Broken XBox 360
My XBox 360 decided to start blinking red lights at me on Christmas Day. This is an XBox that’s seen a lot of use and never had a problem for the last month, but suddenly, after a short road trip, now it’s unhappy. I was playing a game when the screen went to a mess of horizontal and vertical lines, and then black. Power cycle, and it flashes 3 red lights – all but the top right one.
Apparently this means “hardware failure”. I let it sit for a while and fired it up again and it came back on, but only for a minute or two until it did the same thing.
Nothing feels particularly warm so I don’t think it’s heat, but I don’t know what else could cause this sort of failure.
Now I get to spend the holidays without the XBox 360 (which just became a much more interesting toy since I got a lot of XBox related Christmas gifts), and then when I get home, I get to wait for Toys R Us to have one in stock that I can swap with. Merry Christmas to me.
January 7th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
yea mine did the same thing 2 i play it for 2 minutes and it screws up like you said it pisses me off…..but i called microsoft and he said it ment poor power supply. so hes goin to send me a new one……………….hopefully it wurks :(
January 7th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
Given that the problem with mine goes away when I whack it on the left side, I don’t think it’s the power supply. I can turn the box off overnight and try again in the morning and it will do the same thing, but whack it and it’s good for a week.
January 16th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
My xbox wont read the rental disks that i play and when i get them they appear to be fine but after a couple of plays they have a circle of what appears to be a scratch around the whole disk and it cannot be used after this what can i do and what is wrong with my system
January 27th, 2006 at 11:28 am
At least some of you managed to get some game play. Mine was taken out the box plugged in and flashed three red lights at me. I was told it was a hardware failure and had to send it back so i am still waiting ti see what all of the fuss is about……….
March 25th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Yeah my console did the same thing as to the original post. The circle you see on your disks twatter is the result of the idiots who assembled your 360 put the eye (that reads the disk) too high and so now scratches the disk. I “lucked” out and was on day 89 out of 90 day warrenty when i called microsoft. Its been the third day sense supposibly they were going to send me a box to ship it back to them but still no box. I think i might try the whacking technique steve trys until i get the box to ship it away.
March 28th, 2006 at 6:51 pm
Same thing. Still waiting for my prepaid box from MS…its been 2 weeks now
April 2nd, 2006 at 4:25 pm
I bought an xbox360 and on the 10th day it started flashing the three red lights (I played for maybe a couple hours a night) Well It overheated bad enough that the plastic covering actually bubbled out. I took it straight back to Best Buy and they insisted I send it in to Microsoft. I did so and 12days later Microsoft sent it back to me, unrepaired with a letter stating there was “evidence of tampering or attempted to tampering to the unit” therefore voiding my warranty. Best Buy won’t help, they say they can’t get credit for it from microsoft now so absolutely will not take it back, Manager kept saying “I can’t help you, I can’t help you” was quite irritating. There is no way a tool or any object could have bent that plastic like it did and anyone who has looked at it all agrees that no one a person could have done that to the unit. Be wary sending you units into Microsoft, if their repair center says it was tampered with they tell me I have no recourse. I basically paid $400 to play a 360 for 10days.
May 16th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Same here, bout 2 weeks after buying it i was playing, turned it off to do homework, then turned it on a half hour later and bam, i got the dreaded three lights. So after calling tech support and recieving my box to ship it in is sent it back. Yesterday it came, around two weeks after i sent it to microsoft. So i hooked it up and was extremely happy i put on my hard drive and hit the on button G.R.A.W started but it did not detect my hard drive. I turned it off and back on again AND I GOT THE THREE LIGHTS! i called tech support again! and now i have to send it back.
My xbox360 expirience
God must hate me!
May 20th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
O_O wow…i get the 3 red lights…turn it off…turn it on an it works >> altho i’m really pissed right now because ^^; it just broke DOA4… ._. i shal mourn over you Christie…and Kasumi…n e way…When the 3 red lights blink it doesnt mean low power (Tech support lies) it just means like the rest of you say System Failiur…So if turning it off then back on doesnt work =\ srry but i aint got much else advice.
June 29th, 2006 at 12:04 am
I hate the lights!!! I just got the 3 red lights, and like some of you, my warranty has expired. Who the hell decided to just allow a 90 day warranty anyway, shouldn’t a $400 item deserve at least a year? If Microsoft had any faith in its products they’d give at least a year. Oh, and the $129 fee really sucks considering I paid $400 just 5 1/2 months ago :(
July 3rd, 2006 at 2:14 pm
I purchased my XBOX 360 on June 8th of this year which is almost 7 months after they launched. The guy at EB Games told me that the unit I was buying was one of the “new” models from Microsoft that did not have the overheating problem and other bugs that people are reporting. I took it home and fired it up, it worked for almost four weeks with no problems at all. Then one day after finishing a gaming session I shutdown my 360 and turned it on about two hours later and was the dreaded three flashing lights. I unplugged everything and let the unit sit for a while but when I reconnected everything I had the same problem. I called up Microsoft support and was told that my unit had an “internal hardware failure” and I had to ship it back to be repaired or replaced. It is very strange that my unit worked so well and then all of a sudden it crashed without warning. Now I guess I have to go without a 360 until whenever Microsoft gets around to fixing it.
July 13th, 2006 at 12:41 am
I got my xbox 360 on like july 11th and it craped out on july 9th i just thought that i would share that because the guy above me sounds like his and mine did the same thing in the same amount of time kinda odd if you ask me. i hate microsoft …just switched to apple but i thought their was one thing that they were good at and that was gamming so i went out and got one and now its having problems i am begining to think that microsoft can’t do anything well.
