Guitar Hero II Patch... of DEATH?

If you own Guitar Hero II on your Xbox 360 console, there is a 99% chance that you've experienced the bane of having a broken Whammy Bar. You would have seen the "official" responses from Red Octane saying they are looking it to it and in the mean time avid GHII gamers found their own fix by tweaking the internal workings of the guitar.

Finally Red Octane have released a Software update that fixes the Whammy Bar issues across all models of the controller and haven rejoice sang all gamers across the universe.

Until of course people installed the patch…

Hit the jump to continue reading...

[ChefDejon]

Ps2 guitar hero 2 is fine lol

[Blackmoses]

your absolutely right.....lol....it's just a port anyways....wink wink! Sony fans enjoyed this game last generation.

[Firewire]

Ok let me get this straight! Play the game it could give you the Red Rings, get the patch for the whamy bar problem, and get the Red Rings! Why do people buy this console! 360 users should demand that MS replace every 360 out there with machines that don't break!
Don't let MS get away with this deffective console crap, and sorry its no 3% failure rate!

[Lyberator]

Im so glad theres no blue lights on this console! Why does n4g even have a comments section?

[InMyOpinion]

I think the "red rings of death" problem should be covered even if your warranty has expired as it's not the consumers fault if it happens. I love my 360 but this thing really bothers me. Makes me paranoid every time I play a new game...

[Cell-R]

My Xbox 360 was one of those "broken" ones, although I fixed it by using a simple fix I found on the internet, involving a towel (yeah, it actually works).

[Extra Guy]

99%? that sounds a little steep if you ask me, for any piece of equipment.

[nice_cuppa]

this game and this patch have problems not the 360...
if anything microsoft should sue red octane for making dodgy games and patches that damage the console.

[IPlayGames]

Can MS do anything without gettin red lights?

[nice_cuppa]

please read my first post.

thanks.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

okay the games not doing it because of the system, maybe.
but the systems BREAK alot(that`s a fact)
mine broke twice.

it`s just ironic.....

[TOM]

worked like %30 of the time before the patch.Now it works great and my system is fine.

[Ru]

Took the words right outta my moulth nice cuppa

[Nik]

Look at the PSP, so many homebrew apps but other than flashing the firmware, no software has bricked a hardware... until now.

[Drew]

99% chance? What the hell is that? Only about 25% of all the shipped controllers were "faulty" (it wasn't actually a problem with the controller, it was a software issue). I got a "good" guitar. I also downloaded the patch. I've had no problems whatsoever.

[MrWegman]

I installed the update and everything seems to be working fine for now, but I would not be surprised if I get the 3 rings of death one of these days (this is my 3rd 360)- I did buy the extended warranty from MS. I really doubt that I will be willing to support Microsoft in the future since THEY seem to not know how to make a reliable system... I was such a loyal Microsoft fan, but now I might have to look for a new "home".

[Boink]

I have one of the "defective" guitars (that works fine) and I installed the defective patch(and everything works fine).

guess I'll be playing the lottery today cause I'm sooooo lucky...

[DirtySyko]

I'd say 99% is a stretch. I know a lot of people had problems, but out of 4 of my friends, only one had a bad whammy bar, and I don't think the 3 of us fall in the 1%.

I hadn't heard about the patch supposedley bricking consoles, though. I don't know if it's true or not, all I know is, I'm going to be nervous everytime I play my 360 when my warranty expires. It really sucks wondering everytime you play if your console is going to fail.

[ER1X]

Now it's GH2....

Things that make you go hmm.

[shotty]

I believe it was the PC version of shivering isles that had the glitch the 360 version was fine. cheers

[surferace22]

I warn you please do take care of you systems, if you happend to have owned an xbox1 you should know what I am talking about. I had my xbox for 1yr and no problems then right after the warranty expired what do ya know the damn thing bricked out. So I got a new one a nother year passed no problems and a couple mths later guess what same damn thing M$ tried to say I was out of warranty so what I did was bought a new one and switched sn labels and returned the bricked one so problem solve, not the case afte 2yrs my so thought fixed xbox out of nowhere craped out this shiny red light and no more xbox. Well I decided I'm not giving M$ no more green,same thing with the 360, it's gonna happen to you just wait.

