So I just got the Red Ring of Death... now what?

[Malderi]

I turned on my 360 to the glorious sight of three flashing red lights. It's been a great console for the last almost-two-years, but it looks like I'll be getting a new one. However, I can't find a damn thing on Microsoft's site about what to do with it. Do I have to package it up and mail it someplace? Or can I take it into a retail store someplace and they just hand me a new one?

[Killzig]

start here:

http://service.xbox.com/servicesignin.aspx

[Dave Long]

1-800-4-MY-XBOX

[krokodile]

1-800-4-MY-XBOX
Yep yep.

[ElGuapo]

http://tinyurl.com/36qscb

Wouldn't that seriously be an awesome achievement?

[krokodile]

Should be worth a free 2k points for every time you get it.

[Malderi]

Thanks a bunch for the help.

[NatCox]

Just to let you know how it went for me, I just got mine back, it took almost 2 weeks but they sent me back a brand new one :) (made 8/4/2007) but it didn't have the HDMI port :(

Maybe you'll get lucky and get a new one with the new port added...

[Bill Dungsroman]

Buy a PC! (jk)

[krokodile]

That you have to upgrade in 2 years! (Not jk)

[Bill Dungsroman]

That you have to upgrade in 2 years! (Not jk)


I turned on my 360 to the glorious sight of three flashing red lights. It's been a great console for the last almost-two-years

Owned.

[Malderi]

Luckily though I don't have to pay for the new one... and I already have a pretty good laptop for all this. If it weren't for the new warranty I'd probably wait a while before buying another 360.

As in, maybe a day or two, because then I'd realize I have Halo 3 and Mass Effect on pre-order...

Edit: Also, HDMI doesn't matter as I use a VGA cable hooked into a projector. However, a 65nm 360 would be great, but I hear that's not too likely.

[krokodile]

Owned.

Not an upgrade.

Just a... fixing. I've fixed my computer like, every 6 months.

[Dean]

Just to let you know how it went for me, I just got mine back, it took almost 2 weeks but they sent me back a brand new one :) (made 8/4/2007) but it didn't have the HDMI port :(

Maybe you'll get lucky and get a new one with the new port added...

When I sent mine in, they said on the phone it would take 3-4 weeks before I got one back. When I got the email saying the box had shipped, it said 4-6 weeks.

It took 5 days for the box to get here. I shipped my Xbox on the same day the box arrived, and got a confirmation email that it had arrived at the repair place 6 days later.

That was Aug. 21. The wait continues...

[Gendal]

What about people who bought the extended warranty? Does it seriously still take a month for them too? I need to send mine in, it's louder than a leaf blower and locks up if you even look at it funny. Not sure if they would accept that as a reason for repair though.

[Vincent_GC]

They do. I never got the RRoD, but my 360 was freezing up in 10-15 min intervals. After troubleshooting it with them for about an hour, they said they were sending me the coffin. At that point I went to gamestop and used my year warrently with them and got a new one off the shelf. Haven't had a problem since.

[Dean]

I have the extended warranty.

I'm hoping that the one I get back will have the new heatsink, which makes the wait more palatable, as there is less likelihood that my new one will fail than there is from grabbing another one off of a retailer's shelf.

[Malderi]

Just submitted the order on the online site. I guess they're sending me a box to send back to them, or something.

Man, it'd better get back in time for Halo 3! That's in a month, and I guess they said four weeks. So assuming it's on time, I should be okay...

[father lamat]

I heard throwing it in the bathtub works wonders. Your mileage may vary depending on whether or not it's still plugged in.

[NatCox]

When I sent mine in, they said on the phone it would take 3-4 weeks before I got one back. When I got the email saying the box had shipped, it said 4-6 weeks.

It took 5 days for the box to get here. I shipped my Xbox on the same day the box arrived, and got a confirmation email that it had arrived at the repair place 6 days later.

That was Aug. 21. The wait continues...

Jeez, I was getting irritated at how long it was taking for mine. I didn't realize how lucky I was. They told me 4-6 weeks too, but I figured that was just what they said to cover their rear if it took a long time. I did mine all online too, although I wouldn't expect that to make a difference...

[Gendal]

They do. I never got the RRoD, but my 360 was freezing up in 10-15 min intervals. After troubleshooting it with them for about an hour, they said they were sending me the coffin. At that point I went to gamestop and used my year warrently with them and got a new one off the shelf. Haven't had a problem since.
Glad to hear they will still take it, though mine doesn't quite lock up that often. I really, really don't want to spend an hour on the phone with some random Indian who I can barely understand as he struggles through a prepared script. I have an intense loathing of extended tech support calls.

[Dean]

Glad to hear they will still take it, though mine doesn't quite lock up that often. I really, really don't want to spend an hour on the phone with some random Indian who I can barely understand as he struggles through a prepared script. I have an intense loathing of extended tech support calls.

Actually, my first tech support call was with an American, and he had me doing all sorts of stuff to "fix it" before declaring my AV cable bad and having me wait 2 week before they sent me a new cable.

Once the cable arrived and it still didn't work, I called and got a random Indian dude. We worked his script for about 10 minutes before he just shipped a coffin.

In my book:
American tech support 0
Indian call center 1

[RepoMan]

Malderi, I hate to say it, but it'll probably take five or six weeks. Start setting your expectations low now, or you'll be climbing the walls on Sept. 25th.

[Podunk]

Glad to hear they will still take it, though mine doesn't quite lock up that often. I really, really don't want to spend an hour on the phone with some random Indian who I can barely understand as he struggles through a prepared script. I have an intense loathing of extended tech support calls.

Mine died on Sunday. I expected to talk to a friendly fellow in Bangalore named "John" but instead I ended up talking to some dude with an accent that may have been Slavic...? Does MS have any Eastern European call centers? Anyway, this guy was a bit difficult to understand at times, but he was pleasant enough.

Coffin's on the way. Thank goodness I've got Bioshock on the PC in the meantime.

[krokodile]

Malderi, I hate to say it, but it'll probably take five or six weeks. Start setting your expectations low now, or you'll be climbing the walls on Sept. 25th.

Ahh, don't be too quick. I had a 3 week turn around, and I was worried about getting into the Halo 3 Beta.

[Malderi]

Luckily I have several friends (with 360's) that I can play Halo 3 with co-op, so even if it doesn't come back in time, I won't have to turn off my Internet connection to avoid spoilers for weeks.

[Hetzer]

Glad to hear they will still take it, though mine doesn't quite lock up that often. I really, really don't want to spend an hour on the phone with some random Indian who I can barely understand as he struggles through a prepared script. I have an intense loathing of extended tech support calls.


He he at least here in germany we are free of indian call centers, i dont think there are that many german speaking indian call center agents...

[Thierry Nguyen]

So after some random lockups/freezes during HD-DVD playback, and during BioShocking, my 360 also showed the RROD. Urk.