August 2nd, 2006 at 2:55 pm
I’ve just sent my xbox 360 back to be repaired or replaced for the fifth time!! I understand that new products have their growing pains but this experience has broken any trust I have had in microsoft’s commitment to quality. I deal with a great deal of electronic equipment including various computers in my daily work and I have never had problems with anything like what I’ve been going through with the 360!
Total down time is reaching 2 and a half months between the 5 replacements. This situation is bordering on criminal. Among the half a dozen friends I know that own 360′s everyone has had to send theirs in at least once, 2 of them more. If anyone knows of any avenues that I could explore for compensation or at the very least get the word out please let me know!
August 27th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
My 7 month old 360 has just started its dying sequence (3 red lights- goodnight), i didnt know there was a design fault or massive problem with the machines until today. Xbox forums are full of people complaining about dying xboxes, i’d love to know the percentage of faulty units there have been. WTF are MS doing about this? Not a lot except getting richer and richer continuing to sell defective crap. Sooooo glad im in the UK so ‘should’ be covered by warranty (if they honour it- gotta wait to speak to Cust serv).Shouldn’t need to use my warranty though- i cant remember the last electrical gizmo i bought that died after less than a year. Been a fan of xbox for years but looking forward to the PS3 release more and more……..
September 18th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
i bought mine midnight at launch and has worked like a dream till 2 nights ago when i called MS and got it fixed over the phone. next day i turn it on and get 3 red lights again and it wont even start up…im gonna try the wacking method
September 19th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
I bought mine in December. It died in August. 3 red lights. Microsoft will not replace it. Tell the boldface lie that losses are less than nominal numbers. They will be glad to give me 10 precent off.
I’m so angry because I’ve bought just about every console from the beginning of time. I have a 2600 Atari that still works for goodness sakes.
Anyway Eff ‘em. I’m not dealing with people like that. I’m out $400 but that is the last dollar they get for an XBOX or any game. I’ll get a PS3, maybe they will stand behind their product.
September 22nd, 2006 at 11:01 am
I Hate My Xbox !!!
2 months after i buy it the damn thing wont run anygames
i was just about ready to beat tiger at the damn pga
but now my box wont even run the game
and when i turn it on it stays on the Xbox logo starting screen thing for like 20 mins
September 26th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
thank you for letting me know about this now im freaked out that this is happanig i just droped $ 400.00 on one. this scares the SH!% out of me. if it happens to me im gona tell MS to get F$%#.thank you all for puting this on the web for other people to read
i hoppe god loves me and my xbox 360
October 2nd, 2006 at 5:27 pm
hello from london/uk i got the red lights a week ago. phoned ms cus service and was told the av cable was broken. no no no i said i have put a new cable into the 360 and the 3 red lights are still on.c.service said it was the power box . no i said , i have a 2nd power box with me ( my mates from next door) and the 3 red lights are still on the 360.ok said c. service you will need to send the 360 back. (this was 9.15 pm on monday night) c. service said a box would be sent out in the next few days…………..next day at 6.pm UPS ring the door bell and ask for my 360……UPS left at 6.10pm …..tuesday……….(friday at 11.30 am my xbox 360 is back with me and working fine) ONE LAST THING ………DO YOU THINK THAT THE 3 RED LIGHTS MAYBE DUE TO TO SOME SORT OF ONLINE VIRUS THAT MAY HAVE GOT INTO OUR 360S????????????????
MOST PEOPLE PLAY ON LIVE AND I WAS THINKING MAYBE THE 360 AS A BACK DOOR FOR SOME PEOPLE TO DOWNLOAD VIRUS VIA LIVE ……THINK ABOUT IT
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:48 am
Add me to the list, mine went down after ten months, paid five hundred because I had to buy three games I don’t play with it at Toys r us. So it only cost me $50 a month to play. Ten month divided by $500. Hope they fix it, I hate to have to pay more just to fix it. Well guess I have to play my PS2 for now. Glad the PS3 comes out next month.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:01 pm
me and my wife bought our son an xbox 360 for chrtistmas last year, it went out about two (2) weks ago. it would not turn on for nothing, with it’s three (3) blinking red lights. i thought it was do to over heating, had a fan on it for two ( 2) – three (3) hours and tried to turn it on, with no success. so i waited till morning time about 6:30ish a.m. when it was alot cooler in the house and tried turning it on again, still no luck. my wife took it down to game stop and they exchanged it for another one that they had in stock. all before the warranty was up, he is now playing his with no problem “YET”..
October 4th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
I buy broken xbox 360′s if you are willing to sell it. This way it will not be a total loss for you. My e-mail adress is tommy33mac@gmail.com -thanks.
October 9th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
I’ve had mine since launch day and just yesterday(10-8-06) it went dead. I called microsoft only after I tried the steps to try to fix it that’s listed on the web. Thet are going to mail me a box so that I can have my 360 fixed at no cost. I hope it gets fixed. I decided to do some research on the web and discovered a crap load of people having the same thing(red lights)-system malfunction. My first xbox went out on me after 2 years and I did’nt even play it that much. This is going to be the final chance, I have been behind microsoft and their products for 10 years now. If they don’t fix my 360 problem the first time I will demand my full money back for the purchase of a ps3 and will never purchase a microsoft product again to include items running on microsoft software. We all need to get together and file a massive lawsuit against microsoft for their stupidity at our cost, maybe then they will realize they screwed up in a big way and take care of us people that invested all that money on a bogus product. gh
October 10th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
You buy broken 360′s. Too bad i smashed mine up yesterday. Got so frustrated with those damn red lights i just took a hammer to the 360. Wish i would of read this earlier. oh well and F#@$% microsoft for making a crappy system
October 12th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
My XBox 360 is sitting in the trash now after getting those ’3 red lights’! I think we should file a class action lawsuit against Microsoft. Does anyone know if anyone is doing this already?
