Xbox 360 owners reporting blank video output issue

Although the reports are limited to what seems like one thread on the Xbox 360 forums, several Xbox 360 owners are saying that their consoles are starting to stop displaying video. Several users say the screen goes blank during gameplay, and white lines appear at the bottom of the screen, although the audio continues to come through. At least one user reports seeing the red aspect of the color signal failing to come through, with the image then failing completely. It sounds like most users with the problem are encountering this after a fair degree of time with the console, after no previous problems. For now, we'll just have to add this problem to the list of other technical issues with Xbox 360: hopefully it won't go any further than the current anecdotal evidence.

[Thanks, Chris S.]

[hi675 @ Jun 24th 2007 8:25PM]

Wow, that doesn't sound biased at all.

[Ignatius @ Jun 24th 2007 11:28PM]

So, uh... what does this have to do with Apple? They don't even _have_ a console, and even if they did, it would suck arse, why do you think that gaming is in the PC realm? Because 95% of people own a PC, not a Mac. Rofl.

[Brian Emick @ Jun 24th 2007 8:30PM]

I've seen this. My second unit started having a green tint to the images. A day later all video output is gone, sound still works. I have to call Microsoft, I imagine I'll have to send it inyet again.

[Phour ZwanZig @ Jun 24th 2007 11:09PM]

From the way it sounds it could just be the HD cords goin bad.. Very Possible.. Esp. with your green tint... play around with a Y-Pb-Pr set of cables and you can see what I mean..

[Brian Emick @ Jun 25th 2007 2:02AM]

It's the system. I tried the regular cables, composite, and component and no video. I used another 360 and my cables are fine with it.

[Brian Emick @ Jun 25th 2007 2:06AM]

Forgot to mention I was using the VGA cable when it first started happening.

[JAmerican @ Jun 24th 2007 8:31PM]

The truth of the matter is that the Xbox 360 hardware setup sucks. They went from a visual design aspect instead of a maintainable design aspect. Too many vents are covered by either the system standing or the HDD. Leaving only a few holes in the system to vent the air out. The fans are covered by small holes in the inner casing which is not necessary. The X-clamp design just begs for something to go wrong because it influences the board to warp. They should have looked at how computers are made and designed their system that way. Just like how the PS3 is designed. I like the 360 for its games and I own one so I am not a PS3 fanboy but the hardware is just much more solid. Look on YOuTube for the opening of both cases to see what I mean. Remember. Both CPU processors in PS3 and 360 are the same speed although the cores are setup differenly. Look at how the PS3 is cooled and how the 360 is cooled. Now tell me which is half-@$$ed.

[Faisal @ Jun 24th 2007 9:49PM]

that's wat i've noticed about the PS3 too. when i saw the video of the PS3 being opened when the PS3 launched in Japan i was AMAZED. That is why PS3 stays so cool. Sony's engineers are smart, they know that bigger fans cool better AND put more load on the motor. When the fan blades put more load (weight) on the motor, the motor goes slower thus being quieter, but at the same time helps it keep quiet. That's why 360 is SO loud. My little brother has a 7600GT graphics card in his PC and DAMN that thing is LOUD on full load because it has a tiny fan.

[JJ @ Jun 24th 2007 10:30PM]

That's what I've noticed as well about the PS3 being taken apart. It was quite well built for a video game system. There were metal plates for RF interference shielding between the wireless LAN, the PSU, and the board. The Emotion chip, RSX chip, and the main CPU are cooled via a large heatsink, of which two are connected to it via heatpipes. A large fan cools the heatsink in turn. Whenever my friends turn on their 360 and then turn on the PS3, the PS3 is quieter. They've also noticed that the PS3 was cooler than the 360. They put their hands near the vents and the 360 was already pretty hot after 5 to 10 min. of turning it on. My friends are already on their second 360 unit. The first died a year after they bought it. The second 360 unit is already experiencing problems and it's only three months since they bought it. So far, the current problems is graphics corruption while playing games for thirty minutes and the noise of the DVD drive increasing after watching a DVD movie for two hours. They haven't noticed discoloration or screen blackouts, yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they replace their 360 unit for a new one two to four months from now. Microsoft really does need to rethink how they design their systems and look to Sony and even Nintendo for inspiration.

