Xbox 360 owners reporting blank video output issue
By Conrad Quilty-Harper 
posted June 24th 2007 8:15PM
posted June 24th 2007 8:15PM
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.]
Wow, does this not prove it to you? The one post you make in here is to ME. And what are you doing? You're trying to flame me. Just like I told you. Do I sit here and search these blogs for you, just to annoy/harrass you? No, so get a damn life, and leave me alone.
Why am I biased? Because I have had the same exact problem. It has to be the cables, because chips don't just go "bad." If they did, they are doing something wrong.
I also haven't read in here that anyone is getting the red rings when this happens, so it absolutely must mean that there is something wrong with the cable.
Sorry, but you seem to post in every blog post related to the Xbox 360. I don't... just some, and I see you in every one.
Anyway, let's not obfuscate your post. The issue here is not the same problem. You are biased and delusional because you failed to read hemmy's post (trend with you) and subsequently, other folks' valid grievances. You really like to dumb everything down.
Case in point, who stated (besides you) that the 360 component failures were strictly a result of 'cords' or 'chips', which in of itself is an ignorant point since simply stating 'chips' is far too connotative. There are many chips on the 360 main board with different factors, all of which can have numerous problems (e.g. electron leakage, overheating) when then subverts to another set of potential problems/issues (e.g. memory corruption, bad display output, red ring).
Yet you're SURE that your problem is precisely the same problem as everybody else, and you just have to flip the HDTV signal a couple of times... I suppose you call components doohickeys too.
Yes, yes, lets troll some more. You know you can make your point without trying to insult every second along the way, right?
Either way, I know that if you are not getting the red ring, then it has to be the cords. The red ring displays if anything is working out of the ordinary, or out of what the firmware is telling it to do. For example, if its a known hardware failure, 1 red light will flash, if its an unknown hardware failure, 3 red lights; if a cord is improperly plugged in, then it would flash 2 red lights. In this case, the cord is plugged in all the way, but you still get no video, meaning that it is the cord. Its deductive reasoning, something you don't have.
But you won't read this, or take anything in, because all you care about is that you were wrong, oh so long ago. I guess you can't take reality and must live it out online, in a blog about gadgets/electronics.
Tell your "hot Asian wife" I said "hi."
I just had this problem. I was in the middle of playing a game and the screen kind of got distorted color wise and I just turned it off and went to watch some TV. Then I came back and turned my 360 on and I could hear the startup, but there was no video. I called Microsoft and they said I had to get a new cord (or at least try someone else's). I did. Didn't work either. Called back and fortunately for Microsoft this happened after I've had my 360 for over a year so now I have to pay $140! I thought I was the only one, but Engadget has proved otherwise. It would be nice if Microsoft gets so many calls about this issue they give everyone with the same problem a refund (yeah, right). Good luck to everyone who has a 360 that's working (for now).
Everyone keeps mentioning the HD cords as the potential culprit in this problem, but I have the premium 360 (w/the componet HD cables) and it stopped displaying video. So I then went out and bought regular AV cables just for a comparison and got the same blank screen. So I think we can rule the HD cables out.
my 360 used to do this all the time, When i first turned it on there would be no video but there would be audio, i would just keep resetting it until it worked and after a couple weeks it never did it again.
I just had this problem about a week ago...it's now being "fixed"...hopefully.
I just don't understand why it happened to a lot of people at around almost the exact same time. How can it be a hardware issue if that's the case? I'm thinking some kind of update did it...ugh.
yeah I think the same thing, I really believe an update could be the problem. Of course this isn't with all of them but it is happening to a lot of them around the same time. Crazy though
This happen to me, they changed the motherboard and didn't charge me the repair fee even though it was a launch XBox.
I got the impression that it was a common fault, the tech support guy authorised the repair as soon as I explained the problem without making me check connections, reset the console and the usual other things they ask you to go through.
Brent, please, if you ever read this, how did you manage to get that done? I have a launch xbox with this same problem. I do not want to pay to have this fixed, I think the burden of responsibility should be on them, not me.
I had my xbox stop transmitting the red colors once but it turned out that when moving things around I knocked the back cable and when i pushed it back in it came back.
Does microsoft actually REPAIR any consoles?
