Xbox 360 power supply pinpointed as cause of house fire
By Darren Murph 
posted Apr 19th 2008 9:56AM
posted Apr 19th 2008 9:56AM
Sure, you've heard the horror stories of faulty Xbox power cables sparking up fires in homes, but it seems the latest case involves the aforesaid console's successor: the Xbox 360. According to Little Rock, Arkansas fire department captain Jason Weaver, a 360's power cord was to blame for a blaze that injured no one (thankfully) but caused some $100,000 in property damage. Mr. Weaver asserted that the power supply was likely crammed in a tight spot with no "space to dissipate heat," and while we've certainly seen no shortage of overheating Xbox 360s, this marks the first time that we've seen high temperatures wreak havoc on more than just the machine's internals. Here's to hoping this isn't the start of a dreadful trend.[Via Joystiq]
Power is powerful.
Yep, and 360 degrees of flawless destruction is a perfect example of that.
One incident, after being on the market over two years? Some trend.
I beleive he said " Here's to hoping this isn't the start of a dreadful trend"
......Ass
Here's how I see it...
Given the current status of the housing market, I've seen several cases where people are unable sell their homes and have torched their own homes just to collect insurance money and get out of their growing debt.
Now, say someone with this mentality and similar financial situation catches wind of this story. The Xbox 360 power cable is the perfect scapegoat for that certain someone. Sue MS and collect insurance money...double jeopardy ftw.
thats supid that guy shud have had the power brick not "crammed in a tight spot" thats just common sense good i hope the 100 grand comes out of his life savings...
That's cold...
Everyone makes mistakes...
I hope they have good insurance...
This one doesn't even seem that big compared to others, so I'm not a big fan of they deserve it mentality.
Oh stop! Games (and XBL) aside, the Xbox 360 hardware design IS GARBAGE!! Whatever happened to a SIMPLE CIRCUIT TRIP and shutdown when a certain temperature is reached anyways? Sure 90% of the readers of this Blog would know how to “keep it cool” but remember this is a piece of CONSUMER ELECTRONICS not GEEKWEAR!
-------
Frank Black a.k.a. LDM
Waterbending Master
http://www.eternal-champions.com/images/fb_waterbending_master.jpg
No one is to fault here by the owners. Microsoft clearly instructs that the 360 and power brick need to be in open areas so that they can "breathe." They didn't do that, so it's their problem. There better not be a lawsuit.
I'm a 360 fanboy but I think your comment doesn't hold.
If someone in the 21st century buys an electronic product from a company like microsoft they should not expect it to catch FIRE and threaten LIVES, even if storded improperly.
I'm not talking about dunking it in water, I'm talking about insufficent ventilation.
If the power beick isn't ventilated enough, who here really thinks that it catching fire is a real possibility? You just don't expect it to (and it shouldn't) happen.
Red rings? fair enough. Overheating and breaking? Fair enough.
But life threatening? Should not happen regardless of insufficent ventilation.
Red rings, overheating and breaking ARE life-threatening; Lack of Halo causes death.
I tend to agree - Microsoft has no excuse for their power bricks to heat up to the extent of setting a house on fire.
No matter how they recommend you store it, it still should never even come close to happening. Especially considering how big it is, not everybody wants it sticking out so they'll do their best to hide it.
What aren't you guys understanding? When vented properly the power brick doesn't heat up to the point where it catches fire. This guy had his brick in a tightly compact spot. The expelled heat was collecting in the area, and naturally, a small area will heat up much quicker than a larger one.
It's not like this guy had his brick out in the open and it caused a fire. No, he had it in a very tight spot which raised the overall temperature of the area enough to cause a fire.
Get this through your heads: The power brick in itself is not a life-threatening device. Improper care of said brick, much like every other electronic item on the market, can cause serious risk of damage or injury. This guy didn't take care of it properly and therefore, he greatly increased the risk.
I do understand your point and you are right.
