Xbox 360 diehard loses loyalty after seven bricked consoles

It's not too difficult to keep the faith if everything's clicking along nicely, but when console after console began to fail soon after Microsoft's highly-anticipated launch of the Xbox 360, skeptics began to surface. Rob and Mindy Cassingham were self-proclaimed "Xbox fanboys," and felt assured that their love for the next rendition would never sway, but after picking up six consoles to install in their home and personally owned gaming center, the relationship started to crumble. The jovial couple snatched up four units at the Zero Hour launch party, and while folks from all over were swarming to get their game on at their party haven, the days of elation were short lived. After dropping over $2,600 on hardware along, registering an "Xbox360" Utah license plate, and rocking Microsoft swag day in and day out, all four of the launch units bit the dust. Eventually, every single first wave unit croaked, and each time the Cassingham's found themselves fighting with overseas call centers just to get a much-belated refurbished unit sent back to them, one of which also fell victim to the red ring of doom. After seven out of six (that's over 100-percent, folks) consoles decide to call it a career before you've had your due fun, it's not easy to remain steadfast in your devotion, and even after an email to Peter Moore himself finally got a brand new console on its way to the once-diehards, things will never be the same. We feel your pain, man.

[maveric101 @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:09PM]

I don't believe it. It's just statistically impossible. The failure rate, even for launch 360's, isn't high enough for this to happen. I don't even see how they could have killed it by overheating, since the 360 shuts itself off if it gets too hot. Also, it's not even the actual 360 that has heat problems, it's the power brick that's overheating. NOT: The red ring does not necessarily mean your console has died, it will also appear if your a/v cord isn't plugged in right, or if you are having power problems. Me and many of my friends have had 360's for over a year, many since launch, and I have never heard of anyone i know having problems. Either these people are doing something wrong, or they're lying.

"The kotaku.com boards are littered with people who have had their 360's drop like flies. A couple people had double digit failures, one guy said he had gone through 13 which i thought was a joke but no one was laughing cause he wasn't the only one."

yeah. bs. It would be slightly believable if there was only one person that had double digit failures. Having this many people with that many failures all end up on the same site is impossible. I guarantee many of them are lying or greatly overexaggerating.

Besides, the PS3 has had it's fair share of problems, such as not actually being very backward compatable, not to mention overall suck (seriously, half of them are being put up on ebay. one guy sold his PS3 to buy an hdtv for his 360. rofl!).
Read this egm article: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3156907 It's basically Jack Tretton doing a terrible job explaining why the PS3 sucks.

[javier.guillermo @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:09PM]

No way, I can't believe 6 out of 6 were broken. I Had mine for 6 months and worked like a champ.

[steve @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:12PM]

let the sony fanboyism commence. Ive had my 360 for over 2 years and so far no problems. Almost all of my friends have 360s and theirs are fine.

[xiath @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:19PM]

Wow Steve, I'm impressed. So can I get one of those time machines you have? Because With my calculations the 360 has been out for 1 year and 4 months (launched November 22, 2005).

[Drew @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:16AM]

haha! Two years huh? Boy do you have connections (sarcasm)!

[Eric @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:16PM]

"let the sony fanboyism commence. Ive had my 360 for over 2 years and so far no problems. Almost all of my friends have 360s and theirs are fine."

That's amazing, since the system's only been out for a little over a year.

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:46AM]

Well my friend Xbox 360 just croked the other day, two weeks out of warranty. He gave out like a bitch when Microsoft informed him that he'll need to pay €100 to get it fixed.

[Eric Pham @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:16PM]

The kotaku.com boards are littered with people who have had their 360's drop like flies. A couple people had double digit failures, one guy said he had gone through 13 which i thought was a joke but no one was laughing cause he wasn't the only one. You'd think theyd have made a bigger deal about it. I figure the reason for such large failure rates is because all the replacements are refurbs. I dont have a 360 myself because im a poor college student, but about half the people i know that have a 360 has had theirs fail.... one in front of my eyes... tragic really poor boy never saw those red rings a-comin.

