Though Major Nelson (Larry Hyyb) says not to contact him with support info, I've sent him problems once or twice before and they've been dealt with. Send a plain text email, though, or it won't get through.
Yeah, that shouldn't be an issue, my 360 has been upright since launch 2005, and I've got more than 40 retail disks.
I have had one cracked disk though - Gears 1. However, the customer service guy at the online retailer said that it was likely a problem with the disk getting too hot in transit (ie delivery) which weakened it, and that it had happened with a few PC games too that week. Sounded a bit suspect to me, but hey, they sent me a replacement! Good old Gameplay.
Interesting, you're thinking about ditching the 360 for a Wii. A good choice, by the way.
I've been considering ditching $200 bucks for a 360 this very weekend.
Not that I won't continue bitching about it, but it would be nice to be able to keep up with the few games I want to play without having to borrow one every year or so.
But this problem blows. My cousins had two seperate 360's do this, losing two games each time it happend. The worst part is that by the time you notice it really chewing them up you've already lost at least one.
This isnt a common problem for the most part. The failing Xboxs are but not the breaking disc problem.
mastrius on
"You're like a kitten! A kitten who doesn't speak Japanese." ~ Juliet Starling
This is the email I'm going to send, in a few moments.
Dear Sirs/Ma'am,
I am writing to you to inform you that my Halo 3 Xbox 360 console,
which I obtained around October of 2007, has begun breaking game discs
that I put into it. So far, it has broken 2 of my games, which are
Halo 3 and Rock Band 2. It has begun to break a third game, Fable 2.
All 3 of these games have the same exact damage pattern.
I have tried to get your customer support line to assist me in this
matter, but they either stonewall me or deny the Xbox is capable of
doing this. I keep my games in their boxes, and take care of them.
This has started to happen over just the past couple of weeks. I
cannot get your customer support line to even consider fixing my Xbox,
let alone replace my games. Losing over 180$ worth of games because my
Xbox decided to break them is not a fun idea. If I cannot get them
replaced, I am not going to rebuy them just to have them broken again,
and I am not going to spend money on another Xbox to replace a
manufacturer defect. There is also the fact that I cannot buy a new
Halo Xbox 360, as they were a limited run.
As a side effect of this, I can no longer play my hundreds of Rock
Band DLC tracks, and cannot buy anymore without spending 60$ to
replace the Rock Band 2 disc.
I look forward to a reply on this matter,
#############
######@gmail.com
(###)###-####
I got the spam rejection email AGAIN. That was to only 3 addresses (steveb, khogan, robbieb).
I have sent it off again to one person at a time, rewording it to "sir" for steveb and robbieb and just "Ma'am" for khogan in the intro. I haven't seen a rejection email yet..
This is the Postfix program at host mail218-sin-R.bigfish.com.
I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
For further assistance, please send mail to <postmaster>
If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.
The Postfix program
<khogan@microsoft.com>: host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
<robbieb@microsoft.com>: host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
<steveb@microsoft.com>: host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
Final-Recipient: rfc822; khogan@microsoft.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
Final-Recipient: rfc822; robbieb@microsoft.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
Final-Recipient: rfc822; steveb@microsoft.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
FYI, Microsoft email will sometimes tell you the mail was marked as spam and not delivered, when it is actually delivered. Gives me headaches trying to talk to people I know at their work account since I never know if they actually got the mail or not until they respond.
I knew my email should have been Xx Gogeta666 xX instead of my real name! (although I keep people from knowing my middle name)
Although at first I was like "Wait, how did Consumerist find out my real name?" for a minute, and then I remembered that it's attached to my outgoing emails :P
Hey Fyre, I apologize if this has been cover since I have not read the entire thread yet. just wanted to say that the EXACT same thing used to happen to my discs as well - exact same placement of the cracks and everything. I speak in the past tense as it no longer does occur.
When this was happening I had my 360 placed vertically directly on the floor. I'm pretty sure that the verticality combined with the fact that the floor may've been slightly off-center was what was cracking discs. I lost RB and CoD4 to this. Two cracks, exact same as yours.
Anticlimacticly, all I've done is placed my 360 on a TV stand horizontally and it hasn't happened since.
Hey Fyre, I apologize if this has been cover since I have not read the entire thread yet. just wanted to say that the EXACT same thing used to happen to my discs as well - exact same placement of the cracks and everything. I speak in the past tense as it no longer does occur.