It's just theres different degrees of improper use:
1.) Putting the power brick next to water: THAT is a very high level of improper use, and Microsoft are not to blame for any mishaps that occur as a result.
2.) Low ventilated area: LOW level of misproper use and let us not forget, a COMMON misproper use.
You do have a point, it's just that even if you wrapped the power brick in a towel next to a radiator, you would still expect it to NOT cause a fire.
Overheat and break yes, but fire? You would have thought that something that bad would not happen.
Either way my post further down casts my doubts on the cause of the fire anyway.
To summarise, you are correct, what you said was right, its just that no one would expect the thing to catch fire even with bad ventilation. Not in this day and age.
How is it not to be expected? If something that heats up isn't ventilated properly, I do expect it to catch fire. It's proper physics and thermodynamics. Any given heat in a dense area will get even hotter given the compactness and closeness of the objects. Eventually, when something gets hot enough, it will catch fire. Simple.
It's like a car. If you take care of it, nothing bad happens. If something bad happens and you took good care of it prior to, then it's the manufacturer's fault, not yours. If you don't take good care of it, and something bad happens, look no further than a mirror. It's the same with electronics, or really, ANYTHING that requires any sort of care.
He was instructed on how to take proper care of the object, yet he did not. If he had taken proper care of it and this happened, there would be a problem. But alas, he did not, and therefore, the problem is all his.
Yep and I've lost track of the times I had to kick myself for not keeping the power brick for my.
Laptop
Wii
HTPC
DVD Player
TIVO
In a ventilated space for fear of overheat. Look the 360 is one, if not only, product on the market who's design is so piss poor that it needs proper ventilation.
PS- And how it it not MS's fault for not designing the brick to trip an internal breaker if it overheats to a certain point? Hell shit happens. What if something fell off a TV and covered the brick?
I agree with Alex: "It's proper physics and thermodynamics" Unfortunately most people haven't a clue. Still, it is the user's fault. Personally, I unplug my 360 from the wall when I'm not using it, because I don't need to generating heat (even a very little bit) when I'm not playing the game. I've had power supplies smoke on me before, so I generally plug them into a power strip with a switch to turn them off. I don't really want to get back from a weekend trip to find a smoking hole in the ground.
Alex, I understand your points but I don't agree with them.
Microsoft has a responsibility to ensure that their products are able to handle a variety of usage situations, proper or improper alike. The most that should ever happen to the power brick if stored improperly should be failure, NEVER FIRE. I can't believe you would even debate this.
Microsoft has a legal responsibility to protect their users from mishaps like this, especially if they're "reasonably foreseeable". Is it reasonably foreseeable that a user may shove this massive power brick behind their cabinet against a wall? Absolutely.
Should you put in a disclaimer telling them not to? Of course! But is it reasonably foreseeable that a user will not read the Xbox 360 manual cover to cover? 99% of users haven't, I guarantee you.
Alex your point is correct. If something heats up, it caches fire.
But my point is that even in poor ventilation it SHOULD NOT GET TO THE POINT at which the heat is so great it catches fire.
Either the brick should be designed differently, or like the person above me said, cause the power to be cut after a certain temperature.
It's really simple. How much could a thermal shutoff circuit cost? Really. No electronic device should heat up tot he point of combustion no matter what you put it in. Or are you saying that hair dryers should remove the breaker plugs they have installed because it would be the consumers fault if they accidentally dropped it in the toilet/sink while the water was running?
Did any of you take two minutes to read the article? Oh, you didn't? Well, here you go:
"...Carl Olson take playing video games seriously...dedicating hours to it. 'The average week probably a couple of days worth that's too much,' says Olson."
So, we see that he devotes a lot of time to gaming. Fair enough, most of us here do. Will things get hot? Yes. But they won't catch fire. That's a good thing.
" 'It was melted and it looked like they had it against the wall in on edge and things like that need a little space to dissipate heat,' explains Weaver [the Fire Chief]."
Here's were things go wrong. The power brick is in a place where it is unable to dissipate heat. For what it's worth, I'll won't make any more comments, as I've already made my arguments regarding this point.
