XBOX 360 -- High Failure Rate?

[PeR0XiDe]

Hey you xbox doods out there, how's it going? :cool:

Listen, I'm really interested in buying an XBOX 360 (premium).. but something scares me a bit :\: it's the high failure rate rumour that's around. My question is this: is this just a rumour, or is it true?

Has anyone in here had any trouble with his xbox? :ang:

[Midian]

if you stay originals, then you should be concerned, if somethings wrong, it should be replacable.

i got a premium one, is doing fine :)

[V0rteX]

for how long has it been at you ?

i've had my console for 2 months now and never had any problems whatsoever too

[Avaloner]

The Xbox 360 does indeed have a manufacturing defect in that if the motherboard overheats to a certain degree the processor may become detached causing the three rings of death. Some blame the architecture some the gel used to connect the CPU to the motherboard. I have had mine for 3 months and have not had any problems whatsoever but I refrain from using it for marathon gaming sessions and have a fan on it during this hot period. If you have AC in the room where you intend using it you should be quite ok I guess.

[Sp|DEy^]

rumors are true my friends gpu already failed once and had it fixed temp by the "towel" method and then taken to the shop and fixed or somethin

a friend of his had already failed 3 times


edit: cpu or gpu one of those ye

aka ad the red light of death!!! DUN DUN DUN DUNNN

[V0rteX]

wow, microsoft have just extended their general warranty to 3 years :o (globally)

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/07/05/Show-_2300_233-The-one-with-Peter-Moore-on-the-Xbox-360-enhanced-warranty-.aspx

[Toyota_TF105]

Originally posted by Midian
if you stay originals, then you should be concerned, if somethings wrong, it should be replacable.

i got a premium one, is doing fine :)

Unless your discs get scratched and completely useless.

That's what happened to me, and they didn't replace my two discs.

Ahjar jaraw kif se jgibu naq iktar sapport lejn L-ewropa milli 3 snin garanzija.

[Midian]

tijej ila aw xi 3/4 xhur, mandix extra fan, jew ac fil kamra, pjuttost il kamra tkun forn u ekk, u sissa touch wood ada addejja.
yea true lev bout discs, kieku jien kont flokok/huk kont indendlu mal hajt lil tal hanut.

[Avaloner]

Originally posted by Midian
tijej ila aw xi 3/4 xhur, mandix extra fan, jew ac fil kamra, pjuttost il kamra tkun forn u ekk, u sissa touch wood ada addejja.
yea true lev bout discs, kieku jien kont flokok/huk kont indendlu mal hajt lil tal hanut.

You better be careful. The problem pops out after some time, not immediately. It's a process that is caused by heat which gradually causes damage. Prevention is better than cure.

Also it has to be noted that the extended 3 year guarantee is for critical failures only (ie. three rings of light) not any problem. That is, faulty disk drives and scratched cd's are not included.

[billy]

3yrs warantee is for every problem tha might arise.

faulty game cds are not microsoft's responsibility anyways

[Midian]

ill take everything back.... cursing like hell, damn thing broke down...

[PeR0XiDe]

Originally posted by Midian
ill take everything back.... cursing like hell, damn thing broke down... :O x'gara?

[Midian]

nahseb overheating, xbox freezing, screen goes greenish, sometimes repetitive sound (vga overheating symptoms on pc), u hin minnom rajt it 3 rings of death... ill post the greenish screen thingy later on la nitfaghhom ximkien.

mah and it had to happen on saturday morning ovjament

[filthy hippie]

unlucky midian,
were did u buy it from?

[Sp|DEy^]

http://thexboxdomain.net/2007/01/15/the-towel-trick-fixes-360s/


check that shit out yo!

[Brooklyn]

The towel trick is only a temp fix.

L'AVATAR FEJN HU??????!!!!! :mad:

:D

[filthy hippie]

qed tiffissa fit tennis issa spidey?

[Avaloner]

Originally posted by billy
3yrs warantee is for every problem tha might arise.


Only for general system failures ie: 3 rings of light.

As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message.

Source (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/petermooreletter.htm)

[Sp|DEy^]

Originally posted by lectric
qed tiffissa fit tennis issa spidey?


ye love it :)


u lavatar tajta break ax ghejjiet tirranga jahasra :p

[V0rteX]

the towel trick is just temporary.

the best fixes out there are the replacement of the CPU's heat sink bolts and remplacing the rubber material found in the GPU's memory chips with actual erasers lol

btw midian was the 360 placed vertically or horizontally? because by all means you should place it horizontally (when your replacement arrives) in order not to obstruct the console's intake

[billy]

avaloner, check interview on gamespot :)

[PeR0XiDe]

But is this failing associate with the xbox 360 because of mis-use of the console, or just being unlucky and getting a faulty console ?

