Gizmodo: Insanity: Xbox 360 'Repaired' 3 Times, Returns Each Time With Red Ring

Mark Wilson writes: Andy Phifer, like many of us, faced a glowing red ring on his nonfunctional Xbox 360. Facing an RRoD warranty technicality, he sent Microsoft $100 to make necessary repairs. Things didn't go so well. Here's his story: UPDATE

[James Bond]

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[Ninji]

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[Agent Smith]

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[Darkeyes]

Fell sorry for this guy.... He also paid 100$ LMFAO

[Nathan123]

Lol at first 2 posts... Sh!t does happen when the thing craps out..

[FrankDrebin]

even though it has RROD 5 times. That's right, Frank is on his 6th system since he purchased the system on launch day. Luckily MS has been great about everything, resetting my warranty each time for an additional 3 years. I hate when it dies but I haven't had to worry yet.

Also luckily, my PS3 has never given me any trouble. When I first got it (launch day) I did have a problem with it not reading discs, I had to rebuild the database and the problem was solved. No biggie.

By the way, who here is excited about Uncharted 2? Woot!

[Thugbot187]

Seriously common sense isn't common.

1.) Thought everyone by now knew about the RROD and that it was most common in the older 360s; 360 has an over heating issue so it should be well vented, meaning don't block the back, don't place it on shelf where it doesn't have a lot of room to breath. If you don't like the high maintenance pick up a Wii, or PS3. Kind of stupid to keep hearing these new articles.

2.) Refurbished products generally break down over and over again. So why go down that road?

3.) On any electronic device that's over 100 bucks I get the extended warranty; and why wouldn't you because you get the full price of the device from the day you purchased it as a store credit despite any price drops. Last Gen I had to get both my PS2 and XBox replaced about 5x each due to faulty DVD drives. This Gen my 360 died I picked up an Elite for an extra 50 bucks and haven't had any problems since.

[Bathyj]

Sh*t doesnt just happen, arseh*les cause it.

[Mo0eY]

Sh!t happens when you put sh!tty hardware inside a box and do not have a QA team test it out before mass shipping to millions of people, but the sheeple do not care as long as they get a new one.

[ReservoirDog316]

Jeez, that sucks. Even if they're taking care of him now.

[chaosatom]

If people stop buying 360 when RROD happens and their guarantee expires then MS would be in big trouble.

But it doesn't. People just don't learn or are too addicted to their gamer tag.

[Apone]

My 360 doesn't get the chance to RROD, because it's never on. lol

[JokesOnYou]

and the headline is innacurate because he himself says the console was fine, it was his power unit that was broken but the tech's never asked him about it...so he kept sending it back and never checked it. Aaah well, we know 360 has had by far more hardware failures in the past but a story about 1 single guy with a problem doesn't seem like big news to me, hell you could easily find horror stories about ps3 ylod, its definitely a growing problem

-you could pick 1 case of many reported here:
http://boardsus.playstation...
board.id=ps3&thread.id=39 82208&page=30
-or here:
http://forums.afterdawn.com...
-or here:
http://boardsus.playstation...
-or here:
http://community.eu.playsta...
-or among plenty others with a quick google search
-theres petitions:
http://www.petitiononline.c...
-theres BBC watchdog report:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
-theres plenty of repairs/fix it guides, this on playstationlifestyle:
http://playstationlifestyle...
-theres even a good old lawyer to help if you need it:
http://www.lawyerseek.com/P...

-Go ahead google for yourself theres tons of ps3 gamers with very similiar ylod/bluray complaints and stories. I hope you guys who say 360 isn't worth it because of RROD, don't have double standards when it comes to your ps3, lol who am I kiddin', you guys owned ps2's.

lol, damm I'm just trying to get my money's worth out of this one bubble, good night folks.