Iv had 3 and they have all been refurbished...
A few of my mates have had the same.
So the PS3 is cheaper.
How many 360s do you have to buy before you realize Microsoft will not fix the problem if you just keep going out to buy another faulty console after your previous fails?
$400 for console
$150 for repair (not including shipping)
$ 70 for XBL first year
----
$620. Not including any additional annual repair or XBL fees.
$400 for 360
$100 for WiFi
$50 for XBL
$50 for extra controller
$150 for repair
$80 for shipping, both ways
Realizing you could have bought a PS3, Priceless.
Dude I sent my xbox 360 in for repair last year for the red light issue, why last sunday I encountered the exact same problem, I called microsoft and they told me my warranty was up on may 16th. I said how do you expect me to pay for a problem that you all should have fixed the first time I sent it in. Then they go say well we can give you a 15% discount. All in all F microsoft I have been out of a 360 for 2 weeks now, and I am a loyal customer.
DO NOT PAY THE $140. ASK FOR A MANAGER AND KEEP COMPLAINING. THEY CAN CUT IT IN HALF.
I just received 360 #4 from the service center on Friday, and it's got problems already. It started with graphical glitches and locked up. Wouldn't sync with the controllers when I power-cycled it. It's just a matter of time before I get another RRoD. "Fortunately" I have Microsoft's service plan, but it takes *forever* to get them to turn things around (5 weeks this time to get yet another defective refurb).
I've got a BBB case already open, which is the only way to get them to respond. The best part about opening a BBB case is that *Microsoft calls you*, rather than you having to call the outsourced "support" in India.
https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/complaintlink.aspx
Hey guys,
Things break, ya know.
Ya this happend to me too. I had not played it in a while and picked up Forza 2. Was playin for about 15 min and screen went dead. I restarted and it worked for about 2 min then did the same thing. Next time it turned on and froze and started creating crzy lines and pixels in the game. Then when i restarted the startup screen froze and got crzy pixels. Then it was just dead...Red lights and i almost threw it across the room. This is my 3rd one and I think its horrible. If it wasnt for my HDDVD player and about 13 games/14HDDVD's I was gonna go buy a PS3. Those bastards better fix it right. My first XBox lasted until the 360 came out then the drive started to go but it lasted since it came out. heres a pic of what my screen looked like idk if this will work but here goes nothing....
Thats never happend to me or my friend, thought It was all ways the PS3 doing that!
I just had this happen to my box. Luckily it was still under warranty. It took a bit to convince them that I had a green tint to my screen and it would sometimes shut off the video but, I did get it replaced. I believe the problem stemmed from the video chip going out.
Still on my 1st 360 I've had for 13 months now. Nary a glitch or lock up save for 1 when playing Oblivion once. Rebooted and it was fine. Using a VGA cable on a 720p LCD TV.
I was having this problem after the new update came out. I believe it was the video card that was running to hot. I started getting red lights half of the time and it would sometimes work. It eventually would not boot at all and I had to send it in to Microsoft to get it fixed. My personal thoughts are the new code they put on it to support the mp4 codecs made everything run to hot.
tricky
I encountered this, but only running on 1080p. When I went down to 1080i the problem went away.
But seriously who wants 1080i if you've got a 1080p TV? I can't tell the difference looking at the image, but I'm a geeky purist and wanted an explanation.
The response from MS pointed to settings on my TV (Samsung 4061). Particularly the 'dynamic constrast' setting, a few other 'auto' features were mentioned. It sounded like BS to me.
I've turned 'dynamic contrast' off and everything seems OK.
For now... I'll keep you posted.
I was rather surprised, but have grudgingly accepted that the issue may actually reside with settings on my TV.
If apples suck at gaming then why would my mac pro kick most computer's asses when gaming and also why two major game makers start making games for the mac operating system
I actually had to think back to remember I did have this problem with my launch 360.
The colors would slowly get staticy and the colors would start turning dark. That 360 also froze up A LOT, which was why I sent it into MS to get a new one. That was over a year ago, and my current one has been fine (other than occasional freezes, usually related to internet play / access).
