Latest Xbox 360 update causing problems for some
By Donald Melanson 
posted December 6th 2006 7:30PM
posted December 6th 2006 7:30PM
While Xbox 360 users with 1080p displays enthusiastically greeted last week's dashboard update, it seems some folks are finding that the update is causing more problems than it fixes, with reports of random crashes, bricked consoles, and various display issues filling the forums on the official Xbox site, among other sites. From the looks of it, the majority of problems appear to be coming from those using VGA connections and resolutions less than 1080p, though there seems to be no limit to those affected. Amending his initial post on the update, which also saw a flurry of complaints from disgruntled 360 users in the comments section, Microsoft's Major Nelson says that the company is aware of the problems and that they are investigating it, although there's no indication when a fix for the fix will be available. [Thanks, Segadc]
"Ross
Thank goodness it says 360 instead of PS3. I'm pretty sure we'd have another paragraph bashing the update, and somewhere close to 500 comments about how Sony is horrible."
I agree...if it was SONY, all the comments would be SONY is terrible...XBOX 360 all the way! But when it is Microsoft, all they say is oh well...did SONY do anything stupid today?
SONY PS3 and PSP FTW!
I don't have a 360. So that assumption is out of the door. I didn't use a guide, but I didn't collect everything, couldn't find everything. Yet I did not rush through the game. Sniff sniff, I smell a presumptive jerk who doesn't know what he/she is talking about.
I've been playing Zelda games since the NES. My favorite had been the N64, Ocarina of Time. But Twilight Princess is my new favorite.
So no I don't have every single heart or bottle. Neither did I spend my time fishing for fun or anything like that. All I wanted to do was figure the next piece of the puzzle. Sure there is more to the game than the main story. But I was into the MAIN STORY.
So watch yourself before you start making assumptions. Did I honestly say anything bad about Zelda. NO. So get your head out of your rear, I said I ENJOYED my 30 HOURS.
Understandable. I didn't pay more than retail for my 360, but I did wait awhile.
embee this is the breakdown for YOU. $400 for the consol, $160 for 3 controllers and charger combos, $30 for a headset, $600 for 10 games. Lack of pronouns, YOUR a dick!
M$ sucks. this is why i don't play xbox live and i don't plug my 360 into the internet. that and i got mine used so i doubt they will honor the warranty if it does brick. this sucks i really wanted to get on live and dl the dead rising demo but now i think i will just go get the game instead of risk bricking. M$ needs to start TESTING! these updates before they push em out, unless the brickings are how they plan on making a profit.
would I need a PC to do the update on the XBOX? I have an iMac .... how can this be done with an Apple computer?
All you need is a connection to the internet to the 360. It is not done thru a computer. The update will either be automatically suggested (in a popup in the 360 menus), or it will be around the main online front page.
Big surprise. Funny, the PS3 has had 3 updates since it's launch, and not a single story of people having issues with it, meanwhile over a year into the 360's life and we're still hearing about widespread issues. Seems Sony has built a more reliable product. One more reason to pick it over the 360. So the PS3 is a better value, better technology and more reliable.
Too bad if your 360 is out of warranty and the update bricks it, Microsoft will tell you to go fsck yourself.
Finally someone who agrees with me. PS3s advantage is HDMI (native and digital 1080p), not all televisions support 1080p over component and not all televisions have a VGA input. Remember Microsoft (and their extreme genius computer engineering team) imitation and copying does not always help/succeed, originality is the key.
C'mon, Andy, lay off the Kool-Aid. The PS3's been out for two weeks, and there are maybe 200,000 people who have them. There are about 8.5 million Xbox360's out there. I hardly think you can be saying anything about the reliability of the PS3 at this point. Remember the PS2 launch? There were more than a few bricks in that building.
As as for "better value" and "better technology," those aren't even worth addressing. It's pretty clear you've already eaten everything Kutagari's spoonfed you. Flame on.
It would be YOU'RE a dick. If YOU'RE gonna berate someone...PLEASE do it with grammatical correctness!!! For the love of god...if we have to read it...make it RIGHT!!!
That's odd. I applied the update today, I have the VGA connector. I'm using a 720p display. I have a near-launch-day console (early December last year). So by all rights I should be screwed. But I just played 3 hours of Gears of War without a hitch :)
How is using ellipses every fifth word grammatically correct?
I had so many problems, I ended up having to exchange my 360 under Best Buy's WONDERFUL psp [/sarcasm]. My console would lock up loading a game, and would often lock up just browsing the menus.