JOY

[SnuggleBandit]

^^^^

tons of ps3 failures=/= millions of gamers who got rrod or disc read errors and crap with the 360 dude

ya keep trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill ignoramous

[Bathyj]

Gee JOY, defensive much?

If you read the article, which I'm sure you did, you must have noticed...

"but this isn't so much a story about an Xbox being broken as it is a story about Xbox support failing to repair and identify the problem after a few months and three repairs."

I dont see anything wrong with that.

And that point aside, you're right, I dont want to hear about every individual user that has a RRoD, but I do want to be informed if RRoD is still an ongoing, serious problem. Xbox followers want us all to stop talking about it, but we should only do that when it stops happening.

Dont get me wrong, I believe it has gotten better, alot better. But I still dont believe its at an acceptable level yet, so thats why I want to keep knowing.

[mastiffchild]

JOY-you belittle your own argument by comparing the YLOD to RROD. Just not in the same league and you know it. I could pull a thousand tales of failed Wiis from the depths of the net if I liked but it would still not say a thing about the massive scale of RROD would it?

Fact is this shows that there are loopholes for MS in the beloved warranty(which have stung me before I may add)and that the service even after a failure isn't always great and as that's something a lot of 360 owners will go through surely it's newsworthy. When MS sort it out to an acceptable level for their industry(which is where you'll find the fail rates for Wii and PS3-and also why they don't belong in this discussion)then everyone will shyt up but until then MS are just peeing in the wind over this and the warranty only exists to stop more lawsuits and the terrifying(for MS)spectre of a mass rescall in any case.

Or are we really to think they care about us? After knowingly, imo, launching a console with way too little QA? I don't think so and the fact they can't put a lid on it even now is one of the worlds biggest puzzles to me.

[Anon1974]

My 3rd Xbox came back, and everything seemed ok until games stopped playing a couple of weeks after MS shipped me my refurbed console. I checked it out and the replacement 360 had been gouging games for the past two weeks. When I called to get this one replaced they wouldn't take it back! They said refurbed units were only covered for RROD and disk scratching was only covered under my console's 1 year warranty from purchase. Thankfully, I had an extended warranty which I helpfully pointed out to the rep on the phone and they took my 3rd unit back.

So far so good with my 4th 360. Mind you, I've only played Gears 2 and Fable 2 in the past year or so, finished them and then haven't really played on it since. I just hope this 4th console lasts long enough to play Alan Wake and Halo Reach! If the 4th one goes, I'm just scrapping it and selling off my accessories.

Edit: A disagree for sharing my story? Well, ok then. My guess is you better warm up that disagree button. I'm sure I'm not the only one with stories like this. If you don't even think 360 owners should be allowed to talk about their experiences unless they're positive, perhaps you would be better off reading www.WarmFuzzyXboxHugs.com rather than a site for gamers.

[Thugbot187]

Why didn't you pick up an extended warranty?

[chaosatom]

It's better to buy a new 360 rather than a extended warranty.....

Because Once a RROD is always a RROD /XD

Or a new PS3 Slim :)

[Bathyj]

Thugbot, EBGames stopped doing extended warrantties in Australia because the had $10m worth of broken stock M$ didnt want back.

I almost wasnt allowed to get one for my PS3 cos I'd returned my XBox twice.

[rroded]

for the win lol

ya im on my 3rd box n i only play the odd exclusive on it
like odst (great rental for a weekends worth of game)
but when it goes im done with it no way are they getting any more of my cash.
PS3 is jus so much more reliable n has the better games now so f em f rrod n f the north america media for not callin em on it and hating on sony.

[Noctis Aftermath]

I got a 2 year extended warranty on my ps3 slim for like $70 from harvey norman, if it ever bricks hopefully i won't have to go through the problems this guy has had with technical support.

[Anon1974]

And at the beginning, Microsoft said there was no problem. Why would I tack on an extra $100 when I'm already dropping $600 on the Xbox, controllers, cables, etc? But I did mention above, I bought an extended warranty for my 360 - just after the fact from Microsoft when my second console RROD'd on me. That's why I got my disk scratching unit repaired, under my extended warranty. Otherwise, MS wanted $170 to repair it.