[Firewire]

Guys I know I went into a rant (that top post) but I've been through 4 360's, and I won't get a new one till MS aknoledges they have a problem and fixes it! All of you guys have seen or heard or experienced the Red Rings! The only way it gets better, is if you demand that MS fixes the problem!
The system has been out what 16 months now, and this problem isn't going away! Even people with newer 360's are having problems! MS hasn't aknoledged anything, and how many people do you think they have milked on extended warranties and crap!
This is incredible, now you have software bricking consoles even! People even stating their scared and worried about there 360's getting the rings at any moment! Crap, don't let MS or Sony or Nintendo take your money for deffective crap!
Next time you get the rings, demand your money back, and tell MS you won't buy another one till they fix the daaamn machine!

[bobbybrown]

4???? holy sh*t i've heard similar stories often, no wonder the 360 has so many consoles sold :\

[Majunior]

fuc these sony fan boys...its not ms's fault sony sux dic! Go play the whole 3 games that u have...oh wait theres only one game even worth playin...oh wait nevermind that games a piece of trash as well....so sony fanboys go fuc yourself and go cry urself to sleep knowin u bought a 6oo dollar machine to collect dust! But ill be playin on live with a perfect runnin GHII...fucin rumor spreadin sony fanboys!...pizz me right the hell off!!

[surferace22]

WELL while I'll be playing my ps3 in a yr from now with mind you great new games that define a new gen , you'll be getting your crapbox360 fixed for what $130 good luck with that .LOL.

[kamakazi]

wow majunior sure loves sucking some MS kok. oh no he hates sony fans , what are we to do, please someone help us from the wrath of this idiot. help! heeeeeeelp! DUMB @ss idiot

[Majunior]

Yea i rather suc the balls of a company thats behind me and supports me with killer online features and games than sit there and fiddle with my thumbs waitin for the online not too suc dic and some descent games to come out...i dont mind fanboys as long as they dont start non-sense rumors! Ill prolly get a ps3 when good games start to come out...but until then ill b waitin and pickin up a elite...moddin my other 360...kamiakaze what do you even play on ur ps3 that makes u back it? Does it have good online features? Good games? And how do you like that bs controller? I like how ps3 fa Gboyz will even support a system with nothin to play on it...support it when it haz sometin to support...for now go get urself a 360!

[Majunior]

By the way never had any problems with my 360 had it since launch.

[ElementX]

First of all, it's not MS's fault. They didn't actually manufacturer the 360. Some company with child labor in Asia manufactured your 360. They're the one's to blame for red rings.

[hfaze]

However, we are talking about a company that has billions of dollars at their disposal, who could afford the R & D time to work out these types of issues, and fix them.

I'm hoping that's what they did with the Elite, but it would be all too funny to have to shell out $480 for a reliable 360... ;-)

[EZCheez]

Are you serious? It's not Microsoft fault??!! I don't care who makes the damn box. If their logo is on the box, and their logo is on the platform that let you receive the update, then guess what. ITS THEIR FAULT!

[Vulcan Raven]

put their name on it. I don't have one but you do hear alot of red ring syndrome, but how many people report not having it out of 10 million?

[ElementX]

I didn't have a red ring. If some connection or something inside the 360s becomes loose or whatever during the manufacturing process, it can cause faults. I'm not sticking up for MS, but everyone wants to blame people who didn't even build the machine. The warranty covers "defects in manufacturing" because on an automated line, if something is a bit off with machine calibration, maybe a connection isn't soldered correctly and it can heat up and become loose.

By this I'm referring to all those consoles people purchased at release. This red ring with the patch is pretty messed up.

[PeeStree]

lol.. you can now get your 360 package on any jewelry near you..
With multiples addons for only $300 more and of course 3 beautiful 24 karat gold RINGS of death....

Get you're 360 RINGS of death on the M$ GOT YOU BY THE B@LLS JEWElrY..

There's plenty in stock.. :P

[THELANDSOFSAND]

and yet so many more dusty PS3's in stock.