When this was happening I had my 360 placed vertically directly on the floor. I'm pretty sure that the verticality combined with the fact that the floor may've been slightly off-center was what was cracking discs. I lost RB and CoD4 to this. Two cracks, exact same as yours.
Anticlimacticly, all I've done is placed my 360 on a TV stand horizontally and it hasn't happened since.
I always recommend people put their 360 horizontal, always seemed stupid to me to place them vertically, even if it is designed for that. Too much can go wrong and frag the discs with it standing up, all it takes is a large enough shock or someone accidentally hitting it it, and the disc is pretty much worthless when it topples over.
Yeah, I was getting DREs left and right when I had mine vertical for the first couple of days I got it. I tried placing it horizontal and the problem all but disappeared, and I've had it horizontal since then.
But fuck, it should work. Especially if it's advertised as a goddamned bullet point.
When I first got my 360 I had it standing vertical.. and when my cat rubbing her chin on the console dislodged the disc, I learned real fast that horizontal is better. Maybe she was being overzealous, it was a brand new thing to get her stink all over.
Not that this has anything to do with FyreWulff's problem. I'm just providing anecdotal evidence that flat is best.
Except for my Wii, which comes with a stand designed for it by Nintendo themselves, NONE of my systems have ever been vertical (except towards the end when my PS1 was dying due to Monster Rancher-itis and I almost had to have that puppy on it's hindquarters) and I've never understood why the designers went for this.
It's a disc player. Shouldn't the disc be stable? I'm sure there are ways to do it, but it always seemed prone to problems with the 360 or the PS3.
Obviously, optical drives have moving parts and all, but they seem to be very prone to failure on consoles. Does anyone know of a comparison between PC and/or standalone drives and those included in consoles?
I'm thinking that Disclosure must have been a documentary.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I've had pretty bad luck with DVD drives in my PC as well. Not disc cracking problems, but I don't use my DVD drive anywhere near as heavily as a console does.
But after a few months the drive just stops reading discs or tries to read them, before bitching that it's corrupt.
My suspicion is that when DVD drives became a commodity item, quality started to drop and now they cause all kinds of problems.
So, in an effort of good faith, I called up Microsoft again today.
Well, this time they actually bothered to register my Xbox, but then I had to listen to him pratically yell at me that it was impossible for the Xbox to do anything to the discs, and that I shouldn't move it(even though I said it's never been moved), etc. I said I just wanted the Xbox replaced, he just repeated what he said, gave me the call... number, and told me to go fill out the form to replace Halo 3 for 20$.
Fuck. That. Shit.
Do I just call up again and just say supervisor to the first agent that picks up the phone?
It also didn't help that the guy sounded like he had to go to the bathroom throughout the entire call.
edit: I'm going to sit here and collect my thoughs for a moment. Then I'm calling them and asking for a supervisor immediately, and by the time I get off the phone, they are replacing my Xbox, Halo 3, and having a way for me to get RB2 fixed by EA for free, otherwise I'm just done with Microsoft. I'll just eat the cost of losing all this DLC and just get a Wii and RB2 for that console. (I have a disc protection plan on Fable 2, so that's covered)
Why not get the ps3 version. After playing all that RB2 on a 360 I don't think I'd want to go back to wii graphics and have to deal with SD cards. (Besides the wii version of RB is a bit more expensive)
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
Because the PS2 version has shitty support and puts all the files into one big gigantic file, that would also require me to buy a PS3 for 400$+ because I'm not going to get one that can't play PS2 games.
The standard support guys are not going to replace your discs, at all, under any circumstance. You'll need to get a supervisor to escalate the call so MS calls you back. I sent you a PM with a phone number that they used to use. I'm not sure if it still works, but its worth a shot.
Also, if the call center sounds like its outside of the US, it very likely is, and you can anticipate less cooperation. I can only assume its best to call during USA business hours.
Well, I called them AGAIN, and I escalated the call.
After spending about a half hour talking with them, I'm still SOL on Halo 3, and they only are going to replace Fable 2, which I can do anyway with the disc protection I got for it. I'm going to call up EA in a moment since I have two issue numbers now I can give them to get them to replace Rock Band 2.
They also wanted to charge me money to fix their broken console.
So, in short, this is my last MS console.
edit: also the dead giveaway that they are in India is the way that the trip up/pronounce Omaha.