[javier.guillermo @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:18PM]

It is statistically impossible. They must have a different voltage at home or something really weird with the electrical installation if they are frying all of them. But let's heard Sony's fanboys and Blue-Ray's "war is over" guys...

[Kristian P. Jackson @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:42PM]

Nothing is statistical impossible, just highly improbable.

[javier.guillermo @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:50PM]

Okay, it is even less chances than hit by a meteor or winning the lottery.

[Peter @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:22PM]

It is probably their fault, puting it in a closed environment causing it to overheat or something of that nature. There is no way that so many would fail! I have had mine since launch and it still works perfectly!

[James @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:29PM]

ok, think about it. These people are absolutely retarded and/or psychologically unstable. They have an Xbox360 license plate, they bought 4 consoles at launch (for NO reason, you only need 1), and they probably wear Xbox360 clothes. Don't get me wrong, I like my 360, but I have limits. These people are absolute IDIOTIC LOSERS WITH NO LIFE.

That being said, they're probably so stupid that they don't know how to take care of a console. They probably poured syrup on it thinking it was a stack of pancakes and then blamed Microsoft. How these people made enough money to blow it on a bunch of Microsoft stuff is beyond me.

If you have 6 Xbox360's die on you...YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!! Not Microsoft.

[TomK @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:55AM]

sorry ... that stack of pancakes comment had me in stitches :-D

[Austin @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:15PM]

They own their own gaming center. That's probably why they bought a few 360s. Unless, of course, there's a way for more than 4 people to simultaneously play different games across multiple TVs using the same system. I don't actually own a 360, so perhaps this is the case.

[Rolf Shervey @ Feb 26th 2007 8:26PM]

Wow James, you are one heck of a hater.

The story said these people had some kind of a gaming center. I don't know if they had a commercial gaming center like a cyber cafe where they charged people money, or if that just means their personal at home gaming-lounge. Obviously, if that is the case, they probably have LAN parties at their house with their friends.

Does that make them bad, or deserving of any of your particularly deprecating comments? Some people have poker nights and there are people with plenty of disposable income or even are "wealthy" who spend money on all sorts of things like expensive food, booze, "ridiculous luxuries" or whatever, that other people might not find particularly worthwhile or "worth that money". To each his own! More power to them! I don't give a f@ck!

They are good people from all that I know (which is nothing- all I know is this short blurb article.) Why don't you become a happy person and assume the same?

[Robb @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:30PM]

"Rob Cassima, 42, who attended the Zero Hour Xbox 360 launch event in the Mojave Desert said, 'All of the four that we got at Zero Hour croaked on us.'" - Joystiq


It was a bad batch.
The end.

[Brian @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:32PM]

James: Oh sure: Blame the victim...

[Brian @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:39PM]

fool me once shame on MS, fool me twice shame on me.
I quit hugging 360 after the second brick.
Rob and Mindy sure are delusional folk...

[JB @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:44PM]

I feel for those who have suffered, in spite of my totally different experience.

A foolish friend of mine (not me honest) bought a 360 off eBay in the early days. The console had sustained damage, looked to have been pried open. He bought a brand new console and used the brick as a doorstop. One day he gave the brick to me, hoping I would have some luck with it. I called MS and payed around $100 to get it 'fixed'. The console was replaced by MS with a recently manufactured new unit. A few months later, MS refunded the cost to fix (read: replace) the console. I could not be happier with my free 360. The support of MS was exceptionally good. I expected nothing and got everything. However, I was lucky, because my problem developed after MS begain to take care of the well publicized problems.

[Reality Check @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:47PM]

I have had the same xbox 360 console for over a year, and it has yet to have a single problem.

7 bricked consoles in a row, in all probability, points to user error. That's just too often to be random defects.

[Jr @ Feb 22nd 2007 9:52PM]

All three (3) of my Xbox 360s have gotten the red ring of doom in the last month. The first one repair went like a charm...the second two (2)...ugh.