[EZCheez]

This makes me wonder what kind of voodoo mind control spurts from the screen whenever someone is on XBOX Live. How else can you explain someone dealing with the same hardware issues over and over again?

I realise my PSN isn't that hot but at least I don't get brainwashed. And for those of you saying "Well I haven't had any problems!!"

JUST WAIT YOUR TURN

[razer]

It's funny how this is a 360 article and all the comments are from PS3 fanboys that don't even own the console. Give it a rest will you and go play some games..

I think it's time to remove my N4G bookmark because this place is getting beyond pathetic..

[surferace22]

for once we here some negative news for the 360 and whoops-a-daisy we have 360 fanboys defending it..LOL.. it's funny how things are when sony has negative news,but how does it feel oh my brother..lol no time for the ol'e in-out , just came to check the meter.hahaha..

[EZCheez]

Turnabout is fair play

Besides I get tired of reading the negative too, and for some reason adding to it makes me feel better.

[Blackmoses]

they put thier name on it. Therefore it falls on them. Who is taking the biggest risk here? It`s microsoft, they should be doing QA checks. They need to get this under control before the Dreamcast comparrisons start up. Nice Microsoft....nice!

[DJ]

people had with the Gears of War patch.

[power of Green]

Sony fanboys are not bright enough to realize that.

#16 Firewire DAM 4 360s? what were you doing to them making love to them?. Sure Yah! right buddy.

#22.2 EZCheez It wasn't their fault and now that they know there was production problems they're doing what it takes to please the consumers.

Lets face it! 360 fans; Sony fans are going to attack the 360 this hole generation due to PS3 being in piss poor shape.

[power of Green]

This is a rabid Bash fest by PS3 fanboys and this rumor based thread is being used to vent frustrations on the 360 due to PS3s lackluster excistance its almost like PS3 fanatics can sense whats to come starting just a few short weeks from now and they know it will be the begening of the end for PS3 to have any real chance of getting out of a hole and catching up.

[bobbybrown]

if it can make you feel better... feeling better now? lol

[GameJunkieJim]

People may be having 360 problems, but it's not because of the patch, both the 360's here have the patch, and they work fine.

[Firewire]

#25 Power of Green: Your a dumbass! you think its funny! try going here...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

This is the second thread they have had at Neogaf, its 50 pages long! The first thread is supposed to be longer. There are people on there 6th 360's over there. Read and understand how many people have been ripped off by MS, charging to repair 360's and for extended warranties on defective products!
And don't buy into MS bull about, new ones not having problems, There are people there that have purchased 360's in the last month, with 2007 manufacturing dates, that have defective 360's!
Laugh all you want idiot! Its bound to happen to you! Welcome to the next gen! And next-gen to MS meens screwing you over, have fun fixing your 360 about 10 times this gen!

[THELANDSOFSAND]

spot the paranoid skitzophrenic ^^^^^^^^^

360's rule :D

[tehcellownu]

If you guys really want micrsoft to adress this problem and get it fix stop freaken defendin them..if you keep sticking up for MS they will think its ok to still put out defective console..how many other games out there will give the 360 the red lights of death..its xboxfanboys like you who let micrsoft bend you over and stick it in you and walk on u ..

[PeeStree]

He's probably on a pawn shop trying to get at least 20 bucks out of The Ringer... haha

I heard that the Elite comes with a warning sign on the box that says:

WARNING TURN 360ELITE ON AT YOUR OWN RISK, WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE OF THIS PIECE OF S@#T HARDWARE F@#KIN UP AFTER 5 MINUTES OF USE... If you were stupid enough to turn it on.. (dumb f@#k) DAmnnnn you're f@#ked.. send it right away to us and we will fix it for you for only $99.99

Thank You Sincerely The company that WILL f@#k you up for a dollar.. MICROSOFT :p

[THELANDSOFSAND]

you are:

a: dumb
b: retarded
c: dropped on your head as a child
d: a proud PS3 owner
e: mentally ill

now circle a option, take it to your local therapist and leave real gamers like the mart alone.

[Saint Sony]

Consoles are the biggest war starters followed right after religion and oil. Though, most of the participants in that idiotic war are overly pampered satan spawns.