"Monday, while no one was home at the Little Rock house on the 5000 block of Cantrell Road, it caught on fire. Flames charred the interior."
WHOA! No one was home! Yet it still caught fire? One of two things happened: (1) the cord failed to cool down after the system's power was turned off, or (2) he left his 360 on while he wasn't home. The likelihood of #1 happening is far less than the likelihood of #2. However, if #1 did happen, then Microsoft is to blame, as a powerless console shouldn't have it's supply catch on fire. But, like I said, I'd bet that #2 happened, making the owner, Olson, to blame for negligent care.
ha. this thread proves that fanboyism due to marketing, hype, and cult of personality (if you consider that a corporate is a "person" legally) wins the day vs. common sense and basic empathy every time.
screw the consumer! if you don't have your gaming console on a nitrogen cooled shrine of worship, the terrorists win
As someone else said, how much could a thermal shutoff really cost? If I took my computer, and I covered it with the best insulations I could find, blocking all the air holes...it wouldn't combust. It'd shut off. And once it had cooled down, it'd work fine. There is no reason the power brick couldn't do the same. Especially from a company with a history of their equipment setting fires, and especially when you're cramming things that close together. I don't know of any other power brick that gets that hot. Hell, I've got powerbricks for other gaming systems that spend their lives under a pillow and barely even get warm. If it's designed so that it has a possibility of getting hot enough to combust, it should be designed to prevent that from happening. It's common sense.
Esat:
I love my XBox. But that is not the reason I am about to take the "Microsoft" side on this issue and contrary to your own.
More the likely, if he had it "likely crammed in a tight spot with no "space to dissipate heat,"", then he had cord bundled up around it, or coiled beside it, as well. A 120 volt line should never be coiled back on itself... never!
As a fire inspector told me, "this should be common sense". She told me this after relating the story of a house that burnt down because the owner coiled a 120 volt extension cord inside of a closet and shut the door. If the cord had not been coiled, no problem. But when coiling it, there is some phenomena that I'm sure someone more versed in electricity can name, that causes the natural radiation given off by a 120 cord to concentrate and amplify and heat up to fire temps. Now add-in a hot transformer, and well, you get the picture.
Now take a look at the article and the third picture down on the right... I realize this is not the unit in question, but I am pretty sure that is the 120 cord-side bundled up quite nicely next to it.
I'm going with with the cord and transformer being crammed all together causing the fire. In which case, could happen to any sort of AC to DC adapter.
@phanbuoy: Define projection.
Anyway, what I see is alot of people blaming MS, and a few stating that that he should have read the directions. Now I gave a plausible theory. Why don't you try it out?
Take whatever device that needs charging or uses a wall socket for power, and that you're a "phanbuoy" of, wrap the 120 side of the cord around your neck in several loops (*loosely* .. I have to add that since your reading comprehension is rather lacking), and then go to bed for the night.
Let us know how it turns out. Oh, and make sure there is current being drawn through the loops of the cord around you neck.
wow, you're awfully defensive hypericactive or whatever your name is, which is quite appropriate. anyway, glad to see you prove my point by your advocating i take my own life. you seriously should be put in a padded room.
but yeah, you called it. i'm a consumer fanboy. guilty as charged.
by the way hyperfreak, you're the worst sort of fanboy, and i'm glad you just made a national geographic worthy presentation of yourself. a deranged, fanatical, homicidal, low-self worth corporation-worshiping, attention starved faux-intellectual with gussied up middle-schooler taunts. aren't you late for a rally of some sort?
@phanbouy:
Yowza! You sure do use alot of adjectives. I compliment you on your selection.
However, your logic needs a little brushing up. To wit, you accuse me of "faux-intellectual (sic)". Yet, you implicitly state that my theory does have validity, for why else would you state, "by your advocating i take my own life" or accuse me of being "homocidal"?
So which is it, phanbouy? Am I a "faux-intellectual (sic)" with a theory that is ludicrous, or does it have validity; in which case I would be "homocidal" intellectual?