October 17th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
“For the love of….F#@k sake!!!” Guess what, at 17:12 i was just sitting down after a hard days graft to relax, ive had a shower ive got my cup of tea next to me and a fag in the ashtray and dinner’s cookin.
so i say to my self “you know what? its that time!” so i gets the control pad out, presses the button and before i go n play the new splinter cell D A demo i thinks “a bit of Dig Dug first”, i was playing for about ten minuites when …….No….no…..no… (i then prceded to cry!) THE THREE ROTATING LIGHTS OF DOOOM!!
I dont know what im gonna do yet so err….S**T.
i hope my warranty is valid i cant remember when i bought it so erm …..yea ….nice ;)_
October 17th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Well I purchased my xbox on the launch date, and finally this morning when i went home for lunch to play a quick game of NBA LIve 07 it just frozen up. i figured it was my cords for the High Definition Tv I Had just Purchased. i unplugged it for a while and tried again, it work for about 2 minutes then it frozed up leaving irritaing pixels all over the screen. then i tried it again and it didn’t even cut on just the circle of death showed up (4 red lights) My xbox lasted for almost a year. NOW I’M AT WORK and left the fan blowing on my system, hopefully that will work, if not i would have to try the old nintendo trick, beat the S*#& out of it. WHY would microsoft sell such a deffective product, i called microsoft and when i get home he’s going to help me trouble shoot it over the phone, it better work because Splinter cell comes out today. An i’m going to Iraq in January, and i won’t to play my f*%&ing game, if not i guess it’s strip clubs and beers for me until i leave.
October 20th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Hi All my xbox went down at 3pm on wed 11th of oct so did my brothers and so did my best mates all at the same time 3pm-3.15pm
my one had 3 red lights so did my brothers and my mate had no power we were all on live at the time on pgr we have now sent back all 3 xboxes but why would this happen at the same time to 3 people.
ps my brother and i are in the uk and my best mate is in spain
October 25th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
I bought My xbox about 7 months ago and would frezze about every 2 weeks but would work fine other wise, then out of no were it gives me a pixliated screen!!!!!!!!!! I really wish i would have saved my money for the ps3.
November 5th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
You can buy a new one and then just give the old one back in the new ones box and get a refund
of $400.
November 7th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Well it was a good run. I bought my Xbox 360 on a whim. The propaganda on MTV the night before got to me so I ran out to all the nearest stores. Best Buy, EB, Walmart you name it I tried it. Until lo-and-behold I found a Target with no line. Why? Management wasn’t letting anyone line up until 11PM. Cool, I sat on the curb in the parking lot and one by one, car doors began slamming and people filed out with their blankets and nap sacks. I think I was the only person there that was actually going to play my 360, nothing but old parents. But at 10:59, I raced across the parking lot like a track star after the gun to be first in line. Waited all night in the cold. No blanket. Nothing just a hoodie. I risked dying on a cold Wisconsin night on the pavement of a local Target for my 360. Finally at 10AM I got it. Fast forward to almost a year later. Sept 30, just downloaded the new Raw vs. Smackdown 2007 demo, and then my 360 decides to go down for the count. Three red lights. Eff! Oh well send it to Microsoft. I will admit I was suprised, my box came in 3 days. My 360 was serviced in under 2 weeks…or so I thought. Whoever, serviced my 360 simply looked to see if it turned on without the red lights and didn’t check to see if it played a game. It takes the disc (DVD, CD, GameDisc) pretends to read it, nothing. It asks me if I want to “Open Tray” as if there is no disc present. I put in one of my CDs and changed it from a standing position to laying,to see if the DVD-Rom is even working. No grinding, no even a peep out of the thing. Yeah I can play demos, listen to music, but I just bought Gears of War because I was so excited that it came back so soon. Well, I’m on the phone with them now and they said they’re just going to send me a brand new one within a week. I don’t know about Microsoft. I’m definately going to buy a PS3.
November 7th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
dude i bought my 360 on the release date and it hasnt over heated or had any problems until today….i was just playin online with some of my friends and boom 3 red lights and death to my xbox…. i tried to start it up againa dn again but nothing cahnged so i called customer service support at microsoft… i was on hold for an hour just so i could get a number abd have someone tell me to call back tomorrow to see about replacements….i dont know what will happen but im really pissed off….and i was so excited about call of duty 3 i saved up to buy it and now i have 60 bucks and nothing to use it for except probably fixing my xbox….this is BS
November 18th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
ever since the beginning of week of the debut of the PS3 my 360 has not been working all of a sudden. so im going back to SONY. Bill gates and microsofT need to do something.
November 27th, 2006 at 7:40 am
Just Started PLaying Oblivion and the 3 lets came on….. ive had it for 9 ish months now. does this mean its the end of my xbox?
December 3rd, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Yeah, mine is on its way out, atleast it looks cool, the graphics are all shaded, gears of war looks like a cross between the orignal graphics and cell shaded graphics, interesting yet crapy. havent called them yet to see what they can do.
December 7th, 2006 at 11:44 am
f$#k xbox i got mine 2 day ago i started playing live online and BOOOM the ring of death why the f@#k didnt frodo throw that ring in the valcano!i need a playstation i was always a ps fan but thought xbox 360 looked kind of hot so i got one now im waitng for the box im bout to sell it to eb games and be done with it
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Hey, Mine has a weird problem… I can have it on but some features on the dvd thing don’t work… it freezes after 10 min in arcade game and in about three min in proper games (have tried three different ones already) then my tv has a short squeal and the picture freezes. Is this a unique problem? and it just started doing this after the most recent update. Oh and heres the strange thing, no dreaded red lights! but the green one for one controler blinks from left to right sometimes… also just since update. Good luck to all that have a bust 360 thanks to microsoft, and I’m sure i’ll have a wonderful christmas :) 3 days to go most gifts are games.. been looking forward to some bloody chainsaws in gow.. Shoot me now!
