XBOX 360 and the red ring of death......

[Tony*T3]

Well, 3 days after its shop warranty ran out, booted up my XBOX to see the dreaded 'three quadrants lit red ring of death'. Machine otherwise completly unresponsive.

Called MS Xbox support who said it was basically terminal and that the console needed replacing. So have arranged for them to have it shipped.


Anyway, being a bit of a potcher, and being very fecked off with the idea that I would be without my xbox over the xmas period (and unable to play COD4 which I already suspect has been bougth for me as a present from the OH), I took the xbox into 'GAME' store for them to have a look (this is where I bought it). They were compeltly unhelpful - no surprise there. So then took the box to 'GAMESTATION' store instead. There, the geeky long haired types had a quick look at the machine, and it turns out its the power supply thats faulty, not the box (worked out by swapping known good power supply and xbox now booting normally).

So, if you do get the 3 quadrant red ring of death, be advised, its not necessarily a termianl problem with the console itself. No MS article highlights this possibility as far as I can see.

Orderred a new PS from ebay for £28. much better than 5 weeks without a console.

[ralphk]

3 red lights on isnt too bad, if you get 4 you need to worry, that means 'internal hardware faliure' according to MS. Sent mine back to be fixed, they said it would take about 10 days, but 3 days after sending it of to them, a brand new one arrived! which was nice

[Tony*T3]

ralphk said:

3 red lights on isnt too bad, if you get 4 you need to worry, that means 'internal hardware faliure' according to MS. Sent mine back to be fixed, they said it would take about 10 days, but 3 days after sending it of to them, a brand new one arrived! which was nice

No, 3 lights is the red ring of death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_pr...

[Dixie]

3 year warranty on all 360s now isn't there???

Oh and if you have a moan about your xbox breaking they will offer you a wireless headset, wireless controller or xbox live subscription as compo apparently!!!

[scorp]

I got 3 lights last month and the return slip noted it needed a motherboard replacement. Had to wait 20 days too.

[Thudd]

Dixie said:

3 year warranty on all 360s now isn't there???

Oh and if you have a moan about your xbox breaking they will offer you a wireless headset, wireless controller or xbox live subscription as compo apparently!!!

Only for the 3 red rings of death, mate

If, eg, your DVD player bricks out, you're stuffed

[RemaL]

the "second" time I got the 3 red lights it took 6 weeks to get back to me. but since I added a few extra fan's its been working great. fingers cross

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Tony*T3 said:

Well, 3 days after its shop warranty ran out, booted up my XBOX to see the dreaded 'three quadrants lit red ring of death'. Machine otherwise completly unresponsive.

How old is it? If it is under 2 years old it is still be covered by a warranty....

[Famous Graham]

Thudd said:

Dixie said:

3 year warranty on all 360s now isn't there???

Oh and if you have a moan about your xbox breaking they will offer you a wireless headset, wireless controller or xbox live subscription as compo apparently!!!

Only for the 3 red rings of death, mate

If, eg, your DVD player bricks out, you're stuffed

Yup - I had that. Mine freezes on disc based games reasonably regularly - MS didn't want to know.

So it's just gone on Ebay - there's a roaring trade in slightly faulty ones. I'm not going to speculate what the buyers do with them, but my description is accurate - my conscience is clear

[GiorgioGT]

Famous Graham said:

I'm not going to speculate what the buyers do with them

some geek in his bedroom changes the flux capacitor and then sells it as a working x box

[Thudd]

I got them to fix mine eventually - had to pay about £50 including carriage - they sent me a brand new one to replace it.

The shonky repair places were quoting near that for them to repair it, and I got a month of XBL Gold back as well. Plus a new warranty, obviously.

[Ikemi]

My 360 is currently away for repair after only 2 months of 'light' gaming ... The console kept freezing every so often, which gradually turned into every 2 minutes. Upon freezing loud crackles could be heard through the speakers, whereas on screen the graphics were distorted with rectangular blurred shapes.

