Gamer returns his Xbox 360 11 times, is he unfortunate or is there a real problem?

[zekrahminator]

Anyone who's ever had the Red Ring Of Death (the Xbox 360's way of saying it's dead) knows what an unfortunate position they are in. There are various ways to fix the RROD, but most of them indicate that it's time to get a new Xbox 360. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem. In a classic RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization), a customer says they got a broken product, want a new one, ship the broken one to the manufacturer, and get a new one for their troubles.

However, what happens when this keeps happening? A certain Justin Lowe has done this classic RMA procedure with his Xbox 360 eleven times over, and still isn't sure whether or not he'll have to do it again. And with the wide range of problems he's had, why should he be sure? He's lost three Xbox 360s to the infamous red ring of death, two to disc read errors, two were dead on arrival, several had random audio and video-related issues, and one actually exploded. Customer support was at first friendly and fast, but now, it seems to Justin as if they are slow and unhelpful.
Justin also noticed a disturbing trend in the Xbox 360's he gets as "replacements". Unless Justin requests a new Xbox 360, Justin gets a refurbished unit. When Justin did request a new unit, he claims that it took a lot longer than it took him to get a refurbished unit.

This problem would be comical if Justin was the only one who had to return his console several times just to play his games on his console. Unfortunately, it's hardly a laughing matter. Several gamers report that they have had to send in their Xbox 360s, getting nothing more than refurbished units for their troubles. Some gamers might have gone through even more broken consoles than Justin.

After Justin got his 12th console, Microsoft was contacted about this problem. Microsoft confirmed that they are investigating Xbox 360 failure, customer service for people that are unfortunate enough to get a broken Xbox 360, and have shipped Justin a brand new Xbox 360 (Jason also confirmed that; he's probably happily fragging as you read this). Microsoft refused to comment on exact Xbox 360 failure rates. Please follow the source link for a more complete investigation into this Xbox 360 problem.

Source: 1Up

[J-Man]

I have encountered red rings of "death" and all I did was shut down then restart then start back up and it's been ok since.

[evil bill]

The "refurbished" unit RMA is something I have had experience of.

I bought a Samsung Monitor/LCD TV from PC World and after a while I noticed that the speakers had stopped working. I got it swapped out for a replacement, which had exactly the same problem. The next one had excellent sound but a cluster of dead pixels around the screen. Monitor number 4 had the dodgy sound again.

At this point I said I'd had enough and they said they could send me a new monitor rather than a refurbished unit. I declined and they gave me a letter authorising the store to give me my money back. So although it was all a bit of a hassle, they did make good on it in the end.

[HookeyStreet]

Ive had 4 XBOX360s come to me within a matter of weeks, all with RROD

Micro$haft should admit that there is a fault with these systems and offer peeps money back or a new console (not one of these refurbished systems)

[erocker]

Gamer should ask for his money back. After 3 times enough is enough. 11 times? There is a mental defect with the gamer.

[ktr]

From what i hear, units coming back from RMA came with a new heat sink design. This is for europe.

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13691/...-GPU-Heatsink/

[mrw1986]

He probably has a bad circuit in his house that is killing something in the XBOX. I've seen it many times.

[evil bill]

Surge Protector FTW!!

[Kursah]

Zek I read that article on 1up.com, they also had a recording of him calling Microsoft and verifying all the RMAs, he had more like 18 or 20 numbers, but 11 of them were XBox360 related. I hope this makes Microsoft open their eyes to creating something more sturdy and dependable. Time will tell. Mrw, in the article he had a professional electrician check his house, and his dad is even in the electrical business, the verified the house electricals are okay and easily passed inspection. But that doesn't mean there's not a slight issue somewhere. Hard saying, I think the guy has really crap luck, but it may be enough to get the ball rolling for better quality products. Time will tell...

[mrw1986]

Meh some people just have terrible luck. I've yet to have a problem with any electrical related item I've ever had *crosses fingers, knocks on wood*

[Kursah]

Trust me it will happen! But hopefully on something cheap and inexspensive that won't harm something else! I've had very good luck, but my dad taught me from a young age to be safe with electronics and was teaching me how to properly solder from like age 8. I'm glad he did, I'm so much more confident than I would've been if I didn't have that knowlege before digging into PC's years and years ago.

[zekrahminator]

Originally Posted by Kursah

Zek I read that article on 1up.com, they also had a recording of him calling Microsoft and verifying all the RMAs, he had more like 18 or 20 numbers, but 11 of them were XBox360 related.