Next time, try to use more nouns, and especially ones that would bolster your "case".
@ phanbouy
What's your level of education? Anyone even vaguely learned in government or law will tell you that a company is, in fact, considered a legal person. Under law, they are a collective entity that acts together as a single unit, much like how a human is a collection of parts (brain, heart, limbs, veins, etc) that work together as one. Therefore, companies have rights inherent in their existence and liberties granted to them by the government.
Also, I'd like to point out that you show absolutely no maturity or intelligence in your posts (as did the person you went back and forth with). Look up "ad hominem." A person who commits this fallacy loses every bit of credibility in my eyes.
So, I ask that you do two things. First, I'd like you to learn about law and government and the rights and responsibilities of both corporations and consumers. Second, you should learn how to argue your points effectively and properly while not attacking another person. It makes you seem insecure and ridiculous. Quit making a fool of yourself.
Not everyone is a massive nerd like you though alex
to all (rational) posters: Why don't we just test it out? I've got a small heavy-duty plastic firesafe. I would presume that a firesafe can withstand heat from the inside if it can from the outside. I could drill two holes for the cords, wrap the PSU in layers of old clothes, shut the thing up, and let my box run 24 hours, perhaps on Forza 2 (idle, the xbox draws about 125 watts AC, forza 2 I've seen it draw as much as 170 watts AC). I would just need a few things:
1) Confirmation from someone that a firesafe would hold heat in as well as it does out. This would heat up the PSU good.
2) I don't have the foggiest idea what to seal the holes with the cords passing through with... it would have to be some sort of sealent that is heat-resistant and airtight.
3) I don't mind replacing a fried and melted PSU, but come'on, if everybody's curisioty is piqued enough, I would like at least my XBox Elite to be replaced if it went bonkers if the PSU melts.
4) Would the length of power cord going into the firesafe or the one coming out, or the outlet it is plugged into, pose a danger? If so, would need some sort of workaround (I live in a 1860's loft with plenty of nice, dried out wood).
@ MikeG
Exactly why do you consider me to be a "massive nerd"?
There's no doubt about this that it's the owner's fault. If I block the vents on my laptop and suddenly get burned by the heat then is it HP's fault? That's idiocracy logic.
It was the DAMN CORD and there is a link to xbox.com where they mention a damn RECALL of BAD powercords.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox/console/powercordreplacement.htm
So stop talking about imaginary non-existing situations and start talking about the real case.
@What:
"No action is necessary if your console was manufactured on or after October 23, 2003." Pretty sure that the 360 came out after October 2003...
@ Wwhat
No, they mean the power brick. However, they writer of the article doesn't know what to call this, so he/she resorts to calling it a "cord." "Power brick" is a term for the 360's power supply that originated on the Internet in response to its massive size. Read the entire article. The writer/reporter doesn't seem too learned in (1) video games, (2) the hardware that goes along with the consoles, and (3) proper grammar, it's a pretty poorly written article.
So, no, it's not the cord itself, but the entire power supply. Read what the Fire Chief says. Cords don't dissipate heat; the power brick does.
Thanks for playing.
Please tell me how hard it would be for Microsoft to include some sort of protective mechanism to say, cut off power if the brick is overheating? I'd have thought that such a thing would be included in anything liable to overheating.
The link I gave came from the article mentioned, and the powercord is referring to the internal powercord that connects to the connector that connects to the external powercord I gather.
So basically it's still the cord then eh, even if it is the bit of the cord on the inside of the brick.
And I agree it should have a thermal switch-off but even if it had or has then if the fire already started due to a short in the bit of cord before the circuitry/transformer then a switch-off won't do any good at all, you'd have a xbox that's turned off while the house burns to the ground..
I don't buy that MS would have no thermal protection whatsoever, I don't think it would get approved for sale by the FCC and I don't think MS would not realise it would open them to billions of dollars of class action settlements.
