Over on another forum they listed how to decipher what your Xbox360 is trying to tell you when you get the three rings of light. There is a code that will flash if you hold down the "Synch" button (White button near the memory slot) and press the DVD Eject button. You will notice the quadrant of lights illuminate and each time you press the eject button you will get a different code.

It breaks down to this:

All four lights illuminate = 0
One Light = 1
Two Lights = 2
Three Lights = 3

Example:

Turn on your "dead" xbox. Wait for the 3 red lights. Once you get them hold the "Synch" button and the eject button down simultaniously. All four lights flash. (0) Press the eject button again and only one light (1) press again and all four light up (0) press again and two lights (2). Error code is 0102. compare this code to the table below to find out what is wrong with your X360. Is it overheating? Power Cord? Hardware?

The Code I got is 0102 which means the computer does not know the problem as it is not hardware or heating or anything like that. Could be dust, loose solder or static! I use a can of compressed air and my X360 IS BACK!!!!!! I do not know for how long but I played last night for several hours and had not one Hiccup. This after a whole week of the dreaded RINGS OF DEATH!!

Here is the list ( Thank You to KILLTACULAR for posting this!!)

0001 power supply problem
0002 power supply problem
0003 (not yet known)
...
0010 over heating
0011 over heating
0012 over heating
0013 over heating
...
0020 (Not yet known, possibly overheating)
0021 (not yet known)
0022 GPU Error / GPU Overheating
...
0101 (not yet known)
0102 unknown error - literally means the console does not know what is wrong. Possibly a short or cold solder joint somewhere (2 reports of people repairing this, one was removing moisture build up inside the console, the other used a hot-air rework to reflow the BGA Ram chips)
...
0110 Memory Error / Memory Overheating
...
1003 Hard Drive Error... It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it
...
1010 Hard Drive Error, Can be caused buy a currupt or missing Eprom.
...
1013 (not yet known)
...
1020 (not yet known)
...
1022 AV cable error... There is a problem with the AV cable, try using a different AV cable. (could also be a problem with the encoder chip)
...
1030 (not yet known)

Good Luck!!

Here are some other codes they posted!!

=============================

Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 are flashing red
- The AV cable cannot be detected



THINGS TO TRY

Make sure that the AV cable is correctly connected to the Xbox 360 console.
Disconnect the AV cable from the Xbox 360 console, and then reconnect the AV cable to the Xbox 360 console.
If the four flashing red lights continue to flash, try wiping the metal area of the AV pack with a dry cloth. The metal area is the end that plugs into the console. Wipe the metal area thoroughly, and then try the AV Pack again.
If the AV cable is correctly connected but the four red lights are still flashing, substitute a different AV cable if you have one available.
=============================

Sections 1, 3, and 4 are flashing red
- General Hardware Failure



Check the secondary Error Code per the instructions in the section below

THINGS TO TRY

Try restarting the console.
If restarting the console does not resolve the behavior, follow these steps:
Turn the console off.
Unplug all the power and AV cables from the console.
Unplug the power cord from the wall socket.
Firmly reconnect all the cables.
Turn on the console.
If these steps do not resolve the behavior, turn the console off, remove the hard drive, and then turn on the console. If the 3x Red LED error light is no longer displayed, turn the console off, re-attach the hard drive, and then turn on the console.
Also examine the lights on the power supply. When you turn on the console, the power supply light should illuminate green even if the three lights on the RoL flash red.


=============================

Sections 1, and 3 are flashing red
- Overheating



THINGS TO TRY
Let the Xbox 360 console cool.
Note You may have to wait several hours for the console to cool enough. Do not turn on the console when the console is hot.
Verify that the console has sufficient ventilation and that the fan is operating. For more information about ventilation, see the "More Information" section.

PREVENTION SUGGESTIONS
To try to prevent this problem, use the following precautions:

Do not block any ventilation openings on the Xbox 360 console.
Do not put the Xbox 360 console on a bed, on a sofa, or on any other soft surface that may block ventilation openings.
Do not put the Xbox 360 console in a confined space, such as a bookcase, a rack, or a stereo cabinet, unless the space is well-ventilated.
Do not put the Xbox 360 console near any heat source, such as a radiator, a heat register, a stove, or an amplifier.

DO NOT EVER PUT YOUR CONSOLE IN THE FREEZER OR OUT IN COLD WEATHER
Some people think that doing this might help "fix" an overheating console, in fact doing so could cause even bigger problems. Electronic devices like your console are made to function at and around room temperature, extreme cold temperatures can often cause just as many problems as extreme warm temperatures (such as overheating). Also if the console is located in a dramatically cold area while running, the difference in temperature between the hot console and cold air can create condensation which in turn will short out your console making the situation far worse. Condensation will happen more quickly if your console is overheating due to the greater difference in temperature. In short... DON'T DO IT.


=============================

Section 4 is flashing red
- Hardware Failure



The Specific Type of hardware failure can be determined by the error code displayed on the screen.
If the screen is blank or you would like additional information follow the instructions for determining the secondary error code in the section below

E64: (not yet known)

E65: DVD Drive Error.... DVD Timeout, Wrong firmware, dvd is without f/w chip, etc.

E67: Hard Drive Error... It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it

E68: Hard Drive Error... It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it, This can also be caused by a Hard Drive Eprom Error.

E69: Hard Drive Error... It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it

E71: (not yet known)

E73: (not yet known)

E74: AV cable error... There is a problem with the AV cable, try using a different AV cable. (could also be a problem with the encoder chip)

E76: (not yet known)

E79: Hard Drive Error... It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it

Awesome post man. Thanks!

this needs to be a sticky

I was thinking the same. Hopefully, it stops some people from having to spend the extra $129 if the problem is something easier to fix.

Mark

If this can be confirmed then I'll make it a sticky.
Let's just wait and see a bit first.

Thanks,

Kyser

If this can be confirmed then I'll make it a sticky.
Let's just wait and see a bit first.

Thanks,

Kyser
Here is the orignal thread from the other forum!

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=454709

This works just like your PC which will beep error messages. Instead of the beep, youget the flashing lights.

Replace the "Where to buy an Xbox 360" sticky with this one!!!

Replace the "Where to buy an Xbox 360" sticky with this one!!!


I won't replace it, it works FAR too well. ;)

I'll add this one though...

I got the 3 red rings and none of the above worked. Go figure I get error 0102 for hardward failure. Hope it works better for some of you guys.

i got 4142 does anybody know what that is?
but the wierd thing is that they dont always come on. sometimes my xbox just works fine.

i got 4142 does anybody know what that is?
but the wierd thing is that they dont always come on. sometimes my xbox just works fine.
I assume you mean 0102 as the four flashing lights is actually a 0.

I assume you mean 0102 as the four flashing lights is actually a 0.
oh i didnt know that thanks.

0110 here - hopefully its RAM memory that overheated b/c I'm going to try to keep my hard drive when i return it to Costco.

0110 here - hopefully its RAM memory that overheated b/c I'm going to try to keep my hard drive when i return it to Costco. Costco let me return my X360 with the new hard drive from the replacement I purchased at the same time as the return. They were great (as always) :cool:

oh i didnt know that thanks.

just recently happend to me too!!!

worked off and on for 2 weeks.... now its DEAD :(

had to send back into M$ :(

I feel your pain with the three red lights. I had it happen to me and had to send it into MS for a fix. It took them one week to pick up the xbox and another 1 1/2 weeks till I got it back. One week into playing my newly fixed Xbox it happend again. Just sent it back out....to say I'm mad is an understatment.

Just tested mine out

0110-Memory error/overheating...

here's a copy/paste from another thread here that i responded to, but this is relevant.

read this. here you can a detailed error code instead of just a ring of light. involves holding down the sync button and pressing eject.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=484726


then this,

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=539063

within the second thread he talks about using a heatgun to heat up the solder joints on the BGA chips to get a better connection. seems the manufacturing process where they put these things through an 'oven' to solder the joints sucks. from what i'm reading the manufacturing process still hasn't been fixed.

here is a youtube video of the heat gun process, please read the thread first to understand what is going on..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYv6b7MndJk

also, look into whether your state legal code has, ' Implied Warranty of Merchantability '. You can pull this with MS to get around their $150 replacement fee garbage.

this heatgun fix is applicable to those with the 0102

also, look into whether your state legal code has, ' Implied Warranty of Merchantability '.

Alucard, Is there any site that we can visit to see whether our State code has "Implied Warranty of Merchantability" and how this can apply to the 360?

My state is Florida, and when I Google the phrase and "Florida" I can't find any specific language to indicate rather FL has an "Implied Warranty of Merchantability" code to protect consumers.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Alucard, Is there any site that we can visit to see whether our State code has "Implied Warranty of Merchantability" and how this can apply to the 360?

My state is Florida, and when I Google the phrase and "Florida" I can't find any specific language to indicate rather FL has an "Implied Warranty of Merchantability" code to protect consumers.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/index.cfm?CFID=6348784&CFTOKEN=15335306

Want to read the best thing in the world for unhappy 360 owners?!!?!?!?

CHECK THIS OUT!!!

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2006/09/microsoft_dismi.html

Wow. Now I hope my replacement inevitably breaks sooner rather than later.

here is a youtube video of the heat gun process, please read the thread first to understand what is going on..



also, look into whether your state legal code has, ' Implied Warranty of Merchantability '. You can pull this with MS to get around their $150 replacement fee garbage.

this heatgun fix is applicable to those with the 0102[/QUOTE]]



id jus like to say that this has worked for my 360 an i was showing a 1030 error after a good blast of the heat gun like in the video be it all back together an away she went again :)

so hope this helps some people an keep the the good work on here

be lucky
EA SNIP3D

I have two XBOX 360s. I bought a core, then another that comes with the hard drive. I try to use the hard drive on the original one so that i dont have to make new profiles etc on the new one and i get E68. The hard drive works on the one it came with, just not the old 360... what do you think?

I was getting the 3 rings error off and on until finally I unplugged all the wires and took out the hard drive. Also, sometimes I would turn it on and it wouldn't see any xbox live profiles despite having created one. I put back the hard drive and the wires and now thus far(knocks on wood) haven't had the 3 ring error again.

I'd just like to thank CMR for posting this. Today my brother in law's 360 had the three ring error. Using this thread we correctly diagnosed a power supply problem. He used my power supply and it booted fine.

well i had 2 360's give me the 3 RoL today and both gave me the E 71 code. called xbox and they told me it was a hardware problem. done the eject + synch method and got 1010 with and without the harddrive on it.

Had the 3 rings last week, tried the trick and got a code of 1020 so sent it back in. Does anyone know how long they take to fix it? They would have received it last Friday.

Had the 3 rings last week, tried the trick and got a code of 1020 so sent it back in. Does anyone know how long they take to fix it? They would have received it last Friday.

It was slightly less than a week turnaround for me; if I start counting the day they received it. They didn't fix my original, but replaced it with an entirely new unit! Kudos to MS!

My original was manufactured 11/14/2005 (purchased on 01/01/2006).

The replacement has a 04/2006 mfg. date.

i got 4142 does anybody know what that is?
but the wierd thing is that they dont always come on. sometimes my xbox just works fine.
Assuming you mean 0102, the exact same thing is happening to me. Did you ever resolve your issues?

My son's hit the 3 red lights, pulled code 0110, memory error/memory overheating.

MS should think about a redesign, cooling seems to be the main problem with these units.

I'll hear today if they are going to replace it for free or not. MS' computers where down Sunday.

Just got off the phone, the box is on the way, no charge, unit was 1 year old.

I'm not impressed. Brand new xbox 360 and errors right off the bat. I can't imagine how po'd I would have been if this was a christmas present for my kids and they couldn't even play it out of the box. MS really seems to have dropped the ball on this one in terms of quality.

Just got off the phone, the box is on the way, no charge, unit was 1 year old.
Good luck with the refurb.

Getting error code 0102. Why doesn't M$ have 1 year warranties on these systems? Is it because they know it's going to fail?

I just got e.c. 0102 and it's a few days over 1 month old. At least it's still under warranty, but I'm gonna call MS now and see what happens.

I'm on my 2nd Xbox with 3 red rings of light.

well i am waiting for ms to send me my box as mine died a while back with the 3 ring of lights...heres to hoping the refurb runs smooth

I just got e.c. 0102 and it's a few days over 1 month old. At least it's still under warranty, but I'm gonna call MS now and see what happens.

I spoke with MS and even though I bought this 11/1/06 (my 2nd one after the Fall update bricked my 1st brand new one, btw) they said it was out of warranty. I guess they go by manufacture date (4/28/2006) so in order to get warranty service I have to fax my receipt so they can update the warranty status.

After finding my receipt it turns out the store has a 90 day return/exchange policy and since this equals the MS warranty, I figure may as well just return it at the store for a new one!!!

The clerk does not seem surprised when I bring in my bricked 360 asking if it had red lights and I say yes, he just seems annoyed at the console and I get my new one manufactured 5/29/06.

Hope this one goes the distance!