The folks on the other end of the line obviously do not use English as a primary language - they're unintelligble under the best of conditions. I've been waiting on a return kit for #2 for over a month (supposed to have had two shipped to me...they've never arrived). Xbox #3 they demanded I send in on my dime - which I did, and it arrived at Xbox "repair" yesterday.

Pieces of shit, if you ask me.

[steve Johnson @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:01PM]

It's from Micro$oft. What do you expect...quailty?

Please!

This is from the same company that brought us such 'killer' products as the Zune, Windoze ME and Microsoft Bob.

'Nuff said.

[Schoon @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:08PM]

I am currently on my third Xbox 360 console. I was on the wait list at launch and did not get my console until December 23rd, 2005. Around March of 2006 that console started giving me problems with random lockups and then showed problems with HD output, it would only run at 480p. Upon calling Microsoft, they sent me a coffin within 3 days and had the unit back to me within 7 of that so I was only without for 10 days, no charge to me.

The Second console died right around the time Gears of War came out. I brought a buddy home at lunch to show him the new game and during play it locked up and gave me the dreaded 3 rings of red. Every now and again it would play for 30 minutes then lock up again so I called Microsoft again. This time they were not so nice and gave me quite the hard time. I hemmed and hawed with them until they agreed to send the coffin again at no charge and they did. Only it was backordered so I ended up waiting almost 2 weeks just for the box, another week after that my replacement showed up.

The final (3rd) unit has been good so far, it was manufactured in June of 2006 so I think i'm safe from the first batch problems this time. The only hassle has been the waits while without the console and having to put back in my WEP encryption key everytime a new console arrives. Granted this is a small price to pay but it is still a hassle. Thankfully I have never had to return my hard drive or wireless adapter so all my save games have been good.

I know exactly seven people who own Xbox 360's. Out of those, including myself, 3 have had to return their systems for replacements. Not a great track record if you ask me. With the original Xbox, I only ever had to replace the DVD drive in my unit and I did that myself, it's still sitting right here on my desk and runs like a champ. I think Microsoft is heading in the right direction not charging people and owning up to it so that is good. I think it's stupid to scream litigation, it's a game console, I really don't think they planned on having all these problems.

2 cents given.

[Andy C. @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:01PM]

maveric101, you're in a sad state of denial. When you have so many people posting their stories of multiple Xbox 360 failures, it's best to just walk your sorry 360 fanboy ass the hell away. You're like the Iraqi Information Minister back in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/

"There are no PS3 owners in America. Never!"

"I blame Engadget - they are marketing for the Japanese!"

"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!"

lol

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:10PM]

I've had my 360 since May of 2006 now. So far, I've only experienced seeing one or two "rings of doom". However, all I did was simply unplug the console or restart it to get it working again.

Btw, one question that begs answering is this - what kind of person buys more than two Xbox 360s anyway? Not talking about the Cassinghams, but for the average consumer. Even though I invested in year's subscription to Xbox Live and many Microsoft Points, if one fails, that's it for me.

That's why I'm dumbfounded when I hear people [exaggerate] about the 360's failure rate - "All three (3) of my Xbox 360s have gotten the red ring of doom..", "..one guy said he had gone through 13 which i thought was a joke but no one was laughing cause he wasn't the only one." /2cents

[Chris @ Feb 23rd 2007 2:46PM]

I for one can believe that they had 6 brick on them i bought mine january 06 and am on my 6th console. and it has been a differant problem each time one time my video ard went out giving me just 3 rings my cd rom has gone out the power supply has gone out basicly anything that can happen has. but i will play the balls off of my 6th one until it breaks and send it back for a new one. i will give them that after the first two i sent in they made the return painless and they keep extending my warrenty 12 months each time one bricks so eh take the good with the bad

[Andrew Jones @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:22PM]

James, maybe you should have RTFA.
"...after picking up six consoles to install in their home and personally owned gaming center..."
A single console does not a gaming center make, bud.

[Ian @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:08AM]

"A single console does not a gaming center make, bud."

That's why they bought six.

But having seven out of six fail. Wow. Impressive.

Math is hard, lets go shopping!