[KingME]

Wow, is it that time of the month already. I could have swore we already did our RROD story for the month. /sarcasm

[Relientk77]

That sux, poor Andy Phifer :-/

Andy I got some advice for u

do yourself a favor and buy a PS3 and Uncharted 2, and ur set

:)

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Misery and lack of confidence.

such is the life of a 360 owner.

[SnuggleBandit]

you forgot be ignorant and totally unaccepting of facts and logical points other people make

[Mo0eY]

You also forgot willingless to be suckered into buying a $60 DLC package

or blindly paying $50 a year for no dedicated servers, twitter, facebook, and lost Halo War Stats

or loyal to a company that asks $100 for a proprietary HDD and $100 for a wifi connector

or ignorant to the unacceptable console failures that have occured the past four years.

But that's bots for you.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I mean really, how can you play games knowing your console could die at any single moment, of everyday?

I will never have to put myself through that misery.
Playstation 3™ ensures that.

[Anon1974]

My 360 was my console of choice for at least 2 years, but after multiple RROD and a disk scratching unit, I started to game in fear. "Oooh. It's been 45 minutes. Maybe I should turn it off and give it a rest, otherwise it'll be another repair."

No gamer should have to worry about that while they're gaming. I have to admit, when Microsoft fixed your console, you feel a bit of a safety net there, but 3 consoles was my limit. There was no sense spending hundreds of dollars on a software library you can't play for weeks on end while you wait for a new console. I had my pre-ordered copy of Halo 3 for a full month before I was able to play it because I was waiting for my console to come back.

Back when I bought my 360 console, MS was still sticking to the "3%" failure rate lie. If I had any inkling as to how bad it was, I never would have purchased a 360. I would have waited with my Xbox and my PS2 until the PS3 came out.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Oh i know exactly what you mean.After my first (Brand new) 360 died only 10-11 days after i bought it i only played the replacement 360 they sent maybe 40 minutes a day.Until that one died a few months later and i threw it out.

I bought another one last year just for fable 2.Ever since i beat it, it's just been sitting in a box in the closet.I'll always have that feeling of knowing it could just die out of nowhere, for no reason.

Haven't even turned it on in over a year.I believe my XBL subscription expires sometime this month too.No plans to renew that.

[MetalGearBear]

RROD FTW!!!!!!!
keep up!!!!

[testerg35]

I'm not trying to start anything, but my friend called me earlier today and his launch 60gb PS3 gets a yellow light and then a red light and 3 beeps. Anyone know what that error is?

Edit: YLOD isn't an overheating problem? Is there a fix for the HDD problem? He's afraid of sending it to Sony and getting a replacement that doesn't have BC.

[Mo0eY]

Yup, it's the yellow light of death - it means his hard drive isn't being read; tell him to call Sony so he can get it repaired (it's like $150).

[rroded]

ya deg yold if your not warrantied you can send it in to sony or look up the fix online (you need to reflux the board can b done at home but you gotta take it apart n put it in yur oven)
jus google it if your feelin brave XD

[HammockGames]

Since that model is obviously no longer made and out of warranty, I feel his pain. My 60 gig launch model got the YLOD a few weeks ago. The goods news is that it is fixable.

Sending it in is one option. If he's comfortable cracking open his console, that's another option - but I strongly discourage that unless he knows what he's doing. If the terms "solder reflow", "thermal compound", "heatsink" don't roll off his tongue, the only real option is to take it to someone who knows what they're doing.

I brought mine back from the dead following this online guide from a nice fella' named Gilksy. Here's the link if interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

You may want to have your pal watch the video(s) on Youtube and decide for himself if he's up for this or not.

