RED RING OF DOOOOOM

[Steve the Pirate]

fucking got this last night....

booo, no xbox for like 6 weeks, ish.

its a bloody elite, how could it still have a hardware problem so far into the consoles life cycle... :'(

well thank fuck they extended the warranty to 3 years.

[Darke Raven 07]

Oh wonderful. And here I was thinking of investing in the thing. Damn. Are they ever going to fix that problem?
Suddenly the PS3 is looking good again... I'll just get my refurbished from GameStop or something if I can't get over my fear of the Red Ring of Doom.

[Huxley]

Had the RROD twice...or three times, I forget. It's a great console in many ways, but whoever passed it through QA needs a high calibre bullet in the head.

I mean, the three year warranty thing sounds great on paper, but it doesn't renew itself once they send you a refurbished unit. So if you have multiple RRODs? Tough luck, buy another console.

And the extended warranty doesn't cover ALL hardware malfunctions, just the 3 RRODs.

I'm sorry, but the 360 has a serious design flaw. I don't think it's the case of the unlucky few, I'd describe those that haven't had the RROD as LUCKY. Actually, it just happened to someone I know who's had an Xbox for just over three years.

I'll just get my refurbished from GameStop

Yeah, I'd never get a second hand 360. Far too many people trading in their 'working' 360s. PS3 on the other hand tends to be more reliable. That didn't stop me taking out a 5 year warranty on it after my experiences with the 360, though!

[Shabbir]

Is there any logical explanation to a RROD? Like anyway to avoid it, or is it simple stupid hardware issue that is completely unavoidable?

I've kept my 360 in good shape and I've had it for about 2 years with, luckily, no troubles. I think it's pretty ridiculous that I need to fear a £200 piece of hardware is going to crap out on me. Then again, Microsoft...

[Steve the Pirate]

god knows, i havnt played it for a while, like , ages, installed the games to HDD once that was available, so i hardly burnt it out.

i've had it well, i bought it in sept 2007... , but yea, bought the elite thinking it was the best one out, surely like, the latest model, etc etc... oh well, but at least m$ makes it very easy to set up a return and repair service... well i suppose they have to really, otherwise... what else can they do?

well, hope it never happens again,

but saying that , my friends ps3 crapped out, and he only had it a few months... and my ps3 i bought off a friend, so if that craps out im pretty much shit outta luck on that one.

oh well.

[Huxley]

Is there any logical explanation to a RROD? Like anyway to avoid it, or is it simple stupid hardware issue that is completely unavoidable?

The latter. I wouldn't say completely unavoidable though, as some units appear to be absolutely fine. It's just that the percentage of 360's that will experience the RROD at some point is far too high.

Sadly there's nothing you can do to avoid it bar keeping it a refrigerator. I've heard (and this isn't confirmed by MS, of course) that there's a serious design flaw that originates from the circuit board layout. Basically it gets far too hot far too easily and actually warps the circuit boards themselves, meaning that solder becomes disconnected and the whole thing breaks down.

Apparently people who play on the 360 regularly are actually less prone to the RROD because it's the constant warming and cooling of the circuit boards that causes the warping - leaving it on for long periods has less effect than playing it for 30 mins here and there.

All hearsay of course.

[Darke Raven 07]

Well now I can see why there's no X-handheld... the damn thing would probably set your pants on fire.

[Shabbir]

Well now I can see why there's no X-handheld... the damn thing would probably set your pants on fire.

Lol, that's really poor of Microsoft that they still can't fix their hardware issues at this point. I think they're a long way off making a handheld at the moment. I'm sure they're working on something, probably in concept at the moment, but we really won't see it come out for a while.

[Huxley]

They were just desperate to get a head start on Sony this time, so if that meant releasing under developed and faulty hardware then so be it. And despite the almost criminal lack of QA costing consumers in the long run, they were absolutely spot-on. Releasing first allowed them to get a head start, and when Sony finally did release the PS3 they were able to continually undercut them and keep the momentum going. Of course they weren't to know that Nintendo would come from left field and trounce them both!

I think they're a long way off making a handheld at the moment.

With the success of the iPhone I'd guess they're more interested in some Windows/Live compatible mobile device. They tried to muscle in on Apple's turf with that Zune thingy, and I could see them trying again. Not sure it would use the Xbox branding though.

[Darke Raven 07]

Boo! No more IPhone clones or attempts to get into that market already! (Stupid Nintendo DSi!!)

[Darke Raven 07]

If Microsoft is claiming they're working on a concept now for a handheld they're so full of it.
Everyone and their fifth cousin can make a handheld (Nintendo made 5 non sucky handhelds at least counting Game Boy Micro and Sony made the one we know right now of), and even phone company Nokia has it's own handheld (N-Gage) so what is Microsoft's excuse! It's not like it's rocket science to make a gaming handheld!

[Huxley]

Don't forget all the Chinese 'media players' and GP2X type devices - they're ten a penny. The workings of most handhelds are actually very simple because the most of it is available in stock parts (TFT screens, ARM processors etc) but I'd imagine MS would want to do something slightly different.

Like I said, maybe a mobile device or at least something more accessible to the mainstream market. I think the days of the Gameboy are long gone

[Darke Raven 07]

It'd be a sad world if that was the case.

[Shabbir]

I think Microsoft are just being very cautious at the moment with a portable. They were stung pretty hard with the faulty 360's, and the last thing they want is to rush out anything as of yet on the portable market which may also be faulty.

They can definitely make a handheld if they want, but I think at the moment they look more concentrated on the 360 market and trying to expand that with Live and its services. I don't think they could justify financially to put out the handheld yet, they'll wait till the market starts to feel saturated or they can take advantage of it.

[Darke Raven 07]

Or they'll just never put out a handheld for fear of being schooled by Nintendo & Sony (both of whom have released systems that managed to NOT fry themselves internally at the slightest whim unlike Microsoft's consoles).

Catchphrases for Microsoft's X-Portable...
"MY PANTS!! MY PANTS!! MY PANTS IS ON FIRE!!!"
"When you see the smoke coming out of my rear you know I'm packing X-Portable!"
"I had to sign a release waiver pardoning Microsoft from all liability should my X-Portable set me on fire!"

I got a 1000 more... so let's stop now.

[Shabbir]

http://kotaku.com/5256087/is-microsoft- ... psp-iphone
From a couple of weeks ago

[Huxley]

I always love those fake screenshots people come up with for these devices. I remember Halo was a constant fixture a while back.

[Darke Raven 07]

I treasure the day Weird Al sings about the Red Ring of Death.

[Steve the Pirate]

well, its on its way back, sometime in the week.
a lot speedier than i expected.

[Huxley]

Yeah, never had a problem with MS' service. Quick, easy and relatively painless. Of course it should never of happened in the first place, but credit where credit is due.

[Shabbir]

When my brother's 360 got the Red Ring of Death, it took a full month before he got it back. That's actually what prompted me to get my own 360 in the first place since that was the same time Bioshock was coming out!

[Huxley]

A month? That sucks...think we got it back in about 2 weeks. Then it was about a month before it went again

Touch wood, been OK so far. Still has some issues reading discs though. Damn thing is temperamental.

[Shabbir]

Damn, that's really poor that the hardware has been so sucky. I really hope my 360 doesn't crap out on me!

[Steve the Pirate]

back and in working order!

got a free month of xbl too, which is nice and totally unexpected.

[Shabbir]

Ah yes, I think they gave my brother that too.