[Avaloner]

After extensive research I found that actually in a vertical position the 360 has less trouble keeping cool.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9756/xboxcoolingda1.gif

My Xbox is set up like so (sorry for the crude pic, could not find the digital camera). The fan blows air directly underneath the motherboard. Whereas without the fan this area would be very warm, with the fan it is very cool and I guess that helps. I also avoid playing extended half day sessions, rather playing in 60-90 minutes sittings, especially since its summer.

@Billy - From the interview:

We're announcing today a specific warranty coverage that extends to three years for any console that displays a "three flashing red light" error message. So if the customer has a "three flashing red light" issue, we'll repair the console free of charge.

This is an Xbox 360 warranty enhancement program. So you get a three-year warranty and it covers the three flashing red lights. So even if you bought it on launch date, you get three years from then.

[billy]

try avoiding crammign consoles into tight places. It is not the first time i see temps of 40-60C besides my ps3, let alone the xbox

rest assured they can't limit warantee to 1 problem, even though it's the main problem right now

[Chris]

http://www.rpg-tv.com/images/strips/strip166.jpg

:D

[Midian]

baught it from extreme gaming, in birkirkara, going tomorrow.

yes it was vertical, its always been like that.

its not crimmed, its on my desk, so nothing stopping air from floating above it

i dont care if the warranty is only on the 3 rings, since now its not turning on, only the 3 rings of death are showing....

am i the first one in this forum who has expierienced the 3 rings of death?

also on another note, was browseing around to see if i should get a 3rd party cooler, and on the web i found the

Nyko Intercooler and the Pelikan Fan Stand.

was interested towards the Nyko but some forum users said that sometimes it fuxes up the power port, and also it melts into the xbox360 (wicked) any idea of a 3rd party cooler? or no need for it? im worried that my console went dead cos of heat, and would consider in investing in some cooler, not water tho...

[PostmortemMT]

Inhxielek Conrad? lolll Il la jahasra!

My Xbox 360 has been at me since last November and till now I didn't have any probs. I usually play sessions of like 2-4hrs MAX although I did play 11hrs str8 on it once (Gears Of War).

BTW Nyko's cooler truly sucks. Had bought it and plugged it in. My 360 showed one red light (if I'm not mistaken indicates power prob) decided to throw away the bugger and to never buy Nyko products ever again.

Guys do you have any ideas how I might check out the temperature of consoles (Xbox360/Ps3) ?

[Avaloner]

It really is a pity that the 360 is so unreliable. It would be an awesome machine otherwise.

[V0rteX]

Originally posted by Postmortem

Guys do you have any ideas how I might check out the temperature of consoles (Xbox360/Ps3) ?

i measure my 360's temperature by inserting a temperature probe of my PC's fan controller into one of the outlets at the back side of the console .

and it measures around 60 degrees usually :o


btw: regarding the nyko intercooler, they have 2 versions, one that has a power switch and one which doesn't. the newer version had the power switch removed and does not seem to cause any problems that might have occured by the old version of the intercooler.

[PostmortemMT]

Originally posted by V0rteX
i measure my 360's temperature by inserting a temperature probe of my PC's fan controller into one of the outlets at the back side of the console .

and it measures around 60 degrees usually :o

After how many hours of use approx? and any suggestions where and what type of probe I should buy? Cause I'm interested.

[V0rteX]

around 15 minutes of gameplay lol, but then the temp remains constant.

[PostmortemMT]

Originally posted by V0rteX
around 15 minutes of gameplay lol, but then the temp remains constant.

Istja issa 60 degrees mhix cajta ghal CPU. Mhux ta bxejn kien hemm kocc failures. Ghandek ideat ghal xi prob li nista nixtri pls?

[Midian]

also Nyko has promised that they will change all 360's that fail due to their product... but am still a bit worried. but on the other hand, saw a couple of cooler reviews, the Nyko beats the Pelikan on both CPU and VGA cooling, tho the Pelikan beats the Nyko on m0b0 cooling (by little), then on the DB section, the Nyko is way too noise then the pelikan....

anyone using any 3rd party cooler?

