DailyTech - Red Ring of Death Strikes my Xbox 360: Part II

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Blog: Gadgets Red Ring of Death Strikes my Xbox 360: Part II
Brandon Hill (Blog) - April 2, 2007 3:52 PM

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7 comment(s) - last by noirsoft.. on Apr 5 at 3:33 PM

Oh how I missed thee.

My Xbox 360 arrives back home

So last week, I wrote about my beloved Xbox 360. The console repeatedly locked up after doing some rather simple tasks in the Xbox 360 Dashboard then finally croaked giving me the dreaded Red Ring of Death.

So after getting an RMA number from Microsoft, I shipped the unit off Friday afternoon at my cost using DHL Ground. Since it only cost me $6.66 (Hmmmmmmmmm... ) to ship the nine-pound package from North Carolina to Texas, I didn't complain too much.

I was even more put at ease when I checked the tracking information for my Xbox 360 on Monday afternoon. The package was delivered by DHL Ground to Microsoft's repair center at 10:24 AM on Monday morning -- truly next business day delivery without the added cost. The package wasn't scheduled to arrive at its destination until Thursday, but DHL has been known to throw Ground packages on its airplanes from time to time. Again, no reason for complaint on DHL's part.

So now, the ball is in Microsoft's court. I received an email from Microsoft on Tuesday evening saying that they had received my defective Xbox 360. Wednesday afternoon, I received an email saying that my Xbox 360 had been shipped off using UPS Ground. Scheduled delivery according to UPS: Monday, April 2.

Today, the UPS delivery guy dropped off my repaired Xbox 360. I say "repaired" because the serial number on the back of the console they sent me matches up the serial number of the Xbox 360 that I sent in.

The first thing I did was slap on the 20GB hard drive and reattach the faceplate. I then plugged in the power cord and component/audio cables and fired it up. So far so good. I then popped in GRAW 2 and played for about 20 minutes with nary a problem. I'll have to do some more testing to make sure that things are as they should be, but so far so good.

Hopefully, this will be the last time that I have to deal with Microsoft for a system repair, but I must say that the process was relatively trouble free. Turnaround time was especially fast and the tech support people were receptive and courteous.

So while I'm completely bummed that my console died in the first place, I'm just happy that I can finally get back to gaming after a 1 week+ hiatus!

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about the 360

By teainthesahara on 4/4/2007 7:39:04 AM , Rating: 2

Look I dont mean to be harsh or anything...But it seems from the photo above that your 360 gets poor ventilation in your DVD/VCR rack.Im not denying that 360's brick more than the other consoles.But I really think owners should have more commonsense when they know that the 360 dumps a hell of a lot of heat out the backside.Give the thing all the space it needs and you lessen the chances of problems.Not all these 360s bricking up is M$ fault. Owners share the blame to some extent too.My 360 has never ever crashed or given any problems.That prob because it is not in an enclosed space and is at least 15 inches from the back wall.I dont mean to attack you Brandon.This is a general comment on all 360 users.

RE: about the 360

By Brandon Hill

(blog) on 4/4/2007 9:20:18 AM , Rating: 2

Don't assume ;)

My Xbox 360 sits upright next to my subwoofer... nearly in the same position that the HDD is laying in that picture.

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RE: about the 360

By therealnickdanger on 4/4/2007 2:51:08 PM , Rating: 2

My Xbox360 just died last week (scrambled, psychedelic picture) and Microsoft mailed a box to me for free. They aren't charging me anything. Although, because I NEED a 360 this weekend for a Guitar Hero party, I had to buy a new one, so this actually cost me plenty... but whateva...

Why did you have to pay $6?

Also, I know nothing about your sub, but my sub would blow my 360 over if I had it standing next to it. You might want to move it. You don't want the HDD active when it falls over. ;-)

Parent

RE: about the 360

By noirsoft on 4/5/2007 3:33:48 PM , Rating: 2

Well, having it sit directly on a carpeted floor (which this looks like) can't be too healthy, either.

Parent

Since you're last story my 360 died

By OxBow on 4/2/2007 4:15:27 PM , Rating: 2

My wife and I finished up FFXII just last week, in good time to download the new Oblivion content (she bought the 360 just to play Oblivion). I boot it up, do a system update, and downloaded the 1 gig Shivering Isles file. I'm thinking, "Good, we'll have some nice evenings together running more fetch quests."

The next day I boot it up and try to pop in the game disk. No good. I hear this horrible grinding noise. I pop it out and try Viva Pinata, no good. Same for all my other 360 disks. Now it looks like I get to follow the same path so many other 360 owners have walked.

Glad for you!

By kristof007 on 4/2/2007 6:54:01 PM , Rating: 2

Well Bradon I am glad it worked out for you. Being an Xbox 360 owner I am glad to hear that the replacement is relatively trouble free. Makes it a little more assuring to know that if something happens it's not going to take sweat and blood to get it repaired.

Nice

By SLEEPER5555 on 4/4/2007 3:31:56 AM , Rating: 2

much better than the horror stories i have heard on the PS1 and PS2, basically making people buy new ones. Luckily i have had almost every system ever made and i have yet to have one that has any issues (guess i just dont play enough)