Xbox 360 scratching discs? Maybe, says Microsoft
By Paul Miller 
posted April 16th 2007 11:47AM
posted April 16th 2007 11:47AM
So far the Xbox 360 has had its fair share of hardware problems, both large and small, and while Microsoft has dealt with most of these challenges by extending warranties and offering up free fixes, it usually takes its own sweet time to come around, which seems to be the case here. After completely ignoring a minor public outcry over what appeared to be a problem with a decent number of the 360s produced in December 2006 -- where a missing part in the drive caused the Xbox to scratch the disc it was reading -- Microsoft is finally confessing that there might actually be a problem and promising to look into it. This statement comes after Dutch TV show "Kassa" gave the movement some PR and ran its own tests on the 360, proving it to be the scratching culprit. Microsoft's still pretty wishy-washy about the whole thing: [Via gadgetzone.nl]
Update: Microsoft hit us with its actual statement on the matter, since a bit of the meaning got lost in translation. The truth is a bit more encouraging: "Due to the fact that we did not participate in the experiment done by Kassa and have little insight into the methodology that was used, we cannot comment specifically on the outcome. While we are aware that discs can potentially be scratched through normal wear and tear, we have not received any widespread reports of the issue highlighted here. There are millions of Xbox consoles in use today and we know that the majority of our customers are having a great gaming experience. That said, it is important to us that all of our customers have the best gaming experiences possible, and these claims are obviously very concerning to us. We encourage any Xbox customer who believes that their discs have been scratched in the same manner as identified by KASSA, to contact us at www.xbox.com/supportor 1-800-4-MY-XBOX for additional information. We will examine the console and make appropriate repairs if necessary in order to restore the console to full working order, as well as provide customers with information on how to obtain replacement discs should they need them."
My xbox 360 scratched one of my brand new games! It really makes me angry- I hope Microsoft will fix this problem, and in a dream world reimburse me.
I bought mind around november and went through 3 different ones before I finally got one that works.. The first one randomly did the ring of death (taking the hard drive off and putting it back on fixed it most times).. The second one locked up while playing constantly and also occasionally did the ring of death.. The third one started making a strange noise while I was playing, sounded like the disc was being eaten by the machine.. After I stopped playing I took the disc out and sure enough it had scratched deep grooves into the bottom of it... The machine had not been moved and the game had not been changed out in 3 days and it just decided to eat the disc... I think it was around mid December when that happened too.. I took it back to best buy with my gears of war disc that I had bought at gamestop and demanded that they exchange both and they did so all is good..
My copy of GH2 suffered a sudden circular scratch and is now unplayable.
The disc hadn't left the console since I got it. Now I have a $90 game that I can't use.
When people say ring of death they are referring to this
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&q=xbox+ring+of+death&btnG=Search+Images
Read my entry, the machine has flaws and they are not always caused by user error.. I love my 360, I just wish I didn't have to go through 3 of them before I found one that worked correctly..
Please don't make assumptions about how these discs are getting damaged. I just lost a Gears disc to read error without ever touching the console while on. It's a fact - discs are becoming damaged without user error.
sorry for repeating
I had this very problem happen to me. I called customer support in October and they told it was my fault, the 360 doesn't scratch discs. Talk about making someone mad! OK... so I wait three months, make sure my unit is on a flat level surface. I make sure to play with the unit in the horizontal position, headphones on, and don't move (in case vibration is the culprit). Discs still scratched. The damn thing ate 3 oblivion discs, a Gears of War disc and GRAW. Never had a problem with movies or any disc that did not rev up to the maximum speed.
If you've had the problem, it was fairly obvious the unit was scratching discs without any outside help. It was not user error.
I called Microsoft back in January. Suddenly, "I'm so sorry sir." They asked me all sorts of questions. "Is the surface level? What is the surface made of? Do you have a subwoofer close by?" They replaced my unit and gave me new discs for FREE if they couldn't be resurfaced (yes, including discs that were not published by Microsoft.)
Current unit runs fine and I have no complaints since then. I am very happy with the way they handled the matter the second time.
This is happening to me :(
just buy d-skins if your xbox is dodgey (d-skins.co.uk). Although it shouldn't be a problem in the 1st place.
This is true and I believe Microsoft is trying to keep this one under the covers. My Xbox 360 scratched a disc when I first bought it. I knocked it over accidentally and managed to get the disc replaced.
Then it failed for some other reason and I had to send it in for service. In that time the Disc Tray was REPLACED!!! There was nothing wrong with it and they replaced it! I know because there are the two slits/holes on the top of the disc tray when I open it that weren't there before.
So the truth is M$ is trying to make this as least public as possible to avoid a bad image.
