fans. They do more harm than good.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
...Well he might take to chainsawing 360s...
Is that also overheating?
Is this Schroedinger's 360?