I spoke with MS and even though I bought this 11/1/06 (my 2nd one after the Fall update bricked my 1st brand new one, btw) they said it was out of warranty. I guess they go by manufacture date (4/28/2006) so in order to get warranty service I have to fax my receipt so they can update the warranty status.
I think they go by the first time the unit contacted Xbox Live as the default for the start of warranty. So someone might have purchased it, played it a little, then returned it when they didn't like it. Just a guess.

Swapping it out at the retailer did save you about 2 weeks though. I shipped mine back around Thanksgiving and I should be getting it back today.

Great thread.
My Xbox 360 with manufacture date of 1/17/06 has code 0022. GPU error/GPU overheating. And since manufacture date is after 1/1/06, Microsoft won't pay for the repairs. Still, I'm going to call and ask. This is simply unacceptable.

Add another one to the damn list. Good luck Centurion as I called them 3 times today, mine made 1/18/06 they could've cared less. Even with all the WELL KNOWN issues 17 days to late they want $140 to repair( from what I read replace with refurb).

Might be unaccepable but M$ could care less.

As for the person who said Good news they fix the ones before Jan 1 06, well duh whats so god damn special about repairing something in the 90 day coverage they offer. Was nothing more than a BS marketing stunt to save face. You should see the number of people having these issues.

These repairs are the worst I have ever seen. I was on my 4th box when I finally had enough and bought a new one and returned the old one in the new box. This is a joke. MS says a 3-5% failure rate. Yeah right!!!

MS says a 3-5% failure rate. Yeah right!!!
It's a small sample size, but 60% of the people I play with regularly have had to send their xbox in for repairs.

Mine went 0020 last night out of the blue after 4 months since purchase. Thank god I had an extended warranty, now I jsut have to wait to get it there and back :(

0102 for myself today. How much does it cost to have this repaired by Microsoft?

Around $140 plus shipping if you are out of warranty I beleive. That is until MS gets sued over this, seem to be a lot of boxes diein recently.

Around $140 plus shipping if you are out of warranty I beleive. That is until MS gets sued over this, seem to be a lot of boxes diein recently.
Damn, it is almost worth it to go buy a new one.

Damn, it is almost worth it to go buy a new one.

Perhaps that is what MS would prefer as well.

That is until MS gets sued over this, seem to be a lot of boxes diein recently.Sounds about right to me. I wonder if there's a report listing the number of Xbox 360's being sent back to MS.

my launch system just started acting up. my code is like the op 0102...
However, once it freezes a couple of times, after 5 mins or so, i experience no problems what so ever. I know the house has been cooler since its winter time (NY, warmer then the usual but still cold) ... do you thinking cooler temps are affecting something?

Well, it got worse..Sometimes i get rings wwith error 0102, and it would stop...now it boots but i don't see anything on the screen. When I do see stuff on the screen (let it rest for 10 or so minutes) the major color on screen turns to either red or blue.

Mine is launch console so i'm covered for this repair...

Hope this info helps someone

Great, 0102, i'm just so happy right now. I have finals this week and i was going to take a 10 min break to play a little, and bam, my heart sank. Seeing as i don't have a warranty and i'm only 16, i'm going to have to wait till late January to have that money saved up from my job. God this sucks.

Sorry to hear some of you have dead and uncovered (by warranty) machines. I stood in line last November 22 (2005) for my 360 and got the 3 red rings the second week of November 2006. Microsoft repaired for free. Guess I just made it under the year warranty they gave on the very first batch of consoles.

I was laid up disabled since August so I bought another while mine was in shipping and am using that one now, but it freezes up playing Oblivion. Will keep the repaired original as backup. Don't have much faith in reliability....

So, lets say i send mine in on january the 1 of 2007, how long till i get it back?( i will most def not be sending it in that early, but i just want to know how long it takes)

So, lets say i send mine in on january the 1 of 2007, how long till i get it back?( i will most def not be sending it in that early, but i just want to know how long it takes)
Anywhere from 3 days to over a month from what I have read on the xbox.com forums, just depends how lucky you are. Keep in mind you will probably get a refurb and it could be dead right out of the box.

Has that really happened? a dead replacement?! why hasn't Microsoft been hacked and slashed for all the defective units out there?

Just to let you guys know, Microsoft has announced the 365 day warranty, including owners right now. so i called them up, they will send me a box in 3-5 days with the adress label on it, i send it back, get it back in "5-10" days, no charge! wow this is great.

Well guys, my launch day unit died this week. I took it in to Gamestop and they handed me a new one.
I think I like their plan best, :D

I am on my original xbox 360 from the day these things came out last year. Still going strong. :)

KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

i said the same thing scherer, until xmas day when i went to play "big bumpin" and it froze when the arena loaded up!!!! 0102 DAMMIT! It really pisses me off now that it has happened to me. Now i gotta qwait 3 weeks to play my new games >:(

I had the 3 red lights.

WHen I got it my system was out of warranty.

I called xbox, sent it back and paid the $130 repair bill via credit card.

2 months later, xbox sent me a refund check saying my problem is a known issue and they fixed it free!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!

i said the same thing scherer, until xmas day when i went to play "big bumpin" and it froze when the arena loaded up!!!! 0102 DAMMIT! It really pisses me off now that it has happened to me. Now i gotta qwait 3 weeks to play my new games >:(


right there with you, brand new GoW and 12 months of xbox live, sitting right in front of me everyday....

DOH, it just pisses me off the more i think of it, and ive got a 5 day weekend coming up !!!!! DAMMIT!

5 day weekend? mine broke 3 days before winter break, 2 and a half week break.

got the box today, a week from when i called, hopefully sending it in today. is it safe to say this'll take more than a week to get back?

got the box today, a week from when i called, hopefully sending it in today. is it safe to say this'll take more than a week to get back?

Mine didn't take much more than that. They'll ship you a refurb upon receipt. Pretty quick turnaround.

ooo i see, but 1 question, i bought the premium console(w/hard drive), of course i didn't send in my hard drive, but will i get the same type of 360, like with the chrome trim?

Im sure you will. I jsut sent my box off today. Luckily its in McAllen Texas so it shouldnt take that long to get back to me. Just pisses me off that we will get a refurbished unit back:( If this crap happens again, im doing a box swap at walmart. Theres no freakin reason we have to wait 3 weeks to play a console that we already paid for. MS should have something in place with all the retailers (or some) that allow you to give them the broken one and get a new one right away. Freakin asses! Ok, im done, ha ha

i totally agree. it's crazy, when my family found out, and i told them it was an 0102 error, which states 'your console literally doesn't know what's wrong', they were like, 400 dollars, and it doesn't know what's wrong with it? lol

ha ha ha. To add insult to injury, the wife just surprised me with the HD player for the 360, now i KNOW i wont get it back soon. Time will tell.

well i noticed you sent yours out on a friday. and ups does not ship anything on weekends, so if all is right, it should have gotten to microsoft yesterday, they'll probably process it all do all the junk they need to today and tomorrow, and monday or tuesday you should have it(taking in to account they don't ship weekends). but hey you live close, so fingers crossed for tomorrow! :)

Well actually, UPS came by today to give it to me. WOW that was fast!! Too bad i wasnt at home to siugn for it >:( Hopefully tomorrow!

My new 360 arrived last Thursday and yesterday (that's exactly 1 week) I got the 3 red lights.

I diagnosed the error code to come to 0001 which means most likely a power supply problem. When I turn the console on the powerbrick flashes red and then stays yellow so I am hoping its just that.

However, I called MS and they are shipping me a new box to ship the console back but asked me to find anyone I know with a 360 to test their power supply on (heh, the rep asked me "Do you have any neighbors with a 360?"). I know 2 people at work with a 360 but they won't be able to bring in their power supply until Monday.

Overall, the customer service call wasn't bad and they immediately shipped out a return box and said it should be 2-5 days for it to get here and then 10-14 days to get my console back once they receive it. They said if I find that another power supply works to call them back and they will just ship me a new one but otherwise I have to ship the just the console (he told me NOT to ship the power supply, AV cables, faceplate, or hard drive).

Bummed that I had it only 1 week before it failed. Still the customer service experience wasn't painful and am going to stick with it for now since I enjoy the 360 a lot.

My system just died on me too 3 red lights. Before I got the red lights I started to get freezes with corruption. Then it worked for about an hour then more corruption then the 3 red lights.

I have not diagnosed the error code yet but it sort of points to gpu failure / heat. How do I exactly go about checking the code? Sync then eject, and repeat? Or Sync then eject, then eject...?

My system just died on me too 3 red lights. Before I got the red lights I started to get freezes with corruption. Then it worked for about an hour then more corruption then the 3 red lights.

I have not diagnosed the error code yet but it sort of points to gpu failure / heat. How do I exactly go about checking the code? Sync then eject, and repeat? Or Sync then eject, then eject...?

Ok once you have the 3 red lights, hit sync + eject at the exact same time. It will flash rapidly the first number in the code (all 4 mean 0, upper left means 1, etc.).

It will do this 4 time giving you a 4 digit code before going back to the normal, slow blinking, 3 red lights.

And then take that code and compare it to the chart.

Just to give you guys the update, i sent it out on tuesday this week, they gave me a confirmation that they recieved it thursday, and today i got an email saying they've shipped it out already! frikkin sweet

Yea man, my wife finally signed mine on the "2nd Delivery attempt" today. Got the HD-DVD hooked up, 3 new games to play, man im pumped. right in time for the weekend!

wait josh, this will be your 2nd repair attempt if you send it to MS????? thats crazy

that's awesome jason, and that sucks josh, sorry bro.

wait josh, this will be your 2nd repair attempt if you send it to MS????? thats crazy

Nope my first, when I said I got my new 360 last week I meant my first one ever (I got it from an online retailer).

Hoping the repair box gets here today. The online company I bought it from also offered to send me a repair box and refund my money and I may just do that and buy local with Best Buy and get the "bring it in" warranty just in case this happens again. I haven't decided on if I want to do that yet.

Hey! I'm new here. Been lurking for a while now. I too suffered from the red lights on christmas day! Called up msoft and while the customer service lady was nice it was so hard to understand what she was saying! Not only that, she kept asking me to repeat everything! Finally said she will send a box ( after making me go through a series of "tests" to see if it would fix it, which i just said i already tried everything and that it's broke) finally got the box 5 days after calling, then sent my xbox and that too took an additional 5 days. Checked UPS site and saw that it was delivered today.

So now they will pretend to fix it for two days and send me a refurbished console. I really hope it even works when i get it back! I'm really kicking myself for not getting the store warranty but i just got the thing in October of this year! I thought all the bugs were worked out by now. Whats weird is i never had a problem UNTIL i finally had it hooked up to the internet 24/7. Also just purchased a belkin power conditioner/surge suppressor and had it plugged into that for about 4 days until it broke. I read about not having it plugged into a surge protector and just plug it into the wall but i'm not buying that and just think it's microsofts way of trying to make ME think i broke it when in fact it's their product.

UPS called today, told me i best be home tomorrow to sign for it. man is this kid excited, my unopened gears of war game i got for xmas is sitting on my desk waiting to be chainsawed apart.....

Just curious, but why didn't you all buy an in-store warranty? I bought the 2 yr warranty at Best Buy when I got the system in August, 06'. Had a freezing problem in December. Exchanged it with no problems. Then, the NEW 360 wouldn't respond to the controller commands (trust me, wasn't the controller).

Exchanged it within ten minutes, got a brand new 360. This one is working fine now. No sending anything out for refurbished ones. You get a brand new system instantly at the store.

Well i for one didn't think it was necessary to get the warranty at the time since the console had already been out for about a year. I usually only get a in store warranty if it's a console launch.

PS. Still no 360 back from repair, and it got to the repair center on the 8th. I also just realized that monday is another holiday so another weekend with no 360.

in response to the warranty thing, i always buy a warranty. but for some odd reason my dumbass said no when they asked me. i figured since my ps2/gamecube never had any problems, this wouldn't either. WRONG! but just an update, the 360 came tuesday, it was a premium cuz it had the "chrome trim", well....the chrome trim seems a little bit more like plastic than my other one used to be, maybe they just stuck it on there lol. and it's def a used one, cuz there are scratches on the trim. but hey, i bought a 360 new, used it, and got a used one back, so what difference does it make as long as it works, and it does! good luck guys.

Two quick questions...

1. What/where is the "sync" button?
2. Clay - what tests did the MS rep make you perform?

-JR

Things like taking the HD off and unplugging eveyrthing then plugging it back in to see if that would somehow magically fix my console.

Isn't the sync button that little button on top of the controller?

Thanks Clay. I was just reading through this thread last night for no good reason, thought I'd ask those two questions out of curiosity, and this morning I go to turn on my 360 and...unbelievably I get 3 red lights.

I just spent the last 30 minutes following the processes above to figure out what was going on (this is after I sat there shaking my head in disbelief), and got the 0020 code. I'll head to a store later and buy some compressed air, I'm hoping that it's just a bunch of dust in my 360.

I have a launch day console - I'm guessing that's out of any sort of standard warranty, since it's over a year old?