The 360 was also perhaps the first item I also got the product replacement plan for at Best Buy. I figure that would be faster than waiting for a coffin, then sending it, then waiting again, etc. etc. Anyone else do the Best Buy method? Do I have to find the box again and jam everything back in? What happens with my hard drive? ZOMG. O_O

[WarrenM]

The 360 was also perhaps the first item I also got the product replacement plan for at Best Buy. I figure that would be faster than waiting for a coffin, then sending it, then waiting again, etc. etc. Anyone else do the Best Buy method? Do I have to find the box again and jam everything back in? What happens with my hard drive? ZOMG. O_O
They changed the replacement plan so it sucks now, but it still sucks slightly less than the Microsoft way. You can go to the BB web site and enter a claim for your 360 - they will mail you a mailing label, which you can then stick on your XBox and send it back. A week or so later, you'll receive a gift card for the value of a 360. You can then choose to buy a new one or not...

As for your hard drive, I don't know. I just sent mine in with the unit.

[Thierry Nguyen]

Crikey, I liked my NEVERTOBESEENAGAIN Bungie 7/7/07 theme/gamerpic combo.

I never bothered buying memory cards, how big are they? I guess if I have to give up my HD, I should be doing a lot of savegame copying.

Hey, would the gift card be for the current value of an 360 ($350 for Premium) or for how much I paid (400)? If the latter, then I guess I could just cough up the extra fifty bucks and get an Elite to boot.

[Malderi]

Oooh, that's actually a great question. I got a Premium, so there's a 20GB HDD with all my stuff. When I get the new one in, will it have that hard drive? Or a new one with the stuff transferred over? Or what?

[Fugitive]

Usually they have you keep the hard drive, unless the errors indicate a problem with the drive specifically. Did you already send yours in? If so, hopefully they'll send your same drive back.

[Alex Hopkinson]

Both times I've sent one to MS for repair they've specifically told me (several times) not to include anything other than the 360. I think the odds of hard drives, face plates and what not getting lost in the shuffle are pretty high.

[Islanti]

You can get the Datel XPort (http://us.codejunkies.com/shop/product.asp?c=US&cr=USD&cs=$&r=0&l=1&ProdID=712) to transfer stuff from your 360 HDD to your PC. It also has a port for the 360 memory card, which lets you move items from the HDD to Mem Card even if they're "locked" (Bejewelled 2's saves are one bizarre example of this).

[Malderi]

I'll just take the HDD off before I ship it. I keep forgetting it's technically an "accessory" on the 360 and not built-in like the Xbox.

[Drunkagain]

I'll just take the HDD off before I ship it. I keep forgetting it's technically an "accessory" on the 360 and not built-in like the Xbox.

Is that an option when sending it in for repair?

[rjcc]

Is that an option when sending it in for repair?

to microsoft? it's what they specifically tell you to do.

[Malderi]

Yeah, they say specifically just to send in the box, no accessories. I imagine they get enough HD's that they've set an internal policy to return them, but it does say that any controllers, cables, etc. sent in with the 360 might not be returned with them.

[Moore]

I'm down again after just getting my NEW one from them on tuesday. Waiting for my coffin. I didnt get 3 red rings though, it just flat out doesnt wqork, the video is all funky in dash and games. grrr...

[Wholly Schmidt]

I'm down again after just getting my NEW one from them on tuesday. Waiting for my coffin. I didnt get 3 red rings though, it just flat out doesnt wqork, the video is all funky in dash and games. grrr...

Wow, that seriously sucks. You can come over and watch me play Bioshock if you want.

[Moore]

heh, thanks.. I might have to come over w/ stranglehold or something next weekend. I called for my coffin, and then after the hang up tried plugging it into a surge protector and now its fine (for the moment). I'll still swap it, but at least I can finish bioshock while I wait.

[Traumahound]

My 360 has been sitting in MS Canada's repair centre for over 2 weeks now. I called today to complain about how long they've had it. The guy I was talking to looked it up and said that the repair centre confirmed that I had the 3 red lights problem, but were looking for anything else that was wrong before fixing my console and sending out a new one.

WTF?

I told him that my understanding was that they would confirm there was a problem and then send out a refurbished unit. He said that was true. So, I asked why they hadn't shipped me a replacement yet. I told him that I don't care how broken my console is: I know it's broken, they know it's broken, send me a replacement. He told me that he added a note to my repair order and would pass my concerns along to the repair centre. I don't expect anything to come of it, but it made me feel slightly better.

So far, it took them a week to get the coffin to me, 3 days for the broken console to back to them, and it's been sitting in their depot for over two weeks. I am not impressed.

[Mordrak]

heh, thanks.. I might have to come over w/ stranglehold or something next weekend. I called for my coffin, and then after the hang up tried plugging it into a surge protector and now its fine (for the moment). I'll still swap it, but at least I can finish bioshock while I wait.
What's up with this? Why do people put up with it? No offense Moore, but this is the biggest thing that kept me from getting a 360. Until I hear about real effective improvements to the hardware's reliablility, I'll never get a 360.

[Moore]

Now I cant even boot it. I get one lower right quad red and it gives a call the 800 number warning.

multiple reboots later and I'm back in bioshock. definately needs repair, but at least I can do bioshock while I wait for the coffin. really really lame... the new auto tranfer of rights to new console didnt take upon my last repair either, so I am in a 2 week wait to get my arcade games working offline that I assume will restart once I get xbox #3.

edit #3:

ok, now its done for good. Got in another few minutes of bioshock and it's all solid green screen all the time.

[Islanti]

Are you sure it isn't your HDD or power supply? Seems unlikely you'd have that many failures back to back.

[Moore]

I'm sure, the 360 itself gives me a service required message at this point, in every language known to man. and I've gone through hours of insipid 'troubleshooting' over the phone to india. Whats even better is these jackfucks didnt even send me the email that the box shipped, so they didnt get it out last week, which means it wont mail until tuesday due to the holiday. So I'll se you guys in another fucking month.

I might just go trade in some games and grab a refurb + 1 year gamestop warranty. It seems like it would less frustrating to have 2 of these systems, so you have a spare to play during the fix cycle.

The replacement I got was new too, manufactured 8/15.

oh and they dont give out kameo or other garbage titles anymore for ridiculously bad experiences like this either.

[Dean]

My 360 is back!

It failed July 28, and the new one arrived yesterday, Sept. 1, more or less 5 weeks later-- BUT, the broken one was sitting here for 2 weeks of that time (waiting for an AV cable to arrive and not fix the problem), so the turnaround once we got to the "send a coffin" was actually pretty good.

Woot! In the interim I got GH2 for my birthday!

[Moore]

be careful, my recent replacement was only good from tues-fri.

[flyingelvis]

Just curious about something...

