bricked
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Perplexed by my quiet 360, how does yours work? [update 1]
Recently I've had some issues with my 360. I think it decided that it would rather kill itself than let me play Viva Piñata ... but that was its decision not mine. So, I sold it "as-is" and picked me up a new one locally, pretty new box and all! Though I noticed an interesting quirk after playing Gears recently. I noticed something that didn't happen on my previous 360 model. When playing Gears, throughout multiplayer (specifically when sitting in a lobby), the humming of the disc drive couldn't be heard, because the spinning of the disc actually slowed down. My previous Xbox 360 kept rotating the disc full speed, never missing a step, and never altered the spin speed ever. My spiffy new 360 must be uber smart and knows when it doesn't have to spin at 400 MPH, thus creating a moment of silent bliss. At first it startled me as I wondered why the disc quit spinning, but now it's just a welcomed surprise to hear the quiet. Does your 360 spin down when playing certain games or am I just drinking too much Pepto-Bismol?Update 1: It looks like I found the answer to my perplexion! Previously, my other console was rocking a Hitachi DVD drive (the more common LOUD version) as opposed to the Samsung model (which is known to be quieter and more rare). I checked out my new console and it looks like I have a Samsung DVD drive in my 360. This could be why certain games read differently by slowing down etc. Let's do some more investigative work ... anyone whose disc drive spins down during games (like mine) head over to Llamma's site and verify which drive you have. I'm thinking this is how the Samsung drive works, but we'll get to the bottom of this as a team. Teamwork FTW!
Homebrew impostor will brick your system
One of the dangers of using homebrew is that there's always a chance that something bad will happen to your system, causing it to be completely useless, or "bricked." A user of the MaxConsole forums has discovered an impostor pretending to be Dark_Alex, one of the homebrew community's most prominent members. His site, dark-alex.com, is a complete replica of the original programmer's site, but features some very malicious files. Unfortunate users that download a file from the impostor's site will discover that their system no longer works. It's unfortunate to see such malevolent intentions on the internet ... be careful![Via DCemu]
Make a profit on your broken 360
Do you remember Tim's story from back in the day? Tim had some back luck with Chromehounds bricking his 360 to an unplayable lump of technology. So, he had to package it up and send it off to Microsoft ... but for a fee. Tim sent us an update and that he had to pay to get his Xbox 360 working again, stating that he "eventually got it repaired for half the normal price ($65 as opposed to $130)". See, Microsoft has a heart! Since then he's received his 360 and has been satisfied. But to Tim's surprise he received a letter from Microsoft today and attached was a check for $96.75. The letter read:Upon further review of internal repair data, it has come to our attention that the Xbox 360 console you previously paid to repair is qualified for a free out of warranty repair. Attached is a check to reimburse you for this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience.Wow, what a nice gesture! But let's do some quick math. Tim paid $65 to repair his Xbox back in the day and today received a check for over $95 ... do a little subtracting and ... that's a $30 profit! Tim, congrats on screwing corporate America over, they deserve it sometimes. Check out Tim's check after the jump.[Thanks, Tim]
Nokia firmware scare bricks E70s
As we recently reported, Nokia's been dabbling with the whole do-it-yourself firmware upgrade phenomenon as of late. We applaud the effort -- in our opinion, getting the latest and greatest software for your devices should never be any more challenging than connecting a cable to your PC. Murphy's Law being what it is, though, initiatives like this are never going to be without their flaws. Many E70 owners who gave the update process a whirl in the past few days (present company included) were horrified to find that the procedure magically transformed their multi-hundred-dollar bundles of S60 joy into paperweights in just a handful of minutes. It happened to us, and it's not pretty; the phone teases you by turning on and dutifully displaying the "Nokia" logo, but that's as far as she goes. Rumor has it Nokia did the right thing by pulling the offending firmware and quickly replacing it with a new one, but that's little consolation for the folks bidding farewell to their handsets as they get shipped off to Nokia service centers around the world. We're going to give the upgrade another shot with our fresh E70 today and we'll pass on the word if we end up with a second brick -- wish us luck.Update: We've got good news and bad news. The good news is that we don't have another bricked E70 on our hands. The bad news is that the latest and greatest firmware being offered by Nokia isn't yet available for the US-friendly E70-2 variant (which is what we have). Let's go, Nokia! Americans want faster refresh times when switching to landscape mode just as much as Europeans do!