Thanks,

-JR

Nah You're still in luck. Instead of getting sued Msoft decided to extend the warranty regardless of when you bought your console. Call them up and they will send you a Box to ship your console for repairs, all on their dime.

BTW just got a call from UPS saying they delivering it tommorow and i need to sign for it. FINALLY! I'm still gonna be worried that when i turn it on it wont even work. Hell, when i shipped mine i noticed there isn't even a Fragile sign or anything on the box! The guys from UPS are probably using it as seat as we speak. When i get it i'm gonan wait a few to actually turn it on, thing will probably be half frozen.

Not bad actually, shipped it off on the 3rd so it's been 12 days. Feels a hell of a lot longer tho since i've had gears starring at me and never even had a chance to play it yet, Not to mention the oblivion withdrawals i been going through.

hey claypidgeon, when i got mine, i swear it was so light i thought there would be a card in there saying, "FOOLED YOU!", but it was there. and the box, boy was it beat up, my heart was pounding hard. luckily everything is fine. it's been working really well, other than some weird thing in GOW, it takes a REALLY long time for the textures to load....? dunno if that's a GOW problem or my 360 fed up.

ive been playin need for speed carbon and it has locked up on me 5 times since i got my box back, hope this isnt a picture of things to come :(

Nah You're still in luck. Instead of getting sued Msoft decided to extend the warranty regardless of when you bought your console. Call them up and they will send you a Box to ship your console for repairs, all on their dime.

BTW just got a call from UPS saying they delivering it tommorow and i need to sign for it. FINALLY! I'm still gonna be worried that when i turn it on it wont even work. Hell, when i shipped mine i noticed there isn't even a Fragile sign or anything on the box! The guys from UPS are probably using it as seat as we speak. When i get it i'm gonan wait a few to actually turn it on, thing will probably be half frozen.

Good deal, I'll be calling Microsoft today.

Good luck with your new 360.

-JR

Thanks JR. Just got it back! refurb of course but it's in awesome condition. Born on date is August 7th 2006 of this one, the one i sent in was from may, but as we know that don't make no difference. Didn't hook it back up yet, I'm still iffy about plugging it back in to my belkin surge protector but like i previously stated i just think it's just an excuse they use. LOL kinda sounds like something is loose when i lifted it up, but thats probably just a few mexican jumping beans. Not sure if they do this but i didn't send mine in with the faceplate and they sent one with a new one on. Know whats funny tho? Today is the exact day my one month of live ran out. I bet they did that on purpose. Sucks tho cause i ordered a year of live and a few 1600 msoft points and they wont be getting delivered until the 17-19th.

Well i'm about to hook it up and see hopefully everything will run smoothly. Hopefully this isn't the model 360 with the built in jet engine dvd drive like my other one. I'll let you know if it even works and good luck to you too with your repair.

Cool that you got yours back. Hook it up! ;)

I spoke with a customer service rep today and he walked me through the "unplug, replug, etc." that obviously didn't work. He seemed nice enough, but it made me a bit nervous that he got numbers I gave him wrong, three times, when trying to tell him my address and phone number. :(

I was nervous he'd give me a problem because my 360 was a launch date console, but after going through all the troubleshooting, he just told me that since this was my first replacement it was covered by MS.

He didn't tell me anything about my faceplate other than make sure I put my original on, in case I'd swapped it out with a custom one.

I went out today and bought a core system so I can at least play games and watch some movies while I wait. I'm guessing I won't get the box until the end of this week, and then I won't get the refurb back for another.

I bought some compressed air and blew it into my non-working 360 and a massive puff of lint came out, but unfortunately it still is giving me the 3 red lights. Oh, and my original also has something loose in it. Dare you to pop open that case and investigate!

-JR

Well so far so good... i guess LOL. Damn thing froze twice while i was trying to recalibrate with my avia dvd. I had to exit to dashboard cause nothing worked. Only problem i'm having now is getting back on live! I forgot what my settings were on my pc and can't even get media center working! I decided to just do a full system recovery on thsi PC ( actually d/ling windows updates as i type this) Thank god i just got this PC a few weeks ago. I connect through live this PC through ethernet, then use my wireless USB adapter to connect to another PC in my house. never ha d aproblem before but i kept getting a IP error when testing network connections on the 360. I know i have to enable internet connection shareing and some other services through the ports of my firewall, but nothing seemed to work! So now i decided i'm gonna use microsofts zero wireless connection instead of using my linksys and hopefully that will do the trick!

LOL oh man JR. You don't even wanna know how many times i had to repeat my info to the customer service rep, she kept getting my live gamertag wrong and my address. Even after she repeated it ( she was real hard to understand) i was worried she would mess something up so i called the next day and talked to another rep and made sure they had everything right.

Has anyone had a serious problem with getting MS to send them the box to send their system back in?

The first time I called about the 3 red lights they said that a box would be shipping out shortly. I got the email notification about my return process starting and I should receive another one shortly with steps on how to proceed.

1 week later no email and no box. I call and they have still not sent me out a box. I was asked to call back in a couple of days if I still have not received an email.

3 days later I call them and they said that I should find my own box and ship my system back. At this point I was getting pissed and asked them why they cannot ship me a box. He put me on hold and returned shortly after saying that the box will be sent out shortly. Well if I don't get an email today saying the box has shipped out (2 days later) I am going to be pretty pissed off.

How long did it take for you guys to get the second email and to receive the box after calling them? I am in Ontario don't know how much that should effect this.

LOL they never even sent me a second email! Like you i only got that one email saying the repair process was underway and be ready for another email with more info. It never came.

Also it took me 5 days to receive my box after calling. They also gave me a reference number but i have no idea what that was for cause it sure as hell wasn't the UPS tracking number. I guess they use that in case you call back or if something happens to your console when it's being repaired.

I had a weird issue yesterday with a demo disc from OXM. My games run with no problems (maybe 2 freezes in the last 6-8 months).

But this OXM demo disc (#67) froze 3 times in a row. Each time I had to power off/on and the result.....3 red rings... ARRRGGGGGGH! Really freaked me out (I've had my 360 since Feb '06). I saw this thread, and according to the guide got the code 0102.

A simple unplug of the power cord and everything was back to normal. Games including GOW and Dead Rising run fine so it has to be the demo disc.....I hope...

WELL! NOW MY REFURBED JUST DIED ON ME. Played heavy weapon shut off the concole, went to turn it back on RED LIGHTS! I'm sooo pissed you have no idea. I had this refurb for like 5 days.

Has anyone had a serious problem with getting MS to send them the box to send their system back in?
I heard of tons of people having issues getting the RMA boxes. So I just paid the $20 to ship it myself. Much easier and a faster turn around time.

You know whats really messed up tho? is how they even get away with just reshipping refurbed consoles. Do they take into account that when the ones they shipped broke down that maybe it also affected something else in the hardware? LOL i love the excuse tho they send with the refurb " we shipped you a replacement unit so you can get back to gaming ASAP" LOL YEA until the refurb you sent me breaks! The best tho is how now there using HDMI as an excuse for the XEPHYR 360 or whatever, when they really making them so the chip runs cooler and has less of a chance to fail. Cause i could have swore that a few months ago all the msoft reps were like " HDMI is not needed for High def" LOL Cause now they couldn't get away with just making a hardware revision with just a GPU that runs cooler cause people would have said something. I mean it's not like the console is 3 years old and they making a smaller compact one. It's gonna be the same size.

Oh well. Mine just died. On startup I either get 3 red rings or it freezes on the xbox 360 intro screen. Glad I got the extended warranty.


***edit : coffin is on the way. This is going to be a tough couple of weeks..... :(

Just lost mine too. Couple of freezes last night. Then consistently freezing this morning, then 3 red lights. Waited a few minutes and tried again and it was turning on again, but still freezing. Going to try to pull the error code at lunch if I can get it to go 3 lights again. I have the Micro Center extended warranty, but it starts AFTER MS's. I'd rather use theirs and just get a new unit since it seems like the odds of getting a bum refurb back from MS is pretty high. I gotta call Micro Center too and work out the details with them, I don't want them to void the extended warranty because MS sent me a replacement. :mad:

Oh, one more thing, where did you guys that used compressed air blow into? The disc tray or the back?

EDIT: It's official, my 360 is toast. It's 0102 code btw.

Well my launch system I think just bit the dust. I got the dreaded 0102 code. It's funny I can play Heavy Weapons and some other games without freezing. There are just certain games that cause the problem. Oh well I guess I will call Microsoft tomorrow.

Update: I called tech support and he put me through the battery of tests.
He confirmed it was the console, and is shipping me a box for a
return. Now the waiting game begins.

Sounds like a couple of you have gotten the red lights right after buying heavy weapon....coincidence anyone?

Does Microsoft send some sort of email confirmation that they're sending the mailing box? I called last weekend about my 360 and haven't received the packing materials or any sort of confirmation.

Thanks,

-JR

Does Microsoft send some sort of email confirmation that they're sending the mailing box? I called last weekend about my 360 and haven't received the packing materials or any sort of confirmation.

Thanks,

-JR

In addition to Juicerocket's question does MS use UPS for all the shipping? Both for the empty box and the return?

I only got an email saying the process has begun. The say they will email you back with more info but they never do. They use UPS, First time i waited for the box it took 5 business days. Even tho they use 3-day shipping. Another thing you will notice is the box they send you has NO protection at all, it's like a box that a company would use to ship clothes in. That and it doesn't even have a fragile sign on it or anything, same with the box they send you a refurb back in. All it has a two foam pieces that keep it in place. You'd think a billion dollar company could afford to send some better packing material!

I only got an email saying the process has begun. The say they will email you back with more info but they never do. They use UPS, First time i waited for the box it took 5 business days. Even tho they use 3-day shipping. Another thing you will notice is the box they send you has NO protection at all, it's like a box that a company would use to ship clothes in. That and it doesn't even have a fragile sign on it or anything, same with the box they send you a refurb back in. All it has a two foam pieces that keep it in place. You'd think a billion dollar company could afford to send some better packing material!

Interesting, thanks Clay. I haven't received any emails from them yet, I'll give them a call to make sure they've started the process.

-JR

No prob. Just make sure you gave them the email you used to sign up with xbox live. At first i gave them an old email and they said i didn't exist on live.

Got my Box today. Much faster then the first time.

Well my launch system I think just bit the dust. I got the dreaded 0102 code. It's funny I can play Heavy Weapons and some other games without freezing. There are just certain games that cause the problem. Oh well I guess I will call Microsoft tomorrow.

Update: I called tech support and he put me through the battery of tests.
He confirmed it was the console, and is shipping me a box for a
return. Now the waiting game begins.
Launch systems are still under warranty? Over a year has passed since then.

Launch systems are still under warranty? Over a year has passed since then.

No I paid for the extended warranty. Still waiting on my box to be shipped.

Launch systems are still under warranty? Over a year has passed since then.

Yes, they are. I just sent mine in. It was a launch date console. Due to MS extending their warranty, launch date consoles are still covered.

Clay, I don't know how I missed it, but your refurb bricked after 5 days!?!? Yikes, that's bad. I hope that I don't have the same issue when I get my refurb.

The refurbs have a year warranty on them, right? So you're going through the process again?

-JR

Got my coffin today on the 4th business day. Came prepackaged w/3-day UPS shipping to their repair center in Texas.

Clay, I don't know how I missed it, but your refurb bricked after 5 days!?!? Yikes, that's bad. I hope that I don't have the same issue when I get my refurb.

No bro I was wrong, it was 3 days! Yea tho going through the process again! The warranty changes back to a year with every refurb you get(i think?) They send you a piece of paper saying that they register the refurb for you and apply all changes.

Got my coffin today on the 4th business day. Came prepackaged w/3-day UPS shipping to their repair center in Texas.

I am still waiting on my coffin, this waiting is killing me. I have a copy of Lost Planet I want to break open. Also I did all I could to get the system working again so I could download the Lumines game packs before they rise in price.

No bro I was wrong, it was 3 days! Yea tho going through the process again! The warranty changes back to a year with every refurb you get(i think?) They send you a piece of paper saying that they register the refurb for you and apply all changes.

Wow, 3 days. Amazing. I wish they gave you a little slip with refurbs saying what they fixed. I have Harmon Kardon receiver refurb, and I've always wondered what they fixed. If they're using refurbs, that means they're tracking what parts are failing. It'd be interesting to know what parts they have repeatedly failing.

I wonder if you'll just keep replacing the refurb once a year? ;)

I am still waiting on my coffin, this waiting is killing me. I have a copy of Lost Planet I want to break open. Also I did all I could to get the system working again so I could download the Lumines game packs before they rise in price.

Might as well buy one and return it when you get your refurb. That's what I've done.

-JR

Question guys...I have been getting the 3 red rings lately. I bought my unit in December of 2005, but it is a little over a year old. Will MS send me a box to get this unit fixed? I know they should since mine is part of the bad launch batch and was manufactured before Jan 1, 2006, but does this not apply if you have owned over a year?