*shrug* I have the PS3 version and have no complaints other than not being able to delete individual songs. I'd certainly take that over 480p graphics, sd cards and dolby pro logic. (Another plus is with the ps3 you can download your songs on to 5 different ps3s so it makes it easier to fill out your collection with help from a friend, and the wii version can't buy song packs I believe)
But yeah, I can understand about disliking the lack the BC, at least the wii can play game cube games. (I'm actually tempeted to get a wii largely so I can have my gamecube games in 480p again... gamecube component cables are sooo hard to find for a decent price)
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
Well, I called them AGAIN, and I escalated the call.
After spending about a half hour talking with them, I'm still SOL on Halo 3, and they only are going to replace Fable 2, which I can do anyway with the disc protection I got for it. I'm going to call up EA in a moment since I have two issue numbers now I can give them to get them to replace Rock Band 2.
They also wanted to charge me money to fix their broken console.
So, in short, this is my last MS console.
edit: also the dead giveaway that they are in India is the way that the trip up/pronounce Omaha.
This same thing happened to Bamelin. He and I were playing Lost Planet, and he disappeared mid-match. I got a message from him 5 minutes later with a pic attached of his Lost Planet disc cracked from the inside-out. It's not a secret or a single phenomenon. This shit happens all the time.
I know, and this is.. ugh.. it's a known problem. It should be covered just like the RROD.
I was on the verge of buying a 120GB HDD so I could buy more Rock Band songs and install more games. But now I'm having second thoughts on shoveling more money into this company's face.
Being shat on because they're too cheap to spend more money on QA is not the way I thought my time with this console would end.
That they spent the first couple of calls basically saying that I was picking up my Xbox and using as a metronome during Rock Band while raising their voice AND talking over me was just like.. what the fuck?
FW: But I don't move it!
Tech Support: FUCK YOU ASSHOLE I SAID STOP MOVING IT!!!
Edit: This strikes a chord with me because a couple weeks ago, I spent like a combined six hours on the phone with Zune tech support, and still ended up accidentally fixing the problem myself - despite their incredibly helpful tactic of telling me to do the same shit over and over and over. And they never called back like they said they would.
Me: But the Xbox has never been moved, I just want you to replace it
MS: sir remember to NOT MOVE THE XBOX WHILE IT IS ON SPEAKERS IN THE HOUSE MAY INTRODUCE VIBRATIONS
Posts
Though Major Nelson (Larry Hyyb) says not to contact him with support info, I've sent him problems once or twice before and they've been dealt with. Send a plain text email, though, or it won't get through.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
I have had one cracked disk though - Gears 1. However, the customer service guy at the online retailer said that it was likely a problem with the disk getting too hot in transit (ie delivery) which weakened it, and that it had happened with a few PC games too that week. Sounded a bit suspect to me, but hey, they sent me a replacement! Good old Gameplay.
Hope MS get back to you.
This isnt a common problem for the most part. The failing Xboxs are but not the breaking disc problem.
http://consumerist.com/5144308/eecb-over-xbox-360-keeps-getting-bounced-back-as-spam
Several commenters recommend removing the URLs from your email.
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
My brother's Xbox started scratching his discs and used the method on that site to fix it.
Rewritten minus url and the word 'crack'
I have sent it off again to one person at a time, rewording it to "sir" for steveb and robbieb and just "Ma'am" for khogan in the intro. I haven't seen a rejection email yet..
put behind spoiler for huge
I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
For further assistance, please send mail to <postmaster>
If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.
The Postfix program
<khogan@microsoft.com>: host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
<robbieb@microsoft.com>: host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
<steveb@microsoft.com>: host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
Final-Recipient: rfc822; khogan@microsoft.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
Final-Recipient: rfc822; robbieb@microsoft.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
Final-Recipient: rfc822; steveb@microsoft.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; host
winse-6216-mail1.customer.frontbridge.com[205.248.106.64] said: 550 5.7.1
<Your e-mail was rejected by an anti-spam content filter on gateway
(205.248.106.64). Reasons for rejection may be: obscene language, graphics,
or spam-like characteristics. Removing these may let the e-mail through the
filter.> (in reply to end of DATA command)
Don't give up!