December 28th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Had my 360 die on me twice already! Number one scratched and ruined my game discs, number two MELTED a game disc and im now on my third replacement. I hope this works and doesnt break! Luckily my previous two broke within 30 days so I could take it back to the store. But MS need to do something about this. If it breaks again im getting a refund and buying the PS3.
January 16th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
My xbox 360 was working great until I moved it to my brother’s house over Christmas. We had a GOW marathon and it worked flawless. Once I arrived home I plugged it in and got the pixel frozen screen. I so far have had no red light but it freezes randomly every time I turn it on. My xbox 360 has the Oct 2005 build date. Screw sending it in for service, I am going to return it to Costco for another unit.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
my 360 just gave me the 3 red lights the fact is that i knew it would never work again as soon as i saw them because it did it 2 me on the original xbox and when u ring them they do not help and act like your at fault and they are bored of hearing the same thing over and over this tells me that it obviously happens all the time so fuck microsoft they mess u around when bill gates dearns £100 a second and last year alone earned26 billion pounds the swine
January 29th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
ours did the same thing…3 flashing lights and a checkerboard after 3 hours of play..sent in the console for repair and just got it today..with the botton of crushed…and it doesn’t work…we are going back to SONY and getting a PS3
February 12th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
i am on my 3d and i am sick of this @#$% i love halo thats is y i got the dam thing BUT i can learn to love ps3 sorry microcoft but you can kiss my marine corp ass by halo hello god of war 2
February 12th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I just got the three red lights and I’m very unhappy. I’m trying the towel thing… I’ve never had an xbox before only sony things, but I thought that the ps3 was priced out of my range… Microsoft just screwed me out a five hundred dollars if not more the controllers cost fifty…. how do they get away with it
February 19th, 2007 at 4:11 am
I’ve had my 360 for about a year now with absolutely no problems. I purchased the hd dvd drive add on about two months ago and installed it…again with no problems…until last night. Not the three rings of death but one flashing red light (bottom right corner) and a tech support message on my screen telling me I have an “Error 74″ After some extensive googling I found that the error message indicates all I need to do is get a new av cable which I went out and bought today. Another 50 bucks for a high def cable. Did it work? Nope. Error 74 yet again…and again…and again. I don’t think I’ll bother calling Microsoft for a free repair since I think I know a way to get my hands on a new one without losing any money. I’m just pissed off that hardware problems, failures et cetera even exist and from what I googled last night and this blog, I know I’m not alone.I like that microsoft at least acknowledges there’s a problem now and offers free repairs but the fact that it has to be repaired when the damn machine hasn’t outlived a hamster yet is effin ridiculous.Plus I don’t know about you but I don’t want a 400 “refurbished” product either.
March 13th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
My 360 started to flash three red lights and a black screen it sucks.
I was playing Dead Rising this march brack then it just stoped and stared to flash me.
I only played that xbox for 6 mouths and its a good thing i got the worenty.
March 13th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Not sure what is going on with my xbox 360 but maybe somebody can help, I dont get any red lights the problem is I dont see anyting on my screen I hear my 360 reading the cd and stuff but still nothing on my screen I tried everyting from removing the component cable I tried using the normal av side of the component cable nothing happends Im pretty sure its not my tv cuase I still can watch normal tv channels and stuff. I hope my component cable is just broken or something.
I did get some times some weird yellow screens right before my 360 died or what ever happend to it.
March 16th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Well, like most of you my SH*&box died again, 5. This last one is special, i called xbox, 1-800-4myxbox, and they tell me that my case is specialand i need to talk to the newly formed repid responds team, it took them 8 days to call me back. I started calling after the 48 hours I was told I needed to wait. Again they did call on the 8th day and told me that I have a special case and it needed to evaluated by the board, sounds like SH*& to me, but I wait the additional 2 days. I call and now I can’t get anyone to call me back. I get no help, it’s been over 2 1/2 weeks. MS sucks and I would like everyone to write a letter to Corporate explaining what’s going on. The address is, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-7329, I also take notes with everyones name. When you ask the for their name they also tend to help a little more. This last issue may never had gotten fixed if I didn’t write a letter!
March 19th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Jesus, what was I going to say?…..
Oh yeah. I’m on my second 360. Mine broke on its 91ST day, microsoft told me to get fucked basically. anyhow, I called support again the next day while cleaning my gun and told the supervisor that 400 is a lot to pay for something that doesn’t work, and in my most trailer trashy voice, I told him I was going to come see him. I said I was willing to spend 600 on a plane ticket to come have a face to face conversation with someone who has effectivly stole 400.00 from me. well, needless to say, they sent me a coffin the day after. The one I have now freezes up with no lights after 6 or so hours of play(yes I play for 10 hours at a time on the weekends) at any rate, I have 2 of the old xbox that are perfect, I wonder what happened to microsoft. it use to make a superior product. One of my xbox are the “first run” with the samsung hd and it still works perfect with about 25,000 hours on it.
March 20th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
how much do you buy them for tommy mcbride? i might sell mine.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Well, if you guys dont want those broken 360s, make sure you tell me. Leave a post here or something and I’ll get back to you about it.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I am selling mine, looking around to see how much I can actually get for a broken one without the HD. So far highest ive seen is $150 on ebay. If anyone is interested in buying a broken 360 let me know. Email is chaos815@gmail.com
March 30th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
well great, the red lights of death just came on ten minutes ago and there goes any hope i had out the window. but atleast i get to sign my name to the bottom of this list. hey… what was i expecting for four hundred dollars
April 4th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Came across this site after my xbox360 wouldnt’t turn on, just flashed three red lights. It wasnt overheated for sure. It was fine this monring when I left for work. It was off the whole day. I come back home and turn it on and it wont even turn on, just flashes red. It is total bullshit, Hope I can get my money back since I DID get a two year warrenty :/ I for sure will not buy a second after seeing how many have had the same occurance.