This recently happened to me. Luckily I had purchased an extended warranty with GameCrazy and they replaced the console. The problem was that the HD component video output stopped working. The regular TV composite video worked just fine. I've had my 360 for about a year and 1/2 with no problems.
I just got a similar problem today. My video signal turned to light snow in both hd and sd and then I got the red ring of death. Lucky that the warranty was extended to a year. I've already had it replaced before.
My 360 is 2 months out of warranty and now it's useless. The colors started to go to yellow then no video, but I got sound. I phoned and they said try another cable. It did nothing. Now I have to decide pay to have it fixed or junk it. Microsoft needs to realize there is a problem and support their product.
READ THE POSTS HERE. If it will tell you anything, it's that most here are having multiple issues with their 360s including this one and people here have further stated that your little trick doesn't fix it. Inductive reasoning would tell me (and others) this is a 'defect' and neither of us HAVE deductive reasoning because it isn't a 'thing'.
Sheeesh... do you think people are just lying for the heck of it. Have you not read a single post here? LOL, these delusions have to stop.
What do you keep clamoring on about days past for? It was clear then as it is clear now... let the facts (and frankly your lack thereof) speak for itself. Why even bring my hot wife in the mix once more; are you so jealous? Admittedly, it must be difficult to find a girl friend as a teenager when you spend the majority of your time here posting on behalf of the Zune and 360. I can imagine but can't relate because when I was your age, I was too busy chasing tail. Here's a suggestion though (and don't take it the wrong way); go learn what a 'troll' is, and quit breaking the ToS you held on to so dearly a short while ago. Let's keep it ON TOPIC. :-)
jesus... i just watched a movie last night... i turn my 360 on this morning.. i get a black screen with little dots going across it... please help.. im going insane.
email me PLEASE with a possible solution
nicknovo@AOL.com
I think this story needs to be revised. with-in the last week 1000's of 360's have lost video, still have audio, and there is no ring of death. everything checks out normal, just no video output.
this could be due to the infamous poorly designed x heat singing, and the chips becoming unsolidered due to overheating now that more then 2 piplines are starting to be used. or it could be due to an update gone wrong.
SOMETHING IS GOING ON, AND MS ISNT TAKING!!!!!!
Yeah... I've been through 2 consoles since last September. Not even 30 days, and I had to switch one out due to the red ring. Today, I pick up my controller and turn it on and I get a solid green screen (same bright green color as the + box here), with all of the audio. I've tried removing everything, and re-attaching it, no dice.
Luckily, I purchased a Best Buy 2 year plan with it.. so It's on it's way back to Best Buy, and I'm hoping to be home with a new console in a few hours.
But I would have to agree, I find it rather suspect that all of a sudden a new epidemic of 360 issues just breaks out of nowhere, all within the same time frame. Then they magically roll out a new warranty extension. I'm calling B.S. on Microsoft
I have to chime in and say I just began experiencing this problem too. I put my 360 through a lot of use, and finally, I was at the control panel/dashboard or whatever the proper term is, and after checking a message, suddenly, there were streaks of red lines or what looked like bad red tinting. I turned off my 360 and turned it back on, and now the sound works, but the video doesn't. Right when The Darkness and Overlord come out. Has anyone found anything helpful or am I going to have to wait/pay for a repair job or get a new one?
Add my 360 to the list of consoles that suddenly lost the video and am unable to get it back. The screen displayed a lot of green shadows around the dashboard and then the video died. I didn't (and still don't) have any red lights... and there is no video. I've pulled the connections apart, hooked everything up to another TV, and nothing. Pulled all the connections apart again, put it back on the original set, and nothing. Tried other sources on the same TV inputs and they worked. It looks like I'll be needing a 360 shipping coffin. BTW, my console is about 11 months old, AND I have the extended warranty... thank God...
Add my name to the list of suckers that now have this problem of no video without the red ring problem. MS told me to buy another cable as well. Whatever. I tried a friend's cable and the same thing. No video. My machine is 17 mos young. WTF. When are Microsoft going to realize this is a serious problem in the same vein as the RROD and fix the problem without screwing their supporters with a hefty repair bill.
I'm confused about the Apple comments. There are tons of games available for the Mac.
This year, EA will be releasing Mac versions of Need for Speed Carbon, Madden NFL 08, Battlefield 2142, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars.
