This season black is the new blue (screen of death)
By Ryan Block 
posted November 7th 2005 4:00AM
posted November 7th 2005 4:00AM
No, we don't have any way of verifying this is the real deal, but it's nice to know that Microsoft might just be getting a little more svelte with their crash screens than classic white on terminal / Klein Blue. Thank you, Xbox 360 dev team, for making sure we won't have to lose the term "BSOD" after all (at least not for now).
I think this one came out to be a hoax.
Crashed already, Same Old Microsoft..
XBOX 360 - $299
Perfect Dark Zero - $59
Internet Access - $39.99/month
HDTV - $1299.99
Hideous Black Screen - Priceless, Somethings last forever.
HA!
'Your watching the BSOD in high definition'
'Only on xbox360'
Dont worry everybody they will eventually release a patch via Windows Update for the 360.
Something never changes: MS procucts crashes and the new BSOD strangely resembles Mac OsX kernel panic warning...
Didn't the original XBox have a black screen o' death?
Wow... how on Earth do you crash a kiosk?
Those things should be as bullet-proof as ATM's.
I bet Steve Jobs crashed it with his RDF....not sure why anyone would mention Apple in comments. Maybe it's the whole G5 processor thing..
People bitch about too much Apple coverage and then bring them into the mix during an MS discussion....
Back to topic. A 400 game machine should not be "crashy"....
"Those things should be as bullet-proof as ATM's."
Agreed...as powerful as the fanboysim is on both sides I wouldn't be at all surprised if a passing zealot took a few pot-shots at an XB360...
Also, even if this is real, how does this avoid the BSOD moniker ? "BLACK Screen of Death" produces the same acronym...
And I've seen consoles in kiosks crash before.
I would suspect it's usually due to heat concerns and/or excessive up-time. Then again there was that one kiosk back in Sears when I was about 9. An original NES (ah the 80's). One time I went to play it and discovered someone had removed the start button. When I noticed the two simple contacts inside, I discovered a new use for the scissors in my Swiss Army Knife :)
Who says watching KQED doesn't pay off :P
Anyhow...Messing with the controler actually proved to be more fun than actually playing Mario Bros...until something arced and the screen went white. It may have successfully rebooted but I wouldn't know...I nearly broke the sound barrier getting the he!! out of there...
So yeah...consoles/kiosks can crash for any number of reasons...
"Wow a needless article from Engadget knocking MS. What a shock. I'm just waiting for the Steve Job's feces smells like roses article."
What on Earth does the Xbox 360 have to do with Apple?
When it comes to the Jobs obsession, I think it's people like you that need to look in the mirror. You guys bring him up on every single unrelated topic you can think of. Apple's got nothing to do with game consoles, so give it a rest. As soon as Apple puts out a game console that someone gets a pic of crashing, you can bet it'll appear here and on every other site on the net. Fact is it hasn't happened yet, so you may as well quit your whining.
"Thank you, Xbox 360 dev team, for making sure we won’t have to lose the term “BSOD” after all"
but you will, its just Black SOD instead on Blue SOD... still BSOD
I don't know about pics of it crashing but,
http://www.macgeek.org/museum/pippin/
I've read that when it crashed you just got the Bomb screen ala System 7.
When will this priceless crap ever die? Its so Whazzzup.
XBOX 360 - $299
Perfect Dark Zero - $59
Internet Access - $39.99/month
HDTV - $1299.99
Hideous Black Screen - Priceless, Somethings last forever.
ela2: whaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaappppppppp!!!!!!!! I forgot about that one..
Yes, the Xbox 360 crashes... big f'ing whoop. Yes, the Xbox 360 has a multi-lingual crash dialog "just like OSX" (even though OSX doesn't offer any error messages). Who cares?
I guess it would be better to have a PS2 that just silently refuses read anything inserted into the drive, right?
dreampc,
Funny you should say that about ATMs. I crashed an ATM just the other day. Put my card in, and got a Windows error box on top a standard Windows desktop background, complete with Internet Explorer icon and VirusScan. "The application atm.exe has accessed an invalid memory location and must close."
Yes, apparently ATMs now run off of Windows too. God help us.
I was recently at a local Best Buy where they had a 360 system set up, but not on. I found the power and booted it, and the it made it's way to the dashboard then crashed. It just gave me mishmash of vertical lines and the system started blinking red. Didn't see any BOSD.
On a side note, on my way out there were 5 BB reps trying to get this one guy to preorder a 360, where were they when I wanted to buy a laptop?
Yes, the Xbox 360 crashes... big f'ing whoop. Yes, the Xbox 360 has a multi-lingual crash dialog "just like OSX" (even though OSX doesn't offer any error messages). Who cares?
---
Hahahahah you got a Mac to kernel panic, big props.. seriously, that takes some real effort.. like running 15 apps on 64 megs of RAM
In my job I work with ATMs and yes indeed, many of them run Windows. Mostly it is the big ones like you would see in a bank, from manufacturers like Diebold and NCR. In fact if you open up the ATM you will find a little PC tower case with a CDROM, floppy, etc (along with lots of other hardware.)
Before they ran Windows they ran OS/2 (you know that old Windows-like operating system from IBM.) OS/2 was actually a lot more stable than Windows. But overall the Windows ATMs are pretty stable.
"Thank you, Xbox 360 dev team, for making sure we won’t have to lose the term "BSOD" after all (at least not for now)."
To the two people above making comments about the BSOD, what part of the phrase don't you understand? It makes sense.
Actually the original "Screen of Death" came in black back in Windows 3.1 days. The Black Screen of Death would happen when you would exit windows and go back to DOS.
As Windows would exit, the screen would go dark and you'd count the seconds and watch the hard disc light... hoping you would get back to DOS. Sometimes it came back... sometimes you'd come back from lunch and still see the BSOD looking back at you. Hit the Reset (not Turbo) button...
It had something to do with your [386Enh] section of the Win.INI and your upper memory settings. Maybe they should check that on the XBox 360.
We were pleasantly surprised that we could continue calling it a BSOD when Windows NT came out.
I guess everything that's old is new again?
TTFN
blue screen of death...at least they could change the color...or can they?
Great article! I am going to send it to my friends. I switched a few years ago, glad I did.
#9. dreampc:
"Those things should be as bullet-proof as ATM's."
I seen a ATM that crashed. It was runing on Windows 98... LOL
Real genius move on MS's part, putting a powerhouse console inside a tiny sealed plastic bubble.
Would some ventilation slots and a little fan have been too much to ask for? Apparently so.
I work for a 360 dev and yes, this is real. E74 is "Kit was incompletely recovered or failed during recovery. Kit must be replaced."
It isn't very insteresting, believe me.
Yes, the original XBOX crash screen was also black and multilingual. Nothing to see here, move along...
Did you know? (Microsoft Spoof thing, heh)
The Xbox 360's support site is alive and well, along with how to's for your 360.
Ironically enough, after reading this aticle and going back to my TV, i discovered that my Nintendo Gamecube had crashed, Black SOD there too, just thought i should input.
And it should be noted that my PS2 crashed twice a day on a good day playing SocomII online.
The alien BSOD from Stargate SG-1!
The Best Buy I work at has a broken Xbox 360....I wonder how many other stores are having the same issue....?
In about 2 years of owning my Gamecube it has frozen once. No screens of death, just a freeze up. I think I might not have it in an area that has enough ventilation and too much heat.
Oh, and the 'big f'ing deal' about a BSOD is that it interrupts your game and is a big inconvenience...
People who would buy should wait for Xbox 360 SP1 from Windows Update.