Not to mention that it doesn't pay to burn down the houses of your customers, and of course most sane people would not want the guilt either.
@ Andrew and East
You two are the perfect example of an american. When something is clearly your own fault you blame someone else. You retards should seriously consider attending some schooling of any sort. LOOK AT THE GODDAMN POWER BRICK...there's f*cking vents on it. Vents mean don't wrap the damn thing in towels. Microsoft can't be held responsible if your so stupid you take your xbox, wrap it in a towel, and leave it next to the heater. You do realize that heat is the #1 cause of fire right? LMFAO...your stupidity hurts me...no I'm serious I have a headache now.
Someone's a little angry today eh? Looks like the Xbox 360 brick isn't the only thing overheating...
Stay out of my house, thank you.
What a waste of all those toasted original disks. Piracy FTW. All those discs must have cost him more than his 360.
man.. now i feel kindna scared to leave my 360 plug in after leaving the house..
hahaha......only with an xbox......
Nice
ONLY with Xbox?
What about Sony Playstation and PSP?
http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/15370216.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06120.html
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2142225/sony-ps2-adaptors-fire-risk
http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170702604
What about Dell?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126735/article.html
What about HP?
http://www.news.com/Fire-hazard-sparks-recall-of-HP-digicams/2100-1041_3-6080485.html
What about Coby?
http://www.i4u.com/article12726.html
How about Nokia?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/17/nokia-6280-overheats-erupts-in-smoke-on-video/
Its a typical *nix fanboi -- devoid of any understanding or objectivity and a complete lack of creativity in his obviously wrong snark.
Oh be quite joe.
Hope you weren't relying on spell check bjrcboym quite isn't quite the word you were looking for.
*quiet
Haha wow my mistake, four hours of sleep after a long day at work blows... I need some coffee!
LOLZ, actually coffee wouldn't help all that much. It's pretty hard to type with fidgety fingers.
Until your stupid comment, this thread was actually quite sensible with fanboyism to an almost intelligent level.
By the way engadget, Joystiq has this story and states that there ws $10,000 worth of damage and you say $100,000. Which one is it?
Being Arkansas, I would guess $10,000.
hahahahahaha youn are so funny
i call bullshit on this , firefighters are becoming stupid every day , i have left my 360 power supply with almost no ventilation and never burned my house down.
not yet anyways....
You might be right.
I mean there are millions of 360s all over the world. This cannot be the only one that was left in an unventilated position, and as far as I am aware there are no other reported cases of this?
hmm... interesting points.
Could heat from plastic really cause a fire? Unless there're exposed wires of course.
There always has to be a first...
FIRST!!!
JoSav, your logic leaves much to be desired.
You can cause a fire with any electronic device without ventilation.Remember this the next time you are trapped with McGuiver in a potentially bad situation. Simply wrap your cell phone in a piece of cloth and set it next to a can of oil for a delated explosion.
All kidding aside, I've nearly caused a fire with poor ventilation on my cell phone (HTC Advantage). This same thing has been reported by everythign from laptop batteries to the PSP power adapters to Nokia cell phones. Use it as a wake up call to make sure you aren't overloading circuits and that you are giving proper ventilation to all of your equipment.
"firefighters are becoming stupid every day"
1. With that grammar, who are you calling stupid?
2. Fire investigators are very good at what they do. I doubt he was wrong.
3. These men and women put their lives on the line trying to save this family's home. I would think a certain amount of respect to the profession is due.
With all the X Box's out there, I find it hard to imagine one starting a fire like this without some additional help. Perhaps the owner(s) were hoping for a remodel and put some blankets over it to help it overheat?
Regardless, there will surely be lawsuit (shocking) and there will be a settlement.
RRoD was throwing a party no doubt.
thats why xbox 360 sucksballs, PS3 ftw!!!
The quote says " a 360's POWER CORD was to blame for a blaze," not the power brick.
Those had a recall, want to wager this was one they didn't return for a free upgrade to one less likely to cause a fire?
Wasn't that the original Xbox? Or did I miss something?