April 4th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Sobbing.
Sobbing…
Sobbing….
WHY do we all accept this madness.. shouldnt there be a way to form a class action lawsuit against a company that puts out a product that is this crappy. My XBOX360 was a source of total joy and insanity (I’d play with my girl on certain games and if I won, I got a wish -awww yeah- and if she won she got a wish -awww yeah- ). THEN this past weekend I used it for the first time to play MUSIC from a cd and since then………..
….
..
……………….. it does not read ANY of my game disks, ZERO movie DVDs…
..
.
….. THIS IS INSANITY.. MY FIRST PS STILL WORKS…the damn thing was bought when they first came OUT!!!!!!!!
HOW DID WE ALL ALLOW MICROSOFT AND GATES TO BECOME SOO POWERFUL WHEN THE PRODUCTS SUCK SO MUCH!!!
April 9th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
this sucks. i was invaded by the red flashing light in the bottom right corner. who can save me?????????????????????????????????????????
April 10th, 2007 at 11:03 am
I have mi 360 for 3 months, one day it crashed and when i turn it off and then on again, it frezees in the “X” logo screen with some scratching noises, then another reboot…… and what do i get!!?? the freaking 3 lights, i sent it to be “repaired”, 2 weeks later i got i back, now this piece of junk just worked 2 week!! less than 10 hours of gameplay!! (i been awfully busy this days) and got again the 3 crapy redlights!! Thank god my wife got the nintendo wii, its not that cool as the 360 but at least it works.
April 24th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Hello. My experience: My 1st Xbox 360 lasted 16 months before the red ring of death. The 2nd one lasted 8 days, however it was disc drive problem not the red ring of death, 3rd one is still working. If there is a class action law suit in the works, I would like to join in. I haven’t met one person that isn’t at least on there 2nd 360. Microsoft should be held accountable for this poor design.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:37 am
hey everybody if you have the ring of death syndrome and your warranty is up or microsoft will not fix it look on ebay. seriously it sounds strange but they fix your xbox for very cheap alot cheaper than i imagine microsoft would. they are actually in the form of ads like you are buying something from them but you pay for shipping and the service which i think on one guy was like a total of $20 and you know that they are for real just look at their feedback score. one guy said he fixed 87 consoles so far and only one of them he couldnt fix. good luck
April 26th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Everybody I know, that has an xbox360, has red ring ass, I live in MI my dad lives in FL. My dad’s buddy at EB has had the problem. I know you could call it coincidence, and 3% failure is probably and acceptable failure rate, but among my circle of family and friends it’s 100% failure, and given the geographical differences 3% should have just about guaranteed none of us would have had failures according to the ‘law of large numbers’, IMHO. I have had many consoles over the years and none of them failed, Is it coincididental that the ELITE is going to have the exact same chassis and a completely overhauled architecture, maybe, but I doubt it. It’s the “REAL FIX” and the “REAL FIX” is going to cost you, Texas Repair is just a bandaid, they’re not fixing shit, you can’t fix the 360, it’s a defective product, defective design, it’s a “LEMON”. MSFT knows this, when the Elite is launched you will no longer be able to buy a 360, funny you can still buy originals from many of the console makers. NO, NOT FUNNY BUT FISHY, IT STINKS. Not only do we need class action, we also need consumer protection, place your xbox360 in a well ventilated and ‘may I make this suggestion’ NON-COMBUSTIBLE area, heat not only damages electronic components, IT CAUSES DEVESTATING FIRES AND INEVITIBLE DEATH. Shame on you MSFT for putting your balance sheet before your precious customers, You need to fix this for your 500 year business plan to work,
May 9th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
On a regular night i was playin Oblivion and i go down stairs for about 5 minutes to get a drink, come back up stairs and my screen is all fuzzy. I think that if i just shut it off and let it sit, everything will be cool again. But then again its an xbox360 so of course not. I dont get the three flashing red lights but i cant see anything when i turn the thing on. I can hear the game like normal but my screen is black. Its not tha tv cuz i can still watch dvds and watch tv. Someone help!!
May 21st, 2007 at 3:48 pm
im on my 2nd 360, well its away gettin fixed at the moment. i had my 2nd 7 months b4 it gave up with the 3 lights shit. the thing is my system worked brillinantly until i decided to join xbox live. almost immediatley after my first session onlne playing nfs carbon, the cooling fan started to go crazy. a few times i thought the fooking thing was gonna take off, it also did the same when listening to music, watching dvds, even when playing games offline. it then started to tell me to put my disc into a xbox 360. i mean the thing must be almost identical to the first xbox for it to think that its not! 279 quid for something thats not worth more than 50 quid. it pisses me off when i think of how much money, even over the last 6 months, on games and acessories for a fooking machine thats fucked. then u think everything will be fine, ring microsoft, shipping ticket in 48hrs, 360 back in 15 days. absolute bullshit. 10 days for the shipping ticket, ups picked it up 10 days ago. havent heard a thing. shouldve waited for ps 3
pissed off in the uk
May 30th, 2007 at 10:42 am
So after not playing the Xbox 360 all weekend, we get back in town and fire it up. Mind you, it’s a launch console that has had only the occassional freeze up. Nothing to write home about. We boot up Halo3 Beta and she comes to a halt. Freezes completely and a bottom right red light starts flashing. No error code. Okay, we restart – and can’t even get past the launch screen without it freezing and blinking the same bottom right red light. I call Customer Support and they have me plug the Xbox powersource straight into a wall jack (I guess it has a built in power surge? That’s what CSR said) – no luck. Okay, disconnect the hard drive and boot it up – still freezing, same right light and no error message. They tell me it’s a hardware failure but can’t explain nothing else. They tell me because it’s out of warranty (December 2006) that it’ll be $139 to have them repair it (that includes shipping and 1 month of Xbox Live). I ask to speak to a supervisor – obviously not happy about this – but I refrain from yelling and screaming at them – after all they didn’t create the problem – they just need to help solve it. Well I get “Sean” – the CSR manager. What a total jerk this guy is. No sympathy, no explanation, nothing. He just says basically, “too bad, so sad”. Now I’m at the point of “what can I do?” which is basically eat the cost, buy a new one or lose out on the $1000s of dollars I’ve poured into games and accessories. So he hangs up on me after I keep telling them they should at least split half the cost.