Games I've played over the past couple of years: The Sims, Age of Empires, Civilization, World of Warcraft, Battlefield 1942, Call of Duty 2, Doom 3, Quake 4, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Aliens vs Predator 2, Halo, XIII.
I am now a member of this club. I have a day one console. Minor freezing problems here and there, nothing major. Then yesterday my video goes all wonky in Dirt. I wait it out. It goes back to normal. Next race-same thing. So I give up for the day. Try it again today. Video goes wonky, but doesn't come back. So I exit to dashboard. Then that goes. Now, it's just no video period. I've tried all of MS's worthless "troubleshooting solutions". Nothing. Different TVs, different cables, different hard drives, nada. It's just not working. And since I don't have the three red lights, even though this is OBVIOUSLY either a hardware or software problem (i.e. Not my fault), they want me to pay for a repair. This is absurb. There are 8 pages of posts from at least 100 seperate users in only about three weeks with this problem. I don't consider that "anecdotal", especially since not only is MS not commenting on it, they are trying to bury it by moving it from the technical problems forum to the general 360 hardware forum. The extended warrenty should apply to ALL hardware faults, not just the RROD.
Eric, I recently had my console's video die on me, while still retaining the audio. I called microsoft and they tell me since I have a launch box, I am no longer under warranty, thus I need to pay $99 to have it fixed... or was that the shipping fee? Anyhow, I agree that every legit hardware problem needs to be addressed by microsoft with their extended warranty. Can anybody shed some light on this? like I said I'm out of warranty. I can either open my xbox and try to fix it myself, spend $100 to get a new system, or try and invoke the 3RLOD. None of these options are optimal.
my xbox 360 doesnt read any disc it just goes right back to saying open tray in the dashboard, wat should i do?
I started getting exactly the same problem in the past week. However I have found a way to get it to work. If I turn the Xbox on and leave it running for 10 minutes and then power it off and back it on...it works! No idea why but it does.
Mine just did the same thing. Blue in dark areas and then I shutdown and started back up to blank screen. Microsuck strikes again. :/
@Nynja and his boyfriend gamer
losers.
ps3: 600
extra controller: 50
games worth buying: 0
crappy online service: 0
overpriced music and photo viewer: included for free
watching dust settle on your ps3: priceless.
the 360 owners spend more time playing games on their consoles more than your ps3 owners spend playing on yours, even when you factor in that they are shipping theirs to be replaced.
and don't say you have better games, 360 has more exclusives and even if they have the same versions, the 360 is better, including vf5.
Add my xbox 360 to the list of no video, but audio is OK, without red ring of death.
My console suddenly displayed a lot of green shadows around the dashboard and then with dark glow dot in the middle. The lost the video completely and unable to get it back.
I didn't (and still don't) have any red lights and audio is there. I've try all kinds of cable you can name them, VGA, component and composite, the result are the same, NO VIDEO.
This problem came after the dash board update. It never have any problem since I purchased it in Feb 2006. I believe there can be bug within the new update. I recommend strongly here that DO NOT update dash board unless you want to play games online or download games.
Just as I read from another person commends, this is the manufacture fault. For a $400 item, we should not expect such problem, while it malfunctioned during the game play.
Since the warranty is expired, I need to pay $$$ to repair it. It looks like I don't have much choice here. However, I am going to file the case to State. This is the new kind of 3 ring of death and MS must taking care of.
this happend to me today..and yesterday it was working fine..im not getting any video nor sound..its not my tv..casue i have plugged other devices into there..and they work fine..and my tv acknowleges there are cable plugged in..just not getting any pic or sound..
Happened to me today. Had my 360 since launch with no problems. Out of the blue, very odd colors on both the guide and in game -> Sound but no picture. Restarted like 10 times, and it didn't fix anything -.-
Add one more to the list. Mine went bad right after getting an update pushed. Console was cool to the touch. I have an RMA# to return it.
The lead-free solder issue is not limited to RROD. This is all the same problem. M$ (or their board production subcontractors) will end up eating the entire cost of the first few production runs. There are an almost infinite number of ways a solder problem can manifest and no way to distinguish. Can you say class action...