xBox 360 Prone to Crash?
ITHACA - Unconfirmed rumours have been flying around the blogosphere that Microsoft’s new gaming console, the xBox 360, is prone to crashing. Sources suggest the cause of the problems is overheating, such as is the case with some project gotham III disks. Another cause could be faulty media or code, and a recall of games would have to be issued. Some of the 360’s are crashing at boot, refusing to load past the Microsoft (MS) Logo!
The symptoms are completely erratic. Some crash playing games, some crash booting up, and other crash randomly! From the xbox-scene forums, a few random complaints:
I am getting “E 74″ error code on my 360 and the top right light on the circle is flashing red, cannot get through to tech support as they are overloaded right now.
I got to play PDZ for under five minutes before my 360 froze. When/if I turn it back on with or without game inserted I get red lights in sectors 1,3, and 4. I called MS and was told this indicated a hardware failure. After the brilliant tech support told me I should just restart it and call back if it happened again, I was afraid we would get nowhere fast. I then explained that my 360 would not turn back on and was now only a $400 piece of plastic that blinked red lights at me.
It seems that Microsoft might not have been limiting supply because they wanted to create a market shortage, but because they can’t get enough units past quality control! Personally, I think this is awful for everyone involved. When you bring hardware to market–especially something as anticipated as the xBox 2: 360–it needs to work out of the box, in all configurations. There’s no room for error in consumer electronics.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005 at 9:20 am and is tagged with xbox scene, faulty media, xbox 2, hardware failure, ms logo, microsoft ms, xbox 360, new gaming, blogosphere, playing games, ithaca, rumours, quality control, five minutes, xbox, sectors, tech support, consumer electronics, microsoft, game. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.
on November 24th, 2005 at 12:03 am
Crashing rumors along with shortages make this launch look real bad for Microsoft. That and, well… I’m pissed off. Why? Read on…
iwantanxbox360.blogspot.com/
on November 24th, 2005 at 2:03 pm
Yeah, XBox 360’s were way behind MS’s schedule. The guys making launch titles got their beta kits WAY after the time promised. It’s not even a matter of QA. My guess is that they just weren’t ready. They probably finalized the design so late, they didn’t have time to manufacture.
on November 25th, 2005 at 12:17 am
KCNC Denver Channel 4 this evening (11/24) ran a brief story on the numerous out of box failures of the 360. Most seem to fail within the first 24 hours of use, which also happened to be the first twenty four hours out of the box as well for the bulk of the failures.
on November 25th, 2005 at 2:55 am
My 360 started to crash and microsoft said they were not liabil that it was to hot
on November 25th, 2005 at 2:58 am
My 360 started to crash and microsoft said they were not liabil that it was to hot.I would get the ps3 when that comes out.
on November 25th, 2005 at 3:01 am
the psp and ps2 are better and maybe the ps3
on November 25th, 2005 at 5:32 am
I’m not having a single problem with my XBOX. Perhaps that is because I work in gaming retail and get to see all the nasty trade-ins (Thus giving me an inside look into over half of the homes these gamers play in).
My 360 is not on the floor. It is on a shelf of my entertainment center. I do not have air conditioning for climate control, in fact, it tends to get a bit warm in my apartment due to my neighbors. I do not have pets and keep my house dusted and vaccuumed. I’ve played Perfect Dark Zero almost non-stop (with breaks for the significant other to play Condemned) and haven’t had a single issue with anything at all.
My guess would be that this is either a) a bad batch, b) completely user related (since when have people EVER had an easy time with Windows Computers?), or c) a bit of both. As far as those red light issues, I’d say most of it would be a result of people not understanding which cords connect where.
on November 25th, 2005 at 11:35 am
I have been playing my 360 non stop since i got it and i have only had it freeze up on me one time while playing King Kong. I have noticed that it does get really hot, i believe that the people that are experiencing over heating problems are not giving the vent holes on the xbox the room to breathe. You have to remember that that is a fair bit of power for how small it is, I have a feeling we are going to have a recall on our hands.
on November 25th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
My Xbox 360 ended up to be a big piece of crap..it freezes constantly…That Play Station 3 is looking pretty good to me now. THANKS FOR NOTHING MICROSOFT!!!
on November 25th, 2005 at 8:29 pm
LOL..ok..I notice a trend here about the guys talking about ‘user related’ issues and crashes. In fact, if any one else brings that up I would have to assume that they are working for Microsoft. Lets see the logic in this:
I spend $300+ bones for an Xbox 360.