Here's an example: http://www.l337server.com/video/xb360.mpg
I have had no problem with the update on component, I have a launch premium. Although I have experienced freezing on CoD3, but I think that was a game glitch.
originality? so when Sony lost the lawsuit with Immersion over force feedback, they made the "six-axis" controller and stole Nintendo's tilt sensor idea.
Very original indeed.... the Pot just called the kettle black.
Hey Engadget,
where is the flare for the dramatic. whenever Sony has a problem or anything for that matter in the news, Engadget always have your usual snide remarks against Sony. Wow. how much microsoft is paying you? Is it cut from the same check that M$ gives to kotaku and joystiq (which both sites are banned on most video game boards, thank goodnes)
My 360 is working fine at 1080p to my Samsung
That's why I'm sticking to the component cables 'til MS releases their X360 HDMI connectors!
This is why you have a team to test the product before you send it out there. I think its very irresponsible of microsoft to release a buggy update just to compete with Sony's launch. I think there are a few things microsoft could have done to get the system right the first time (having HDMI available, provding 1080p from the begining..) that would have aleviated the need for these updates and now because both consol manufacturers and game developers have the luxury of just patching problems as they occur rather than doing it right the first time, we will continue to be plagued with these issues.
I don't think this will be the last time we will hear about this from either Microsoft, Sony or even Nintendo. I guess the difference will be in how they handle the damage caused, and how quickly. All I know is that I want a game system for uninterupted game play. If I wanted patches and updates to my system and games, I will play on my PC.
My xbox was killed by the update too. MS refuses to acknowledge and instead tries to screw over loyal customers by making them pay for repairs...
Never was a huge sony fan, but right now the PS3 is looking like a better choice (yeah, I know it will probably be buggy too, but at least they stand behind it with a 1 year warranty instead of this 90 day crap)
I just got my Samsung 1080p LCD last night and it runs perfectly. Switched to highest res on my 360 and everything ran great. Gears of War look outstanding!
Anyone who performs a firmware update, on an out-of-warranty device, without waiting for at least a week, is a fool. up to a 2% failure on Firmware updates from any manufacturer is common and often considered an acceptable failure rate. I have never been one to buy into service plans for electronics as it is generally a scam. However, something like a game console that will have repeated firware updates makes those plans make sense. All three vendors have released firmware that has Bricked their consoles in the past few weeks(PS3, Wii, 360). It isn't just a problem with MS. I ended up picking up a Wii a few days ago and i did not hesitate to spent $29 on Targets 3 year service plan. I have never paid for a service plan on anything in my life. a 3-6 month warranty is not adequate on a game console. Do yourself a favor and buy the plans. If you don't then, maybe you should at least wait patiently for the dust to settle for a couple weeks after an update release before installing it.
Question: Do the firmware updates occur automatically if your 360 is connected to the net or do you have to select the firmware to download yourself?
Joel,
Where did you get that 2% is an acceptable failure rate for any manufacturer. I have worked with electronics for a long time and from my experience, firmware updates are generally considered robust unless there is a power failure.
What we have here is clearly a case of Microsoft poorly executing there update process, and putting the blame on their customers. The warranty really has nothing to do with it. Microsoft is causing damage to personal property, and should be liable, and such a defective product should be recalled.
My 360 just got the ring of death and i had it almost a year since early febuary. Good thing is ms fixed it for free and sent a pre paid box with postage and everything. I packaged it had ups pick it up and it will be repaired all free of charge and i dont even know about a warranty lol. MS is good by me just upset that i cant get on my gears of war grind, ya dig!
They'll probably just reflash it and send it back out. Spend $140.00 just to have your firmware update re-applied because they didn't get it done correctly the first time. What a racket.
The update bricked my console too. There are lots of unhappy people posting their comments to the xbox forums and to Major Nelson's blog (before the comments were closed!). The most frustrating thing is the total lack of response and/or recognition of the problem from Microsoft. Talk about losing the battle for hearts and minds.... Engadget, if you can bring any pressure to bear on this, we'd all be grateful, because us lowly customers are just getting the brush-off.
Mine died as of last night out of the blue, 3 flashing lights.
Mine also died this week. Like many others, it was born in January. 3 lights of death. I suspect it is the issue of poor solder joints. Will be taking it apart tonight since it is passed warranty and $140 is too much to repair a crappy system. I heard there was another class action suit that is being filed against MS. It'll probably fail again, but at least it will generate more bad press for this overpriced defective design.