Nevermind :) I just got off the phone with MS, and they are sending me a box to ship the unit back for repair:) Thanks for the info!

Might as well buy one and return it when you get your refurb. That's what I've done.

-JR

I kept both. Next time I get 3 red rings, I just pull the backup from the closet.

I kept both. Next time I get 3 red rings, I just pull the backup from the closet.

Good call. I might do the same with the 2nd I purchased. Either that or give it to my brother as a present.

And a shout out to Beverly, MA. I lived in Boston for 10 years before moving to CA a year ago.

-JR

Good call. I might do the same with the 2nd I purchased. Either that or give it to my brother as a present.

And a shout out to Beverly, MA. I lived in Boston for 10 years before moving to CA a year ago.

-JR

Back at ya' there juice. I worked in town for about the same time-mostly on Arlington st/backbay area.

Give it to your brother, that way you can play him online and it'd be a good excuse for a visit if one of you gets the three red rings.

Chaz

Well my 360 is on it's way back to me should have it Wednesday.

i posted this in the general xbox 360 thread, but didn't get any feedback. For about 2 months now, whenever i try to load a game, a screen comes up saying "To play this disc, put it in an xbox 360 console." So, i eject it, and try it again. It often takes me 15-20 minutes to load a game. My console was manufactured before 1/1/06 so i won't,have to pay if anything happens. Last week, my console shut off in the middle of Gears of War and was blinking red. I thought it had died. I turned it on, and it went to the dashboard, started playing Gears again. Once again, it turned off and began blinking red. So, i gave it a rest for a couple of hours. Since then, however, no more red lights. I still get the "To play this disc..." screen though. Will my 360 be dying soon/ will MS fix it now, even though it is not "fully" broken?

i posted this in the general xbox 360 thread, but didn't get any feedback. For about 2 months now, whenever i try to load a game, a screen comes up saying "To play this disc, put it in an xbox 360 console." So, i eject it, and try it again. It often takes me 15-20 minutes to load a game. My console was manufactured before 1/1/06 so i won't,have to pay if anything happens. Last week, my console shut off in the middle of Gears of War and was blinking red. I thought it had died. I turned it on, and it went to the dashboard, started playing Gears again. Once again, it turned off and began blinking red. So, i gave it a rest for a couple of hours. Since then, however, no more red lights. I still get the "To play this disc..." screen though. Will my 360 be dying soon/ will MS fix it now, even though it is not "fully" broken?

Call the 800 number and see what they say. Why not get it refurbed?

Well my 360 is on it's way back to me should have it Wednesday.

Same here fellow LIer! UPS called today and said it's coming tommorow between 8 am and 7 pm.

add me to the list - 0020 error and no warranty. MAke the best of it, I just bought 2 new sticks last weekend

Well, my 360 which was manufactured Oct. 20, 2005 finally bit the dust. Error code 0102, so it's obviously that damn GPU heat sink issue. It happened one day after my PS3 came in the mail too, lol.......it must have gotten sick with jealousy and commited suicide :p I have an extended warranty through Futureshop Canada so I took it into them today......supposed to take around 4 weeks to either fix it or get me a brand new one.

***Update to my situation.***

MS received my box last Tuesday and evidently shipped it 2 days later on Thursday. I got a call from UPS saying that they will attempt delivery tomorrow...of course that means I won't have it until Wednesday after I tell them to bring it by my work instead. Maybe I'll get lucky and the UPS guy won't come by until late in the day.

Anyway, 2 days seems like a really quick turn around doesn't it??? I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried.....

2 days is great. They'll just ship you a refurb'd unit anyways, so I'd imagine they have these ready to go. Once your unit arrives as proof of ownership(perhaps they check it make sure warranty is valid), then it's only a matter of UPS taking another one to you.

Be thankful your getting one. I however am not.

My 2nd box died today. I noticed some freezing with Lost Planet yesterday, and after a few resets it wouldn't trun on. A few hours later I had a 2 hour marathon(for me) with some friends (SF2, GOW, oh yeah) and it worked fine. Today I started a game of GOW and it froze fast. Than it started freezing on every game and sometimes at the launch logo screen. Did the usual unplugging cords HD and still dead. Got the 3 red lights and the cursed 0102. Fryed. So I went back to BB for my 3rd Xbox in less than a year. Than I find out I have to pay 50 bucks for the replacement plan for EVERY xbox even though I specifically asked if I could do unlimited exchanges for the 2 years and they had said yes. Whatever, but It is annoying to have to pay extra for all the extended warranties and such, I mean how much money do I have to put into this thing? I'm probably in a grand now with all the games and accessories and I would at least expect the darn thing to work properly.

Just received my refurb today. No call from UPS, it just showed up at my door.

I'm curious for those who've received these in the past, like DemonLos...I thought that the refurbs have a 1 year warranty on them?

-JR

My 2nd box died today. I noticed some freezing with Lost Planet yesterday, and after a few resets it wouldn't trun on. A few hours later I had a 2 hour marathon(for me) with some friends (SF2, GOW, oh yeah) and it worked fine. Today I started a game of GOW and it froze fast. Than it started freezing on every game and sometimes at the launch logo screen. Did the usual unplugging cords HD and still dead. Got the 3 red lights and the cursed 0102. Fryed. So I went back to BB for my 3rd Xbox in less than a year. Than I find out I have to pay 50 bucks for the replacement plan for EVERY xbox even though I specifically asked if I could do unlimited exchanges for the 2 years and they had said yes. Whatever, but It is annoying to have to pay extra for all the extended warranties and such, I mean how much money do I have to put into this thing? I'm probably in a grand now with all the games and accessories and I would at least expect the darn thing to work properly.

I'm with ya'. I bought a second unit after my first lit up the old 3 red rings o' death and have bought 15 games and an HD DVD add on. My original core was turned into a premium by buying all the accessories plus I bought the lan adapter and a (cheapo but working) wireless modem. Over a thou on hardware alone plus the games.

Hey! Is there a big S on my forehead????

Just got mine back yesterday. But the weird thing is they actually fixed the console i sent in and sent that one back with a letter saying they repaired it and not the usual " replacement unit" one.

even though I specifically asked if I could do unlimited exchanges for the 2 years and they had said yes.

next time get it in writing

I "might" pick up another one. I just came into some extra work/cash that might pay for a core if I can find a decent deal. Killer is, do I wait for a better model to come out? HDMI is cool and all but what I really want is a better cooled system. I noticed there is now a better and quieter DVD rom in some newer machines, but again, nothing is more important then a properly cooled system that won't die on my again.

Bought mine on Dec. 18th 2005 and it just died the other week. Called Microsoft and they want $140 to fix it. ****ing BS.

I bought my 360 in March of 06. In August, I got the 3 lights. After calling in a couple of times, I was told I had to send it in for repair and pay the $150.

I didn't want to put another $150 into a piece of garbage, so I looked around on the Internet for answers. One suggestion was to make sure there was no dust inside.

I knew that opening it would void the warranty, but you can't void a warranty that has already expired. So I opened it, thinking that I either had a $400 paperwirght, or I could fix the problem somehow.

The inside was perfectly clean, so I put it on a shelf and gave up. I was happy to hear that MS extended the warranty. I sent the unit in for repair or replacement.

MS sent it back with a letter that the unit had been "tampered with" and that not only will they not honor the warranty, they won't let me pay them to fix it either.

I'd have never opened the POS if I hadn't been out of warranty already. I had no idea that they would retroactively extend my warranty. I've never heard of that happening before on anything I've ever purchased.

Has anyone else had this experience? Any suggestions before i go to small claims court?

Just got mine back yesterday. But the weird thing is they actually fixed the console i sent in and sent that one back with a letter saying they repaired it and not the usual " replacement unit" one.

Same here. Just got mine and it is the same unit. I won't have time to check it out until late but I feel a Dead Rising/GOW/Oblivion marathon coming on tonight. ;)


***played some GOW and Lost Planet. The 360 has been on for 8 hours now and so far no problems. Everything seems fine (does feel like the exhaust is a little warmer) and the DVD drive is a little quieter I think.

Hey guys, thought I would add my story to this thread.

I bought a 360 at launch, had a blast with it. I played it nearly everyday, and Oblivion had me playing the system for four or five hours straight at a time. I never once had any issues.

In January of this year, after not playing it for about three weeks, I turned the system on and BAM! Three Red Lights. I had purchased the Extended Warranty, so I called them and had the system shipped out. Took about a week for the coffin to arrive, and a little less than two more weeks to get my system back, which was yesterday.

I was happy to see they had replaced my old system with a "new" system. I plugged everything in and set to downloading the Crackdown demo. This took about an hour, and then I played the demo for about 20 minutes. Total time the system was on: about 2 hours.

BAM! Three Red Lights. On the "new" system they just sent me.

I found out the code for it, which was 0011, which seems to be that it just overheated. It's weird, I have played my old one for much longer and never had this problem. The only thing that has changed is that now there is a Wii sitting somewhat close to the system, but it doesn't get that hot.

So now, I am going to try the system today to see if it works. I still have Warranty to use, and I will if I need to. I still might experiment with moving the console, adding some fans behind it, etc etc.

How many of you receive just the overheating code? Does that seem to go away?
I really like the Xbox360, despite how much Microsoft seems to want me to hate it. My wife bought the Gamestop Replacement Plan for my Wii when she got it for me, somehow I don't think I will ever have to use it...

I honestly hope someone does a class action lawsuit against MS and wins. Over a year after it's launch, and this is clearly the most unreliable console I have seen in my 30 yrs of gaming.

pathetic

within the second thread he talks about using a heatgun to heat up the solder joints on the BGA chips to get a better connection. seems the manufacturing process where they put these things through an 'oven' to solder the joints sucks. from what i'm reading the manufacturing process still hasn't been fixed.

here is a youtube video of the heat gun process, please read the thread first to understand what is going on.

also, look into whether your state legal code has, ' Implied Warranty of Merchantability '. You can pull this with MS to get around their $150 replacement fee garbage.

this heatgun fix is applicable to those with the 0102[/QUOTE]


========================================================
I read another way to do this, I wrapped the whole xbox 360 console in towel and let it run for 10 minutes.

My xbox 360 is running again, I dont know how long.

will buy a hot air gun the next time and do the hot air gun fix

thanks

Well, it's Sunday. I got a stomach virus/flu something and my 360 has evidently caught it as well. VGA doesn't work....switched to component.....half an intro screen and then it freezes.

It is downstairs which stays relatively cool in comparison to the rest of the house I wonder if the solder problem mentioned by dancervantes above is my problem as well.....

I really do not want to go through this whole process again.....

I just called it in. Pretty easy or at least easier than expected. I'll be out of town on business for 3 days so I guess that will help pass some of the time. I hope my urges don't make me get a PS3 or Wii.

I received my replacement 360 this week. They didn't repair the one I sent in.

I took it out of the box, plugged it in, and turned it on. First thing I noticed was an odd "bbzzzzz" sound that lasted about 2 seconds. Scary, but whatever. I link my controller, scroll down to the eject button, and select it.

Nothing happens.

I do this again twice, again, nothing happens. I get up, check the front of the 360. Looks fine, no tape, nothing to hold it down. I manually press the eject button, hear it make a sound, and nothing happens.

Unbelievable, they've shipped me a broken 360! I wiggle the front of the drive around a bit, hit the eject button, and it works.

I've played it for maybe 5 hours since I've gotten it. Each time it boots it makes that same crazy "bbbzzzz" sound. Can't tell you what it is, but my original launch 360 didn't make that sound, nor did the Core system I'd picked up from BB while I waited for this replacement.

I played CoD3 tonight and they CD spinning was incredibly loud...loud to the point that either something is wrong with the disc or the drive. Other games play fine, but my CoD3 disc sounds like it's way off balance.

-JR

***OK, warning. Mini-rant ahead***

I had to call back today. I was given a reference number on Sunday but told to call back today (computers were acting up or something). I called back and evidently got one the tech support locations overseas (India I'm guessing). It's great that they are 'getting their grind on', expanding their economy, and doing what they got to do but wow....it's still very hard for me to understand some of the tech people because of their natural accents. It's not an 'anti-diversity thing' (I'm African-American, my wife is bi-racial, my extended family is very diverse, and my momma would still slap me silly as well :D ....even though I am 34)

Also I know I'm from Virginia and the few of you I have played with on Live know that I can have a bit of a 'Southern Drawl' when on a microphone (much more pronounced than in person....very weird......my speech slows down.) I'm sure some peeps are like,"what the heck did he just say???" so maybe I have no room to be complaining about OPA (other people's accents.... ;) ). It just makes the call to Microsoft feel like 'work' for me.

Anyway to make a long story short, during the call she gave me the mailing address for the repair center in Mcallen???? Has this happened to anyone else? Last time I was sent a preprinted shipping label so I'm a bit confused as to why I needed to know the mailing address this time. I questioned her about it but we couldn't quite understand each other and I just ended up saying ok that's cool. Maybe she was new and gave me that info without realizing she didn't have to.