Listen up kiddys, when you buy a nextgen console you are buying an affordable gaming pc - not an ecthasketch or teddyruxpin. Its a computer not a toy. If you want to bang around your console and shake the damn thing while its on buy a wii and go play with mario. till then - treat the 360 like an expensive piece of av equipment and maybe you wont wreck ur software - I've had a system since launch with zero problems cause I take care of things I buy - I dont whine and wait till mommy buys another 1
Apparently their warranty doesn't cover the console either. I contacted xbox customer support two days ago because I have the same problem (after having left my name and phone number numerous times before, without reply). They told me that the Microsoft policy is that this fault does not occur when the console is on firm ground in horisontal position. I told the man I spoke with that it is in a horisontal position on firm ground, but he wouldn't listen. He could not take the console in for repairs, or even have a look at it. "It is Microsofts policy that your console does not scratch disks, therefore your console does not scratch disks"!
I have never previously experienced this kind of horrendous arrogance from a customer service representative, and an email from the main office of Microsoft in my country confirmed that this is indeed their policy.
It is also illegal in my country, where the law demands that they must examine a product that the customer claims is faulty.
Just to all the comments about not moving your xbox 360 while running this problem is not related to that. This is about ***SOME*** xbox360's that scratch disks without anyone moving the console or treating their disks badly. I should know, my last xbox 360 did that. After my copy of MUA got scatched even though i had never taken it back out of the 360 i had had enough. I just feel bad to whoever probably got my old console back as a referb.
It scratched numerous disks of mine. The worst being COD3 which is no longer finishable. Their warranty doesn't cover any of my games since they arn't microsoft games. I love the xbox but Microsoft is dropping the ball on this
I cant believe that MS is only fessing up to this now!! I live in Australia and have regular chats with the owners/managers of various game stores ( i know this aint rock solid evidence but its more reliable than the poop coming from redmond). I heard about this before\around the launch of the 360. Now talk about denial and slow service.
Oh well suck it up MS fanboys, you can buy replacement discs at 20$ a pop and then scratch them again or pay for a lengthy repair that probably wont work or maybe produce other problems. Maybe its just their long term plan, to get alot of ppl to buy the newly released (real) 360.
Ill give one thing to microsoft - those pricks really know how to make cash. Although i guess if i had a legions of goons backing up my decisions regardless of how much i screw them over, id milk them for the cash too... "They are ants, Michael, they ARE ants!!"
Wow... that's interesting. I seem to remember a long series of phone calls to Microsoft when we got our first replacement 360 [the original one died and needed replacing] about the fact that it destroyed four of our games. I spent weeks on the phone to them, being told that what I was saying was impossible and in one case being called a liar by someone on tech support.
Nice to see they are finally considering owning up to the problem... I wonder what would happen if I called back now :P
Just bought my first 360 a week ago, and *lifting the console up* so that my wife could adjust a cable behind the television while my game was paused just destroyed my $60 video game. There was nothing "idiotic" about our treatment of the console, and if lifting a piece of electronic equipment subjects it severe malfunction, there is indeed something horribly wrong. I want my money back -- for the console, the games I've purchased, and all the extra peripherals (of which, with the 360, there are necessarily many). I had almost forgotten that this was a Microsoft product until now.
> Only those games are supported?
What do I do with Oblivion? I lost Oblivion, PD Zero, Gears of War, Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty 2 and Crackdown to it.....
THIS IS A JOKE.... Ill never buy anything Microsoft again (hardware or software)
Your 360 scratched through 5 games before you decided to stop playing your working games on it?
You could've contacted microsoft after the first disc got scratched.. instead of destroying 4 other working discs on a faulty machine.
For clarity's sake:
This article is NOT about how the console will scratch a groove in a disc if you move the console. At this point that issue can be totally attributed to user error, as the console ships with a sticker across the tray advising you not to move it while it's running.
This article IS about how some units of the 360 will scratch discs that are being used normally and properly. I bought mine in --surprise! -- December of 2006 and even though my discs never go anywhere besides in the machine or in their pristine cases they all have scratches. Random, annoying scratches.
I own over 800 CD's, dozens of PC games, over 30 PS2 and XBox games, and not one of them is scratched. Not one. Yet ALL my 360 games have scratches. My 360 has never been moved AT ALL, let alone while it was spinning a disc.
NOT USER ERROR.
This just happened to me last night with a brand spankin new game The Bigs and like everyone else MS said it was because my console wasnt level or I moved it will it was on, dammit we all know better than to do that give me a break! They didnt want to do anything about the console which is also losing connection with my controllers and gives me a disk read error on all of my games after playing for more than 1 hr.
If you call and they give you a hard time ask for a supervisor then they will back down and tell you they will send you the packaging to ship the console to them to be looked at. Then they will even send you a free 1 month card for Live! Wow what a deal I have a ruined game, a piece of crap console and I get a free 1 month of Live that I dont need and will most likely expire before I need to use it!!!
PS3 Here I come!! MS can take this brick and shove it!
I was watching uptube and some american guy was going on about a d-skin, he said it is better to scratch a cover than the disc. Aparently it goes over the disc and stay on while you play your game. Does anybody no where to find d skins I have looked online but most of the shops are sold out i tried d-skins.co.uk but the site does not exsist.