XBox 360 Breaks and Breaks and Breaks Again
December 11, 2006
Microsoft’s shoddy workmanship is the stuff legends are made of. Their inability to create a functioning piece of technology has long mystified analysts and sent customers into a Hulk-like rage. Their newest gadget — the XBox 360 — is the poster child for their almost magical ability to create products that not only don’t work, but that have the ability to entrench themselves into your heart — and then not work.
The XBox 360 — released much earlier than its competition, the Nintendo Wii and the Playstation 3 — is, in itself, a fantastic little gaming system. The graphics are nothing short of brilliant, the gameplay is a joy, and the console itself is as aesthetically pleasing as a pretty woman (especially if you could play Gears of War on said woman.)
If only it worked.
From its release, the XBox struggled with overheating problems. You see, the system runs so hot that if it’s not in a completely ventilated area with perhaps a gnome blowing cool air inside of it, then it will, almost for sure, melt your $499 dollar system and turn it into a very aesthetically pleasing rock.
That, of course, isn’t the only problem — though it may just be what’s causing the others. The other famed problem is what’s known as “the three red lights” — or, as the Internet audience has fondly began calling it, “the three red lights of doom.”
The console has a green circle around its power button — when it’s green and solid, that’s when users get that warm, slightly surprised feeling that, yes, their XBox is working. However, when it starts flashing three red lights, that’s when you more or less know it’s over — that’s when, if this was a console made by Dell, you dive behind your couch and wait for the impending explosion.
The fun thing about the “three red lights” is that it’s a completely vague error that provides no real ways of fixing itself. The error message means “general hardware failure” — or, in plain terms, “Something is wrong, I think?” and while there are fixes on the Internet — most of them hardly ever work, at least, not for us.
That’s right — we here at Devlib.org have not only recently purchased an XBox 360 — but now know the Hulk-like rage of which we spoke of earlier.
We bought ours from Dell (they were offering $60 dollar discounts — so, why not Dell?) and, after waiting roughly a week, got the console and joyously played it for two days, maybe for a total of three or four hours. On the eve of the second day, the game we were playing — EA Sports NHL 2007 (as fun as anything you’ll ever play) — froze. Shrugging it off as a Windows-type hiccup, we turned off the system, went to bed, and dreamt of slashing people with hockey sticks.
The next morning, we wanted to get a quick game in before we commenced our daily routine of blogging, article writing, and selling body parts for money, when, as we turned on our XBox and waited for it to boot, we saw the thing we all fear and dread — the three red lights of doom.
So, as always, we went on the Internet. Easily hundreds (probably thousands) of people were complaining about similar problems — be it overheating, be it the three red lights, be it some error or other, or be it the XBox just packing up and leaving — complaints were aplenty.
Desolate, angry and very close to slashing Microsoft with a hockey stick, we called their technical support. After spending roughly 30 minutes trying to spell our name to the support employee (”No. Y. It’s a Y. Y. Y. Y. It’s a Y. Yes, got it, Y. No. Y. Yes.”) — we found out this shiny piece of information — as of October 15th, you have to pay for your own shipping.
That’s right, after buying a piece of technology that broke in 2 days (as opposed to our original Nintendo — that still works after all the trauma its gone through) you have to pay to ship it to easily the worst company that’s ever gone to court over charges of monopolization.
Luckily, Dell was kind enough to replace the console for free (we’re still waiting for the new console — we expect it to last at least a week this time around) and, say what you will about them creating products that blow up, you can always trust Dell to accomodate their customers, even their customers who are very badly burned.
It’s hard to judge how many consoles are really working and how many are breaking down after a few days of use. The complaints on the Internet are plenty — but it’s the Internet, and no one with a working XBox is going to go online and talk about how it works. We also have learned that a recent November 30th update has broken a lot of the 360’s (thanks, Microsoft!) — and we wonder if that’s what, in fact, happened to ours.
Here’s what we recommend — buy the system at Costco. Buy it at Costco, and return it every six months and buy a new one — and welcome to the new age of gaming, where the games are wonderful, the graphics amazing, and the consoles as fragile as a burning Sony battery.
I have had an Xbox 360 since a month after it was launched. It stopped working one time. I called them, returned it to them and they gave me a new one within one week. They covered all the charges. Since then, my system has been working perfectly.
-joe
Joe — that’s really nice to hear. Did you update the system? Apparently, a November 30th update likes to randomely break the console — I’m afraid this is what happened to mine.
We’ll see how it goes — still waiting for Dell. Seems, at this point, that it’s a little bit like playing Russian Roulette — only with a game console instead of a bullet, and three red lights instead of imminent death.
I’ll let you all know how it goes.
-Yuri Baranovsky, that guy that writes the blogs.
I had the same problem I got the three red lights about 3 months ago I sent it into Microsoft, and got it back about a week later then, I got the same three red lights about two weeks later, I got it back agian and now I have the three red lights for a third tme, Im about to send it in for the third time to microsoft, Im thinking about just sticking to my Wii and PS3.
I purchased an Xbox in July 06. It broke end of November. I phoned up the customer support line and they sentme the UPS label on an e-mail and it was collected the next day. Surprisingly three days later, we received our new Xbox - except the manufactured date was Oct 05 - so it was a refurbished model. The Xbox broke within 2 weeks and we are now waiting for a replacement - this was after I complained so much that I want a replacement the same time which Microsoft flately refuse. I have talked to 10 people in the customer service and not one of them provided me with the same information.