[Curtis @ Jun 30th 2007 5:39PM]

All electronic companies should re-double the efforts at QA! And particularly, Microsoft. It seems that the X-Box 360 entered the market too soon.

[Jon @ Jun 24th 2007 8:33PM]

Can't we all agree that both probably sucks equally.

[Travis Johnson @ Jun 24th 2007 8:41PM]

This happened to me a while ago. I just shut down my Xbox and moved it away from my tv, when i started it back up it worked fine... seemed to be an electrical noise problem.

[c.laseter @ Jun 25th 2007 11:38AM]

This just happened to me today when i was playing guitar hero 2. i get little red and black checker boxes that cover my screen about a minute into any song.

[Murc @ Jun 24th 2007 8:52PM]

Mine still works fine.

Its 8 months old and still going strong, but from what I read about, MS's hardware is pretty poorly done.

I was a little dissappointed when I saw the extra heatsink inside the refurbed 360's...I was hoping that MS was secretly redesigning the whole 360 and make the hardware as solid as an oak tree.....but no...that just slap on another heatsink and go back to saying "are hardware failure limit in under 5%".....Ummmm, yeah, I'm calling BS on that one.

[Craig @ Jun 24th 2007 10:03PM]

I just sent my xbox (second one) back yesterday (one of those RARE times the Circuit City Advantage plan pays off... twice!).

Gratefully, the CCA plan, once the problem is verified will simply send me a gift card for the amount of the original purchase and I'll add to it and get the new Ultimate version.

I'll keep looking for more info. Thanks Engadget for staying on top of really important stuff like this (instead of politics and stuff)!!!

[Michael @ Jun 24th 2007 8:57PM]

VIVA LA PS2!

[Whackmushrooms @ Jun 24th 2007 11:08PM]

what do people expect from the makers of the Windows OS .. well the XBox would probably work way better if it was allowed the daily software updates windows needs to work ;)

[David Schloss @ Jun 24th 2007 9:28PM]

Odd timing. My 360 did this yesterday for the first time. It was while playing Rainbow 6, and I'd just come to a scene where our team was surrounding the woman we were hunting for, and then she ambushed us with explosions. When the explosion happened, the video cut out and the audio continued. I had to switch inputs to another source and then go back into the Xbox input to get the video back.

Funny thing was at first I didn't realize there was a problem, as the scene was supposed to have the characters getting knocked out by the explosion. I thought it was game graphics.

[C @ Jun 24th 2007 9:10PM]

Just another thing for kids to pretend is wrong with thier systems they dont even own to try to fit in with the whiners on the net. Its funny how the 360 sold close to 11 million units but 13 million kids have the redlight issue.

[Semi-Evolved @ Jun 24th 2007 9:14PM]

I sent my 360 in for repair with this exact problem about a week ago. The screen blanked out with horizontal lines during gameplay, and the very next day I got no picture at all.

[rawdrigo @ Jun 24th 2007 9:18PM]

i had something similar happen to the video on my wii a few weeks ago. i sent it in, and they repaired it by replacing the console. however they did not back up my saved game data, and mii's. if you send in your console, make sure you back up your data before hand.

[Michal G @ Jun 24th 2007 9:32PM]

Your Mii's? We are talking about xBox 360 lol..

[Trace The Hedgehog @ Jun 25th 2007 12:06AM]

Well HE'S talking about his Wii.

[kris @ Jun 24th 2007 9:29PM]

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Then I got the red ring of death shortly after.

[takeme @ Jun 24th 2007 9:33PM]

"Xbox 360 Failure Rate: 30%, Says Retailers"

"A Sydney retailer said "Out the Nintendo Wii, the PS3 and the Xbox 360 the Microsoft product is the only one that we have had constant problems with. In fact when we sell the Xbox 360 we tell customers to contact Microsoft if they "Ever have a problem".