I might do this one or two more times but after that I will probably just say "screw the extended warranty", go ahead and mod it, and wait until the fall before buying another.

wokisan,

Bummer that your 360 went down. The initial tech rep I got also told me the mailing address for the repair center, but I didn't need to use it since they sent the pre-labeled box. Odd. I'm guessing your box is on it's way?

My 2nd 360 which I got last week (refurb) just went down. As I mentioned in my post above, right out of the box the thing was giving me problems. What amazes me is how in the world they let this box head back into population without any sort of QC protocol.

After that crazy loud CoD3 last night, tonight I played some Live arcade. After a while I decided to give GRAW a shot. What happens? The drive won't open. :( I wiggle the front of the drive and voila, it finally opens. I get the disc in, it boots, and won't go past the ubisoft logo. The screen just goes black. The disc keeps spinning, but no screen, no sound, nothing.

I tried CoD3 instead, but the drive is so insanely loud that something has to be incredibly wrong. I'm going to try to shoot a quick vid with my digi cam just to see if I can capture the audio. I immediately eject the CoD3 disc since it sounds like it's about to tear apart my 360.

I put in Viva Pinata as a last ditch attempt. Sounds fine! I get to the main menu, click to open my "garden", and what do you know, black screen.

I'll call Xbox tomorrow to get this one replaced. No red ring this time.

-JR

*addition* I took a quick movie of my 360. You can hear the odd "buzz" sound when it initially boots. Any clue what it might be? You can also see me put in my CoD3 disc and boot the game. Lovely sound. Sorry the file is so large, I'm not sure how to compress it anymore than just zipping it.

http://www.snapdrive.net/files/325595/360bootup.zip

I need to stop reading these threads. My 360's coffin was ordered Sunday. I just know I'm going to get a replacement that's no longer white, buzzes and smells like a bong...

I need to stop reading these threads. My 360's coffin was ordered Sunday. I just know I'm going to get a replacement that's no longer white, buzzes and smells like a bong...

Well for a positive review - I just got mine back on Friday. 2 weeks exactly from my original problem call. Other than the refurbished sticker and the March 06 build date (same as what I sent in) I can't tell the difference between this and a brand new machine. Not one scratch, works great (so far), and drive and sensor had the clear sticker over each.

Well for a positive review - I just got mine back on Friday. 2 weeks exactly from my original problem call. Other than the refurbished sticker and the March 06 build date (same as what I sent in) I can't tell the difference between this and a brand new machine. Not one scratch, works great (so far), and drive and sensor had the clear sticker over each.

Same here. Mine was back in 2 weeks to the day. I kept my original faceplate in case the one that came back was scratched, but it was perfect. My original 360 was built in 12/05, but this one is 04/06. It's quieter than my original too. So far, it's run like a champ, but I only have a few hours on it.

I need to stop reading these threads. My 360's coffin was ordered Sunday. I just know I'm going to get a replacement that's no longer white, buzzes and smells like a bong...

Stop reading the thread! ;)

Just kidding.

Gave my 360 another chance this morning. Popped in CoD3 and amazingly enough the drive was loud, but sounded normal! It got past the Tetryarch logo, into the menu, and I loaded up my game.

Watched the cut-scene, the cut-scene ended, I crouched, moved forward 10 paces and freeeeeeezzzeeee... No sound, no movement, nothing, game is frozen.

I'll be calling Xbox support tonight when I get home from work to get this one replaced. :( I wonder what Xbox support will say, since I haven't had any red lights.

-JR

My Xbox 360 finnaly bit the dust two days ago and I was out of luck with the warranty since I had it for more then a year. I got the 3 red lights of death which turned out to be the 0102 error and I was thinking about just buying a working Xbox 360 console by itself without any acceseries on eBay.

However, I decided to try out the so called "towel trick" on it for 20 minutes since I had nothing to lose and amazingly the Xbox 360 was able to boot up. I shut it off after playing Hexic for a couple of minutes and the next morning when I turned it back on, the 3 red lights were back.

So I decided to try the "towel trick" for almost 1 hour this time and then I let it cool off for about 2 hours. I then played 2 hours of NBA 2k7, 1 hour of Gears of War and another 2 hours of Splinter Cell DA with no freezes or crashes. It turned on this morning with no problems either. The fix might not last long though. :p

I've done the towel trick 3 times now

1st time, cooked for 30 mins. Lasted for about 4 days, an hour maybe 2 each day. Died on cold boot again one morning.
2nd time - cooked 45 mins. LAsted about 4-5 hours. Again, cold boot, 3 red lights.
3rd time - cooked 45 mins. Spent 7 hours last night playing it flawless. haven't tried it today.

Each time I cook it, I cool it for 2 hours before playing if not all night. When it does work, It's flawless, no locking, no graphical issues at all. I do keep a small fan blowing at it. It dies the same way each time. I'll got to turn it on for the first time for the day, and 3 red lights.

I hope MS gets their asses sued silly for releasing a product so poorly manufactured.

I've done the towel trick 3 times now

1st time, cooked for 30 mins. Lasted for about 4 days, an hour maybe 2 each day. Died on cold boot again one morning.
2nd time - cooked 45 mins. LAsted about 4-5 hours. Again, cold boot, 3 red lights.
3rd time - cooked 45 mins. Spent 7 hours last night playing it flawless. haven't tried it today.

Each time I cook it, I cool it for 2 hours before playing if not all night. When it does work, It's flawless, no locking, no graphical issues at all. I do keep a small fan blowing at it. It dies the same way each time. I'll got to turn it on for the first time for the day, and 3 red lights.

I hope MS gets their asses sued silly for releasing a product so poorly manufactured.

Really want them to feel your dissatisfaction? Buy a sony.

My 360 just died again. I got a replacement not even 3 weeks ago and now this one froze up during GoW, gave me the rings after i turned it back on, and a code 0102 that not even the console can identify with a problem. I don't feel like buying a ps3 but I dont want to wait another 2 and a half weeks for a replacements thats just gonna die.

My 360 just died again. I got a replacement not even 3 weeks ago and now this one froze up during GoW, gave me the rings after i turned it back on, and a code 0102 that not even the console can identify with a problem. I don't feel like buying a ps3 but I dont want to wait another 2 and a half weeks for a replacements thats just gonna die.

Don't wait, do what a couple of us have done and pick one up from BB or CC. That way you can play while you wait for your replacement. Once you get your replacement, return your "temporary" 360. Not the most ethical thing to do, but MS is putting you in the spot.

I know there was a poll before about how many times people had replaced their 360. I'd love to see a poll on how many people who have received replacements have had to get their replacements replaced.

-JR

Is returning a console like returning a game where i can only get store credit or do I get my full price back in cash?

Is returning a console like returning a game where i can only get store credit or do I get my full price back in cash?

I'm sure it depends on the company, but at BB it's full price back in whatever method you paid for it in. There is no restocking fee for gaming consoles, unlike digital cameras, laptops, etc.

Just go back in within 30 days, tell them you don't want it, and they'll either give you the cash or put it back on your credit/debit card.

-JR

Well my 360 just died manufactured in Feb of 06, purhcased in April of 06 from BB Got the warranty so I'm probably going to take it to them soon, I was hoping it would hold out for a little while longer just to see if this HDMI black 360 is going to actually happen but oh well.

Mine started making the same noise that juicerockets does in that video file along with an occasional lock up about a week ago while I was playing Dead Rising I thought no big deal its been known to act funny from time to time so I kepd playing went to play some today and the buzzing was less however it would play for a total of about 5 mins and lock down hard. Re-set, 3 rings, let it sit for a few mins and it starts back up so I clear the cache and try again same results. I think at this point maybe its the game since it never really acted this way before so I try Full Auto and it does the same thing again...

At this point I'm thinking ok maybe the drive went out lets just see what happens when we use something local to the hard drive no go same result

In short I want to replace it but I just was wondering if anyone knows whether BB will let me keep my hard drive or if I need to get a Memory card to save them to and then take it back so that I can keep all my saves?

BB let me keep the hard drive. Keep in my mind you will have to purchase another extended warranty for your new box. Also, apparently the quieter drive is in models manufactured from 11/06 on so I would check to make sure you have one from at least than. Good luck.

Put me on the list. My Xbox is from March 2006 and I play it very lightly and keep it properly ventilated. Yesterday I got a couple of freezes on College Hoops 2K6 which I thought was odd, and then tonight I got the 3 rings of death.

Interestingly enough, I had just recently downloaded Heavy Weapon and played it for a little while before the issues started... I noticed a few others had issues after this game. I don't see how it could be related, but who knows.

I just hope they don't give me any grief. I also got the "try back later, our computer system is updating" after the guy told me a message was popping up saying that I wasn't eligible to get another replacement (I have never called before). He said it must have been a mistake... here's to hoping it gets taken care of tomorrow.

Just to add to it. Viva Pinata was the game that killed my 360. I'm currently waiting for my replacement.

I had an occasional Lockup with Oblivion last summer, but nothing serious. However, this past saturday I was having lockup problems with Viva. The first time happened a few minutes after playing it. The next three times it locked up before even loading the game.

I started getting concerned, so I loaded Cars into my 360 and it functioned fine. So I deleted my garden and just turned off the 360.

Later that night I tried to boot up Viva again, and it worked for about 5 minutes. It locked up again, and when I tried to restart my 360, I got the Red Rings. I couldn't start up the 360 at all. With or without the hard drive.

I had to be billed for my replacement because I missed my warranty by 2 days. Ugh...I was so disappointed that I missed the warranty by 2 days.

I've been reading all over the internet and I've read horror stories of people on their 3rd, 4th, even 7th replacement. I'm concerned my replacement is going to be a lemon. :(

I've been reading all over the internet and I've read horror stories of people on their 3rd, 4th, even 7th replacement. I'm concerned my replacement is going to be a lemon. :(

I'll be on my 2nd replacement (so third box) in about a week and a half. Calling Max tonight to get my "new" bricked machine replaced. :(

-JR

Bought mine on Dec. 18th 2005 and it just died the other week. Called Microsoft and they want $140 to fix it. ****ing BS.
Same situation here :mad:
Still deciding what to do.

You can always try the "towel trick". :p

Its usually just a very temporary fix though. Often, it would freeze up again or have the three red lights after a short period of time. Most of the time I get just a few hours or a day before it starts freezing up after a minute or two of gameplay and I would have to do the towel trick again.

However, this time I did the towel trick, let the console cool down for a few hours, attached a Nykon Intercooler and let the Xbox 360 run the dashboard idle for a few hours before playing and the console has been working fine for almost 2 days now. It probably won't last long though.

Same situation here :mad:
Still deciding what to do.

Did launch date consoles get a different warranty than those purchased afterwards? My launch date console went down a month ago (as noted in this thread) and I didn't have to pay for the refurb.

-JR

Well.....dang it. My 360 gave me a 0102 ring of death. Off to try some more canned air. I tried it earlier today, when it was freezing, and while a TON of dust came out, it didn't help. I've only had it for 5 months too. It was manufactured on 7/3/06. I thought the ones from the summer production run were supposed to not have the problem, and-if you beleive some people-the most error free since they weren't made for a holiday rush. So much for THOSE theories.

Did launch date consoles get a different warranty than those purchased afterwards? My launch date console went down a month ago (as noted in this thread) and I didn't have to pay for the refurb.

-JR

I don't know but Microsoft wants me to pay $140 to get it fixed and they can only guarantee it for 30 days. SUpposedly only 3 % of consoles are failing which doesn't seem like much but if you figure it out. 3% of 10 million sold is 300,000 at $140 a console is 42,000,000 in extra profit for Microsoft if my math is correct. :)
Looks like Microsoft is making some big money off of these repairs.
Something doesn’t seem right with all these consoles breaking right after the warranty is up. :(

im getting 0130 what does that mean

I don't know but Microsoft wants me to pay $140 to get it fixed and they can only guarantee it for 30 days. SUpposedly only 3 % of consoles are failing which doesn't seem like much but if you figure it out. 3% of 10 million sold is 300,000 at $140 a console is 42,000,000 in extra profit for Microsoft if my math is correct. :)
Looks like Microsoft is making some big money off of these repairs.
Something doesn’t seem right with all these consoles breaking right after the warranty is up. :(

That's strange. I wonder why they let me replace mine without having to pay for it. My 360 was a launch 360. I've called in about my refurb that went down a little over a week after I received it and they're also replacing that for free.

-JR

The reason the towel fix and heat gun fixes don't work for long is that you are battling against the inherent problem with the 360 design.

If you have opened up your 360 you can see the X shaped heatsink clamps holding down the GPU and CPU heatsinks.

Basically the heatsink clamp on the bottom of the board puts all of the (upward) pressure on a single tiny point directly under the centre of the CPU and GPU chips.

What this does is cause the motherboard to flex slightly because of the 'point pressure' and encourages the board to flex away from (downwards) the outer edges of the CPU and GPU BGA packages. THis causes the solder connections to eventually break, or tears the solder pads from the motherboard. I've looked at about 10 different dead 360s so far and the problem is always the same.