Not just causing problems for SOME but a great many, find links to forums where hundreds of gamers are having this problem http://www.xbox360defective.com
I haven't had any issues with the new update myself but I'm running mine on an SD tv. I don't use it a hell of alot and I turned it on today for the first time in a couple of days. It seems there was another update, it's probably a fix for the last one. It's pretty shitty that MS won't except responsibility for their fuck up.
Ok, so I just got off the phone with a Microsoft rep about my console.
Despite the fact that my 360 only started having problems the minute after I downloaded the update, the problem is only a "coincedence" and it is a hardware problem that I must pay 140 dollars to get repaired.
Yeah, screw this, I am buying a Wii.
I just got my second Xbox 360 back today from the repair center and as soon as I powered it up and did the initial configuration it said it needed to install a security update and upon reboot, BAM the same thing as the first 360, it now won't boot past the logo as was the case with my first 360. I called the MS customer service zombies and they ran me through standard scripted troubleshooting and determined that I need to send it back to their repair center. Oh well I guess I should count myself lucky that its only happened to me twice so far. Thats a collosal screw up on Microsoft's part if a simple update is bricking 360s. Lets hope the shipping and repair costs hurt their bottom line, but, sadly, they have deep pockets. :-(
Microsoft Extends Xbox 360 Warranty to One Year
Friday December 22, 9:00 am ET
Shoppers can buy with added confidence this holiday season as Microsoft expands its warranty for Xbox 360 from 90 days to one year.
REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a move to benefit customers, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) announced today that it will change the Xbox 360(TM) warranty from 90 days to one year from the date of purchase in the United States and Canada. Microsoft extended the warranty in these territories to be consistent with the standard one-year Xbox 360 warranty that is available throughout most of the world. The news is reason to celebrate this holiday season; it applies to both would-be purchasers and those who already have Xbox 360 and are still within their first year of ownership.
Complete Article HERE www.xbox360defective.com
DOWNLOAD PDF FILE HERE www.xbox360defective.com
BELOW COMMENTS ARE FOUND ON THE
Consumer Affairs Website, and is a typical scenario...
Tim of Brantford Canada (12/18/06)
Purchased new xbox 360 on 8/31/06 with a build date of 2006/04/24. Two and a half months later it died with three red lights. Afer that I purchased extended warranty from Microsoft so I would still have coverage. Sent broken 360 in for repair, and received a unit built on October 25 2005!
I should have received my xbox 360 back and repaired, or replaced with one that has the same or newer build date. That is fraud in my opinion, as it is a fualty product. The replacement unit is one year older than the one I purchased!
Michael of Naperville, IL (12/16/06)
I bought an Xbox 360 in December of 2005. The unit was manufactured on October 25, 2005. The 360 was working fine at first, until it started stuttering, freezing up, and giving me problems.
I called the Xbox support line, and they told me that my only choice was to send the Xbox in for repair. On December 14, 2006, I received a refurbished Xbox that was manufactured in December, 2005. The disc drive on the machine would not even open without me tapping on the front. When I did get the machine open, it had a brown, sticky substance all over the disc drive and the inside of the machine.
I called the Xbox support line again, and they said I had no choice but to send in the refurbished unit for another REFURBISHED unit!
It is moronic that I spent over $450 for a unit that doesn't work due to their own faulty manufacturing (they are repairing units built before 2006 for free with refurbished units because they've had so many complaints). The people who purchased these machines prior to 2006 should receive brand-new units as opposed to defective refurbished units.
I have read a vast amount of reports depicting virtuallly the same basic content of the above to reports.
Houston, We Have a Problem... that being quality control at the Microsoft xbox 360 repair center at Mc Allen Texas.
When the consumer sends an xbox 360 in for repairs, The consumer needs to receive :
A Similarly Manufacture Dated Xbox 360 or,
a Brand New xbox 360
A WORKING NON-DEFECTVE XBOX 360
The one year warranty is great, now lets finish the job Microsoft, lets go ahead and ACTUALLY REPAIR THE UNITS COMING IN FOR REPAIR AND DO QUALITY CONTROL AND VERIFY THAT THE UNITS GOING OUT ARE ACTUALLY WORKING!
BELOW COMMENTS ARE FOUND ON THE
Consumer Affairs Website, and is a typical scenario...