I plug in Xbox 360 and juice it up.
I play for a while and then it crashes.
I say, “hey, this sucks!…I just spent $300 (or $2500 on ebay if your an idiot) and it crashes”
Microsoft and their gimps say things like:
“The people that are experiencing over heating problems are not giving the vent holes on the xbox the room to breathe. You have to remember that that is a fair bit of power for how small it is,”
I say, why didn’t Microsoft address that it the first place?…should I have to buy a big fan or spend $100.00 for a computer liquid cooling system?
Microsoft says that’s just what you need to expect from consumer electronics.
I say Microsoft, go stuff your $ where the sun doesn’t shine…Im not buying any more of your X-pos’s.
on November 25th, 2005 at 10:24 pm
my system has been well ventilated. i know how to plug in the cords.( i do also operate a: n-64, xbox, PS-2, dreamcast, gamecube, and desktop. not to mention i have 2 rooms in my house set up with fully operational surround sound entertainment systems.) dont tell me i dont know how to hook electronics up. this system is flawed. this problem needs to be remedied immediately, or sony will come out and destroy ALL of its competition. sony will not freeze 10 times in 2 hours, like 360 is, and i will be glad to take my initial $800, and give it to japan. they never seem to let us down, but i’m still always hopefull for the US to give them some competition. i live 20 minutes from microsoft for god’s sake.
on November 25th, 2005 at 10:26 pm
The xbox 360 is bad, my thing about it is a cheap piece of junk in plastic, It does not have hardly any good games. It also as over heating problems because of vents and probly other things to. I say the ps3 will probly be better I hope. Also I am a mac fame not pc but I have a xbox anyway but, I will not get the 360 now that I hear more bad things after another. So if I was you I would wait for the ps3 and see if that is better.
My review Xbox 360 = I piece of junk in a plastic box
on November 26th, 2005 at 1:45 am
I agree, some of the termonology the Pro 360 guy’s are using sound very microsoftish. But u guys gotta understand it just came out, its the first model of this specificc unit. its bound to have flaws. microsoft should order a recall or replace all of them immediately though. Its not fair to assume the consumer knows how to “properly ventilate the unit” we all know that, but some people still call xbox and playstation Nintendo. Not everyone knows about technology and games (think older people) A good product is one that works with advanced users and less advanced (stupid) users. off topic but do you guys think since mac’s were used to make 360, there can possibly one day be a 360 emulator on a g5?
on November 26th, 2005 at 5:38 am
i have had no problems……mine never got hot, and never crashed. im thinking maybe it is just a bad batch. the flashing red lights usually mean something is not plugged in (all the way) or that maybe you have it set to the wrong setting on the component/rca cables……i dont know but i played for 8 hours straight and no unsual amount of heat or any kind of lag……so i would think something else is wrong
on November 28th, 2005 at 1:28 pm
I have had no problems with the 360 me and my brother have been playing on it non stop since he bought it between the two of us the 360 hasn’t had a break and no problems.
Have you noticed that almost everyone that is comlpaining is saying something about psp well maybe they should have waited and bought one of them instead, idiots
on November 29th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
I’m a Xbox and PS2 fan and I was looking forward buying a XBox 360. But seeing one bad report after another, I’m starting to feel its a piece of shit. But I will get one, I just want to wait a little. Micrsoft might fix it up or something.
on November 30th, 2005 at 3:30 am
I see people are upset about the 360 and quick to get the ps3. Don’t forget when the ps2 came out the problems that it first had when released. Don’t be so quick to bash Microsoft wait and see what happens.
on November 30th, 2005 at 10:15 pm
I waited for 14 hours at Walmart to get mine so I can’t just get rid of it. I have noticed it runs so hot that it’s like having a space heater in the room but the only problem I’ve been having is it won’t sign into xbox live hardly any of the time. Also it seems to just pause everyonce and a while when I turn it on. I do hope they do fix these problems very soon because there’s alot of angry people out there.
on December 1st, 2005 at 12:28 pm
Got my 360 last night and played PGR3 for about 4 hours with no problems. I decided I’d hook up the wireless network adapter and get some XBox Live. …then it crashed. When I tried to turn th machine back on I was getting the red lights in sector 1,3, and 4. I double checked all my cables, but I couldn’t get it to come back on. Eventually I did get it to power back up, but all I got was a big Xbox logo and no game. Frustrated, I decided to just turn in for the night… and then got woken up by my fiance a while later saying that she had gotten it to work and had been playing for the last hour or so.