I got my 360 Xmas 2006 and no red ring yet, but WHEN I get it how do they handle the return. Do they send you an empty box to return it in? I don't have the original box, so I was wondering if I have to find my own packaging.

[Moore]

Their time estimate is 4-6 weeks. They send you a prepaid box to return it (just remove hard drive, pack and relabel, drop off at ups), it comes 3 day or ground, seems random which one they use. My total turn around was from august 12 calling in to getting it back on the 28th. it was new, built 8/15/07. Died on the 31st, new (empty return shipping coffin) box is 'on the way' now.

[rjcc]

I just sent back one that I had bought for my cousin, the turnaround from when I sent back the coffin to me getting the replacement 360 back was about 10 days. the only weird thing, they never sent me an email to confirm they had received the broken 360 or that they were sending the replacement back,the only indication was that the registered s/n changed on the service site and then it showed up at my door two days later.

[Islanti]

I'm sure, the 360 itself gives me a service required message at this point, in every language known to man. and I've gone through hours of insipid 'troubleshooting' over the phone to india.So at what point during the troubleshooting did you try another power brick?

[Alex Hopkinson]

Their time estimate is 4-6 weeks. They send you a prepaid box to return it (just remove hard drive, pack and relabel, drop off at ups), it comes 3 day or ground, seems random which one they use. My total turn around was from august 12 calling in to getting it back on the 28th. it was new, built 8/15/07. Died on the 31st, new (empty return shipping coffin) box is 'on the way' now.

In the UK we have to supply our own box (perhaps because we always had a 1 year warranty from day one thanks to UK law...). They currently quote turnaround as 20 days for us as well, rather than the 3 or 4 days I got last november.

[Moore]

So at what point during the troubleshooting did you try another power brick?


Never. But both boxes died of different errors, and its up to MS's support folks to determine if its the PSU.

I'll likely buy a 2nd box this week, just to be a filler box for each inevitable repair cycle, so maybe I'll try that psu w/ the 'dead' box if I buy before the slow motherfuckers get me my coffin, which they havent bothered to ship yet.

[krokodile]

Got 3 Red Rings just sitting on the networking page while I was getting it registered to my school's internet network.

However, i'm not downloading the CoD4 beta.

its emitting some STRONG heat from the rear of the unit, but otherwise, its fine.

[Thierry Nguyen]

Best Buy update: My BB allowed me to just bring in the 360 (plus all the shit in the box) and my receipt, and told me that I could just switch right there. The clerk even said that I could upgrade to the Elite, but the store I was at were cleaned out. So I grabbed a Premium with lot # 727 (assuming that means both HDMI and 2nd heatsink) and did the switch. Since I got the 360 when it was still 400 bucks, I got a gift card to make up for the price drop.
Clerk tried to sell me the product replacement plan again, especially since I just used it, but I declined this time. Hopefully, the damn thing just works this time, or stops working within the new MS warranty period.

[EvilIdler]

its emitting some STRONG heat from the rear of the unit, but otherwise, its fine.
My second 360 is the current one (only for a few days more!), and it's been
emitting enough heat to keep me warm during winter-time. It's also been on
pretty much 24/7 this weekend and yesterday, with Hitman running most of the time.

The heat is normal. Great if you live far north :P

[Jason Cross]

My original launch-day 360 is finally giving up the ghost. Games are locking up within 10 or 15 minutes, usually displaying a green checkerboard overlay pattern.

I was going to get a 2nd 360 anyway so me and the missus could play online multiplayer type stuff like Catan together or just so we don't fight over who gets to use it. So I went ahead and got that, and painstakingly transferred all our stuff over with a memory card (ugh) while the dying 360 still operates. Now I just want to keep using the old one until the inevitable red rings happen, so I'm covered by the new warranty, before sending it in for repairs.

It's very disappointing. I thought I was one of the lucky ones with a launch 360 that would go the distance, but I guess it was only a matter of time.

[Wholly Schmidt]

My original launch-day 360 is finally giving up the ghost. Games are locking up within 10 or 15 minutes, usually displaying a green checkerboard overlay pattern.

I was going to get a 2nd 360 anyway so me and the missus could play online multiplayer type stuff like Catan together or just so we don't fight over who gets to use it. So I went ahead and got that, and painstakingly transferred all our stuff over with a memory card (ugh) while the dying 360 still operates. Now I just want to keep using the old one until the inevitable red rings happen, so I'm covered by the new warranty, before sending it in for repairs.

It's very disappointing. I thought I was one of the lucky ones with a launch 360 that would go the distance, but I guess it was only a matter of time.
Turn it on, let it freeze up, and just leave it powered on for a couple hours frozen. That finally pushed mine from frozen to red-ringed.

[Moore]

Yeah, me trying to play bioshock (sniff.. waaah!) through the green crap finally got me a 1 quad red error, with a text message on screen to call for support. Funny how the text was clear as day but dash / games / everything was green garbled shit after 30 seconds.

At least when I call in, 'max' is now my buddy- he says something like 'whoa! you've got MULTIPLE repair orders in the system, let me get you someone..." and then the usual clueless unhelpful shitfuckcuntholeassfaceretardomonkeyfucker picks up without making me listen to more of 'max' or their shitty hold music.

only 2 weeks to month to go for a working box, then a couple hours on the phone to recreate my dlc issue + a 2 week wait for that to resolve, then an hour redownloading all my DLC and I'll be right as rain!

[Podunk]

The UPS guy dropped off my coffin last Friday.

"Xbox died, huh?"
"Yup, just waiting on my coffin."
"Yeah, mine died last week. I just took it back to Costco. You wouldn't believe how many of these I deliver."

When I dropped it off at the little UPS place in town I got a similar reception. They told me they see about one a day come through. This is in a small rural community of about 15,000. Crazy.

[Midnight Son]

Jah...... I continue to not buy a tree sitty. Thank you all. :)

[krokodile]

My second 360 is the current one (only for a few days more!), and it's been
emitting enough heat to keep me warm during winter-time. It's also been on
pretty much 24/7 this weekend and yesterday, with Hitman running most of the time.

The heat is normal. Great if you live far north :P

Well, as it stands right now, NY ain't that cold :P

I haven't checked it today, but I've been on the CoD4Beta all day long.

[Sockpuppet]

What's the wait time for a coffin? I've been waiting for mine for a couple of weeks now. (It died a few months back, but I'm only now getting around to sending it in.) If it doesn't get here soon, I'll have beaten Bioshock and won't be able to justify buying the 360 version so I can finish it on my bigscreen.

[Ergo]

Well, I didn't get the RRoD BUT the video signal on my system died Saturday. Can still hear sound, but no picture. An RMA is in the works.

[Kaigen]

While I fully expect my 360 to die in the next six months or so, I've had no problems at all so far. I just put in a repair request for my Wii after just 5 months of owning it, however.

THE WORLD HAS GONE BACKWARDS.