It definitely wasn't overheating - I tried both horizontal and vertical positions with plenty of space for airflow etc

Nevermind ... Hopefully it'll be back in time for Xmas, COD4, Assassin's Creed and Ace Combat

[cqueen]

This must be costing microsoft a fortune! at least they're good enough to take responsibility though. Lets hope their next machine is built properly!

[ralphk]

Tony*T3 said:

ralphk said:

3 red lights on isnt too bad, if you get 4 you need to worry, that means 'internal hardware faliure' according to MS. Sent mine back to be fixed, they said it would take about 10 days, but 3 days after sending it of to them, a brand new one arrived! which was nice

No, 3 lights is the red ring of death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_pr...

ah yes, 4 must be the AV cable thing

[W00DY]

I'm on my third although haven't had to send one off yet as Argos suddenly change their policy of getting you to send it away to microsoft if you give them some grief. They even gave me one of the new HDMI ones this time.

Woody

[scorp]

cqueen said:

This must be costing microsoft a fortune! at least they're good enough to take responsibility though. Lets hope their next machine is built properly!

It is commendable, im having some greif from sony for trying to get a PS2 repaired which has a knackered CD/DVD drive which has died for no other reason than being used normally and for being a cheap piece of tat.

Edited by scorp on Monday 3rd December 13:14

[Tony*T3]

repair rates for the earlier machines are reportedly up to around 33-35% of machines sold during that early period, as apposed to normal rates of around 3% on most console type electrical goods

Microsoft have apparantly allocated around 1.1 BILLION bucks to this issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, my console is still in warranty, but the main issue I had was sending it away and being without it for 5 weeks (current estimated return time) all because it turned out my POWERSUPPLY was faulty (which MS didnt want me to return with the console anyway!!!)

[uriel]

W00DY said:

I'm on my third although haven't had to send one off yet as Argos suddenly change their policy of getting you to send it away to microsoft if you give them some grief. They even gave me one of the new HDMI ones this time.

Woody

If Argos replace it, what happens wrt the HDD and saved games etc? I'm having problems with mine reading discs and the 12 month waranty from Argos is coming to an end. I was thinking of taking it in, but don't want to get a brand new machine if it comes with a new HDD and I lose all my stuff.

[Tony*T3]

uriel said:

W00DY said:

I'm on my third although haven't had to send one off yet as Argos suddenly change their policy of getting you to send it away to microsoft if you give them some grief. They even gave me one of the new HDMI ones this time.

Woody

If Argos replace it, what happens wrt the HDD and saved games etc? I'm having problems with mine reading discs and the 12 month waranty from Argos is coming to an end. I was thinking of taking it in, but don't want to get a brand new machine if it comes with a new HDD and I lose all my stuff.

Hmmm, one of the reasons i didnt want to send mine off either. You could just detach your hard drive before sending it? Not sur ethey would accept that though (the hard drive unit detaches from the console if you didnt realise)

[uriel]

Tony*T3 said:

uriel said:

W00DY said:

I'm on my third although haven't had to send one off yet as Argos suddenly change their policy of getting you to send it away to microsoft if you give them some grief. They even gave me one of the new HDMI ones this time.

Woody

If Argos replace it, what happens wrt the HDD and saved games etc? I'm having problems with mine reading discs and the 12 month waranty from Argos is coming to an end. I was thinking of taking it in, but don't want to get a brand new machine if it comes with a new HDD and I lose all my stuff.

Hmmm, one of the reasons i didnt want to send mine off either. You could just detach your hard drive before sending it? Not sur ethey would accept that though (the hard drive unit detaches from the console if you didnt realise)

Yeah, if I had to send it back to MS, I'd hang on to the HDD or at least talk to them about it on the phone first, but I couldn't imagine Argos or any other retail store, including Game, allowing you to swap your HDD with one in your replacement.