[V0rteX]

Originally posted by Postmortem
Istja issa 60 degrees mhix cajta ghal CPU. Mhux ta bxejn kien hemm kocc failures. Ghandek ideat ghal xi prob li nista nixtri pls?

mandix idea, u tqis li 60 degrees tipo it temperatura mal fannijiet ta wara, ahseb wara jekk namila dirett mal heat sink tas cpu jew gpu il probe

[V0rteX]

Originally posted by Midian
also Nyko has promised that they will change all 360's that fail due to their product... but am still a bit worried. but on the other hand, saw a couple of cooler reviews, the Nyko beats the Pelikan on both CPU and VGA cooling, tho the Pelikan beats the Nyko on m0b0 cooling (by little), then on the DB section, the Nyko is way too noise then the pelikan....

anyone using any 3rd party cooler?

i'm using a zalman 120mm fan and a case fan lol, i will attach a pic later on

[PostmortemMT]

Originally posted by V0rteX
i'm using a zalman 120mm fan and a case fan lol, i will attach a pic later on

Now this I need to see lol.

[V0rteX]

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/6774/img0601kx3.th.jpg (http://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0601kx3.jpg) http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2174/img0602qb9.th.jpg (http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0602qb9.jpg) http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3479/img0606zi1.th.jpg (http://img167.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0606zi1.jpg)

lol kind of a redneck mod but anyways the cooling method seems to work this way. everything is held together through the use of blu tack only :D

btw its a 90 mm fan at the back not 120 as i previously stated lol

for all those who keep their 360s vertically, i would suggest that you put some risers underneath because the main intake is located at the bottom

[Midian]

lol vortex, ogbitni tal bluetech.. imma tipo ma jinharaqx il bluetech bis shana? u bsahhtu jzomm? forsi namel xi haga simili taqbizli...

btw power minn gol pc jew usb?

neways my xbox before it went with the rings of death...

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/7420/picture038sas9.th.jpg (http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture038sas9.jpg)

[V0rteX]

yeah power tal pc, allahares idub il blutack lol ma titfax daqsekk shana umbad il console

btw midian kif se jihandlejalek il garanzijja l xtreme? ax jien min andu xtrajta ukoll u ma nafx ezatt x jamlu b xboxes faulty.

smajt li izommielek sakemm jaqqad kocc xboxes li telqu biex ikun jista jifrankalek il prezz tas shipping meta jishipjom l italja . vera?

[dynamited]

hmmm.. before i managed to post that the xbox is a reliable piece of kit..... problems struck.

The dvd reader isnt working. My bro was having a game of his usual GTA ( fed up of seeing this game tbh) and the xbox crashed. The DVD drive is making a shhing sound, even though the disc didnt get scratched.

Gonna read on some forums maybe there`s something, otherwise its back to dixons in the uk for a service request.

DAMM GTA.

[billy]

Originally posted by dynamited
hmmm.. before i managed to post that the xbox is a reliable piece of kit..... problems struck.

The dvd reader isnt working. My bro was having a game of his usual GTA ( fed up of seeing this game tbh) and the xbox crashed. The DVD drive is making a shhing sound, even though the disc didnt get scratched.

Gonna read on some forums maybe there`s something, otherwise its back to dixons in the uk for a service request.

DAMM GTA.

zomg! I had that!!! scratched 3 games for me *censored*

[Midian]

Originally posted by V0rteX
yeah power tal pc, allahares idub il blutack lol ma titfax daqsekk shana umbad il console

btw midian kif se jihandlejalek il garanzijja l xtreme? ax jien min andu xtrajta ukoll u ma nafx ezatt x jamlu b xboxes faulty.

smajt li izommielek sakemm jaqqad kocc xboxes li telqu biex ikun jista jifrankalek il prezz tas shipping meta jishipjom l italja . vera?

still not sure, he wasnt at the shop when i went, left it with a worker, he said he would contact me today, but still nothing... sent him an email too, tomorrow ill call him

[Avaloner]

The 360 is such a great console, its a pity it has to be marred down by ghastly build quality. Its the only reason why sometimes I wish I should have gotten a PS3 instead.

[Brooklyn]

Or maybe you should have just waited a little bit more seeing as they're about to release those new updated Xbox 360 systems with the 65nanometer chips.

Regardless, I've always thought that the PS3 would end up being a better investment overall.

[Avaloner]

Originally posted by Brooklyn
Or maybe you should have just waited a little bit more seeing as they're about to release those new updated Xbox 360 systems with the 65nanometer chips.

Regardless, I've always thought that the PS3 would end up being a better investment overall.