[Moore]

What's the wait time for a coffin? I've been waiting for mine for a couple of weeks now. (It died a few months back, but I'm only now getting around to sending it in.) If it doesn't get here soon, I'll have beaten Bioshock and won't be able to justify buying the 360 version so I can finish it on my bigscreen.


My first one took about 3 days. The next one, while it should have shipped friday, probably shipped today. So 5-7 days after that. They send them ground, so its usually 5-7 days unless you are closer to texas, I think UPS has a chart. 2 weeks is a bad sign, I'd call them ASAP and complain loudly (not that they will do anything for you)

edit= oh, canada. They use purolator or something like that (sp?) up there, i think, so probably check w/ purolator's site and see how slow their cheapest shipping is. because thats what they will use.

[Podunk]

Mine came 3-day. I wonder how they determine whether your coffin is coming 3-day or ground? Coin toss?

[MarchHare]

What's the wait time for a coffin? I've been waiting for mine for a couple of weeks now. (It died a few months back, but I'm only now getting around to sending it in.) If it doesn't get here soon, I'll have beaten Bioshock and won't be able to justify buying the 360 version so I can finish it on my bigscreen.

My coffin arrived in about 4-5 business days. Service should be faster for people living in Southern Ontario, though, because the service center is in Markham (I think...somewhere in/near the GTO anyway).

Turnaround seems to be the bottleneck. I sent my unit back over two weeks ago and still haven't received my replacement. :(

[Sockpuppet]

Wow - after March's post, I called up XBox support to try and find out where my coffin was. The geniuses at Purolator evidently tried to deliver the box (and there's nobody at the house during the day), didn't leave notification of an attempt to deliver, tried to deliver again, and then ultimately delivered the box back to Microsoft.

Arrrrrrrgh. I can't believe it's not okay to just leave an empty box at the house to which it is addressed. Granted, I'll be happy about that kind of diligence when they're shipping me a box with an actual UNIT in it, but still, I can't believe Purolator didn't at least leave a notice. Not MS's fault, and aside from the hold times on the phone and the inability to put a hold on my XBox Live account, I've been otherwise happy with the service I've gotten from them.

Still, I'd much rather be playing Dead Rising again than shaking my e-fist at Purolator.

[Jason Cross]

While I fully expect my 360 to die in the next six months or so, I've had no problems at all so far. I just put in a repair request for my Wii after just 5 months of owning it, however.

THE WORLD HAS GONE BACKWARDS.

For what it's worth, my Wii died with a video issue just a few weeks after I bought it. At the time, I thought it was crazy that my launch day 360 was still ticking, despite being used a LOT more.

The Wii replacement was fast and painless, though. I'm gonna do the 360 replacement through the online form thing. Once it finally red rings.

[Malderi]

I'm still not understanding how the 360 could be having so many issues. I mean, like 1/3 of them are getting red-ringed, right? Don't they do durability testing on these things?

Are the "new" 360's with an updated design that will hopefully reduce the number of red-rings?

[MarchHare]

Wow - after March's post, I called up XBox support to try and find out where my coffin was. The geniuses at Purolator evidently tried to deliver the box (and there's nobody at the house during the day), didn't leave notification of an attempt to deliver, tried to deliver again, and then ultimately delivered the box back to Microsoft.

Arrrrrrrgh. I can't believe it's not okay to just leave an empty box at the house to which it is addressed. Granted, I'll be happy about that kind of diligence when they're shipping me a box with an actual UNIT in it, but still, I can't believe Purolator didn't at least leave a notice. Not MS's fault, and aside from the hold times on the phone and the inability to put a hold on my XBox Live account, I've been otherwise happy with the service I've gotten from them.

Still, I'd much rather be playing Dead Rising again than shaking my e-fist at Purolator.

That's really strange; anytime Purolator has made a delivery to me and I wasn't home, they've always left a ticket with a number you can call to schedule a delivery time or to pick it up from their shipping center. I normally just have them re-route the package to my work address, and I get it the next day.

Sounds like you had a lazy or incompetent delivery guy.

[The Chinese Lawyer]

http://www.errorwear.com/errorimages/grace-rrod.jpg

[Moore]

Wow - after March's post, I called up XBox support to try and find out where my coffin was. The geniuses at Purolator evidently tried to deliver the box (and there's nobody at the house during the day), didn't leave notification of an attempt to deliver, tried to deliver again, and then ultimately delivered the box back to Microsoft.

Arrrrrrrgh. I can't believe it's not okay to just leave an empty box at the house to which it is addressed. Granted, I'll be happy about that kind of diligence when they're shipping me a box with an actual UNIT in it, but still, I can't believe Purolator didn't at least leave a notice. Not MS's fault, and aside from the hold times on the phone and the inability to put a hold on my XBox Live account, I've been otherwise happy with the service I've gotten from them.

Still, I'd much rather be playing Dead Rising again than shaking my e-fist at Purolator.

I'd consider that ms's fault almost entirely. They chose the vendor for shipping, so any quality issues on that part ARE ms, just like some phone reps being tools are MS's fault. They didnt notify you immediately that the shipment had come back. In fact they should check in if the first delivery attempt fails.


I'm still not understanding how the 360 could be having so many issues. I mean, like 1/3 of them are getting red-ringed, right? Don't they do durability testing on these things?

Are the "new" 360's with an updated design that will hopefully reduce the number of red-rings?

They were said to be fine, but my replacement was a new one, and failed in 3 days of very very light usage. They did fix the red ring of death though- this one gives one quad of death, which handily isnt covered by the 3 year 'RROD' warranty.

[krokodile]

Thats how my first one died. A lonely single quad of red.

Anyways, mine seems to be doing fine, played CoD4 all day without a hiccup.

[Wholly Schmidt]

If there's anything that's been reinforced over and over again (is that redundant?), it's that they all seem to be doing fine, right until they're not.

[Malderi]

Okay, another question. Does the warranty "reset" when I get back a new one? So, if I get mine back, and it was manufactured just a couple weeks ago, do I have a one-year warranty for all failures and a three-year warranty for RROD's from the day it's delivered?

Or, if I get it, and a day later get a quad-red failure, I'm SOL?

[Moore]

From what I understand, you have the remainder of your original warranty or 90 days, whichever is greater. So for me, my likely 2 month ordeal to get a working 360 is shaving 2 months off of my warranty.

Also, so long as it is still in warranty, you can buy an extension. It's like $30 for a year- I have one and can't recommend it. You get the same shit service as anyone else, even though the letter that accompanies the warranty paperwork states you'll get the fastest possible service and 'if unrepairable, a new console with the latest features will be sent to you' which is bullshit.

Though since you specify the quad red failure, you'd just need to plug your av cable all the way in ;P

If you mean the 3 rings of death, you get a vague 3 year warranty, which likely starts from the original box's purchase date.