Again, just to be clear to all - I don't condone anybody opening up their console if it's still under warranty or if they simply don't know what they're doing. Anybody doing so risks ruining their console permanently.

P.S. This error comes appears to come from a couple different causes. Hard drive issues are one potential cause and are probably the easiest to troubleshoot first. But I'm afraid this is all too often a motherboard issue - hence the need for solder reflow (the CPU/GPU solder joints can lose their integrity over time).

Edit: As far as supplies go, you can get a decent heat gun for as little as $20-30 at your local hardware (but don't put your motherboard in your oven!!!). For thermal compound, I prefer Arctic Silver 5 (but that's just me).

[testerg35]

Thanks for the info...Yeah I saw the reflow video a while ago so I'll let him know. I have heatgun because I also have a 360 ;)

[kaveti6616]

Dear Gizmodo,

Ha, haha, haha, ha.

Sincerely,

Kaveti.

PS. Ha

P.S.S 4th times the charm?!

[Dirk Benedict]

I'm laughing very hard at Gizmodo right now.

[xcox]

they've been polishing M$'s c0ck zealously with their BJ buddies at kotakunt.

now the coalition of the c0ck-sucking is looking real stupid realizing that this c0ck had been boning millions of dirty unsuspecting asses XDDD

ha ha ha ahahahahahaha!

[lordkemp007]

Quite frankly people who (knowingly) are on their 3rd, 4th or god forbid 5th xbox and still support Micro-soft have sh!T for brains.

I feel sorry for those who get rrod unwittingly.

Some of the folk on here desperately defending Micro-soft over the rrod issue are deluded.

[Mo0eY]

<<<Nuff said.

[ATm32]

buy a PS3 , simple as that

[Mo0eY]

Comments from Gizmodo:

I went through 4 360's and nearly a year of back and forth with Microsoft until I jus sold the damn thing. Each time they sent me back an OLDER machine. What a bunch of tools.

Each time I got my 360 back I also had the rod a few months later. Eventually just gave up. Now I do all my gaming on the PC and use my 360 controllers with it and my TV.

I'm having a problem just getting them to email me an elabel. I've called support 3 times, first two times, I received my email with my packing instructions, but then I never received my follow up emails with my elabel. Third time I phoned, I asked them to mail me a label and I'm currently waiting to see if anything arrives...Not sure if I should actually expect anything or besides placing an additional call. This is the second time I have received the RRod.

ou know what the real kicker is? I bet he'd already paid for Xbox Live for all those months he went without an Xbox, meaning he is now at least 2 months down. Which, now that I think about it, isn't that much, but still, that's one of the reasons I refuse to buy into Microsoft's scheme.

my 360 came back and rrod'd a few hours after getting it back.

To sum it all up:
Almost every other comment starts with "When my 360 RRoD" - I don't understand why people continue to support a console knowing that it could fail on them in the middle of their favorite games.

[bigrudowsky]

i hear you but you said it their favorite games, games have that kind of power you know.

[cheapndirty]

I got a free month of live for each time my 360 went in for repairs. Two free months in return for a combined 30 days out.

[Obama]

With the 360, sh*t always happens. I swear the bots are probably into scat.

[shark97]

Ohh poor u dont know what it is ??

GET A LIFE ! I bet youre friend Just bought his 4th 360 :)

[testerg35]

Haha.. actually he just bought a 360 a couple of months ago and thought that it would give him RROD before his launch PS3. And honestly, I don't know what the error is on the PS3. My launch 60gb PS3 is still working.

[XxZxX]

It mean dont feed the PS3 coffee. Water and PS3 doesn't mix.

[lagoonalight]

More than anything I just feel sorry for all these people. If my PS3 had these problems I would think about burning down Sony. When my PS2 went I bashed the thing to **** rather than send it in. I absolutely hate this kind of ****.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Chill the frick out!

My PS3 and my brother's PS3 have both broken. I have two friends whose PS3's can't read discs anymore.

