Xbox360 RROD - repair or replace?

[Bill Carr]

My 360 had the dreaded red-ring-of-death last week It's well outside the 3yr MS warranty so I think a free repair is out of the question. From what I understand, repair will cost £80-90 and is warranted for a further year (is this correct?).

I figure I may as well buy one of the bundle deals that are around at the moment - c.£150 for the 360 Arcade + game - and sell the bundled game on ebay to recoup some of the cost. Then I'll have a brand new Xbox with 3 year RROD cover for not much more outlay than if I repaired my old XB.

Thoughts?

[randlemarcus]

HMV seem to have the superelite 250Gb for 199, with some bundled game or other. Seeing as you're starting down the upgrade path

[Snoop Bagg]

I'd give the repair a go, it's pretty easy really and a good kit may cost you a fiver!

[sherman]

I have just been in the same situation as the OP and went out and bought a new arcade spec 360 for £119 and put the hard drive from the broken one on to the arcade 360. All is fine so far.

[Neil H]

I wouldn't pay MS to fix it because it will break again eventually, probably just after their new warranty runs out.

I would have a go at a DIY repair, if it doesn't work upgrade to a new one, you have nothing to lose really. The new ones do seem to be slightly more resilient.

[Bill Carr]

Have you chaps done the upgrade? Any links to a good guide? Yes I could google, but I'd rather follow a recommended guide! Presumably it's just a soldering job?

[tim2100]

I have had two 360 consoles. First one i did the X-clamp mod. Worked well until another Capacitor blew. However this was done to a far higher standard than nearly all the modifications to fix RROD. It was fully re-flowed using a proper BGA Re-flower with the correct MS heat profile. It did work and was a lot quieter, but lots of hassle and not knowing if it will work and for how long.

The 2nd I have recently received back from MS. It was outside of the warranty and therefore had to pay for the Repair. IMO £87 well spent. (£82 + £5 to send it from a Postbox shop) I had to make a complaint on the 1st one they sent, and then they sent a brand new machine. So £87 for a new machine.

IMO they should have sorted out the reliability issues now. It is on its 3rd or 4th major hardware revision since being launched. New ones should be extremely reliable now.

[johna]

Buy a ps3

[tim2100]

johna said:

Buy a ps3

tt

[Original Poster]

tim2100 said:

johna said:

Buy a ps3

tt

Classic!

I would upgrade personally.

[Bill Carr]

johna said:

Buy a ps3

Does it play Xbox games? I'm afraid it's no use to me.

I'm erring towards an upgrade, I have to admit. I've checked out some of the RROD repair guides and I think they're beyond my ability and patience. I'm also not convinced they'll last.

Not sure I need the 250gb Elite model tbh - I don't use XBL so wouldn't download films or games etc. What do you guys use all that space for?

[johna]

tim2100 said:

johna said:

Buy a ps3

tt

Ck


No it doesnt play xbox games but it plays blue ray dvds.

[bdr529]

Sucks that it is out of warranty. I'm on my 5th 360 now, but they all die while under the warranty. It's becoming an annual occurance now, the 360 I have now is due to break in 3 weeks.

[Bill Carr]

johna said:

tim2100 said:

johna said:

Buy a ps3

tt

Ck


No it doesnt play xbox games but it plays blue ray dvds.

Willies!

Sorry, I just wanted to join in.

I'm really not fussed about blue-ray (I have a ton of dvds I never watch) and I have no desire to buy a new console AND then buy all the software again. So thanks, but XB it is for me.

[tim2100]

johna said:

tim2100 said:

johna said:

Buy a ps3

tt

Ck


No it doesnt play xbox games but it plays blue ray dvds.

On every single XBOX thread, there is always a PS3 fanboy saying buy a PS3. If they wanted a Sony Console they would have brought a Sony console. They didn't they brought a XBOX, with games & peripherals to match. If you have say 10 games on the XBOX, to replace those with a PS3, would be new Console - £250, 10 games (With no equivalent to Forza) £400? so £650 with no peripherals. Or £80 for a MS fix.

[johna]

Not a fanboy, just a joke.

Someone isnt getting any!!

[Bill Carr]

Can we please not let this descend into some playground bickering? Aren't we too old for that sort of thing?

BTW it wasn't a very funny joke, but I took it in the spirit it was intended.

[wombat172a]

I had the RROD on an old xbox, and with a repair kit from ebay sorted it out. It really isn't a hard job, and if you can replace a graphics card on a computer you can easily do this job. I repaired it about 18months ago, and despite the rest of the xbox falling apart, I've had no RROD again.

[Xaero]

Anyone got a link to the decent repair kit on eBay?

I got the RRoD on my 5 year old 360 today. It was an ancient one with a 16.4A power in :-( I haven't played it in 15 months too, last time I did I fixed a disc read error by gluing in the lazer.

Don't really have money for MS repair or a new one, and only need it to last 3-4 months so I'm going to see how a quick repair goes so I can keep up with all the games I've missed over the past year.

[Mannginger]

I replaced mine with an Arcade - seems to have been the right decision as the new one seems a lot more solid. I also took the opportunity to get a larger HDD.

Old one's still in the loft so may give a fix a go at some point - or flog it on e-bay or similar