[fenrrris]

Bioshock is killing 360s. Two hours in and the game suddenly makes a terrible squealing noise and locks up. I reboot the 360 and:

http://tinyurl.com/36qscb



I thought my 360 would live forever! I just want to play Bioshock!

[DennyA]

From what I understand, you have the remainder of your original warranty or 90 days, whichever is greater.
Nope. Nowadays it's remainder of your original warranty, or one year, whichever is greater.

3-year RROD coverage is always from purchase date.

[Moore]

Denny- I dont know who fed you that load, my warranty dies in march 08 and my box was just replaced. And it isnt march 07 right now AND I have a 1 year extended warranty that I paid for. So wouldnt rely on that info.

Update for me:

I wrote to Steve Ballmer's office, figured what the hell. Got a phone call today and they are going to burn and test in my new box before shipping (shouldnt that be the standard?) and expedite the return shipping.

So thats something, I guess.

edit: ok, denny, you are correct it IS supposed to work like that. Buying the extended warranty somehow glitched me into not getting the extension from getting a replacement, even though I'm down to less than 1 year of warranty. I just got a call from a Shelly @ MS who was following up on my letter as well and she is going to have that fixed for me. I also get to call her now instead of 8004myxbox, so thats a plus when the next one dies.

[Malderi]

So how can I get information on an estimated arrival date? 4MY-XBOX is useless, and the website just says "Device Received at Service Center". I'd really like a human being to say "it'll probably be soon", or "another couple of weeks", etc...

[rjcc]

they shipped me a replacement, I never got a tracking number or anything. the box number just changed on the website, and then it showed up at my door a couple days later.

[Malderi]

But is there any way to get more accurate information? Probably not, but if anyone knows of a way (aside from having a friend at the service center), I'd like to try it.

[Moore]

IF you ever got emails form them, you should get an autopmate done the day it ships. My 2nd repair I'm in now, I've gotten no emails and apparently will never get any. The first time, I didnt talk to any indians and the usa cust. service folks set it up where I get email for each step. The second repair, 3 days after I got my 'new' unit that was a 72 polished turd, I got outsourced cust. service and I do not get any emails. My suggestion would be to call and escalate until you can get an answer. Or write Steve Ballmer, it didnt help me much, but I did get betetr service and from MS itself. All they actually did was say I'd get a burnt in unit and 'expedited' shipping which I'm not holding my breath for.

Below is what I sent in.

Reply
Reply to all Reply to allForward Forward Print Add Chris to Contacts list Delete this message Show original Message text garbled?
from Chris Moore <[email protected]> hide details Sep 4
to [email protected]
cc
[email protected],
[email protected]
date Sep 4, 2007 3:05 PM
subject Xbox 360 replacement died in a mere 3 days? Can you help make it right on the 3rd try?
mailed-by gmail.com
Hi Mr. Ballmer, frustrated consumer here.

I understand how busy you are and that you may not even personally see this email. I just wanted to make you aware of how sluggish the repair process is and how poorly it functions, in the hopes that maybe you could step in to ensure that this time around, everything goes smoother for me. If an executive assistant is reading this, "Hi there!" hope you can help as well, I myself am an assistant and I know how hard it is to get little items in front of busy execs, so I appreciate anything you can do.

On August 12th, my 360 gave me the legendary '3 rings of death' error code. not a huge deal, I knew it was coming, all my friends have had it already. So I call in for repair, get a empty box sent to me ground (5-7 days) and a 4-6 week repair estimate. This despite the letter from Richard R. George that accompanied my extended warranty paperwork promising "promptly" restoring my console to peak playing order. The letter also promises, that, if the console cannot be repaired, I would get a replacement "including the latest features". The xbox 360 I got as a replacement arrived on August 25th, not TOO bad a turnaround, but certainly not prompt. Cross shipping, even secured with a credit card, would be vastly preferable.

Anyways, the replacement xbox seemed fairly new, but unlike what is stated in my warranty paperwork, did not contain the latest features (HDMI on a premium) and even worse, this xbox 360 #2 failed after only 3 days (serial number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) . I called in Friday, August 28th for a new empty box which I am still awaiting. I did not even get a tracking number or repair status email this time, and despite several conversations with phone reps to correct the problem, I cannot check my status on the service.xbox.com site either. I have to call in and wait on hold every single time.

In addition to all of this, I am an avid downloadable content consumer. I've bought upwards of 40 Xbox Live Arcade titles for this gamertag (fulci zombi is my gamertag). This has created another problem that shakes my confidence in downloadable sales altogether.

As you know, the content becomes locked to the original console it was downloaded on. I can use it on any 360 I am logged into live on, but if I am not online, the games revert to trial versions. To get them working offline on a replacement 360, 2 things happen. I am asked to delete my gamertag from my old hard drive and 'recover' it back. I am then asked to go into my download history, and re-download each title. This is an onerous process, but I complied to get back to the usage rights I should have on my purchased content. Unfortunately, this process did not work for me. I went through it again on a 1 hour plus phone call with several levels of support, and they confirmed it did not work and they would have someone from MS contact me. I got a phone call from MS fairly quickly, mere hours later on the 29th, which stated that they would update the serial numbers in their system and then the re-downloading process would correctly tie the rights to the repaired box. That sounded great- until they told me it would take approximately two weeks. So that is even more time without what I paid for.

That is not all however- I bought more content (Space Giraffe and Super Puzzle Fighter, excellent games!) on the replacement console that then died the very next day! So I am going to be stuck trying to clear up this mess again, with content from console #1 and #2, to get them properly working on console #3. That will mean further 2 week waits and hours on the phone re-explaining things even after the likely one month wait for my next replacement...

This adds up to a ton of time without being able to play, a ton of time being frustrated with a brand I loved, and shaken confidence that I suspect wont make playing games much fun as I'll worry about every little noise my next xbox makes.

They were both in an extremely well ventilated area, I've gone through loads of troubleshooting with support and it has definitely been the units themselves at fault every single time.

If there is anyway you could intervene to speed things up, or to make sure I get the latest revision this time (which I'd assume would decrease the chances of a future failure) I would GREATLY appriciate it.

Thanks for your time,

Chris Moore

Below are some numbers that may prove useful, should you decide to help me.

GT: fulci zombi

Extended warranty #: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Current repair ticket #: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Current Dead 360 Serial #: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Original Dead 360 Serial #:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Original repair ticket #: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Phone:
323 555 5555

Address:
Chris Moore
123 fake street
Simpsonville, SC 29680

Email:
[email protected]

[Fugitive]

I finally got my coffin today (I was lazy about getting around to phoning it in), and was wondering what all the fuss was about, as it was a fairly plain, nondescript white box. But sure enough, the second I set foot in the shipping centre, the guys behind the counter nodded knowingly and said "Xbox, right?" At the start of the lunch hour, I wasn't even the first one of the day.

Also, I haven't yet heard of any of the replacement Premiums having HDMI. I guess they still have a supply of older motherboards that they're using to fulfill replacements instead of going to retail.