"At one stage we were getting calls everyday however this has slowed down. The failure rate must be well over 30% which when you look at a PC or iPod the failure rate is less than 2%."

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Home/D3Q7G8S2?page=1
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gaming/xbox-360-failure-rate-30-says-retailers-271487.php

Says enough but as also said they replace the console without a problem.

[Kumar @ Jun 24th 2007 9:38PM]

Oh. I thought I was alone. Well, it looks like I'm going to cash in on my warranty.

[omoks @ Jun 24th 2007 9:43PM]

No new hardware revisions?

[Brandon @ Jun 24th 2007 9:57PM]

What are people doing to these consoles?! I have an original revision Xbox 360 that has never given me any problems, and works perfectly fine to this day!

Seems like their manufacturing process must not be consistent.

[JAmerican @ Jun 24th 2007 10:04PM]

I really like how people blame the person before the company especially when M$ has had a large amount of 360 failing and not only in one country either. This is definately M$ fault. No if ands or buts. If the Warrenty sticker is in tact and its failing and there is no water damage or soot damage, then its M$ fault. Seeing as many failing 360s fit into this category, I think its M$ fault. I am eventually going to try to keep my 360 working with hardware mods that will make the cooling much better since I don't have warrenty on mine.

[FrankTheCrank @ Jun 24th 2007 9:59PM]

WHAT A PIECE OF SHIT!!!

M$ reporting a 5% failure rate? Retailers reporting a 30% failure rate?

WTF M$!! We always knew you were douche bags, but this is seriously bad.

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT NOW!!!

[Zeus the God @ Jun 25th 2007 12:29AM]

Speaking of douche bags...

[FrankTheCrank @ Jun 25th 2007 6:58PM]

Sir...You are the douchebag!

[cyp @ Jun 24th 2007 10:02PM]

you are a douchebag

[kitt2112 @ Jun 24th 2007 10:05PM]

Makes you wounder out of the 11million sold how many were just rebought bc of deffective systems. humm mabey half?

[ta_il @ Jun 24th 2007 10:17PM]

Last friday (06-22-07) I get up and turn on my 360 and their is no video. The audio works just fine and their are no red lights, and it worked perfectly the night before. I don't do anything bad to my 360 it stays in one place all the time. Even if I did move it now and again so what! Shouldn't break down being it is 400 dollar system. Now i must pay 140 dollars to get it fixed, and wait 2 weeks to a month. Any other porduct in the world their company would do a recall and fix the problem free of charge. And i hear that people have been geting refurbished 360s
not a new one or their own fixed. I don't want a refurbished one, I want my own that "I" payed 400 dollars plus tax for or a new one..

[ta_il @ Jun 24th 2007 10:26PM]

O ya and this is after a year and a half with no problems what so ever with my 360. The video just stops working... A black screen with dark purple dots growing across it..

[JohnDoe303 @ Jun 24th 2007 10:49PM]

The 360 is a POS and always has been.. RLOD? This is what happens when a software company tries to make hardware.

[richterscale @ Jun 24th 2007 11:01PM]

This actually started happening to me about a year ago then a while back I got the red lights of death and had to send it in.

[Dragod @ Jun 24th 2007 11:20PM]

Though my 360's never had this problem, my friend did... At first I thought it was the converter thingy's fault... He had to use a Coaxel(I think) cable but the 360 uses VGA (Right?) But we couldn't figure it out... Soon he moved it up off of the carpet and onto a chair... Then it worked. It seemed like it was a Venting problem.

[guchdog @ Jun 24th 2007 11:25PM]

Apple doesn't even know how to spell gaming than run them.