Tim of Brantford Canada (12/18/06)
Purchased new xbox 360 on 8/31/06 with a build date of 2006/04/24. Two and a half months later it died with three red lights. Afer that I purchased extended warranty from Microsoft so I would still have coverage. Sent broken 360 in for repair, and received a unit built on October 25 2005!
I should have received my xbox 360 back and repaired, or replaced with one that has the same or newer build date. That is fraud in my opinion, as it is a fualty product. The replacement unit is one year older than the one I purchased!
Michael of Naperville, IL (12/16/06)
I bought an Xbox 360 in December of 2005. The unit was manufactured on October 25, 2005. The 360 was working fine at first, until it started stuttering, freezing up, and giving me problems.
I called the Xbox support line, and they told me that my only choice was to send the Xbox in for repair. On December 14, 2006, I received a refurbished Xbox that was manufactured in December, 2005. The disc drive on the machine would not even open without me tapping on the front. When I did get the machine open, it had a brown, sticky substance all over the disc drive and the inside of the machine.
I called the Xbox support line again, and they said I had no choice but to send in the refurbished unit for another REFURBISHED unit!
It is moronic that I spent over $450 for a unit that doesn't work due to their own faulty manufacturing (they are repairing units built before 2006 for free with refurbished units because they've had so many complaints). The people who purchased these machines prior to 2006 should receive brand-new units as opposed to defective refurbished units.
I have read a vast amount of reports depicting virtuallly the same basic content of the above to reports.
Houston, We Have a Problem... that being quality control at the Microsoft xbox 360 repair center at Mc Allen Texas.
When the consumer sends an xbox 360 in for repairs, The consumer needs to receive :
A Similarly Manufacture Dated Xbox 360 or,
a Brand New xbox 360
A WORKING NON-DEFECTVE XBOX 360
The one year warranty is great, now lets finish the job Microsoft, lets go ahead and ACTUALLY REPAIR THE UNITS COMING IN FOR REPAIR AND DO QUALITY CONTROL AND VERIFY THAT THE UNITS GOING OUT ARE ACTUALLY WORKING!
360 PREMIUM WORKED FINE FOR A FEW MONTHS (SEPT./OCT./NOV.)-
EVEN UPDATED IN OCT. WITHOUT A PROBLEM-
THEN DOWNLOADED THE LATEST DEC. 06 DEFAULT.XEX FILE BURNED TO DISC AS PREVIOUS, AND BAM!... POWER LIGHT FAST BLINKS AND TRAY DOES NOT RESPOND.
ALL THE USUAL TROUBLESHOOTING WASTE OF TIME!
AFTER SPENDING AN HOUR ON PHONE WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE, IT TURNS OUT THEY GOT ALL MY INFO WRONG AND SENT THE MAILER BOX TO WRONG ADDRESS.
LUCKY I CALLED AFTER A WEEK TO FIND THIS OUT.
THIS TIME SPOKE WITH A SLOW WITTED BUT AT LEAST ENGLISH SPEAKING KID WHO MADE THE CORRECTIONS AFTER ANOTHER HOUR ON THE PHONE.
HE PROMISED TO SEND THE BOX TO THE RIGHT ADDRESS THIS TIME.
SEEMS LIKE A REAL CRAP SHOOT.
WE'LL SEE...
WHAT A HORRIBLE BUSINESS!!
NO WONDER GATES WANTS TO RETIRE!
Count me in for a Broken Xbox 3 lights of death, Its my 3 unit replaced 2 times before. The question is.. If they have a problem that they know about.. And I send it in for repair.. then why is the same problem showing up on that one also? Do they not know where the problem even is? I would like to see then say what the problem is like Bad Memory or a overheated GPU or whatever the problem is .. I have seen nowhere on the web where anyone is saying "what the problem is" or do they even know what that is.. Who work in their tech dept in texas.. What is repaired? if anything..
UPDATE TO 12/29/06 POST:
FINALLY RECEIVED RETURN MAILER FOR 360 CONSOLE.
WAS ADDRESSED CORRECTLY BUT HAD WRONG NAME (FORMER OWNER) EVEN THOUGH THIS HAD SUPPOSEDLY BEEN CORRECTED AFTER HOURS ON THE PHONE WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE!
WE'LL LET YOU KNOW IF IT ACTUALLY GETS FIXED AND RETURNED TO ME IN FULL WORKING ORDER.
WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST I DO ABOUT THAT DEC. '06 UPDATE?