It's not a matter of which system is better or more reliable.

The fact is...that guy can't game until his 360 is fixed.

THAT'S what sucks here.

Any time a friend of mine's 360 has broken, I've offered to either let them borrow my Wii (I never play it) or come over and play some PS3.

We're gamers...not minions.

A video game is a video game. Grow up.

[DevastationEve]

I went through 12 ps3s...seriously, on my way to buying an Elite I passed by 12 ps3 boxes stacked up 3x2x2 high on a display and said no thanks, I know what I'm here for.

True story :)

[UnwanteDreamz]

Same thing happend to me but I passed a tower of 360's and had to convince the kid behind the counter that I could do without Halo before he put that toy away and got me my gaming console. Last time I saw him he told me how excited he was to play ODST, but he was waiting for his replacment. : (

I preorder Uncharted and walk away laughing.

True Story : 0)

[bigrudowsky]

my launch xbox never got the rrod what ended up happening was it stopped reading the discs but in all fairness it was bound to happen we played that thing constantly it was probably on about 20 hours a day for about 2 years simply insane too bad it was out of warranty by then... so i bought a new one and that one crapped out on me in less than a year with rrod got it fixed and later sold it since we already had a spare

[bigrudowsky]

microsoft is a shixxy company for releasing something like this unfortunately i purchased one before rrod was mainstream and became addicted to gears of war i just love that game online inspite of the lag.. I recommend that people dont buy the xbox its not good to support a crummy product its too late for me since i already had a taste of some of its great games but new comers, it will break down its inevitable maybe not today maybe not tomorrow but someday and youll regret buying for the rest of your life lol.

[The Ender]

Since I've owned a 360 It's only broken down on me once and was shipped off and returned back to me within a week with no problems. Overall, I was really surprised with how smooth it all went considering stories like this, but the main factor may have been that I had the service request done all on the xbox.com website without ever having to talk to anyone at Microsoft's customer service center (thank god) and may have made the experience a bit more streamlined in comparison to calling them. So yeah, If you run into a problem like this, try using the the service request online. It's faster and easier to diagnose the problem (at least in my experience). However, for Microsoft to fail to fix this persons xbox over the course of 3 or 4 attempts is just unacceptable.

[PHIL1017]

I STILL WON'T BUY XBOX 360 DUE TO RROD AND 360 FANBOYS!!!

[xg-ei8ht]

ApocalyPS3

Strange really tbh.

I had the same thing happen, except they were 360s's stacked high, and then all of a sudden some kids bashed into them, and they landed on the floor. So i did what any decent person would do, i trod all over them on my way to the MIGHTY PS3.

[Rowsdower]

is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result

[Knightofelemia]

Microsofts customer servic sucks they are rude they pass a person off to another person to a supervisor. I sent my Xbox in for repairs Microsoft lost my console they phoned me back and left a message so I phoned them back . And they still could not find my console it was when I was yelling threatening the words Sony PS3 and Nintendo. I hung up on them and Microsoft phoned me back 2 days later saying they found my console it was on the repair table getting fixed and no one knew about it. And now my new Jasper is acting up its pritty bad when I tell Microsoft on the phone the Xbox is a piece of sh!tt when they did this.

[Anon1974]

When my launch Xbox died after the original 90 day warranty was up I had to pay $170 to get it fixed. Then they extended the warranty out to a year, and after a year another rrod for me, another $170 bill.

When they extended the warranty out to 3 years, everyone was supposed to get refunds. Fat chance. I had to fight with MS support for days because they claimed I never paid the $340 on repairs. They had no record of it. I wasted hours of my time on the phone trying to get my money back and finally had to fax them copies of my Visa bill to prove that they, indeed, charged me for the repairs because they allegedly had no record of taking my money. Then it still took them 4 months to give me my money back.

[bjornbear]

Adding to Digital Junk Polution? I think so.....=/