I believe this is a fundemental design flaw, it is probably showing up more now as games that really run the 360 hard are coming out, so the thing runs hotter and the flexing is greater (and perhaps it is getting hot enough for the solder connections to get soft, which would in turn allow the board to flex further.)

The only permanent fix I can see is to remove the existing heatsink clamps and fit pegs under the mainboard and to the 360 casing, and then bolt the heatsink through the board to the casing/pegs (just like the way motherboards are mounted in PCs).
This makes the board stay 'square' by correctly supporting the motherboard and puts a stronger pressure on the heatsink resulting in cooler running.

I expect more 360s to fail over time unless they redesign the heatsinks and clamping method.

The reason the towel fix and heat gun fixes don't work for long is that you are battling against the inherent problem with the 360 design.

If you have opened up your 360 you can see the X shaped heatsink clamps holding down the GPU and CPU heatsinks.

Basically the heatsink clamp on the bottom of the board puts all of the (upward) pressure on a single tiny point directly under the centre of the CPU and GPU chips.

What this does is cause the motherboard to flex slightly because of the 'point pressure' and encourages the board to flex away from (downwards) the outer edges of the CPU and GPU BGA packages. THis causes the solder connections to eventually break, or tears the solder pads from the motherboard. I've looked at about 10 different dead 360s so far and the problem is always the same.

I believe this is a fundemental design flaw, it is probably showing up more now as games that really run the 360 hard are coming out, so the thing runs hotter and the flexing is greater (and perhaps it is getting hot enough for the solder connections to get soft, which would in turn allow the board to flex further.)

The only permanent fix I can see is to remove the existing heatsink clamps and fit pegs under the mainboard and to the 360 casing, and then bolt the heatsink through the board to the casing/pegs (just like the way motherboards are mounted in PCs).
This makes the board stay 'square' by correctly supporting the motherboard and puts a stronger pressure on the heatsink resulting in cooler running.

I expect more 360s to fail over time unless they redesign the heatsinks and clamping method.

I agree, from everything i read this makes the most sense.. and I just can't understand why this still hasn't been fixed in their manufacturing process.

My second xbox 360 died yesterday. I called Microsoft support and they tell me I have to pay $100.00 to fix the xbox 360. But get this I have only had this refurbished model for two months and I specifically remember them telling me I had a 90 day warranty on a refurbished xbox 360. Not this time when I call they tell me I only have a 30 day warranty. I am so mad at Microsoft I was and still am furious because since I was told I had 90 days and only had 30 I had to pay $100 to get my xbox 360 fixed. Not to mention I'll probably get another crappy refurb and have it die again only this time I'm getting the warra

Well my twiced 'repaired' 360 will be coming home tomorrow (probably Friday since I can never get home quick enough to catch the UPS guy.). They kept it 4 working days this time instead of 2. Hope it helps....

My second xbox 360 died yesterday. I called Microsoft support and they tell me I have to pay $100.00 to fix the xbox 360. But get this I have only had this refurbished model for two months and I specifically remember them telling me I had a 90 day warranty on a refurbished xbox 360. Not this time when I call they tell me I only have a 30 day warranty. I am so mad at Microsoft I was and still am furious because since I was told I had 90 days and only had 30 I had to pay $100 to get my xbox 360 fixed. Not to mention I'll probably get another crappy refurb and have it die again only this time I'm getting the warra

get it in writing next time.

Ok, got the goodies today and low-and-behold..... I got a refub unit manufactured in Nov '06.

Now my question is this. I've heard some issues with live/DL content when you get a new unit. So basically I can not play any of my XBLA games unless I am logged in...correct??

My girls have profiles on the xbox but they are not linked to XBL. Can they still access our arcade games or are they only accessible to my main XBL account? If so is MS able to rectify this issue yet???? Thanks in advance...gotta go fire up this new 360.


***additional question***
Since my XBLA games are linked to my profile, could I redownload all of them to this new console and then would they be available to every profile on my 360???


***update***
So far so good. This box's DVD drive is SO much quieter (it has the Toshiba-Samsung drive). As far as the XBLA issues I've been logging myself in first, then logging the girls in and they can play any Live arcade games they want. Still irritating but from what I am reading on the 'net, there is nothing MS is doing about this issue right now.

My second xbox 360 died yesterday. I called Microsoft support and they tell me I have to pay $100.00 to fix the xbox 360. But get this I have only had this refurbished model for two months and I specifically remember them telling me I had a 90 day warranty on a refurbished xbox 360. Not this time when I call they tell me I only have a 30 day warranty. I am so mad at Microsoft I was and still am furious because since I was told I had 90 days and only had 30 I had to pay $100 to get my xbox 360 fixed. Not to mention I'll probably get another crappy refurb and have it die again only this time I'm getting the warra

Unfortunately it's 30 days. The information is up on the Xbox.com site.

"C. EXCLUSIVE REMEDY

During the Warranty Period and subject to applicable law, Microsoft will, at its option and as your exclusive remedy for breach of this Limited Warranty or any implied warranties:

* Repair or replace a defective Xbox Product, or
* Following return of your Xbox Product, make payment to you for the allowable damages that you incur in reasonable reliance but only up to the amount of the purchase price that you paid for your Xbox Product. This refund may include a deduction for depreciation based on your actual use.
* Any replacement parts or Xbox Product will be new or refurbished or serviceably used, comparable in function and performance to the original part or Xbox Product and warranted for the remainder of the original Warranty Period or 30 days from the date of shipment of the Xbox Product back to you, whichever is longer."

I'm waiting to get my replacement, and this time I'll be purchasing an extended warranty. I don't understand why they don't treat refurbs as a "new" purchase, and give you a 1 year warranty. I'm sure it's a cost saving procedure, but it'd really up consumer confidence.

-JR

damn my xbox360 just died im so pissed and sad i cant live without it.

the code i got from doing the test from the 1st page of this thread is

0102

so what do i do now ?

this xbox360 was purchased 2weeks after launch and should be a launch system.
It was purchased at walmart i dont think i has a warannty.

before the system died it was freezing before i could get a game of NBA2k7 in.

what do i do now ?

...comparable in function and performance to the original part or Xbox Product...
In other words, they're replacing lemons with lemons.

In other words, they're replacing lemons with lemons.

That's what it sounds like. This is why I wish they'd up their replacement to a year. If they were really confident that their replacements were the same quality as their brand-new boxes, then I'd imagine they'd up the warranty.

I'm wondering if this will eventually change to reflect the revised original 90 day warranty.


damn my xbox360 just died im so pissed and sad i cant live without it.

the code i got from doing the test from the 1st page of this thread is

0102

so what do i do now ?

this xbox360 was purchased 2weeks after launch and should be a launch system.
It was purchased at walmart i dont think i has a warannty.

before the system died it was freezing before i could get a game of NBA2k7 in.

what do i do now ?

Call the Xbox hotline and make friends with Max. He's a super swell guy! ;) I'm not sure what they'll say about your Xbox. I believe your 360 may still be in their warranty since this will be your first call about it. If it's not, then you're out of luck and will have to pay for the "repair".

If you run into opposition, be sure to question the CSR you speak to. When I called about my 360 (2nd one to be replaced), they originally told me it was out of the 30 day warranty. When I asked them to check on the date, they then came back saying that they could take 25% off the repair fee. I agee pushed back (since they obviously had their dates wrong), and they came back to me a 3rd time saying that they fould the proper info and I was still covered - no charge for the replacement.

If you can't live without it, you can "purchase" a unit from BestBuy as a replacement while you wait for yours to be repaired. BB has a 30 day return policy.

Good luck.

-JR

damn my xbox360 just died im so pissed and sad i cant live without it.

the code i got from doing the test from the 1st page of this thread is

0102

so what do i do now ?

this xbox360 was purchased 2weeks after launch and should be a launch system.
It was purchased at walmart i dont think i has a warannty.

before the system died it was freezing before i could get a game of NBA2k7 in.

what do i do now ?

wow i did the towel trick and before that went off with a can of compressed air and the xbox 360 worked fine last night. played a game of Ncaa2k7 basketball fine no freezing or nothing. woke up in the morning and loaded the names on the ncaa2k7 game barely recieved my memory card 2day, everything seems fine, i also had the 360 sitting flat before now it is upright.

How long will this last ?

hey, i had the same 0102 prob....wrapped it tight in a towel, turned it on for a half hour. restarted it and it worked great, hope it helps

hey, i had the same 0102 prob....wrapped it tight in a towel, turned it on for a half hour. restarted it and it worked great, hope it helps

how long did it last ?

its probaly just like putting a BAND-AID on lol :p

How long will it last???

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=815411

At first the towel trick only lasted a day or two but about a week ago I did the towel trick and attached the nyko intercooler after it cooled down and now it has been working for a week with no problems. This includes playing about 5 hours straight of bullet witch yesterday.

its still going good, played like 6 hours worth of GoW

Alright, I debated whether to post this or not...but screw it and screw MS. Why not go buy a Core system, replace the serial numbers and take the broken one back to the store, say you just bought it and it doesn't work and get your money back? Yeah, I know it's unethical, but so is MS for selling me a POS. :mad:

OK so after a marathon session of Crackdown (6 hours) last night. I played for about 45 minutes this morning and the unit shut off and I got the dreaded 3 red rings. I shut it off and turned it back on and everything was fine. Game started, power supply showed a green light. I was still freaked so I shut it off. Is there anything I should do to try and make sure this doesn't happen again or is it a "once it happens once you're eventually F'ed" kind of thing? My freakin' build date is 1/20/06! :mad:

Three red rings for me today on my launch unit... the unit powered on, but none of the fans were blowing, and got nothing but a blank screen. Following the steps outlined at the beginning of this thread revealed an error code of 0020. Scary stuff.

With nothing to lose, I wrapped my 360 in a towel and let it simmer for about twenty minutes. Powered on, the fans went WHOOOOSSSSSHHHHH, and I was able to play again... I've had several successful power-ups and power-offs since then; who knows how long my fortune will last, but hopefully long enough for Microsoft to send me a 360 coffin.

Coincidentally, yesterday I had to turn on the air conditioner for the upstairs (which is where my home theater is); it gets me thinking that heavy use, followed by rapid cooling, does cause some of the solder/connections in the 360's guts to shrink and crack.

how long did it last ?

its probaly just like putting a BAND-AID on lol :p

it lasted 7 days wow.

did the towel trick again and it worked

its dead !!

Alright, I debated whether to post this or not...but screw it and screw MS. Why not go buy a Core system, replace the serial numbers and take the broken one back to the store, say you just bought it and it doesn't work and get your money back? Yeah, I know it's unethical, but so is MS for selling me a POS.

I was think the same thing too, F' MS.... Do you think it will work????? Has anyone try pull off the serial number off???

I was think the same thing too, F' MS.... Do you think it will work????? Has anyone try pull off the serial number off???

Hair dryers work great for peeling off stickers. I'm on my third 360 since September. When it dies, I will probably try it.

I was hoping this day would never come.My 3rd 360 just got the infamous dity disc error and then today the 3 red rings.I think I'm done with the 360, paying shipping to RMA a defective unit "repeatedly" does not sit well with me.Build date was 11/06

3 RED lights today. Launch day 360... RMA on its way.... arrggghhhh~~~!!!

Just to update i'm still going strong with my refurb! Porbably due to the fact that msoft actually took the console apart and fixed it instead of just sending me a different refurb like they did last time. Also i just plug it right into the wall now instead of my belkin surge protector.

well i got my unit back from microsoft last wednesday and not it's 1 flashing red ring by last friday. Not even more than 24hours of having it back. It's on it's way back to microsoft.

So sad i called finally thinking my xbox360 was still under warranty and they said it wasnt its a launchday counsle. They said $140 to fix $20 to ship and $30-60 for an extended warranty this sucks.

The question now is would you pay $200 to fix a ****** launch day counsle the premium version or would you pay $300 for the core counsel + 10% off. the core has everything the premium correct ?

I already have wireless controllers, hard drive . componet cables. headset and all the other stuff.

what would you do ?

So sad i called finally thinking my xbox360 was still under warranty and they said it wasnt its a launchday counsle. They said $140 to fix $20 to ship and $30-60 for an extended warranty this sucks.

The question now is would you pay $200 to fix a ****** launch day counsle the premium version or would you pay $300 for the core counsel + 10% off. the core has everything the premium correct ?

I already have wireless controllers, hard drive . componet cables. headset and all the other stuff.

what would you do?
Buy a PS3 and put an end to the madness. ;)

Buy a PS3 and put an end to the madness. ;)

LMFAO I already have one :D


I have hell of games on Xbox 360 and like their Online better.

So $200 to fix the old ****** xbox premium or

$300 +10% off for a brand new xbox360 core ?

So sad i called finally thinking my xbox360 was still under warranty and they said it wasnt its a launchday counsle. They said $140 to fix $20 to ship and $30-60 for an extended warranty this sucks.

The question now is would you pay $200 to fix a ****** launch day counsle the premium version or would you pay $300 for the core counsel + 10% off. the core has everything the premium correct ?