Well, knowing darn well that I have to eat this $140 price I call back, get a different CSR girl, she offers me a paltry 25% discount, that one lousy month of Xbox Live and then puts me on hold for 10 minutes to tell me she can offer me Kameo or Project Gotham Racing 3. In total I get that for $104 plus they pay for shipping and a year warranty. Fair deal or not?
NO WAY! I’ve been a gamer since the Atari days and I’ve never, EVER had a hardware failure on ANY of my game consoles. It’s not like we play it a lot, it’s in a well ventilated area, lays on it’s side, has never been moved or touched since we bought it on launch (unlike what the CSR rep. kept INSISTING that the hardware failure was caused because of one of these issues).
Hindsight, I should have claimed foul on my Xbox 360 launch console in December just to get a new one. Instead, 5 months after the crap out (oh, they claim Xbox failure is rare – yeah, don’t read the forums or any of the gaming sites do you?) I have to pay $100 more bucks and miss out on the majority of the only reason I own an X360 – the Halo 3 beta.
Microsoft, I’m very disappointed in your treatment of a loyal customer. I would never buy a PS3 but perhaps I’ll just keep investing in my Wii. After all, 5 solid systems later and I know Nintendo won’t crash on me.
I will keep contacting Microsoft customer service until I am satisfied that I have spent $100 of their time talking to me. It’s grassroots and really the only choice I have to reclaim my money. After all, the only choice you have left me is to pay the repair costs of a console you obviously do not stand behind. I plan on doing this June 1st. I proclaim is “CALL YOUR MICROSOFT CSR DAY”. It’s one little thing we can do to show our displeasure on how everything is being handled. I implore you to embrace June 1st as CALL YOUR MICROSOFT CSR DAY. Maybe the overwhelming calls will get their attention. Just tell them that what they are doing is releasing an inferior product and not supporting it. SPREAD THE WORD.
Thank you,
theasp18
June 16th, 2007 at 4:03 am
Im really sorry your Xbox 360 is messed up. I hope you get a new one. Those Xbox 36o0 are awesome. I got a Xbox 360 and it works really smooth. I think the INTERCOOLER messed up your Xbox 360, Thats what happen to me 1 time, but thats it. I love the graphics to the Xbox 360. If your getting a new one, Get Xbox live its awesome to buy to your system. Im serious. I love the Xbox 360. They have great games. I love that call of duty 3 game, Its awesome. If you have problems with your Xbox 360 tell CALL MICROSOFT CSR DAY. Microsoft knows everything about the system, You have to call them fast before there something mysterious go’s wrong,
PS- Do not buy a SONY PLAYSTATION 3, They have glitches and flaws and freez ups a lot. The games for the PS3 SUCKS. Even that resistance fall of man
PSS- You could get a wii, but it has really bad graphics. The games for the wii is not that good but it’s fun
PSSS- If Microsoft can’t fix Your Xbox 360 buy a new one, its about to be really cheap
June 18th, 2007 at 2:11 am
I have a xbox 360 console that is flashing the three red lights and i am willing to part with it for $50 plus shipping…………dont want to dick around with having it fixed so i already bought a core off of ebay so I am gaming again only no i have no time…….
email me at rhorn@terminella.com
June 18th, 2007 at 2:14 am
o yeah and to add it works if it is turned on and left on with the lights flashing for about ten minutes then turn it off and turn it back on again but it freezes soon after ………..and it has been opened and i did not want to attempt to take off the cooling things so i put it back together……..
June 22nd, 2007 at 8:48 am
I wonder if anyone from microsoft has a kid who’s crying over a broke xbox 360. i’m sure they dont have to pay $140 to get it fixed.
now i know why they call it a xbox 360 it’s because of the circle jerk: you buy it $, it breaks, they fix it $. hmmmmmmmm interesting
August 1st, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I will buy people’s Xbox 360s that have the three flashing red lights. Anybody that is interested, E-mail me at kmcled@yahoo.com.
August 3rd, 2007 at 3:26 pm
hey guys when you called microsoft.. did they ask you for your receipt number or just for serial numbers ? do you just send it into them and they send you another one?
August 8th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
man that sucks, i get the three lights every so often by i just turn it off and back on again, and it works…i guess i just luck out…
August 10th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Its broken BUT! wrap it in 3 towells on even if the 3 red lights flash leave it for half an hour then turn it off for 20 mins
when its cooled turn it on.
WARNING!
may cause fire!
August 14th, 2007 at 9:46 am
yeh my screen went like all checkered and then the 3 red lights came i rang microsofe and they said it would take 25 working days does that mean mon-fri or mon-sun??
September 27th, 2007 at 7:47 am
I’ve had my 360 for 12 months or so now and finally got the RRoD, I knew it was just a matter of time until I did I told all my friends with 360′s it’s just a matter of time until theirs goes too, I think the rate of failure is 90% or higher due to a defective parts or poor design. With this amount of failure something more should be done. class action lawsuit or something.