[msdoran]

I have gotten the RROD once, and this is how I handled it. When i initially bought my 360 at Best Buy (got lucky when they were still scarce) i paid $50 for their extended warranty. When I got the RROD and called MS it was during their old policy and I was told it would cost me $150 to get it fixed.

I found my receipt, took it to BB that day and received a brand new 360. As a side note. I kept both my hard drive and my controller from my old 360 and they only looked in the box to make sure it had the unit, so i got another HD and controller for free with the new system.

Of course I had to pay another $50 to continue the warranty but to me it is a small price to pay to get another unit immediately, including another hard drive and controller, and not have to wait a month and a half for a refurbished unit from MS.

Now, if my 360 could only give me the RROD when the new HDMI 65nm units are out! That would be soooooo sweeeeeeettttt!!!

[Moore]

I finally got my coffin today (I was lazy about getting around to phoning it in), and was wondering what all the fuss was about, as it was a fairly plain, nondescript white box. But sure enough, the second I set foot in the shipping centre, the guys behind the counter nodded knowingly and said "Xbox, right?" At the start of the lunch hour, I wasn't even the first one of the day.

Also, I haven't yet heard of any of the replacement Premiums having HDMI. I guess they still have a supply of older motherboards that they're using to fulfill replacements instead of going to retail.


the escalated support guy who asked me 'what I wanted' to go away claimed they will never replace a 1st gen premium with an hdmi enabled one. He said they are considered completely different models. 'that'd be like replacing an 06 lemon mustang with an '07!'

[EvilIdler]

EB have been taking trade-ins of old premiums for Elites around here. They round them
up and put them in special boxes, destines for Microsoft. When asked why they do this,
they have no clear answer. Is this the future supply of refurbs the $1 billion paid for?

[Tom Ohle]

Hmm... so I just got the RROD... and I can't find my Best Buy receipt (although I did spring for extended warranty). I bought my 360 around the time Dead Rising came out... do I have a case with MS? What are the odds Best Buy still has my sale on record? WTF are my options (other than paying for another system)?

[Ergo]

Best Buy will most likely still have a record of the sale, so I'd try them first.

[Fugitive]

All systems are still covered by MS for 3RROD, and you should be able to start the process at service.xbox.com now, if the Best Buy route doesn't work out.

[Rock8man]

I got my 360 back. $99 spent, and covered for another year, but hopefully this one won't scratch my discs. And my brother's 360 which got a RROD got its coffin in the mail today too.

I guess the next step is to call Microsoft and ask them what they can do to make my XBLA games local to my new Xbox, right Moore?

But that can wait. Tonight I get to finally play some Halo 3. Hurray!

[Fugitive]

I guess the next step is to call Microsoft and ask them what they can do to make my XBLA games local to my new Xbox, right Moore?
Supposedly they've fixed that now so that the process is automatic, and you just have to redownload any purchased content. You could try by redownloading something and seeing if it then works offline easily enough, at least.

And I say 'supposedly' because it was supposed to be in effect when a friend got his back, but he wound up having to do the points refund in the end, though the support guy talked him through the above test to see if the automatic method worked first, and it didn't at the time.

[krokodile]

Yeah, I didn't get points back for my refurb, I just had to redownload everything.

Sucked, since I planned on using the points for other, new things, since I never play Smash TV anymore.

[Woolen Horde]

The coffin for my launch 360 arrived. Sending it back for repairs. Thankfully, I have a new Halo "Falcon" 360 to keep me gaming.

Odd thing was, I took my launch system on airplanes and it worked fine after all that flying. The Spring Update killed it, and I hadn't bothered calling it in until recently.

[Rock8man]

If you mean going to download history and selecting "Download Again" for every XBLA purchase, I did try that. Obviously all that stuff works for me when I'm online on any 360, but it didn't make the games native to my 360 again. So other profiles on my 360 can't play those games, and neither can I when I'm offline.

[krokodile]

Huh, then you qualify for the "Point refund" that Microsoft offers.

[Moore]

Huh, then you qualify for the "Point refund" that Microsoft offers.

they dont offer that anymore, they just bullshit you for days on end, that someday, in a month or two, you might be able to re-download them to restore your rights. maybe.

this is even escalated all to hell, they have no solution beyond waiting to hear back from them, and you never do. I'm going on two months.

[Fugitive]

Got mine back today and it's a refurb that's even older than the one I sent in. It has the BenQ drive that wasn't being used at that time though, so who knows how much of it they've replaced.

Redownloading my XBLA stuff doesn't seem to work for me either; it just gave me two 'DOOM' entries in my XBLA list, neither of which worked offline. I'll just wait a while and try again, in case the process is delayed by whatever bureaucracy on their end.

[Fugitive]

Well, it looks like my replacement 360 is a lemon.

The first signs of trouble were when starting up Halo 3, where there was a bit of a stutter during the Bungie logo animation. I didn’t think much of it at the time, since the game seemed to work just fine after that. Then I played Eets for a bit, but lost the sound at one point, and it froze while trying to quit back to the dashboard. Again, I didn’t think much of it since the guide button still worked for forcing it to quit, so it seemed to be an Eets-specific problem.

But, last night I turned it on to queue up some more demo and trailer downloads, and was greeted with those infamous three flashing lights. Oddly, it still continued to boot normally while the lights were flashing, whereas with the previous box I’d get nothing but a blank screen. I turned it off and back on again, and the three red lights haven’t reoccurred since.

It’s now freezing on me left and right, though. I can’t complete a single chapter in Halo 3 or race in the Flatout UC demo without it freezing within a few minutes of starting, and sometimes it’ll do so while just sitting at the dashboard, or in the middle of downloads.

Whee.

[Woolen Horde]

Well, a few weeks after sending my 360 back, I got a package from the repair center. I had a launch 360, manufactured prior to Nov. 2005, and I got back what appears to be a brand new one? Manufacture date of Sept 18, 2007, which is barely a month old. It doesn't have HDMI, though. I'm suspecting it's brand new. If it were sent in for repairs, the timeline doesn't work. If it was made on Sept 18, it took a week or two to ship over on a boat, maybe sit a week or two on store shelves, only to get bought, break, sent back for repairs, repaired, then sent to me ? That doesn't seem possible.

[Fugitive]

It's probably a new one, since they generally won't have enough refurbed-and-ready units to satisfy *every* incoming repair.

There's a report on SA of someone finally getting a new one with HDMI as their replacement now. With the Core going away, they probably aren't going to bother manufacturing old non-HDMI motherboards anymore.

[Funkman]

Ok, serious question. If I were to buy a new 360 in the next month or two, what would be the odds that it would break down? I think the time has come to seriously consider buying one (my pc is behind the times, and there are a pile of good games to play) but all this RROD talk scares the crap out of me. I don't deal well with broken stuff.