I'm not being sarcastic btw, I may have actually not known.
There was a recall for the original xbox as well as one for the 360 racing wheel. To my knowledge they haven't done any recalls for the 360 power supply though there have been revisions to the power brick and chord as the system has aged, the ground prong I believe is absent on the newer consoles/psus.
if I'm going to correct others I may as well correct myself *cord
I must have thought the 360 gained it's power through the power of MUSIC!
Yer but the article then talks about dissipating heat.
Must have meant power-brick, as far as I know, i've never seen a cord which needs ventilation.
I can agree with the "Heat" issue. I had my 360 under my shelve just below my Tv and I use to shut the door until I went to change the game and man was it hot under there. So now I moved it above my shelf (above my tv) so it can breath with ease. But not only does this thing produce a lot of heat, the freaking drive inside makes a lot of noise when its loading a game (been this way when I got it.)
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if this device could be called a "Heater" because the thing stays pretty warm.
i keep it under my desk in my room, it keeps my feet nice and toasty
(its sad that im not joking =\ )
Fear of this scenario is why I bought a wire-frame cabinet for my 360 and its power supply.
http://flickr.com/photos/beryllium/2390594591/
The Xbox 360s I have seen have had a very flexible greenish rubbery power cable. Are these the original ones?
Not as far as I remember, I believe mine is gray, but "flexible and rubbery" are traits associated with most any power cable or cables in general for that matter.
This makes me want to reconsider where i have mine lodged. Or get a fan on it or something. this is really scary, actually.
You should actually reconsider this with ALL of your products -- not just Xbox. You should always consider good ventilation when dealing with electronics of any kind. I have a cell phone that I threw on the bed and accidentally covered up with the blanket. When I came looking for my phone the sheets and comforter were blazing hot. No doubt, had I not come looking for my phone, I would have caused a fire by not being careful. Make sure all your electronics are ventilated, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to turn them off when not in use.
What the Hell kind of cellular phone gets hot? I think yours may be broken.
Actually the same thing happened to me... My house caught on fire and cause nearly 124,013 dollars and 0.14 cents in damage. The only loss was my roborovski hamster. I was devastated when I thought about him on fire running back and forth in his cage. Dang Xbox killed my fluffy.
He was simply stating he hopes it doesn't happen again, what is so wrong with that, there was no need for playground name calling.
ohh comment I was responding too got deleted!
The actual article from the 'Read' link is so poorly written that it is hard to make any judgements on what actually happened. Is that what passes for journalism and professional writing in Arkansas?
More then likely, although I haven't checked mine, Microsoft didn't design or manufacture said power supply. It wouldn't make sense, as other companies specialize in this area and more likely than not it'd be more cost effective to outsource in this area. Microsoft probably just specifies the input connector design, voltage, and current requirements, possibly the housing design as well. So ultimately I believe any heat dissipating technology encompassed therein that may or may not have caused this fire were designed by a company other than Microsoft so they should probably shoulder some of the responsibility as well. This could also be a freak occurrence such as an insulation breakdown in the windings of the transformer, in which case no one is to blame more than the owner due to improper care.
Can anyone say "global recall"?
I would think they have no option, as someone could have been easilly killed by this..
Looks like Microsoft may be even further away from making money on the Xbox, perhaps the 720 may finally make them some money...
This is one incident and isn't necessarily the power supply's fault- there could have been some abuse of the brick itself (ie: dropped, broken wires, etc).
This sounds more like there was damage done to the power supply itself... Maybe some damaged cords or maybe someone had dropped it a few times on accident.
The first time I've heard of a 360 power supply catching fire.
Microsoft should just add a small smoke detector to the Xbox power supply.
It's hilarious how you XBOTs can defend Microsoft for this, while, had it been a Playstation 3, you would be laughing your asses off at Sony, saying how pathetic the PS3 is. At least when I go to bed, I know my PS3 won't kill me.