All I know is this, once my 360 comes back from being repaired/replaced, if it happens again I will get it repaired again but this time it will be sold to whoever wants it and I will buy a PS3 because I am not going to deal with this it is totally ridiculous.
I can’t believe some people are on console #4, 5, 6 and even 7! This has got to be the worst console in history in terms of problems.
As for buying whatever console comes next from Microsoft, I am definitely going to stay away from it for a good long while.
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:09 pm
i got a 360, took it out and it got the GOD D$%# RRoD!!!!! I had it for a matter of seconds. Then the IDIOTS at microsoft told me it would take 4-5 weeks for it to be repaired!!!! If it happens again, I WILL take action against Microsoft. ESPECIALLY Bill Gates
October 11th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I had my xbox 360 for about seven months When halo 3 came out I was in heaven two weeks later i got the red ring of death…. I am so pissed because halo 3 is by far the coolest game ever and I was so deep into it when my xbox crashed.. Now I have to wait who knows how long to have it fixed by then my ranking which i had worked so hard on will mean squat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 25th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
I just got the red ring of death. This is my second xbox360. I bought my first 360 at launch, it lasted 12 months and then had to be sent for repair. Got the second one and now that is broken as well, this also lasted for 12 months. So here I am again, ranting and raving to the delightful people at microsoft who tell me that they will fix my console for free!!!! Damn right they bloody will. Anyway they said to me that my beloved box would be shipped to germany by ups blah de blah and it will be replaced. I asked “what about my live account? The more I dont play its wasting MY MONEY, can you please reimburse me for my loses which you as a company have incurred.” I got nothing, not even a lousy 1 month xbox live voucher. My son wanted an xbox and live in his bedroom for christmas, but now im not so sure.
Oh well one more year of my warrenty remaining and if previous form is anything to go by then my yet to recieve xbox should be well and truly knackered, and after that, well it looks like im on my own.
November 17th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Did you ever think that maybe a lot of these problems are caused by the owners? People shove these things in corners that a rat wouldn’t fit in and most have filthy homes that they don’t dust or clean. Just like a PC because that’s what these things are, they need airflow and to be kept cleaned meaning dusted. Stop whining and to the guy that was going off about how his Atari 2600 is still working, the 360 is a little bit higher end with higher end components..please..don’t even compare those consoles.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Something about the HDDVD installation disk (or coincidence) has broken my console. Red Rings Three are now all I get. No probs prior to this attempt to hook up HDDVD.
So I’m returning the $100 dollars worth of games (assassin’s creed, call of duty 4) as well as the $99 wireless adapter as well as the $179 HdDVD add on as well as the $30 Hd disc for House on Haunted Hill Two.
I’ve canceled Xbox Live subscription (over three years old, from previous original xbox and app. 1 year of 360, not sure.
And I’m throwing the Xbox 360 in the trash where it obviously belongs.
It’s ridiculous that there’s no way to reset the console if the USB driver for the HDDVD screwed it up.
It’s more ridiculous that this hardware died because it stinks in general, as indicated by the above thread.
And yes, I called Microsoft’s support (Phillipines?) and got scripted useless responses.
As the Brits, say I’m “well out of it”
NEVER AGAIN, Microsoft…
November 18th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
To the guy who suggested it’s got something to do with where the box is located or condition:
Mine is sitting on top of my stereo cabinet, mainly because I wanted to rule that out completely. It’s sitting all by itself in the open on a hard surface. So it’s not the environment.
November 19th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
OMG! Xbox 360′s are the biggest pieces of shit on this side of the planet! I waited in the cold at midnight with all the other true games of Nashville TN. and bought a xbox 360 for the ridiculous amount of 500+ dollars. I had it for 3 weeks before I got the red lights of death. called microsoft, did the BS routine of sending it back. that worked for about a month! also during this time I have been buying NEW games at their BS price of 60+ dollars as well as controllers, headsets, xbox live, wireless adapter. If you have kept count this is now 3 consoles….!!!!!!!!!! this last one’s replacement was working for about 3 months, then 3 red lights again!!!!!!!!!!!! I am now on my 5th fregging console! this is 5 replacements plus 1 original purchase in 2 years!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah my console is in a climate controlled rack which has it’s own AC unit that keeps all my electronics at 62 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (so it can’t be overheating) oh yeah and dealing with the oh so highly intelligent dumbass fucking idiots that can barely speak english even at a 1st grade level……………. SCREW MICROSOFT because all they have done is screw us over and over again. the funnny things is i still have my original PS2 that is at least 5 years old and has not once ever messed up, I guess the people at Sony know what the heck they are doing! WOOHOO SONY! I won’t even get into the fact that I wsork for the largest PC manufacturer (DELL) and get calls nonstop about the issues with vista! and 5 years ago the issues with XP, ME, and the fabulous 98! I own Mac too.
November 20th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
my 360 cutts of in like 10 min during a game and i had it every since 2006 christmas and i have a year warrante
November 26th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Ok. When I was a kid, the most sophisticated toy I had consisted of a stick, a string, and a ball. When it broke, it was pretty straightforward to fix. There’s something deeply unsettling about a device that can only blink ominous red lights at you while you press the power button for the fourteenth time with crossed fingers in the futile hope that, “Maybe this time it will work.” Making it worse is the inescapable notion that if only you could crack open that impregnable case you could find the thing that needs wiggling, reseating, or dusting and all will be well again. But no, the innards remain internal and the root cause stays invisible. Modern technology just sucks.