I already have wireless controllers, hard drive . componet cables. headset and all the other stuff.

what would you do ?

I have the three rings of death too. I thought the same as you and bought a core system from our local Brandsmart. They sell the core for $250. I brought it home, played for an hour then it started locking up. It did it ten times. I just took it back and got my money back. I was so pissed, I called Microsoft about my launch day box and they finally gave in and are fixing it for free. All I have to do is pay for shipping. It is going out tomorrow.

I have the three rings of death too. I thought the same as you and bought a core system from our local Brandsmart. They sell the core for $250. I brought it home, played for an hour then it started locking up. It did it ten times. I just took it back and got my money back. I was so pissed, I called Microsoft about my launch day box and they finally gave in and are fixing it for free. All I have to do is pay for shipping. It is going out tomorrow.

what did you tell them to fix it for free ? :confused:

Has anyone tried the serial number switch scam? I'm poor (live paycheck to paycheck) and can't afford getting burned by this. I'm wondering if a store like Target/Wal Mart/K Mart will give you cash back if you come back with it saying it doesn't work. Or will they say to contact the manufacturer. I did just get a PS3, but have a lot of games for my 360.

It's sad reading these posts , from what I have read, looks like everyone has participated in a $400 beta test which has funded the R&D for the revised version of the 360

What are you guys talking about? they extended the warranty for a year! Msoft fixes it for free. Unless they stopped?

what did you tell them to fix it for free ? :confused:I just kept complaining and asked many times, I'm month out of warrenty and your going to leave me hanging? I also asked them to talk to a supervisor and they came back and said they would fix it for free. It's only been gone for three days and I'm dying.

What are you guys talking about? they extended the warranty for a year! Msoft fixes it for free. Unless they stopped?

I have a launch day counsel (Nov 05') and they told me it wasnt under warranty anymore >? :confused:

I have a launch day counsel (Nov 05') and they told me it wasnt under warranty anymore >? :confused:

You should call back and try again. From what I can tell, launch consoles, if it's a first time repair, are under warranty. They replaced mine only a couple of months ago. Covering the launch date 360's isn't written into their warranty on their support page, but a few of us with launch consoles have had them replaced when they'd gone past the one year.

If the person says no, just ask for a supervisor. Keep doing it until you speak to someone other than your initial contact. Hopefully that'll work.

-JR

Just got the 3 rings 5min ago. This thing is only 2 weeks old. Well ill be exhanging it 2morr hopefully at BB. BOOO MS this sux.

Just got the 3 rings 5min ago. This thing is only 2 weeks old. Well ill be exhanging it 2morr hopefully at BB. BOOO MS this sux.

wow just 2 weeks old

Well my replacement console just lasted 2 months, it all started when I was playing 2k7. The screen started freezing and blacking out, then it went to a checker board pattern. I have called support and they are shipping a box should have it soon, I hate this crap. The only thing I did right when I purchased my 360 was getting that extended warranty. I agree I feel like all of us are just beta testers so they could pull this crap with the ungraded system that will run cooler. I knew I should have bought a PS3. :(

BB is shipping me another one today. YAAAAAAAY...They wouldnt let me just xchange it in the store since my GF bought it online. anyway.. hopefully this new one will alst me more then 2 weeks. the manuf date on the dead one was 11/6/06 farely new. hey what happens with ur gamertag account stuff? Is that stuff tied to the 360 it was signed up on, or is it all in my overpriced 20gb i had to buy seperate cause my GF was cheap and bought the core system.

You should call back and try again. From what I can tell, launch consoles, if it's a first time repair, are under warranty. They replaced mine only a couple of months ago. Covering the launch date 360's isn't written into their warranty on their support page, but a few of us with launch consoles have had them replaced when they'd gone past the one year.

If the person says no, just ask for a supervisor. Keep doing it until you speak to someone other than your initial contact. Hopefully that'll work.

-JR

Man I hope your right. I just got off the phone with MS. I bought a launch day console and it just got the 3 red righs of death today! Now my MS rep on the phone tells me my warranty ran out 3 weeks ago and they won't pay for the repairs! 3 weeks ago! They want me to pay $167 CND to get it repaired. Not sure what to do and here are my options:

1. Send it in for repairs and pay $167
2. Purchase a band new Core unit (for $299) and just attach my HDD from my dead premium 360
3. Buy a PS3 (b/c i'm so pissed this happened at all and the problems with it seem minimal)
4. Wait for this 'rumored' Xbox 360 Elite (but pay $480 for it) even though this hasn't been officially announced
5. Not do anything and have no gaming system (worst case scenario)

Any other ideas you guys have?

I can understand being pissed, but won't you miss it? ;)

Buy a new core system. The ultimate is just a gimmick.

Man I hope your right. I just got off the phone with MS. I bought a launch day console and it just got the 3 red righs of death today! Now my MS rep on the phone tells me my warranty ran out 3 weeks ago and they won't pay for the repairs! 3 weeks ago! They want me to pay $167 CND to get it repaired. Not sure what to do and here are my options:

1. Send it in for repairs and pay $167
2. Purchase a band new Core unit (for $299) and just attach my HDD from my dead premium 360
3. Buy a PS3 (b/c i'm so pissed this happened at all and the problems with it seem minimal)
4. Wait for this 'rumored' Xbox 360 Elite (but pay $480 for it) even though this hasn't been officially announced
5. Not do anything and have no gaming system (worst case scenario)

Any other ideas you guys have?

The warranty ran out 3 weeks ago? That would mean M$ is trying to tell you that you had an 18 month warranty, or that launch date consoles have/had an 18 month warranty. I've never seen anything in writing stating they'd bumped launch date consoles from a 12 month warranty to an 18 month warranty.

I'd give them a call again and try to press. I know it's uncomfortable pressing, and I know they repeatedly put you on hold, come back, and tell you what their "supervisor" told them to do, but I'd give it one more shot and be adamant that you speak to someone else. Not sure it'll do you any good, but I think it's worth a shot.

The 18 month warranty thing just sounds weird. I'd ask them (if they tell you that again) that you'd like to see that warranty either in writing, or somewhere (ask them for a link) on their website.

I wish you luck.

The warranty ran out 3 weeks ago? That would mean M$ is trying to tell you that you had an 18 month warranty, or that launch date consoles have/had an 18 month warranty. I've never seen anything in writing stating they'd bumped launch date consoles from a 12 month warranty to an 18 month warranty.

I'd give them a call again and try to press. I know it's uncomfortable pressing, and I know they repeatedly put you on hold, come back, and tell you what their "supervisor" told them to do, but I'd give it one more shot and be adamant that you speak to someone else. Not sure it'll do you any good, but I think it's worth a shot.

The 18 month warranty thing just sounds weird. I'd ask them (if they tell you that again) that you'd like to see that warranty either in writing, or somewhere (ask them for a link) on their website.

I wish you luck.

It wasn't really an 18 month warranty per se. I bought a launch day console but didn't hook it up online until February of 06. So MS said they started my 1 year warranty from the day I first hooked it up online. So basically my 1 year warranty ended in Fenruary of 07. Go figure.

It wasn't really an 18 month warranty per se. I bought a launch day console but didn't hook it up online until February of 06. So MS said they started my 1 year warranty from the day I first hooked it up online. So basically my 1 year warranty ended in Fenruary of 07. Go figure.

Weird.

I signed on less than an hour after I picked up my 360 at midnight on launch. I was literally online before 1:00am eastern.

My launch machine went down this year, which would mean my 360, since being hooked up online, had gone past it's 12 month warranty.

Either way, it sounds like the Xbox reps are mistaken somewhere. I'd really ask to see it in writing. I'm just curious to see if they can produce verbiage that states that their warranty begins once a machine is signed on live.

What do they do with all the machines that don't go online at all...they never have a warranty? That just doesn't seem to make any sense. I'd definately ask them again, hopefully you'll get your replacement.

-JR

i was gona buy the core system since i down wana pay Microsoft to fix.


Is it good to buy at wal-mart with their warranty ?

I really think I'm going to file a complaint with the State of NJ Division of Consumer Affairs---really pissed off about having to drop $125 to get this fixed after only 15 months.

You should call back and try again. From what I can tell, launch consoles, if it's a first time repair, are under warranty. They replaced mine only a couple of months ago. Covering the launch date 360's isn't written into their warranty on their support page, but a few of us with launch consoles have had them replaced when they'd gone past the one year.

If the person says no, just ask for a supervisor. Keep doing it until you speak to someone other than your initial contact. Hopefully that'll work.

-JR

+1 Just ask for a supervisor. The supervisor was the one who authorized my repair.

Also, for those thinking of buying a new console, one thing to remember is, the extended warrenties at Target are only $60, compared to $160 at Circuit City. I was standing in line with my PS3 at CC and then they told me how much their extended warrenty was, I just left the PS3 there and went and went down the street to buy it at Target.

As for what to do, before I knew Xbox was going to fix my console for free, I bought a PS3. I still have it , but I am totally disappointed with their online gaming. I never had any problems connecting with Xbox, now I have to try and connect several times before I get into a room. Sometimes, it won't even connect and I will have to down the whole system (PS3, router and modem). I never had any of these problems with Xbox. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have bought the PS3 and used that money to buy the new Xbox Elite. I think MS have worked out the bugs after us Beta testing their machine....LOL

So, I guess I now have my Blu-ray player....LOL P.S. I hate the fact that the remote control is not IR so my harmony remote doesn't work. Thanks Sony....

My replacement 360 is due at my house today March 30th. I shipped my dead one to them on Friday March 23rd and reported it dead on March 17th. Just under 2 weeks from call to return. I will report back on how things go with this one after I get it hooked up.

My replacement 360 is due at my house today March 30th. I shipped my dead one to them on Friday March 23rd and reported it dead on March 17th. Just under 2 weeks from call to return. I will report back on how things go with this one after I get it hooked up.

Good luck RKRocha. Be sure to let us know how things go with your replacement.

I just received my 3rd 360 from the replacement facility this Friday. I decided not to hook it up since I have a 360 which I purchased from BB that I've been using while waiting for my refurb to come back.

Saturday I turn on the BB 360, which I've had for 2 weeks, and wouldn't you know it, 3 red rings. Amazingly enough, that's my 3rd 360 I've had go down on me now.

I swapped it out with my refurb that I got Friday, and right away it's not sounding right. The fans in idle sound funny, and when I put in CoD2, the whir is horribly loud, remeniscent of the 2nd 360 I had that I took the video of. :(

I'm pretty patient, but this is starting to get pretty silly. I'm going to have to purchase the extended warranty for this refurb, I don't trust that it'll last very long, but with my luck it'll last just a tad over 30 days.

I wish MS would finally just give their refurbs a year warranty.

So far my experience is as follows.

1st 360 - launch day - 3 red rings.
2nd 360 - refurb - lasts less than a month.
3rd 360 - refurb - just arrived this past Friday, sounds awful.

1st replacement 360 - had for less than a month, played fine.
2nd replacement 360 - had two weeks - bricked.

Good luck RKRocha. Be sure to let us know how things go with your replacement.

I just received my 3rd 360 from the replacement facility this Friday. I decided not to hook it up since I have a 360 which I purchased from BB that I've been using while waiting for my refurb to come back.

Saturday I turn on the BB 360, which I've had for 2 weeks, and wouldn't you know it, 3 red rings. Amazingly enough, that's my 3rd 360 I've had go down on me now.

I swapped it out with my refurb that I got Friday, and right away it's not sounding right. The fans in idle sound funny, and when I put in CoD2, the whir is horribly loud, reminiscent of the 2nd 360 I had that I took the video of. :(

I'm pretty patient, but this is starting to get pretty silly. I'm going to have to purchase the extended warranty for this refurb, I don't trust that it'll last very long, but with my luck it'll last just a tad over 30 days.

I wish MS would finally just give their refurbs a year warranty.

So far my experience is as follows.

1st 360 - launch day - 3 red rings.
2nd 360 - refurb - lasts less than a month.
3rd 360 - refurb - just arrived this past Friday, sounds awful.

1st replacement 360 - had for less than a month, played fine.
2nd replacement 360 - had two weeks - bricked.

Wow, JR. Sorry to hear you're still having problems man. My refurb is still hanging in there (played it 30 straight days now..lol) with one exception. Sometimes the DVD drive (which is quiet most of the time) will make a loud whirring/buzzing noise when the disc stops spinning. I'll try to send some positive refurb 'karma' your way.... :cool:

My replacement 360 is due at my house today March 30th. I shipped my dead one to them on Friday March 23rd and reported it dead on March 17th. Just under 2 weeks from call to return. I will report back on how things go with this one after I get it hooked up.

Ok. So I wasn't at home to sign for my 360 this past Friday so I had to be home for it to arrive today April 2nd.

It was returned in the same generic white box I sent my dead one in 2weeks ago. I received my 360 in return. I checked the Serial#'s and they match. I plugged it in and everything came up fine. Seems to run cooler than before, not sure how or why that could be. I played Crackdown for about an hour and had loads of fun! Crackdown is the game that put my 360 out of its original misery.