IT SUPPOSEDLY MAKES THE 360 MORE COMPATIBLE WITH MORE ORIGINAL XBOX GAMES.
MICROSOFT SHOULD BE BOYCOTTED!
Yea, i know several friends that have dead units with that update, but MS is making good on them, and even a friends that was over the 1 year warranty period they still covered it, no cost... the other friend that paid the $140 got this money back from them... They may be having problems but atleast they are taking care of people and in a pretty timely fashion, too... much better support than they had for the original Xbox.... As of this posting, my Xbox 360 still works great and its a first release unit, i got it at midnight the day they came out... knock on wood. =)
-Matt
Making good? My xbox died out of the blue and they have as yet refused to do anything other than give me a 25% discount off of the $140... They are thieves. It is as if they came into my house and destroyed it, except they didn't need to break in... they used the internet and their faulty update/patch/whatever.
They are hurting so many children who have to work hard and paid with that hard earned money and now have to pay more... and adults alike that work just as hard...
I find it disgusting that they are quick to offer a 25% discount on the repair... I mean, if you are good enough to complain they offer, but if not they just take you right to the bank?
Disgusting.
I purchased my unit the day it came out. The first Microsoft product I have bought in years because I switched over to MacOS X machines when that was released... and this is the thanks you get.
Disgusting.
I'm still waiting on my elevated status return phone call... hopefully they will fix for free and give me one of your dead systems that is now "fixed".
Also, next time I call I'm going to record the conversation and post it on youtube. I urge others to do the same. Be polite and ask them their opinion on how a forced software update destroys your system and you are forced to spend 60% the cost of a new xbox on repairing what you already paid your hard earned money for...
Disgusting.
Email me with any of your stories, I'm thinking of going to the LA Times with this as a sort of blog story..
toddulman@gmail.com
Yes, that's my real name.
Thanks,
Todd
Has anybody experienced an exbox 360 console that plays only in black and blue or repeatably burns a ghost image of game play in the back ground, or mabe freezes 70%, 100% of the time, how about glitches(freezing) or lagging up? These are the problems Ive had with 3 xbox 360's, im on my third and its now starting to act up. Like a time bomb waiting to go off when its warranty is up. I also had one of my cds scratch thx to barly moving my xbox. Wth is goin on?
I purchased an xbox 360 in January. It was working fine until I downloaded the update. Now the Y button on my wireless controller doesn't work. I tried resetting it but it didn't work. I'm going to borrow a wired controller from a friend to see if this works. Has this happened to anyone else?
On installing there update I immediately got the 3 Rings of death.MS kept feeing me the same line its a Hardware problem,some coincidence that it happened immediately after installing there update,now they want 130 euro off me,MS are cowboys and are showing there true colours now
whats going on with this dumb ass dashboard update? cant fucking Microsoft come out with something that works the first time. i mean really is it that hard to fucking test things out before you have Xbox fans use it. honestly like What the fuck.. shit like this is the reason why I stop playing video games because fucking scam artist like Microsoft can do shit right the first time so they will waste everyone times by coming out with pointless update that don't even fix problem instead they give you more problems.
I got my Xbox 360 back from repair on Monday, just in time for the update, and it's working fine after the update. Of course, they replaced my Xbox and the new one was manufactured at the end of October, so it's likely that that makes a difference. I'm also connecting to my 1080p LCD TV via component, so that also sounds like it makes a difference.
You know that recent poll about extended warranties? Worth it. Totally worth it.
Overall I've been quite happy with the update so far (you can see my initial impressions of it here: http://makkintosshu.dyndns.org/journal/2007-xbox-360-dashboard-fall-update-initial-impressions). I'm a Mac guy and primarily use my Xbox 360 as a media center (with some GoW & COD4 mixed in for good measure) using Nullriver's Connect360, and the update to that (http://makkintosshu.dyndns.org/journal/connect360-updated-for-fall-2007-dashboard-update) was welcome too.
i just got the new update for xbox 360 and once i switched cables to hd the picture stopped working and there were black dots all across my screen. it doesnt work on any tvs and i changed all the different cables but it still doesnt work
CURRENTLY HAVING A GREEN TINT/FADED TINT ON MY GAMES, USING COMPOSITE THE PICTURE IS FINE ON DVDS ALSO, BUT WHEN SWITCHING TO COMPONENT THE GREEN TINT RETURNS TO GAMES AND MOVIES, ANY SOLUTIONS?