Read the provided info on the link, it was apparently an issue with the powercord and xbox.com has info on the recall with as reason bad powercords.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox/console/powercordreplacement.htm
"We are providing replacement power cords because component failure ina small number of consoles—about 1 in 10,000—has caused burning inside the console or melting of the power cord where it connects to the console."
That was the Xbox, not the Xbox 360.
"No action is necessary if your console was manufactured on or after October 23, 2003." Pretty sure that the 360 came out after October 2003...
I agree with Alex 100%.
Here's a non-360 example. Take a laptop set it on your laptop while running and leave it running for say 24hrs or more... let me know if it gets hot enough that your skin feels like its burning.
Microsoft is not at fault cause someone doesn't follow the disclaimer. A company can sell what ever they want, everyone knows guns kill people so should everyone who accidentially shoots themselves sue the gun maker for not properly telling them how to care for there gun?
Its common sense, and to add to that there is a disclaimer if a user choose not to read then tough luck. And, all electronic items over heat and burn. Microsoft is just an easy target and anything negative MS related is picked up faster than say a Samsung tv overheating and exploding
It will shutdown before reaching any dangerous temperature. My desktop will shutdown before reaching dangerous temperatures. Don't use computers in your example as they come with a heat protection safety.
How many houses does xbox 1 and 2 have to burn down before you people get it :/ rofl.
...onlookers couldn't believe the detail and size of the erupting flames.
One viewer commented, "I never thought hidef was a big deal until I saw this. My god, I was staring at it speechless. I want one!" Another added, "when I played Red Ring Of Death in 2007, I was shocked at how tame it was. I was ready for bed 5 minutes into it. Now this...this was something else".
Xbox360 sales skyrocketed.
Microsoft is staying tight-lipped on technologies for the next generation Xbox. A sequel to Orange Flames Of Death is believed to be in the works for early 2009 release. Working title is believed to be Totalled.
Associated Press.
Jon Doe. @ Apr 19th 2008 12:16PM
Yep and I've lost track of the times I had to kick myself for not keeping the power brick for my.
Laptop
Wii
HTPC
DVD Player
TIVO
Since when do Tivos have a power brick? Every one I've owned/seen just has one of those detachable straight to wall cords...
Microsoft should have some form of a safety circuit in the power supply to shut itself off in 3 different situations....
1) Overcurrent - if the PS is outputting more current than its rated for
2) Overheating - If the heat reaches a certain level the unit should stop outputting current until it is unplugged and allowed to cool
3) Overvoltage - to avoid damage to sensitive electronic devices i.e. xbox 360
I find it hard to believe that any power supply manufacturer wouldn't include those three standard safety features and considering how rare this case seems to be it could be just a freak occurrence where 1 or 2 of the safety features where not functioning properly and lead to this accident. In any case the owner isn't really at fault as all electronic manufacturers design their products with usage in mind and ventilation in a product like this is kind of a no brainer.. its obviously an eyesore to look at and people are going to hide it near a wall, in a corner, etc somewhere out of sight which leads me to believe they had to of incorporated the overheat protection circuit and it just failed in this one instance.
In all this talk about who is to blame, no one seems to care about the human factor in all this. We should at least be thankful that no one was injured or lost their life or that of a loved one who could have been in the home at the time that this happened.
If it had happened to me, whether my fault or Microsoft's all that would matter to me was due to my negligence or Microsoft's for not putting in a cut off switch, did someone lose their life. If it was a family member, and it was my fault, I would never forgive myself.
But nobody seems to care that at least this guy was not home when it happened. Instead we get all technical and babble on about the reasons or causes to the fire, but no one has said that at least the guy did not lose his own life, even if the brick was or was not properly ventilated.
Fault lies with the person who stored the powersupply improperly.
Blaming MS for this house fire is like blaming GE for burning your house down because you left the oven on with the door open, expecting it to heat your house.
My PS3 may not have as many games...but I'm pretty sure it's not going to be the death of my family.
The parents of the house watching the house on fire, "My house!", the kid, "My games!", Microsoft, "My god!"