[mkozlows]

Ok, serious question. If I were to buy a new 360 in the next month or two, what would be the odds that it would break down? I think the time has come to seriously consider buying one (my pc is behind the times, and there are a pile of good games to play) but all this RROD talk scares the crap out of me. I don't deal well with broken stuff.

The true answer is, nobody knows. Microsoft says they've fixed the issues and new ones shouldn't break as much, but Microsoft also lies a lot about 360 defect rates. If you want to be on the safe side, you could just wait a year and see how they're holding up then, but...

[RickH]

I think it'll be at least a year until it's clear that the reliability issues have been fixed.

I hate broken stuff, but there's no reliable 360 option yet. At least the PS3's seeing some action while #3 is away being fixed.

EDIT: ha, delayed post syndrome

[Funkman]

A year? But guys... Bioshock, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Gears of War, Dead Rising.. they all await me!

[Rock8man]

A year? But guys... Bioshock, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Gears of War, Dead Rising.. they all await me!

Yeah, I think its worth getting personally. That's a decision you have to make yourself. Even the three weeks that I didn't have my 360 when it was off for repairs, it was torturous waiting for it while all my friends were busy playing through Halo 3 together, but it was still worth it once I got it back and they went through the game again with me.

I just have one piece of advice for you: If your disk drive makes weird crunchy noises every once in a while when a disc is spinning in the drive, don't wait, return the 360 as quickly as possible, it will eventually start scratching your discs.

[Fuzzydevil]

I just have one piece of advice for you: If your disk drive makes weird crunchy noises every once in a while when a disc is spinning in the drive, don't wait, return the 360 as quickly as possible, it will eventually start scratching your discs.

Uh oh. Mine started doing that a few days ago. Don't I have to wait for it to red ring before I can send it back, though? Maybe I'll just play on Live Arcade for a few weeks...

[BlueJackalope]

Uh oh. Mine started doing that a few days ago. Don't I have to wait for it to red ring before I can send it back, though? Maybe I'll just play on Live Arcade for a few weeks...

Sit it next to a heater, play DVDs you don't like over and over again...

Or really get into a game, take a day off and look forward to playing it all day, make sure you are really excited about it. Then it will red ring for sure. I worked for me and TF2.

That being said, I'm still like very much the 360 and its compliment of gaming goodness.

[Malderi]

For consoles now, your choices are:

1. 360 with great games, possibly broken
2. PS3 alive and well, with nothing to play on it
3. Wii, or not, because you still can't fucking find one

So, yeah. Take your pick. My 360 is back now and I'm having a great time with Halo 3 and Puzzle Quest. Even with it gone for a month, it's been a purchase well worth it. It's certainly possible you'll have to send it back two or three times, but that's still definitely an outlier.

[mkozlows]

So, yeah. Take your pick. My 360 is back now and I'm having a great time with Halo 3 and Puzzle Quest. Even with it gone for a month, it's been a purchase well worth it. It's certainly possible you'll have to send it back two or three times, but that's still definitely an outlier.

Hell, I had to send mine in four times, and it's still been a great purchase. Of course, none of my repairs took more than two weeks...

[MikeSolita]

Hell, I had to send mine in four times, and it's still been a great purchase. Of course, none of my repairs took more than two weeks...

If you said this about any other product besides an XBox 360, people would think you're batshit-crazy.

Well, maybe a used Pinto.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Coffin: Get!

[RickH]

Coffin: Get!

Yeah, I was home with a sick kid yesterday so I was able to have that sucker bundled up and dropped off at the UPS store within an hour.

Now, the dance wherein UPS demands a signature but won't tell me what time they'll deliver.

[Moore]

oooh, it's a race! My coffin showed yesterday and also made it out yesterday.

WHO WILL GET IT BACK FIRST?

[Fugitive]

Hah, I sent mine out on Monday, so I get a one-day headstart!

Unfortunately, based on my last return, it looks like they don't actually process the return until it finally arrives at the Texas repair centre, not when it gets to the Ontario centre.

I just hope they send me a new one this time. It looks like even the refurbs with the new heatsink can already be too damaged to be fully salvageable.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Moore, you said yours was expedited or something. My own personal estimate for my return is Nov 12, if I go on the same number of business days the last one took. The last one shipped out from their facility on a Sunday though, so I don't know if business days matter that much, or if there's any reason to expect similar turn arounds at all.

[Moore]

I'm expecting mine by the end of next week or I'm going to call and bitch up a wireless controller. I dont need one, but they dont offer pgr4, they already have to replace halo 3 and thats about it for ms published games I dont own. Plus they get a little loose, I could use some tighter control in halo 3.

If you lose another after this, call and escalate till you dont need 8004myxbox anymore. It makes the turn around a bit better.

[Wholly Schmidt]

I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'll come back to you for escalation tips if box 3 malfunctions. I'll probably start a new thread for it just to piss off stusser though.

[Fugitive]

Wow, that was fast, I just got my replacement after mailing off the broken one only a week and a half ago, whereas the first one took four weeks.

It's another older refurb though (the serial numbers were so close I didn't even realize it had changed on the support page), so I'm still wary. My last one was also a refurb with the new heatsink, and fat lot of good that did.

[RickH]

UPS confirms the repair center in McAlllen got mine last Thursday @ 11:30am.

But I wouldn't even know that if it was up to MS. Absolutely no communication whatsoever from them. Every repair, the experience gets worse.

[Moore]

Same here Rick... and I'm getting super duper escalated, speedypants support supposedly.

[RickH]

Once again, UPS makes the contact that MS should have. Their automated system calls and tells me they have a delivery from "MICROSOFT XBOX" that will show up tomorrow sometime after 8am.

I'm not taking a day off work to sign for an Xbox 360, so I'll get it Friday on the re-delivery. Geez.

[Fugitive]

For any future returns, I've been able to get them to deliver the coffin and returned console to my work address instead of my home address, if that would work better.

And yeah, I got an email about the assignment of a problem number for my first repair, but no contact after that, and absolutely nothing at all about the second repair. At least the service site works better now. Kinda.

[RickH]

The xbox.com service site says I don't have anything. So much for MS updating your s/n and account status before sending your new box out.

I think all those corporate bright ideas are falling under the wheels of low-bid contracting.

[BlueJackalope]

Same here Rick... and I'm getting super duper escalated, speedypants support supposedly.

I got my box back um, 6 days after I shipped it (MS paid for the express shipping) they threw in a month of XBL and some support chick keeps calling to see if it is working.

The next time it breaks, (and it will - I checked the date on the back 7/7/2006) I will give them my work address for pickup and delivery, the Fed Ex delievers to my empty house thing just doesnt work.

[tromik]

The next time it breaks, (and it will - I checked the date on the back 7/7/2006) I will give them my work address for pickup and delivery, the Fed Ex delievers to my empty house thing just doesnt work.
Is there a manufacture date after which 360s won't break down? Mine is 2006/08/02. Is it doomed to break down?

