Xbox 360 red ring of death problems (finally) solved?
By Jacob Schulman 
posted March 1st 2009 6:31PM
posted March 1st 2009 6:31PM
[Via Yahoo! Games]
posted March 1st 2009 6:31PM
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I paid $400 a couple of years ago in Thailand for what is a defective product. I got the 'red ring' and contacted Microsoft Thailand who informed me that their defective product wasn't supported in Thailand. Ouch. I then tried a local fixit without success.
In desperation I phoned Xbox support in USA who advised me they only supported residents of USA/Canada. I then contacted Microsoft Singapore and after an exchange of e-mails they told me my Xbox had been tampered with, (local fixit), so my warranty was invalid. How does a warranty work for a defective product. Car companies recall defective products why can't Microsoft?
As I'm not in the habit of blowing $400, I will not be buying anything from Microsoft again with the possible exception of Windows 7. Sun Openoffice works fine thanks.
I agree; Open Office is totally great! The only time I use Microsoft Office is at work because I am not allowed to use anything else. I hope the EU wins their lawsuit and Microsoft's monopoly can finally see it's empire crash and burn. Sure it might only be over IE but the snowball has to start somewhere.
Is funny how after all the guys here have a rrod they still went to buy a new 360, I think is the best way MS found to sell more units.
I read the article on Yahoo as well. Very vague and general...
It is a problem for MS... whenever I buy a 360 the clerks chew my ear off about "failure rates" and all that. I wonder how many 360's don't get sold just because of clerks saying that to customers.
It'll be really interesting to see what sort of hardware changes MS does for the next Xbox... maybe a badass cooling solution like the PS3?
Unless of course Sony and MS "Wii-out" and just repackage their old junk.
Why bother with this Microsoft "me too" product. PS3 or Wii is a much better value and a true innovative device. Not just another "me too" like the Miscreantsoft X-Bust.
You do realize this 'me too' came out before the other two consoles you mentioned, right? And all three companies could be considered 'me too' companies, console gaming wasn't created by any of them.
Kinda late now Microsoft. Are you planning on reimbursing all those afflicted by the red ring of death since you only just now state that this problem, which is YOUR bloody fault, "should be nonexistent in the not so distant future"? I am still debating why the hell I should bother wasting even more money on another blasted Microsoft contraption. As if Vista wasn't a deep enough knife in the back! Whether Microsoft or Sony has the better console is a debate I don't care to entertain but at least my PS3 still runs and it's way older than my long late 360.
I'd buy a 360, but how on earth am I to trust them after this? This whole spectacle has thoroughly proven how inept they are at designing hardware. It's taken them over 3 years to make a console not overheat? Seriously?
Too bad Microsoft didn't do its due diligence and figure this problem out BEFORE launching the damn thing.
I sent mine to microsoft to have it fixed and they didn't (wouldn't) fix it. So I tried one of the methods 3 or 4 times and it only worked for a few hours. Last thing I tried is turning around the fan so it blows in instead of out and it seams to work. It's been around a year since.
I got the RRoD yesterday on my elite. what do you have to say to that, Greenberg?
I can not believe that a top executive at MS would say publicly that they 'think' they have fixed this issue.
The system has been on the market for what, around 3.5 years now?
MS should just keep their head down about this and fix it, quietly.
Reason being: It's an embarrassment. To have a system on the market for 3.5 years and only now announce that they 'may' have solved a major design floor is unbelievable.
Way to go on the R&D Microsoft, way to go. 3 Xbox360's had EXACTLY the same problem before I decided not to be tempted again.
I realise MS wanted to beat the competition to market but how did it benefit me, the person who pays for it? It did'nt.
I would have gladly waited another 6 months to play all the great games. Not a problem. Or would that have been a 3.5 year wait until they completed their R&D and quality testing?
I just CAN NOT believe we/I are/am still talking about this as a CURRENT issue.
Unbelievable.
[URL=http://img11.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rrod.jpg][IMG]http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9823/rrod.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
from gamestop nyc a few months ago...
My falcon died shortly after buying it. My second falcon is still running, but I fear for its life...
I was actually contimplating buying a new one before I got rid of my old games, but the Arcade Consoles are all the old ones I check three different stores, and now with the launch of Killzone 2 I don't care.
I nead tu lern tu spelle
riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!!
The Xbox 360's problems are based on the following factors:
1. Size the console is too convexed and thus the inner part of the console is too small for it's own good. This design looks very nice but it takes away valuable heat dissipitating room from the heatsink by placing the DVD drive ontop of the GPU; which is the cause of the 90% of RRoDs.
