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The "Red Ring of Death" just won't quit. Years after the Xbox 360's release, the hardware failures continue. Forget what percentage of the Xbox 360 population has had a failure. Try guessing the amount of times an Xbox 360 has repeatedly failed for one person. Two times? Three times? It doesn't take long to spot Xbox 360 console owners already on their fourth+ replacement.
Xbox 360 systems have publicly displayed their failure at trade shows and retail stores. The Elite Xbox 360 isn't immune to failure either, as once suspected. Extra heatsinks don't make a difference either. What about the towel trick, involving wrapping your Xbox 360 up for 10-20 minutes? Nope. A temporary fix that soon leads to RROD again.
While Microsoft has extended the warranty for three years on its Xbox 360 system for the 3 red light failure, the return process is a pain in itself. Consumers have to first wait for a return shipment box from Microsoft, then send in the broken Xbox 360 to the repair center. It could take a couple of weeks to get your Xbox 360 console back. Worse yet, you're likely to get a refurbished Xbox 360 system that can keep you in the vicious RROD cycle.
Makes you wonder if this is the kind of gaming system you can keep in your retro collection of gaming gear. Dating back to the Atari 2600, this is the only gaming system I've had to replace more than twice (I'm currently awaiting my fifth replacement). If it weren't for some of the exclusive games on the system, we would have abandoned hope long ago.
Let this serve as a reminder that the RROD is still a fresh wound on the Xbox 360. I'm personally at the point where it's a deciding factor in whether I should buy a cross-platform game on the Xbox 360 or PLAYSTATION 3.
See the following recent posts on Xbox 360 failures from other gaming sites:
- Gearheads of War: GEARHEADS 360 HELP-CENTER
- The Mercury News, A&E Interactive: Defective Xbox 360s — the tale continues
Let us know with your comments below if you've had an Xbox 360 system failure, and how many times you've had to send it in.
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Not a problem
Written by Guest on 2008-04-09 00:00:00
My Arcade disk drive failed and from my call to a new one in my hand was less than a week...Microsofts support for the 360 is the best I have ever seen. I also got a free month of live  Us 360 fans are mad about being without our 360s. If its crap lik | Sickening
Written by Guest on 2008-04-09 00:00:00
On my 6th one... and as I type this, I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that my system works before the day is up.
When you're spending $60 per game and sinking even more money into games like Rock Band it makes it difficult to abandon the system, h | Dead Machines
Written by Guest on 2008-04-09 00:00:00
7 total in my house hold. 5 for me and 2 for my son. I can say this though, the last return was done in less than a week and a new box was returned. This new one runs much better, just hope it last longer. | On my third
Written by Guest on 2008-04-09 00:00:00
When I got my second replacement back it was a refurb and it lasted all of 1.5 hours. | 360 is a waste of cash.
Written by Guest on 2008-04-09 00:00:00
I am on my 3rd xbox now but don't really play it anymore. Always waiting for it to fail again! I have a friend who's on their 2nd elite so they have the same problem. It was about 4 weeks old. They really do have a big problem on their hands, especia | Written by Guest on 2008-04-09 00:00:00
I'm on my fourth broken Xbox... I'm seriously thinking about selling the piece of s#%t and perhaps buying one that will not breakdown, if Microsoft can ever manage to do this before their next Xbox... | Ready to give up
Written by Guest on 2008-04-09 00:00:00
Just mailed off my 7th going on my 8th refurb. I will place 1 million dollars that this refurb wont last until July 4th. Any takers. please I | Great article!
Written by Guest on 2008-04-08 00:00:00
And the picture is cracking me up....it should be the background image for every VP in Microsoft's game department until the problem is truly fixed =)
-SweetTea023 from GearHeads | 360 stinks
Written by Guest on 2008-04-08 00:00:00
I'm on my 3rd one. Got lucky and was able to exchange my first one at the retail store I bought it from, but 2nd one had to be sent back to MS. Took a little over a month before I got back a refurbished unit. Just waiting for my next RROD. I'll only b | sonyfan
Written by Guest on 2008-04-10 00:00:00
I had no comment cause I know the feeling, but the one post about how sony fan boys call it crap but how can they if you miss it. Thats not lonelyness your feeling, that is actually the feeling of when you had a big peice of crap, your happy at first yo | Written by Guest on 2008-04-10 00:00:00
xbox live an halo keep me seeing red!
| On My Second
Written by Guest on 2008-04-15 00:00:00
I just mailed it in on the 9th of this month, and it got the RRoD......I am so dissapointed, and after all this MS does not care at all.... | Good article
Written by Guest on 2008-04-13 00:00:00
friend of mine has a 360. It broke a few months down the road. a month later when he bought it, the elite came out. He was so mad, I don't blame him. He got his fixed in a few weeks and it's working fine. By the way, good article. | James
Written by Guest on 2008-04-21 00:00:00
4th one for me. Customer support told me when I get the replacement to unplug the power supply when not in use. I told him that given the power supply WILL eventually fail, why risk extending the life to possibly outside the warranty window? Then I t | I understand
Written by Guest on 2008-04-27 00:00:00
Just had this happen to me. A week before GTA is going to ring cash register, I get the red ring of death. Lucky me. If Vista crashed like the XBOX 360, Bill Gates might take time to find an answer, but since we are just gamers, it doesn't matter. | Only on a Third!
Written by Guest on 2008-07-02 00:00:00
I just got the red lights and, (what do you know) the repair section of Xbox.com is down (yet again). Now I have to call Microsoft whom I can NEVER understand...I feel so loved. | Second DOA replacement in a row
Written by Guest on 2009-08-04 23:41:39
We got our first RROL about a month ago. The repair procedure looked fairly easy to get through. 2 weeks later, we received a refurb back. I was ok with a refurb, as long as it worked (plus they added another 3 months to the warranty). DOA. Half the discs or less don't read. DVDs, games, doesn't matter. Called them up livid. No apologies, just another repair order. 2 weeks later again, I receive our second replacement refurb unit. DOA. Exact... same... problem. For all I know, they repacked the same one and sent it back. |
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