I am disgusted with the service I received! I just hope that I have better luck with our 3rd Xbox.
i’m seeing 1 red light and an error message thats not caused by heating or av problems. supposedly a hardware failure similar to 3 red lights. does this need replacing?
The XBox that Dell sent me seems to be working just fine. It’s actually a lot quieter than the original — so I can only assume the original was faulty. Ironically, the new one had an error right out of the box — it was something with the HD. So I took my OLD HD, and replaced it… now it works. I think the solution is obvious here — you need at least two-three XBox’s to make one functioning one.
Dan — try a few things. Take out the HD, and see if it works. Try to unplug everything and wait a couple of hours and try again. Try turning it either vertical or horizontal, depending on what you have now.
If all else fails, throw it at someone. You just never know.
Yuri Baranovsky, the refurbished Microsoft model.
What’s good yall… This was a very interesting article i just read, but anyway. I just got my Xbox 360 for christmas and everything is working fine. I’ve noticed a couple of glitches though. Ill tell you what happend. I was playing Tony Hawks Project 8 the other day, i was playing for about a hour or so and then i did a invert ( Hand Stand On the Coping ) and my game hard-locked on me, but i didnt see any red light’s. Then i have noticed a few glitches on Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. One time, my men had just blown up this fuel-tanker truck and then the scree went semi-balack, the reson i say semi is beacause i could still shapes and out line’s and stuff like that. And then another time while playing G.R.A.W, i turned a corner to shoot at a enemy and nothing, he just stood there looking around like a idiot. I walked right up to him, shot him in the face and still nothing. But i think these might just be in game glitches. All in all, i am sure my 360 is fine, but sadly i do suffer from O.C.D’s ( overly compulsive dissorders ) so basically i freak out about stuff that’s fine. Like, i have gotten both the NyKo cooler and the Pelican cooler, but beacause of my O.C.D’s, i couldnt stand to have them on there. The Nyko was to loud and the Pelican was to ugly. But if anyone else has experieced these glitches in these game’s please leave a commet!
Peace
~one~
The coolers both have problems so it might be a good idea that you took them off. One of them sometimes vibrates so hard it can apparently destroy the XBox (I forget which.)
I read somewhere that 1/3rd of the XBox’s were made by a company that didn’t meet construction standards but Microsoft went ahead and shipped them anyway. I’ve got a feeling that the people whose XBox’s are breaking got those 1/3rd.
Which isn’t to say it’s not an incredibly delicate system that needs to be placed in some sort of holy, fanned glass box elevated above the floor.. just to say some of the models are obviously broken.
Glad you liked the article, though. Feel free to read the other blogs!
-Yuri Baranovsky, not only a blogger, but a famous pitcher of his own material — see his internet sitcom at http://www.breakaleg.tv!
Oh… I forgot to mention something with my last comment.
I have noticed something strange about the Xbox 360’s. They get hotter with certain game’s. Like for instance, if i put in G.R.A.W, it get’s hotter quicker than Tony Hawk’s Project 8 & Saint’s Row. I figure it’s probally beacause game’s that are a graphical power house such as G.R.A.W, need more power to process it.
Wassup guy’s. I’m not pointing at anybody in particualr, but i haven’t noticed anything wrong with my Xbox 360. In fact let me tell you a story…
About a week ago i was watching my little couzin’s (3&5) and i was letting them play my 360 ( but i was watching them like a hawk ). Anyway, i go downstair’s to answer the phone and i come back up and there they, getting ready to toss my preasious piece of hardware out of the 3rd story window. Anyway, i couldn’t get there quick enough to stop them, and then i heard a… “WHACK”… so to speak. So i look out the window and i see the 360 laying on the patio. So i run downstair’s to retrive it, and to my surprise… it was in one piece. There wasn’t even a scratch on it, not 1 single scratch. To be evan more shocking, i take it back to my room and plug it in, and BAM, it boot’s up. I evan played a game for 4 hour’s straight and it ran smoothly the entire time, not one single problem. So then i go back downstair’s for a sec. I look out of the kitchen window and i see the 360 splash right into the pool. Apperntly they threw it out of the window again. So i get it with a pool net, obviously knowing that this time it’s broke for sure. But just for the hell of it i take it into the bathroom and blow dry it off. I take it up-stair’s and plug it in and it ACTUALLY booted up. But 3 minute’s into it it blew up. I mean it litterly blew up, you know, with fire. But i bought a new one the next day, and i must say… I am never talking to my couzin’s again
my xbox 360 is a piece of shit i sent it in and now it makes a loud noise like its farting and it scratches up all my good games until they dont work fuck microsoft makeing fucking xbox
Dude, if i send my Xbox 360 to Microsoft, do i have to pay to send it and for them to fix it? Or do they fix it for free because of all their complaints? btw i never got a warantee.
Just buy a cooling fan! One main problem with the xbox is the fact it overheats so much. Buy a cooling fan to stop this from happening
My xbox is an original from the launch date back in 2005. It went belly up this morning during a CoD4 match. Red ring of death. I have a 3 year warrant that is good till the end of the year (so i’m lucky there), but if you don’t have a warranty be prepared to pay. I don’t know the exact price, but I hear it’s about $100 for service and $35 for shipping fees. You can get a refurb one from gamestop for $189 that comes with no hard drive. That may be a better option if your hard drive is still good.