I read that and the electric thing as well. There was just no easy way for me to integrate it into the story. Especially considering I couldn't save/link to the sound clip .

[mab1376]

my boss is going on his 5th one. every time with different issues.

my brother has had his since Christmas with no issues so far.

[15th Warlock]

Originally Posted by mrw1986

He probably has a bad circuit in his house that is killing something in the XBOX. I've seen it many times.

Read the whole article, he's had ppl check the electric connection on his house, and found nothing wrong with it... It's not his fault, though he has been very unfortunate I think.

Although MS wont release exact numbers, it seems the attrition rate for the Xbox360 hovers on the 25~30% mark... Some ppl are very lucky, and some not

It seems the problem is with overheating, the motherboard bends in some units, causing the CPU and GPU to loose contact to it, and hence the RROD. MS has even tried to prevent this by gluing the procs with epoxy to the motherboards on the new elite model, hope they start doing it with all models of the 360

[Jimmy 2004]

Originally Posted by mrw1986

Meh some people just have terrible luck. I've yet to have a problem with any electrical related item I've ever had *crosses fingers, knocks on wood*

Really? I'd say at least 10% of electrical things I buy has some sort of problem - but then again, I don't put up with little problems. If it doesn't work as well as I want it to it goes back to the store. My motherboard died just the other day but as that is a couple of years old I can't be bothered with the hassle of an RMA now (even though I think ASUS offers three years) so I've just ordered a crappy VIA board until I get enough money to upgrade to AM2 or C2D. What makes it more annoying is that my CPU died about a month ago, and if I'd known the mobo was on its way I would never have ordered a Sempron (I bought that to last me until I had enough money for an upgrade too! Damn socket 754! Now I essentially have a new PC! ).

[hat]

He overclocked too far <:-O

[WarEagleAU]

Ive had the RROD happen twice, but I think it was from heat. My two coolers werent cooling or on so Im sure it was a heat issue. This is just an example of rushed manufacturing to a degree. Not saying all the 360s are like this, but it seems funny that alot of them are. Im still waiting for my PS3 to do the same deal.

[Agility]

I don't even think it has to do with 'bad' luck. 11times is way insane..... It really has something to do with the Xbox itself.

[jurrasstoil]

Originally Posted by Agility

I don't even think it has to do with 'bad' luck. 11times is way insane..... It really has something to do with the Xbox itself.

I'd say it's a feature. "Random Checkup System"
There are "problems" so you send it to microsoft and they make sure everything else is fine and reset the "problem"-timer.

[russianboy]

Originally Posted by 15th Warlock

Read the whole article, he's had ppl check the electric connection on his house, and found nothing wrong with it... It's not his fault, though he has been very unfortunate I think.

Although MS wont release exact numbers, it seems the attrition rate for the Xbox360 hovers on the 25~30% mark... Some ppl are very lucky, and some not

It seems the problem is with overheating, the motherboard bends in some units, causing the CPU and GPU to loose contact to it, and hence the RROD. MS has even tried to prevent this by gluing the procs with epoxy to the motherboards on the new elite model, hope they start doing it with all models of the 360

Glue a CPU w/ epoxy?

Thats very stupid of m$, it just delays the problem, if a cooler is poor, get a better cooler design! Heatpipes or whatever, this is ridiculous!

[15th Warlock]

Originally Posted by russianboy

Glue a CPU w/ epoxy?

Thats very stupid of m$, it just delays the problem, if a cooler is poor, get a better cooler design! Heatpipes or whatever, this is ridiculous!

You can read about it here:

http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/news/i..._360_elite.htm

Dunno how long the procs will stand the stress, I mean, the BGA packaging doesn't bend as much as the motherboard, in time cracks might develop after many heat/cool down cycles... at least it's a step forward...

[jocksteeluk]

the reason these people will continue to have recurring problems with the replaced hardware is because they replace them with "repaired" xbox's, MS could practically solve the problem as well as enhance the reputation of the console and the company if they just gave out Brand new faultless replacements but i guess that would be a little too easy for them. Id suggest people who constantly get used repaired replacement consoles for M$ to take out a class action lawsuit for brand new replacements to solve the issue once and for all.

[cjoyce1980]

had mine since launch and not one fault. there is always one unlucky soul that get the shitty end of the stick.

[keakar]

if it were a car he could sue them under the lemon law and get a full refund.

[regan1985]

had one since the the begining and last month lent it out and bang the ring of death!! tried the towl over the xbox to make it overheat, no good!!! these things should come with 3years warrenty