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360 graphical problem am I screwed?

ScooterJonesScooterJones Registered User regular
So I fired up the 360 to play the crackdown 2 demo and noticed all these weird various colored dots/artifacts. At first I thought this was some form of 'barrier' to limit the demo zone. I was unfortunately quite wrong D: The longer I played the more apparent these artifacts became. So I quite playing the demo and loaded up Red Dead Redemption, same problem if I look at gray walls I get gray black dot lines, if I road into the wilds I had green and at times read dots. These don't show up on the DEAD! screen but doe in some of the menus and other screens. I tried other games they have them too and they get worse the longer the system is on.

I've tried using different inputs to my TV, normally I use HDMI cable, so I switched to a different cable no help, I tried using and RGB computer cable no improvement either. I then turned on my PS3 and no artifacts whatsoever, so that seems to rule out the TV.

So am I screwed? Is my Xbox dieing? Do I have any options? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

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ScooterJones on

Posts

  • Irond WillIrond Will WARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!! Cambridge. MAModerator mod
    edited June 2010
    your graphics card is probably going

    not much to be done if your box is out of warranty

    Irond Will on
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  • Mr_GrinchMr_Grinch Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Send it back if it's in warranty, if it's not trade it in (just kidding).

    There are some things you can attempt to do though, it could (potentially) be overheating. My 360 went this way before it up'd and died. I managed to get some more life out of it by:

    - Take off the existing clamps and apply some new thermal paste.
    - Google for x-clamps, they generally do a good job.
    - Mod the fan, you can hook it up to the dvd-drive power cable and do what's known as the 12v fan mod. It'll sound like a jet engine but it helps cool things.
    - Modify the shroud that covers the fans, this is the biggy that worked for me. There are instructions out there, the theory is that both fans blow in to this shroud but aren't really very well directed. The airflow isn't great. You get a piece of card and put it in the shroud in between the two fans, essentially giving the gpu and cpu one fan each.

    On my 'new' second hand 360, through a combination of the 12v fan mod and the shroud mod I've got my Xenon (original, hot running type) down from running at:

    CPU: 81c
    GPU: 75c

    to

    CPU: 52c
    GPU: 49c

    Other than that I'm afraid it's new 360 time.

    Mr_Grinch on
    Steam: Sir_Grinch
    PSN: SirGrinchX
    Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
  • ScooterJonesScooterJones Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for the advice guys. If I buy a new xbox can I transfer everything over with one of those harddrive transfer cables?

    ScooterJones on
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  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for the advice guys. If I buy a new xbox can I transfer everything over with one of those harddrive transfer cables?

    Everything but game installations, yes. Just have it set up online and you won't have to deal with licensing for any arcade games you might have.

    Synthesis on
  • ScooterJonesScooterJones Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Well all that said, should I get the new xbox slim thing to replace my ailing one?

    ScooterJones on
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  • Irond WillIrond Will WARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!! Cambridge. MAModerator mod
    edited July 2010
    Well all that said, should I get the new xbox slim thing to replace my ailing one?

    i don't see why not. it uses newer hardware, has more memory, and runs much quieter.

    Irond Will on
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  • El GuacoEl Guaco Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    For what it's worth, I just sent my 5 year old Elite in for repairs, fully expecting to pay $99 since it was long out of warranty. They not only fixed it for free, they gave me a gift card for 1 month of Live.

    Even if I had ended up paying $99 for repairs, it's still a lot cheaper than $299 for a new one.

    Edit: By "fixed" I mean they sent me a refurbished Elite.

    El Guaco on
  • ScooterJonesScooterJones Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    How long was your Xbox in for repairs? Did you get a box from them to send it in?

    ScooterJones on
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  • El GuacoEl Guaco Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    You go on the xbox web site and open a repair ticket. It asks you for the serial number on the xbox which they use to track warranty status. They then have you print out instructions on how to ship it along with a shipping label for UPS. They expect you to provide your own box and packing materials (they recommend bubble wrap). It really doesn't matter what kind of box as long as the xbox is reasonably protected. You're not going to get any of this stuff back so don't send back your limited edition box or anything you want to keep. Also, you ship _just_ the xbox and none of the cables or hard drive or any other accessories. Most likely you will not get your xbox back, but a refurbished one.

    The entire process took about a week and a half (for me). The web site gives an estimate of 2-3 weeks.

    The repair experience left me with warm fuzzies considering I figured I was going to pay for repairs or a new xbox. And getting back so fast was even better. YMMV.

    El Guaco on
  • ScooterJonesScooterJones Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Thanks Gauco! I'll give that a try.

    ScooterJones on
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  • Dark ShroudDark Shroud Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    FYI, the new one isn't officially called a slim.

    Dark Shroud on
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