All the rancor focused at Microsoft is only partly deserved. Microsoft doesn’t make hardware. The Xbox 360 is constructed by some number of lowest-bidder electronics companies who figured they could save a few dollars per unit by skipping a prolonged quality assurance process. Everyone wants a latest generation console for under $200 and it should last forever. Regrettably, reliability has suffered greatly as a result of conflicting requirements compromises.
Microsoft seems to be simultaneously acknowledging and denying that there is a serious reliability issue with these consoles. On the one hand, they claim that the defect ratio is a tolerable 3%, while on the other they have set aside more than $1 billion for warranty repairs, motivated by an unacceptable rate of hardware failures. Personally, I think that a 3% post-consumer failure rate is incredibly high for an electronic entertainment device such as the 360. If cutting your toe-nails had a 3% fatality rate, there would be way more crazy-long toe-nails out there.
What really creates the market animosity is the kind of remote customer management that one has to go through to get a resolution. You can’t just take the hardware back to the store; they have their money and they certainly don’t want to deal with you. No, you have to call 1-800-KICKMYARSE, wait 48-hours to call back again, wait 3-5 days for a shipping container, call the shipping company a few times because you weren’t home that day they tried to deliver the valuable empty box, send the console away and wait 3-4 weeks longer for a repair that may not come and apparently may not last.
Anyhow, you don’t have to wait for a class-action lawsuit in order to take legal action yourself. If you really feel like you’ve been jerked around enough by the warranty repair process, you can likely file a small claims action with your local/regional court office. Getting a monetary judgment against Microsoft won’t guarantee you a settlement, and it won’t make-up for the hours of lost entertainment time, but who knows. It just might get someone’s attention.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Hi everyone, Ive had problems with my xbox 360 as well and it seems as if the entire world is having problems with Microsofts console. It is extremely frustrating putting out the money for something with as many problems as the 360 and then just as frustrating having to call MS and deal with people who dont even speak English.
Im not sure how many people actually still have their broken 360′s just lying around but sometimes its just easier to buy a Playstation 3 than to deal with Microsoft. For those who still have broken 360′s just taking up space Im very interested in buying them, I need a few used systems, doesnt matter if they are voided or not but it puts money back in your pocket.
Email me at: Ntoanime@aol.com and I am paypal verified.
Thanks,
Brandon
January 14th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I keep gettin 1 and 2 red lights all on the botom nearly every time i turn the console on an its fukin hakin me off and ave foned MS 19 times they say they will send a mail order order out to me but 4 months on NOTHING buy th 360 elite it has good solder and good motherboard that works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
how do i send it in cuz mine did the same thing
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
They keep sending me the same broken 360 over and over again. Yes same serial number and all. It never ends. I’m thinking of just buying a new 360 and if they ever send me a working 360 in this century. Sell it on Ebay.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
It also turns out that not all of the wireless controllers will work with a wireless headset–a discovery that comes just a bit too late. Surprise! Your controller is no longer covered under warranty, so add it to the MS branded paperweight pile. Fuqqers.
Hey, for the 1+ billion bucks that Microsoft is spending on XBox warranty repairs they could start their own space program. They probably shouldn’t build the hardware, though. It would make it hard to recruit astronauts.
I’m goin’ to buy a ball of string to amuse myself with…better reliability.
February 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I hate Microsoft, they are such idiots. They won’t do anything about my xbox because they say I’m out of warranty and they say that they won’t fix the one red light(bottom right). anyway there is a test you can do to check what the problem is, first of all check the E(number) like e74 or whatever when you turn it on and the hold the sync button and click eject 4 times and see the code that is given such as 1 light flashes, 4 light flashes, 2 light flashes and the another 2 light flashes means its either your av lead or your encoder chip, (HANA ANA) In rare cases it could be your GUP, Il post link to check it out and then look for tutorials on how to fix these problems yourself if microsoft wont help, screw em!
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/Xbox-360-error-codes.htm
Copy and paste^^^^
February 21st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I got my Xbox 360 Elite on September 25th of 2007. I played Halo 3 for more than 5 hours non-stop and I beat it in less than 1 day. I haven’t had any problems with my Xbox 360 Elite since. It is still working today (just tested it).
June 24th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Yea I have alot of experiece with Rrod. Send your broken system to me and I will pay you for it. No need to just throw it away when you can make some money. http://www.sellyour360.com
June 28th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
[...] from one console to another. This is a great thing for me because my 5 previous repairs (between Christmas 2005 and Christmas 2007) left me with content licensed to a mish mash of consoles, and a lot of content [...]
August 14th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I recently sent my console in for repair due to a red ring of death within the warranty period. What I got back was a letter saying “An inspection of your console has revealed that damage excluded from that covered by the Xbox Limited Warranty, has occurred.” and now they are accusing me of “tampering” with my system which is a flat out lie. You can find out more details here:
http://www.mattsmessyroom.com/2008/08/microsoft-repair-center-breaks-already.html
I’ll be blogging about my daily calls to support until I get a new 360.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:11 am
whenever i hear about the ring of death i can’t help thinking of “the ring” with Naomi Watts
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Temporary ring of death fix: Put in an old disc for 30 mins and let it run for 30-45 mins. Turn it off for about 30 secs and then turn it on with the old disc still in it. If it works leave it on and put in a 360 game and enjoy. I’ve had 6 360′s and my newest just pooped out last week, so i tried this and it worked. Then yesterday it happened again and i did this fix and it worked again. I think letting it run heats up what thermal paste is still in contact and makes it work. If this works for you spread the word and if not sorry, and good luck fixing the bloody thing.
December 25th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Well i jus got mine this mornin and it is already doing that. When i turn it on by the controller all it does is, blink for about 2-5 minutes. Then when I want to plug it into the tv, it just blinks faster. I really seriously think that somebody should see whats going, if you want then i will!!!