[Phour ZwanZig @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:37PM]

I have seen a "Ring Of Death" b4.. When it happend I freaked out.. But then started checkin on my connections when I noticed that the light on the powersupply was Red too.. So I unplugged it, and that took care of it..

Sometimes electronics freak out and need a good "boot".. And Im not sayin it needs to be kicked but sometimes that'll do it too.. :)

[Austin @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:41PM]

*Fanboy rant* Microsoft Sucks. Get an NES. I am using one in my office with the power pad, and gun and everything and I havent had any problems.

I dont see any complaints about bricked Nintendo Entertainment Systems on Engadget maybe its time to buy something reliable. Now if you dont mind, Bayou Billy is calling.

[GamerG @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:45PM]

Clearly the guy must be doing something wrong.. like leaving it on top of a radiator or something!

[Dragod @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:50PM]

Well, my 360 works fine... had it since may 2006 and no problems, other than my Play n charge kit died :(

But my friend Chris has gone through about 5. 2 of them were bad luck, other 3 had disk tray problems, one actually had no programming(or no information showed up, I don't know), and one wouldn't open any games... would just stay on the dashoboard.
But I feel like sometimes it was his stupidity...

[Christina @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:56PM]

My husband and I bought our first XBox360 last November at Gamestop and paid the additional $50.00 for the Gamestop warranty. Three days later we took it back because it stopped recongizing the hard drive. Exchanged it. Three weeks ago the unit stopped reading the disks. Took it back and exchanged it. Had to get yet another $50.00 warranty to cover the new unit. The past 2 days every time you turn the unit on, it won't recongize the controllers. So, we push the button on the front and wait for it to re-sync. Had I not previously returned 2 units I wouldn't be as annoyed or ready to run the thing over with my car.

I'm not a fanboy (or in this case, girl). I'm not a gamer. I just want to come home at the end of the day and play some Tiger Woods to unwind. As a consumer, IMO, it is a overpriced POC.

[Caffeine Addict @ Feb 22nd 2007 10:57PM]

I also purchased a launch 360 and had no issues at all. However 2 days ago my console bit the dust and getting MS to live up to their promise of a free repair for 2005 consoles has been more difficult than it should be. My story so far is chronicled here - http://forums.xbox.com/10505320/ShowPost.aspx.

[maveric101 @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:34PM]

Like i said, maybe the failures were because the owners were idiots and did something to cause the failure. I have at least 15 friends at my school that have 360's, and not a single one has ever had problems. NONE. Now i go to a very prominent VA magnet school, TJHSST, so we're all smart. We don't put our 360's on top of radiators or hit them with sledgehammers or whatever these people are doing.

Second, I never said there were no PS3 owners in America. There just aren't very many. You should read the EGM interview with Tretton, and Tretton's pathetic explanation of why the PS3 is crap and not selling.

Here's a quote:

"Tretton: ...it seemed like about 50 percent of the people in line were there to make a quick buck on eBay. And now we're seeing a lot more units on store shelves.... If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it. I can get any retail buyer on the phone with you and get them to verify that there's not a single retail location in America where there's a PlayStation 3 on the shelf for sale.

EGM: But we called 18 random retailers, including Best Buy and EB games, and half of them had PS3's in stock...some had as many as 20 in the store."

hm.... 20x$1200 = a lot of money...

Quotes of store owners:

Xyther says:
WTF?! My EB has 4 sitting in the back that have been there since late december.

pirozhki says:
I was at walmart today, the place was PACKED and they still had 2 PS3s. They ALWAYS have at least 2, sometimes 3-4, every time I go. The Gamestop a few buildings away, last time I asked, had NINE. The manager said he's requested time and time again that they stop sending them, since NOBODY IS BUYING THEM.

I rest my case. Suck it, Andy C. Suck it long, and suck it hard.