[BlueJackalope]

Is there a manufacture date after which 360s won't break down? Mine is 2006/08/02. Is it doomed to break down?

I feel like Steve McQueen in Papillion when the old guy who has been in solitary for years asks him if he looks okay (he doesn't) and McQueen says he looks great.
I'm sure your xbox will never fail. You look fine.

[tromik]

I feel like Steve McQueen in Papillion when the old guy who has been in solitary for years asks him if he looks okay (he doesn't) and McQueen says he looks great.
I'm sure your xbox will never fail. You look fine.
God I hope it doesn't break down until March 08.

[Jake Plane]

Just got the red ring... again!

[RickH]

Just got the red ring... again!

The only way to NOT get it is not to play it. I seem to get them every 10k gamerscore.

[psu_13]

When my xbox broke I had the pleasure of the single worst customer service experience of my life. And it took a 45 minute initial phone call and more than a month end to end, including two tries at sending me the coffin because they got my address completely wrong over the phone.

I might just sell it on ebay after I finish Portal. Oh wait I just finished Portal.

[MyNameIsWill]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2udm8qSnhLs

(Watch til end)

[Cronox]

I think resurrecting this thread caused my 360 to die, I just got my third RROD. I kind of accepted it the first time back in Late 2006 and wasn’t too surprised when happened again around October 2007 but I’m quite pissed that the system sent to me in October last year (nearly 2 years after the system launch) only lasted 4 months!

[mystery]

You freaks put bad juju in the air. Now I'm part of the aforementioned club. RMA box shows up in 3-5 days. I asked the guy if it was a repair or a replacement. He said at first, they'll try a repair. If that doesn't work out, they'll replace it.

On the bright side, they've automatically extended everyone's warranty for 3 years for this particular error. This is nice, as my warranty expired 2 months ago (of course).

[Kadath]

My day 1 360 just started to not read ANY disks. No red ring tho, am I gonna have to pay for it or is it on MS?

[Fugitive]

My day 1 360 just started to not read ANY disks. No red ring tho, am I gonna have to pay for it or is it on MS?
I think you're only covered for drive problems at this point if you had gotten the two-year extended warranty.

[rjcc]

My day 1 360 just started to not read ANY disks. No red ring tho, am I gonna have to pay for it or is it on MS?

I'd just send it back as a RROD, I haven't heard of anyone not gtting their system replaced.

[Kadath]

Oh yeah, I had one of those too!

[Cubit]

Well shoot. Just got my first red ring. I paused a game to type a post, and after a min or two heard a metallic snap. Then, I noticed the game was frozen. I restarted, and the system froze on the 360 startup screen. After two of those, now I get the 3 red rings. Sad day.

edit. after letting it sit a few min, i just turned it on and it booted to the nxe just fine. i guess its time to go buy a memory card to save my files.

[Rock8man]

My brother got the RROD yesterday, just when we were regularly starting to play Gears of War 2's Horde mode and having a blast. So I've lent him my spare 360 during this month. Hopefully neither my main 360 nor my spare will go down in the next month.

[Jazar]

Well shoot. Just got my first red ring. I paused a game to type a post, and after a min or two heard a metallic snap. Then, I noticed the game was frozen. I restarted, and the system froze on the 360 startup screen. After two of those, now I get the 3 red rings. Sad day.

edit. after letting it sit a few min, i just turned it on and it booted to the nxe just fine. i guess its time to go buy a memory card to save my files.

You don't have to save your files. You keep your HD when you send your system on it's way.

[Cubit]

You don't have to save your files. You keep your HD when you send your system on it's way.

Ah, good point. Thanks.

[spiffy]

Gack! RRoD. Playing Peggle, no less. I am a sad panda. My xbox was bought second hand from my friend, and as far as I know, was already a replacement from another RRoD. Will this cause me problems? Is the replacement guarantee still good 2+ years later ? And is this still the place to go for the coffin?

https://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/registerdevice.aspx?step=repair

[RickH]

Gack! RRoD. Playing Peggle, no less. I am a sad panda. My xbox was bought second hand from my friend, and as far as I know, was already a replacement from another RRoD. Will this cause me problems? Is the replacement guarantee still good 2+ years later ? And is this still the place to go for the coffin?

https://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/registerdevice.aspx?step=repair

My advice is try the website first, the phone support second, and NEVER admit that you weren't the original buyer.

If asked about receipt/purchase date, just say "man, I don't keep track of that stuff, can't you guys figure it out by the serial number?"

And if they try to get you to pay for fixing it, remember that buying an Arcade with a brand new warranty (as opposed to a 90 day warranty on the LEAST RELIABLE GAME CONSOLE EVER) is only $200 and you get a free controller!

[Rock8man]

And if they try to get you to pay for fixing it, remember that buying an Arcade with a brand new warranty (as opposed to a 90 day warranty on the LEAST RELIABLE GAME CONSOLE EVER) is only $200 and you get a free controller!

If you pay for fixing it, they give you a 1 year warranty, not a 90 day warranty, just like if you bought a new one at the store.

[spiffy]

I don't play my xbox too often, I'm not much inclined to pay for anything, repairs or a new machine. We'll see how this goes.

[spiffy]

Uh-oh. I can't register my xbox for the online form, since the serial is already registered to the previous owner.

[Ezdaar]

Arise! My Xbox360 just started displaying one red segment in the bottom right corner and showing an E74 error on screen. Am I hosed? The intarwebs says it's related to either the AV cable or something connected to that. The cable I'm using is a standard monoprice HDMI-DVI cable and it works fine with my laptop.

[glimjack]

I also had this happen to me over the weekend. I am assuming it is a GPU problem. Just before it failed, I had some garbage appear on screen, then rebooting gave the E74.

Note: booting without an A/V cable attached boots fine, as soon as any A/V cable is attached the error appears.

[Ezdaar]

I also had this happen to me over the weekend. I am assuming it is a GPU problem. Just before it failed, I had some garbage appear on screen, then rebooting gave the E74.

Note: booting without an A/V cable attached boots fine, as soon as any A/V cable is attached the error appears.

Mine shows the exact same behavior. The internet wisdom seems to be to overheat it by wrapping it in towels or jamming some stuff in to stop the fan from spinning. Has anyone tried this? The console is way out of warranty so I'm less worried about damaging it and more worried about electrical fires.

[Sander 001]

Yes, I've done the towel trick but it's only a temporary fix. I seem to remember it working because it sort of re-connected some component inside that had become loose or something. At a certain temp, I could just touch the center of the casing(maybe around the 'O' in 'XBOX') and just touching it would give results. As time went on, it needed to be pushed down harder and harder and by the end I had to have some pretty heavy weights on her for her to work. She lasted maybe 2months like this, I can't remember exactly.