The real reason behind the recall?

Ever since Microsoft recalled the power cords of nearly 14 million units, the conspiracy theorists have been hard at work.  Yesterday, one commenter speculated that Microsoft might have imbedded a device into the little black box that could detect a mod chip.  Okay, so that's definitely stretching it, but this latest rumor has even Joystiq wondering...

"There have been numerous reports of "loose power connectors" in xboxes, and the cause of this is that the solder joints on the PSU have actually broken where the connector mounts to the board, which can result in the xbox not powering on, or possibly even sparks, smoke, and fire.

So, instead of taking the costly duty of recalling all older xboxes, what do they do? They give you a power cord with this huge GFI thing. This in no way will solve the problem, it is merely a bandaid. So, when your PSU sparks and shorts out, it just trips a switch instead of catching fire, but your xbox still doesn't work."

[Thanks, ChronoZaga]