[badm0j0 @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:12PM]

Replacing my power supply was the trick. It took 8 weeks and who knows how many hours on the phone to get the retarded support people to handle it. But it fixed the problem

[BRISCO @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:25PM]

I had mine for 6 months and it died that's 100% failure rate to me. it's a good console but when you're a big company it's hard to address these things till they finally reach the top. Perfect example IS 360 HDD space? Doesn't matter anyway they don't read these comments.. the only way to good service anymore is to sell the company TO Norstrom.

[Pyro8088 @ Apr 7th 2008 12:19AM]

do u even realize that sony sold more systems in one year then xbox did in their first year out. they beat them by a landslide.

[o rly @ Feb 22nd 2007 11:38PM]

I had one of the FIRST "public" Xbox 360's; I actually had the batch that was given to a few lucky people (few hundred?) almost 1 MONTH before the Zero-Hour event, and the guy that I sold it to said his is still working fine. I wonder if he's doing anything different from these guys or if it's just luck?

[Rob P @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:04AM]

Does anyone even know what the failure rate was, and how many were released, before making claims about the statistical impossibility or relative likelihood of the failure rates some users have reported?

[maveric101 @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:21AM]

i did a little quick research, and a fair number of places say a 5% failure rate. Which to me isn't great, but pretty believable. based on that 5%, there is a 0.00000008% chance you would have 7 360's fail. Even if you took a higher estimate of 10% failure rate, there's still only a 0.00001% chance you will have 7 fail. So if you do, you're doing something wrong.

[Nick R @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:18AM]

my brother's bit the dust a few weeks after he purchased it in Nov 05. it took another few weeks to get a replacement in. not as quick as the typical Nintendo turnaround - but it was during the Christmas season and during launch - so that may have been the reason for the shipping delay.

it was the core version for those that were wondering.

[vern @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:20AM]

I've had a launch console since day 1 and haven't had 1 error. I guess I'm just lucky or something

[Matt @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:27AM]

It seems like they're doing something wrong. It's also likely, like others have said, that it's because they send refurbished units to replace the broken ones. Most likely these units are not being properly fixed.

[C S @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:39AM]

I buy my electronics at Costco which has lifetime return warranty / satisfaction guarantee.

[Eric Pham @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:40AM]

Wait who said anything about ps3? Why does everything have to be about fanboyism, i hate all fanboys regardless. As much as i hate mark cuban his blog about how stupid fanboys are for throwing support behind faceless multinational corporations was dead on. Why would anyone defend microsoft, a company that has its hand in literally everybodies pocket in the world, same deal with sony. This has nothing to do with OMG PS3 OWNS 360 or vice versa, its about the fact that some people are getting screwed over and its not right. Im not saying the people on kotaku are telling the truth im just saying alot of people were complaining and if youve ever been to their website its not exactly a sony love fest. So take from it what you will.

[ChooOppa @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:05AM]

Believe it dude... I've just gotten my Xbox from Amazon, the first one could not connect to the controller. After hours of speaking w/ fools in M$, sent that back for another one from Amazon. (broke on first day) Soon as second one arrived... it started to freeze during games and Demos. Sending that back too...

2 out of 2 for me (both broke on first day of arrival)

I really thought all this crap was overblown... but w/ my experience I really don't want to dump $400 bux to M$. Their CS sucks... thank god Amazon's doesn't.

Playing w/ it for about 2 hours... Awesome interface and all that... but what is the use when they are this poorly made... not only that Microsoft's customer support is weak!

[Ryan Waddell @ Feb 23rd 2007 6:17AM]

Maybe the problem is whoever is delivery your 360's from Amazon? That seems as likely a culprit as Microsoft's ineptitude (and slightly moreso, if you ask me).

A buddy of mine bought a 360 on ebay from a dude with several thousand feedback... picked it up in person, red ring of death. It had been opened by the seller already, so no MS warranty love. He brought it back to the guy, got another. Same problem. Decided not to deal with grey market resellers anymore, got one at Walmart. No problems since.

[Jim @ Feb 23rd 2007 1:59AM]

According to the article the Cassingham's used several of the 360's for a "Gaming Center". I am not sure the 360's were built for a commerical gaming operation and the type of use and/or overuse they could have been subjected to.