Anyway, I'm back and online, so far so good.

RICHUT96

Wow, JR. Sorry to hear you're still having problems man. My refurb is still hanging in there (played it 30 straight days now..lol) with one exception. Sometimes the DVD drive (which is quiet most of the time) will make a loud whirring/buzzing noise when the disc stops spinning. I'll try to send some positive refurb 'karma' your way.... :cool:

Thanks for the kind words and karma. :) I'm pretty amazed at this string of 360 bad luck I've come across. I recall when my friends 360 went down, and I kept assuring him that it had to be a rarity. When his refurb went down, I told him the same thing.

Now, here I am with 3 that have bricked on me, and a refurb that sounds like it's about to go. I'm skeptical that my refurb will last, but I'd prefer to have it go down past 30 days and just purchase a new one (to get that year warranty) as opposed to purchasing an extended warranty and only have that nulled when it's refurbed.

Either way, I hope the one I have lasts! :)

Ok. So I wasn't at home to sign for my 360 this past Friday so I had to be home for it to arrive today April 2nd.

It was returned in the same generic white box I sent my dead one in 2weeks ago. I received my 360 in return. I checked the Serial#'s and they match. I plugged it in and everything came up fine. Seems to run cooler than before, not sure how or why that could be. I played Crackdown for about an hour and had loads of fun! Crackdown is the game that put my 360 out of its original misery.

Anyway, I'm back and online, so far so good.

RICHUT96

I should have written down my serial to see if they sent me back the same 360! I never thought to do that. Hopefully I won't have to! ;)

-JR

You should always write down your serial numbers, particularly with MS. Heaven knows, they're watching you like Big Brother.

I got the same 3 ring deal on my XBOX 360.. my box was purchased the 1st day it came out in 2005..called Microsoft support and the rep said it was out of warranty and it would cost me $139 to fix...after I expressed my anger in a diplomatic way, I went ahead and paid the fee to get it repaired, but called back 15 minutes later with a change of mind since the 360 came back on green and requested for the money to be put back into my account and of course there would be no repair...frustrated I turned to this thread and some member was advising not to give up and try fighting it out, I took the advise and called back the very next day and told the rep that my box had issues without mentioning anything about my previous cancelation, the rep read it as if I still had warranty since it takes a while to process in their system and he issued a free repair step and sent UPS...I then called back and yet another rep took my call and I asked if my refund was still in the works, he said yes, and that he also saw that a repair process was initialized earlier...the confused rep asked me how come a refund was made an yet a repair step was ok'd, I told him that the previous rep had corrected it, lol....I then asked the rep to note the account that my money was being refunded and that a free repair was also initialized...he did...I long ago worked for Cingular wireless tech support and I know for a fact that this reps make decisions following notations from previous reps..in my case, the rep was so confused he did not know left from right and went along with the whole thing....pheww!!!

damn so i called Microsoft to see if i could get a free repair my xbox has been down over a month and is out of warranty and they wanted $139 to fix but i dont wana pay that. I was told to call them and ask to speak to a supervisor and give them hell to see of they can fix it for free and they wouldnt budge. All they did was say they would give me 25% off the $139 fee.

so should i pay the $104 t fix my 360 ?

I really miss playing it.

You're probably out of luck throwback. I'm guessing your 360 that's been down for over a month is a refurb you got back, and it's been 30 days since they mailed it to you? If so, they expressly state in their warranty that they give you 30 days starting on the actual date it's shipped back to you.

If your Xbox is less than a year old (and an original, not a refurb), it doesn't matter how long it's been down, they should give you a free repair.

-JR

You're probably out of luck throwback. I'm guessing your 360 that's been down for over a month is a refurb you got back, and it's been 30 days since they mailed it to you? If so, they expressly state in their warranty that they give you 30 days starting on the actual date it's shipped back to you.

If your Xbox is less than a year old (and an original, not a refurb), it doesn't matter how long it's been down, they should give you a free repair.

-JR

no its a launch counsel , i havent sent it to be repaired , was thinking of buying a new but dont want 2. I have invested alot in games and all. I have a ps3 but, most my games are on the 360.

I think im gonna give in and pay the $100.

no its a launch counsel , i havent sent it to be repaired , was thinking of buying a new but dont want 2. I have invested alot in games and all. I have a ps3 but, most my games are on the 360.

I think im gonna give in and pay the $100.

I just got off the phone with xbox live support.

I also have an early console MFG date 11/25/2005 and up until last night have had ZERO hiccups and considered myself very fortunate.

Played Guitar Hero and 3 red rings.

First they wanted me to pay $139.95. Then after being put on hold they came back and offered 25% off. Spoke to a supervisor who would only offer me a 50% discount. No matter what I said she would not budge.

After speaking to a supervisor at xbox for $69.95 they will :

1. Send me a box to ship it to them.Free shipping.
2. Fix it.
3. Send it back to me( I would hope LOL).Free Shipping.
4. 1 Year extended Warranty.
5. 1 Month Xbox Gold membership.

I just got off the phone with xbox live support.

I also have an early console MFG date 11/25/2005 and up until last night have had ZERO hiccups and considered myself very fortunate.

Played Guitar Hero and 3 red rings.

First they wanted me to pay $139.95. Then after being put on hold they came back and offered 25% off. Spoke to a supervisor who would only offer me a 50% discount. No matter what I said she would not budge.

After speaking to a supervisor at xbox for $69.95 they will :

1. Send me a box to ship it to them.Free shipping.
2. Fix it.
3. Send it back to me( I would hope LOL).Free Shipping.
4. 1 Year extended Warranty.
5. 1 Month Xbox Gold membership.

how did you get 50% off thats what i was trying to get and they wouldnt budge all they said was 25%.

I even asked and told them all i could afford was 60-70$ and they put me on hold and said no all they can do is 25%

thats bs :mad:

how did you get 50% off thats what i was trying to get and they wouldnt budge all they said was 25%.

I even asked and told them all i could afford was 60-70$ and they put me on hold and said no all they can do is 25%

thats bs :mad:

Be persistent but nice. Thats what worked for me..

My brother in law got off the phone with MS today and got 75% off with 1 year warranty and 1 month of gold. It came to $35.

Don't believe what they say they have different stories for everyone. Just keep calling back till you get it free. They are like f-ing telemarketers trying to feel you out.

After I went through 6 360's I decided to go with PS3 and have not looked back since. Sure it works for me because I play Madden the majority of the time but the PS3 will catch up within a few months and these pieces of **** 360's can go back to hell where they belong.

Two of my friends here from work just had their 360's die on them. What has been the problem with them? Mine still works,but has been really noisy lately.

Finally got 50% off came out to $69

I had to lie tho. I called told them the supervisor said 50% off last time but i couldnt pay cuz no funds and that he said just to call back when i had the money. At 1st they said no all they could do was 25% off. I said i was positive the supervisor said 50% off. They gave me a hassle so i asked to speak to a supervisor. He said that it was written that i could get 25% off. I said i wa sure they said 50%. He said he wasnt calling me a liar but it said 25% and that he was in a good mood so he was gonna give me the 50% off.

about damn time.

i wasnt gonna pay $139

$69 is a little better but they should fix it for free.

im in Cali how long will it take to recieve my coffin ? also what is the time frame to get your 360 back ? They said 2-3 weeks

Well guys, i'm back. Playing GOW online, bam, my replacement 360 died on me, after recieving it late JANUARY. if they keep this up...i don't want to give up on them, but i'm going to have to go to sony..

Finally got 50% off came out to $69

I had to lie tho. I called told them the supervisor said 50% off last time but i couldnt pay cuz no funds and that he said just to call back when i had the money. At 1st they said no all they could do was 25% off. I said i was positive the supervisor said 50% off. They gave me a hassle so i asked to speak to a supervisor. He said that it was written that i could get 25% off. I said i wa sure they said 50%. He said he wasnt calling me a liar but it said 25% and that he was in a good mood so he was gonna give me the 50% off.

about damn time.

i wasnt gonna pay $139

$69 is a little better but they should fix it for free.

im in Cali how long will it take to recieve my coffin ? also what is the time frame to get your 360 back ? They said 2-3 weeks

Good to see that you're getting you 360 replaced. It doesn't take long, although I'm not sure if your location in Cali will effect it much. Each time I've had my replaced it's taking about a business week to receive the coffin, and about another business week and a half to get the refurb/replacement...maybe a bit longer.

Your 2-3 week guess is about right.

Mine just died for the second time....i just called them...im just glad i was not playing anything at the moment..i will die if it happens to me when forza releases...with my luck the halo3 beta comes out when its on service...lol

I imported my first 360 from the US to New Zealand and painted the case at great expense. It lasted 4 months.

Without a warranty or hope of MS even looking at it, I had to perform a heatgun fix. I managed to get 26 days use out of it before it failed again in the exact same manner.

I recorded the repair process and was reviewing the footage when I noticed when skipping through the clip there was a huge amount of warp where the board was being heated.
So my 'fix' video has now turned into a short illustrative video that more or less shows what is going on with these common failures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQgLBD3F6Bg

The PCB that is used to construct the mainboard is of a particularly poor quality and when you combine this factor with poor mounting design and lead-free solder points that are more brittle than lead-based solder, you can see how easily these things can fail.

It takes very little heat to warp the motherboard (and of course cooling warps it too). The warping puts pressure on the CPU and GPU chips and forces the corners up (they are only attached to the board on solderballs that are around a millimeter high), so it takes very little warp for them to stress and break.

What is frustrating is that MS could have started using better quality (ridgid) PCB a long time ago, but clearly the cost of simply replacing the boards and charging a repair fee is more cost effective than starting production on new boards when you aren't making any radical changes to the design and layout.

Hopefully the Elites will fix these issues, otherwise its more doom and gloom I'm afraid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQgLBD3F6Bg

Hilarious. I've always wondered why MS couldn't spring for a whopping 1/4" more plastic. I guess selling them at $400 a pop, another 10-20 cents per unit on materials would have broken them. Poor Bill. :rolleyes:

I just got off the phone with xbox live support.

I also have an early console MFG date 11/25/2005 and up until last night have had ZERO hiccups and considered myself very fortunate.

Played Guitar Hero and 3 red rings.

First they wanted me to pay $139.95. Then after being put on hold they came back and offered 25% off. Spoke to a supervisor who would only offer me a 50% discount. No matter what I said she would not budge.

After speaking to a supervisor at xbox for $69.95 they will :

1. Send me a box to ship it to them.Free shipping.
2. Fix it.
3. Send it back to me( I would hope LOL).Free Shipping.
4. 1 Year extended Warranty.
5. 1 Month Xbox Gold membership.

Well my launch day system died last night playing a dvd. Got the 0102 error.
I called tech support and he told me it was out of warranty. He gave me the $139.95 price and I bitched a little and hung up. I saw online people were getting the $69.95 repair with a 1 year warranty. I thought that wasn't a bad deal so I called back to speak to a supervisor. Before I even got that far the rep told me that I was still in warranty and the repair would be free. Not going to complain now. Box will arrive this Friday.

Talking to the rep I told him I understood MS was repairing all pre 1/06 units for free. I don't know if that had anything to do with it but it is worth a try. If the new unit goes bad then I'll try for the $69 repair to get the 1 year warranty.

i have a box made in 12/05...so i called them back monday after they told me i would have to pay $109 for the repair and i told them about this article i read here http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/21/microsoft-offering-free-repairs-for-all-2005-xbox-360s/
and they said they would not acknowledge that is was true and they were not going to help me. then i asked for the supervisor and just told them that i was told that i should get my xbox repaired under warranty because is was built in 2005 and he quickly canceled my original repair order and made a no charge one for me.

^

See, I brought that up with the first rep and he said that offer had expired. I don't think you can "expire" something when you out-right admit to a manufacturing defect. When I brought it up to the second rep he just told me I was still in warranty. Which i thought was odd cause the first rep gave me the exact date that my warranty had expired.

Don't know if anyone mentioned this. I can't post links yet but on the xbox-scene forums there is a pretty successful fix to the 3RLOD problem if you are out of warranty. It cost $6-7 in parts and it involves removing the x-clamps from the heat sinks. It seems this is whats causing the problem. I will do this if the new system goes down.

There has also been a warranty "upgrade" by MS. This upgrade matches what some of you have been discussing, having to pay for your repairs if your 360 is out of warranty, but still getting a new year warranty on the repaired 360.


From the XBox site ----> http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemsetup/xbox360/resources/warrantyupdate.htm

The two "big" changes are below.

"New Post-Service Warranty:
If we repair your Xbox 360 within the original warranty period, you will receive either the balance of your original warranty, or 90 days, whichever is longer. In addition, we will now pay for the shipping both ways.

If we repair your Xbox 360 after the warranty period has expired, while you will be responsible for the repair costs, your repaired console will be returned to you with a new, one year repair warranty.

Return of Original Console
In either an in warranty or out of warranty situation, most customers will now receive their original console back from Microsoft. "

just got my Coffin today requested it on saturday

*shipped out later in the day lets see how long it takes

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