Why can't people just be happy what they have bought, I don't see a point to bash the other brand, it only makes you look unsecure with your own decisions. This whole red light issue is so stupid too. I got the patch for GH2 and my 360 is day one launch console and all works fine. 0 freezing.

ps. I do handle my xbox360 with love.

[THELANDSOFSAND]

makes me wish the patch of death would extend itself to the players of these sad-ass games. go buy a guitar for f*(ks sake!

oh and if i have to see that advert with the meteor and that 'Woman' song one more time, i may grab my shotty and finish off my TV. i miss the peaceful GOW adverts!

[Giro]

Please explain landofsand why is it a 'sad-ass' game?

So because you don't want to play this game you wish that all the people who do would die?

Nice, you sound like a really wholesome person.

I have been playing guitar for about 15 years now and I bought Guitar Hero 2 because it looked fun, and it is great fun.

And I have had no problems with it either, even after the patch installed it worked just as well. The reason why people think a lot of 360s and Xplorer Guitar controllers have gone wrong is you only tend to hear from the gamers who have had problems with it, you don't tend to hear from the 1000s upon 1000s of happy 360 and Guitar Hero owners because they have no need to mention it as I'm sure they're perfectly happy.

[tk]

Was yesterday at the Centurion Mall in South Africa. Took photos of the two consoles on display. At the one couple of people were playing Ridge Racer 7. The other one had a "out of service" note over the screen. The console displayed red rings of death. Guess which console was from Sony and which one from MS.

But on a sober note, if the patch bricked the console then it is not the manufacturer's (Sony or MS) fault. Take it up with the company who issued the patch.

Hopefully the new MS console "Elite" will fix the red rings of death, the disk scratching, bricking and other issues. By now they should have been able to figure out the manufacturing problems.

Guitar Hero on all consoles seems great. Could be the patch bricks the console if it did not have the latest firmware - or maybe it bricks console on a certain firmware update. That would be the logical explanation. With all the firmware updates this can cause a problem.

[Dukester101]

Apparently I have the "faulty" guitar, and I downloaded the patch prior to reading this article yesterday (before it exploded into a flame war b/c stupid fanboys from both sides cant shut up).

I do not have a problem with my guitar, or with the patch.

On a side note: Why does an article such as this turn into such a flame war when people are just trying to inform others that an update to fix something only messed something else up? Keep the fanboyism to yourself, or go at each other on the N4G forums, not in an article that helps people!

[not impressed1]

well i just downloaded the patch and my game console freezes at the frist laoding screen, and im pissed buy a $100 game play it for like 2 weeks then they f*** you over.like wtf and ya my 360 had also broken only once so far, it reminds me of a time bomb though. Still has the best games to date

[Alymon]

Just another instance of someone pissed off because their console broke and blowing it out of proportion or blaming it on someone else.

I downloaded the patch, I had no problems. I've never had a problem with my launch 360 <knock on wood>

Sh#t happens.

[kamakazi]

so you like sucking balls huh. well to each his own i suppose. i have a 360 you idiot and a PS3 and a Wii you stupid brat. just because im not loyal to MS it makes me a Sony fanboy? hell i can play my PS3 games 0nline...so whats the problem? seeing your posts you do nothing but swear and put down SONY fans......which leads me to believe you are nothing more than an under age punk kid with nothing to contribute to certain stories, except your fanboy rants. keep sucking balls itll be the only thing youll be good at.

[tomfoolery]

Nobody sucks testies probably as good as you Kumakazi!!!!!!

[Majunior]

i gave u good questions and also asked u why you back the ps3 so much.. i didnt say i sucked balls i said id rather suck the balls of ms than be like you and suc the balls of a company who would sploo in ur eye rather than give u cool online features and games...u own all 3 systems?...yea right... obviously u dont own a 360...so go dust off and shine up your ps3 because somday im guessin somethin good has to come out for it...

[SmokeyMcBear]

wait wait.. you are readily admitting you would like to suck some balls.. cmon man, but no splooge in your eye right?... guess you want to taste it as it goes down.. just gross man.. gross.

[artman]

oh ... dejavu anyone??
before blue ... now is red ...