[Nunavut @ Jun 29th 2007 11:50PM]

yeah I thought I was alone on this as well. My system starting doing this a couple weeks ago, no video but audio is on. It is interesting this is all coming up now, which makes me think that somehow maybe the Spring update has something to do with all of this. Probably most likely not but I really don't know. It'll come on once or twice but then i'll get the greenish or redish tint on the screen. All the cables are secured in and everything so I don't know.

[Quibbs @ Jun 24th 2007 11:49PM]

We have bought 3 Xbox 360s since the product was first released. One has been sent in twice for repair, and is broken again and out of warranty now. I bought another 360 around the time the first one failed, for the downstairs game room, it died and is out of warranty. They offered to fix it for 150.00, but I refused. I bought my son a 360 last Xmas, it stopped working and we just sent it in. So we are 3 for 3 in failures. With two being out of warranty,I bought a Elite 360 to replace the gameroom unit that broke down and put it in a wide open area for cooling. If/when it breaks down, I will not* buy another 360. From my experience I am willing to bet the failure rate is quite high. Microsoft has* to know what the failure rate is. Nothing short of a class action lawsuit will entice them to change/improve their system.
We don't abuse our systems, or put them in areas with no air flow. In 30 years of buying consoles, I have never experienced a failure rate like I have with these machines. My son loves to play the 360 and I do to. But I am not going to continue to support a company that is making a product that, imho, they know has a fairly high failure rate.

[Zeus the God @ Jun 25th 2007 12:34AM]

Dude, I'm a sorry, but I'm a bit skeptical about your situation. There is no way that has happened to you, because if you had 2 failures, and had one of those repaired to have it fail again, I HIGHLY doubt you would be buying another one. Otherwise, I would say you are an idiot for buying an unreliable system (not that it is).

[Long @ Jun 25th 2007 4:51PM]

Why didn't you get a replacement warranty from the retailer after you had to ship your xbox for repairs twice? If you see that the xbox keeps dying on you, but you keep on buying the product over again, I thought you would have realized to get a little more protection on future xboxes. Second if you purchased it with a credit card, see if you can get a refund or something from the credit card company since many of them have an extra year protection on top of the manufacturer's one year warranty.

[Andrew Go @ Jun 25th 2007 12:08AM]

This has happened to me. I'm on my 3rd 360. One red ring of death, and on the other I got a blank video output. It was replaced for free both times, but I hope my favorite system doesn't break again.

[christian @ Jun 25th 2007 12:08AM]

this happened to my last 360, it would start with audio but no picture. i returned it for a new one but now my new one wont read any discs. this is going to be my fourth 360.

[Sporkinum @ Jun 25th 2007 12:22AM]

If Apple made a console, it would only play Flash games, YouTube videos, and music purchased at I-Tunes.

[Zeus the God @ Jun 25th 2007 12:31AM]

God guys, I have had this ONCE. I didn't have to replace anything. If you are using the component cables, check the connections and flip the TV to HDTV switch back and forth a couple times. No big deal, and it should fix it.

[hemmy @ Jun 25th 2007 12:54AM]

Lots of people have gone through this and it IS a big deal. The 360 has an abnormally high defective rate, and it's not as simple as flipping a videomode a couple times.

These guys went through ****seven****. http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/02/xbox_360_failures_a_loyal_fan_returns_seven_machines.html

Tons of users in the comments have gone through many as well. There are countless forums where people are complaining and keeping score of their defective units.

These guys are figuring 30%: http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Home/D3Q7G8S2?page=1

Why MS is packing a new heatsink in refurbished 360s? Oh, that's right, because of a rampant problem: http://kotaku.com/gaming/just-in-time-for-summer/repaired-xbox-360s-get-new-heatsink-268701.php


The sad truth is the 360 is a great game machine, but built like a cheap chinese toy.

[chad @ Jun 26th 2007 9:50PM]

Why are you so biased for? What is it that MS puts in your Hi-C that makes you so coo-coo for Microsoft?

I mean, just because you had a problem that resembles THIS problem, doesn't make it the same problem, or your layman $0.2 the fix all. Sheeesh... I've never seen such blind loyalty to a product.