Still no official news on the updated Xbox, I did not want to wait, suspended in mid air, for Microsoft to MAYBE announce a date for the redesign. This was three months ago so details on that model were even more sparse.

I do not believe that the PS3 would have been a better investment. The PS3 is not using its full power (or so everyone claims) so why should I buy it for a premium price of Lm300? I thought the best investment was buying a cheaper 360 to get what the PS3 is offering now and much more for less.

When the PS3 kicks off with exclusives and jaw dropping graphics I will then buy it for a reduced price. Hopefully that day will coincide with the day my 360 dies.

[V0rteX]

the 65 nanometer chips are expected to arrive this Fall

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/07/09/a-smaller-cooler-falcon-should-be-soaring-this-fall/

[PeR0XiDe]

Guess I'll wait till Fall for my X-Box 360 :ang:

[G-lock]

http://www.techspot.com/news/26108-microsoft-faces-xbox-360-class-action-lawsuit.html

A Florida man has filed a $5 million federal class-action lawsuit against Microsoft this week, claiming that the Xbox 360 was "negligently designed and manufactured" and that a defect in the console causes it to scratch game discs and make them unusable.

Jorge Brouwer filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after his Xbox 360 scratched two video games discs he bought for $50 each. Microsoft has offered to replace scratched discs for a $20 fee, provided the games were made by Microsoft, yet they refuse to replace or provide any compensation for any scratched game discs made by third-parties.

In his lawsuit, Brouwer claims to have received thousands of complaints from U.S. Xbox users who have had game discs damaged, and is asking the court to order Microsoft to pay for damages, including replacing damaged discs and repairing defective consoles.

The news comes shortly after the company said it would set aside more than $1 billion to extend the warranty for the Xbox 360 consoles that completely stop working due to a vague condition the company calls "general hardware failure."

[Avaloner]

Hooray for me! My 360 has gone the way of the dodo. No rings of dead... just the DVD drive not recognizing anything I put in it 99% of the time.

[BravoDGr8]

kont imhajjar nixxija xi darba qtajtuli qalbi, ahjar ma nonfoq xej lol.

[Avaloner]

Originally posted by BravoDGr8
kont imhajjar nixxija xi darba qtajtuli qalbi, ahjar ma nonfoq xej lol.

Wait for a redesign :p One thing is for sure.....the machine sure is unreliable...had it for just 5 months with no hardcore gaming.

[billy]

with regards to my xbox i literally watched hundreads of HD-DVD with practically no failure time. I do have it in a moderately airy place though

[Avaloner]

I have it in an airy place but the problem does not seem to be overheating. The DVD drive is playing up. With so many games coming out this is a big let down. One thing for sure... once bitten twice shy. No more Microsoft consoles for me.

[V0rteX]

here's a great report about the xbox's thermal design:

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20070801/137224/

here's a sum up:
The temperature gap with room temp was 22 degrees C. "When designing consumer products, it is common to seek a temperature gap of around 10 degrees C between exhaust and room temperatures," the thermal design expert said. "The 22 degrees C is quite a large gap..."
The cooling fan was half of desktop PCs apparently to reduce noise.
The expert pointed out, "The heat sink on the graphics LSI is so small, I wonder if it can really cool down the board." The reason for this? Apparently, Microsoft had to downsized graphics LSI heat sink so that the DVD drive could be placed above it.
In five minutes after booting up a game, the graphic LSI heat sink temp rose to 70 degrees C. In 15 minutes, the temperature for the microprocessor heat sink stabilized at 58 degrees, but the graphics LSI heat sink reached 80 degrees C. If the room temperature was high (like 35 degrees C), the heat sink could possibly hit 100 degrees C. What's more, if the vents were clogged with dust, the temperature could also increase.
The console repaired in May 2007 did not have a new heat sink placed in it.

[Avaloner]

Update with the DVD rom: seems to be working now. I made some changes and now whatever is in the drive boots on startup and it worked till now.

[V0rteX]

what kind of changes?

[Avaloner]

Actually it did not solve my problems although it seems to be working a bit better. You have the option to boot the console to Dashboard or to DVD-Rom. I switched to boot to DVD-Rom at present.

Also I discovered that the console has absolutely no problem at all playing DVD movies.

Actually the more I look into this the more it seems like it is software related since the problem started since the spring update (only now it seems it got worse somehow). I read people posting similar reports on the net. Hopefully some patch will fix this but I fear MS is not really considering this to be an issue.