Sup, "Michael". :winky:
I knew my email should have been Xx Gogeta666 xX instead of my real name! (although I keep people from knowing my middle name)
Although at first I was like "Wait, how did Consumerist find out my real name?" for a minute, and then I remembered that it's attached to my outgoing emails :P
When this was happening I had my 360 placed vertically directly on the floor. I'm pretty sure that the verticality combined with the fact that the floor may've been slightly off-center was what was cracking discs. I lost RB and CoD4 to this. Two cracks, exact same as yours.
Anticlimacticly, all I've done is placed my 360 on a TV stand horizontally and it hasn't happened since.
I always recommend people put their 360 horizontal, always seemed stupid to me to place them vertically, even if it is designed for that. Too much can go wrong and frag the discs with it standing up, all it takes is a large enough shock or someone accidentally hitting it it, and the disc is pretty much worthless when it topples over.
But fuck, it should work. Especially if it's advertised as a goddamned bullet point.
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
sleep forever if you wish to be a dreamer
Not that this has anything to do with FyreWulff's problem. I'm just providing anecdotal evidence that flat is best.
It's a disc player. Shouldn't the disc be stable? I'm sure there are ways to do it, but it always seemed prone to problems with the 360 or the PS3.
I'm thinking that Disclosure must have been a documentary.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
But after a few months the drive just stops reading discs or tries to read them, before bitching that it's corrupt.
My suspicion is that when DVD drives became a commodity item, quality started to drop and now they cause all kinds of problems.
Well, this time they actually bothered to register my Xbox, but then I had to listen to him pratically yell at me that it was impossible for the Xbox to do anything to the discs, and that I shouldn't move it(even though I said it's never been moved), etc. I said I just wanted the Xbox replaced, he just repeated what he said, gave me the call... number, and told me to go fill out the form to replace Halo 3 for 20$.
Fuck. That. Shit.
Do I just call up again and just say supervisor to the first agent that picks up the phone?
It also didn't help that the guy sounded like he had to go to the bathroom throughout the entire call.
edit: I'm going to sit here and collect my thoughs for a moment. Then I'm calling them and asking for a supervisor immediately, and by the time I get off the phone, they are replacing my Xbox, Halo 3, and having a way for me to get RB2 fixed by EA for free, otherwise I'm just done with Microsoft. I'll just eat the cost of losing all this DLC and just get a Wii and RB2 for that console. (I have a disc protection plan on Fable 2, so that's covered)
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
Also, if the call center sounds like its outside of the US, it very likely is, and you can anticipate less cooperation. I can only assume its best to call during USA business hours.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
After spending about a half hour talking with them, I'm still SOL on Halo 3, and they only are going to replace Fable 2, which I can do anyway with the disc protection I got for it. I'm going to call up EA in a moment since I have two issue numbers now I can give them to get them to replace Rock Band 2.
They also wanted to charge me money to fix their broken console.
So, in short, this is my last MS console.
edit: also the dead giveaway that they are in India is the way that the trip up/pronounce Omaha.
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
sleep forever if you wish to be a dreamer
But yeah, I can understand about disliking the lack the BC, at least the wii can play game cube games. (I'm actually tempeted to get a wii largely so I can have my gamecube games in 480p again... gamecube component cables are sooo hard to find for a decent price)
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
This same thing happened to Bamelin. He and I were playing Lost Planet, and he disappeared mid-match. I got a message from him 5 minutes later with a pic attached of his Lost Planet disc cracked from the inside-out. It's not a secret or a single phenomenon. This shit happens all the time.
I was on the verge of buying a 120GB HDD so I could buy more Rock Band songs and install more games. But now I'm having second thoughts on shoveling more money into this company's face.
Being shat on because they're too cheap to spend more money on QA is not the way I thought my time with this console would end.
Congrats Microsoft, you just earned Sony my business.
That they spent the first couple of calls basically saying that I was picking up my Xbox and using as a metronome during Rock Band while raising their voice AND talking over me was just like.. what the fuck?
Edit: This strikes a chord with me because a couple weeks ago, I spent like a combined six hours on the phone with Zune tech support, and still ended up accidentally fixing the problem myself - despite their incredibly helpful tactic of telling me to do the same shit over and over and over. And they never called back like they said they would.
Me: But the Xbox has never been moved, I just want you to replace it
MS: sir remember to NOT MOVE THE XBOX WHILE IT IS ON SPEAKERS IN THE HOUSE MAY INTRODUCE VIBRATIONS