2. Though the shroud that covers the back of the fans is ok, it's not a tight fit therfore it makes more noise then it does cool. This also ties to the design of the console originally. The console's original design was larger and there for could breathe more. This is why the first Xbox was more reliable then the 360, and it also had the powerplant inside, unlike the 360's giant heavy brick. Coupled into this problem is also the way these heatsinks are mounted which cause too much friction and vibration on the 360 and with all the hot air trapped inside it makes it easier for the solder to break.
3. The open areas on the 360 could've been employed as heat out and air in vents but instead the decided to make them grill like not fully allowing the air to escape. But I think this is done on purpose to ground the unit so mod chips are difficult to utilize without a grounder. I did read somewhere that the Xbox 360 uses air as a grounding mechanism.
These design flaws in the body, and of course the gingerbread house of crap that their GPU/CPU had added on by MSFT makes for one unstable console. Good when it works but really really unstable. You're paying for the first Xbox since MSFT lost lot's of money with piracy, and thier moto now is "just $199" so keep on buying....
@Phil
"they 'may' have solved a major design floor"
Design floor? Seriously?
I can't believe that after all this time people are still whining about this as if the PS2 didn't have as bad a problem or worse. At least Microsoft owned up to it and extended the warranty. Sony had a class action lawsuit filed against them because of the PS2's failure rate and to this day they deny there was anything wrong with it.
I've never had the misfortune of having a console die on me by some miracle (my 2001 PS2 and launch day 360 are still going strong as well as every other) so I can't relate to people who supposedly have been through 5-8 360's already.
I'd bet money there will be a 360 redesign this Fall. Every number one console (and a couple #2 consoles) since the NES has seen a redesign at some point in its life cycle. November will be the 4 year anniversary of the 360 so it'd be the perfect time to release an actual new model. The Slim PS2 was also released 4 years after launch and it was a huge boost to PS2 sales.
Who cares if Sony released a faulty product to the market? That does not justify Microsoft to also release a faulty substandard product. When you pay $400 for a product that is faulty and fails frequently, a consumer has every right to complain about it. Calling a company out for making a product with high failure rates is not "whining".
Microsoft did not "man up" to the problems either. As a matter of fact, the ONLY reason why Microsoft extended the warranty was because their "it's only a 5% failure rate. No really it is! We assure you!" BS wasn't working. Extending the warranty is not what I would call "manning up". Fixing the design flaw, and then recalling all affected consoles IS manning up to the problem. Microsoft has yet to do that.
This may come as a surprise, but I am actually a huge fan of Microsoft's products. However, with regards to the Xbox 360, I am vehemently disappointed by it's very poor quality.
@ Skullivan
Where does the article mention anything about Sony??!!
If it did, I would say the same!
Sorry, but people are 'whining' as you put it, because the problem is STILL apparent after 3.5 years!
A day late and a dollar short, had 2 systems red ring.
It's funny the only actually solution for the Xbox 360 I guess would be to open up a new unit and remove the DVD drive, enclose it so it sits externally beside it like the HD DVD drive and find the connectors so you can hook it up to the system. And then in place where the drive sat you can put a larger heatsink and possibly larger wider more efficient shroud to fully suck all the air out, of the unit. In place of the DVD drive opening in the body you can put one of those cooling cards that can fit into your PCI slot so it rams cool air in, and the fans route hot air out. No more RRod, and the DVD drive being separate now will mean no more vibrations. While your at the DVD Rom you can mod it so it doesn't scratch your discs by putting those little pads on it. And then send the picture to MSFT on how you spent $199 and won't have to spend it again.
Definition of irony - This popped up first on a google search of Red Rings of Death... My Xbox 360 just crashed an hour ago.
I recently got the RROD on my 360. I don't know a whole lot about the inner workings of the 360 but it sounds like from the comments on this forum that the problem is with the motherboard warping and the gpu not getting a solid connection. This is gonna sound stupid but could someone tell me where all this is located? Are these components in the harddrive that you can detach or are they in the console itself. The reason I ask is because I took my 360 to a store to be fixed. The person working there said they could either have me wait for my xbox to fixed or I could take a console that they already "fixed" and just replace it's harddrive with mine and there should be no problems. Well, two minutes after hooking the console up the RROD popped on this console. Any help or advice would greatly appreciated. I would just toss the thing and never by another microsoft product again except that I love Gears of War and can't wait for Halo Wars. Thanks.
Buddy take the fixed one home...
You are lucky enough to get a new one..lol
In India, we dont get such service :(
I never use MS again, wasted my $1700, very unhappy
Xbox 360 suckss!!!
I have got 2 consoles, and both of them got RROD after few months. But I cant send them back to MS because they are no longer in warranty...
Si, I wasted $1200 on xbox 360 consoled + $500 on game DVDs = $1700 total loss!!