This morning before work I flipped the power on and it booted up just fine.
I think all the people bitching about “oh it sucks there’s no good games I’m getting a PS3″ are funny. You want a PS3? Go buy one. Oh that’s right - you can’t! I own lots of Sony game stuff too, so don’t think that I’m a MS fanboy. As a gamer I like ‘em all.
Going to call MS today and see what they say. From what others have indicated, it looks like I might spend quite a bit of time on hold. Thank you speakerphone…..
on December 1st, 2005 at 12:32 pm
whoops..wasn’t done yet.
Even with the problem I had last night - MAN I am blown away so far. The images this thing can puke out are just friggin awesome. I have a 57″ rear projection Sony TV - when I fired the ‘box up (of course after making sure the HDTV switch was thrown) it correctly identified that the TV can do 1080i. No problems (as others have reported) there.
Like I said before, I like several different systems. I had a PS2 and an Xbox. I also own a PSP. All have their merits… people are all too quick to jump in one “camp” or the other and bitch and moan like children.
If there’s a problem I’m sure it’ll get fixed. Microsoft has some DEEP pockets.
on December 2nd, 2005 at 2:47 pm
Well I won my 360 from drinking the Dew and have played it constantly since I got it. I have completed Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, Gun, and played NBA 06 quite a bit and I have not had one single problem from it. I give it 2 thumbs up, it definately rocks the house. I have it sitting vertical in my entertainment center along with the power pack. I dont notice hardly any heat coming from it at all. The only thing that surprises me is how loud it is while its running.
on December 4th, 2005 at 11:29 pm
the system plays medal of honor great but freezes when i play need for speed. i agree a piece of crap if they won’t replace them
on December 8th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
All three of my xbox 360’s are fine running perfectly and not overheating at all. most of the people reporting bugs are sony fan boys trying to make the 360 look bad, or they are mad people who are upset that they chouldnt get one, I will admit that a few have bugs but the majority of the complaints are false. I have only seen proof of one crashed 360, so untill u send a link of proof as in a picture of your crash I will regard your statement as complete bs.
on December 9th, 2005 at 5:40 pm
I got my 360 the night it came out I play Madden 06 (for 360) and call of duty two constantly, as well as some halo 2, and I have had absolutely no problems, as a matter of fact every person that I know has had no issues with it. So those of you who are bitter because you didn’t get one, or those who can’t read instructions need to keep their mouths shut.
on December 10th, 2005 at 7:20 pm
Microsoft service sucks. I sent my xbox 360 back after it crapped out with the red ring virus and got it back 7 days later. Than it crapped on me again. They sent me the same xbox 360. Bill Gates, BITE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
on December 11th, 2005 at 9:21 pm
The red ring only happened to my once and thats not a bug, thats tells you something is wrong with the connection, The only reason I got a red ring was because one of my connections was loose, I simply found the loose connector and pushed it back in its slot and the red ring went away, so its not the 360’s fault you get the red ring but a stupid consumers fault for not knowing how to connect the damn wires.
on December 11th, 2005 at 10:23 pm
I was sooooo close to getting a 360. Before I could, my friends warned me. So now I don’t have one. One of my friends said id crashed on him, froze twice and did the “red ring” all in one day. I think I may get one, I doubt it though. My opinion on the 360 is they really need to fix the hard drive. I put the same brand of chip they use on the 360 in my computer, IT BLEW UP!!!! I think Microsoft needs to slow down, take their sweet time and test more than one 360. MS was probably trying to beat Sony to the shelves, they won, but not money-wise.
on December 12th, 2005 at 11:27 am
I’ve been playing constantly since November 22, 2005 and have yet to see a single issue on my 360.
To all the people who manage to work in their “the PS3 is awesome” into their comments, just wait.
And wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Because you know what? That’s what you’re going to be doing. Waiting. Not playing. Just waiting. And then when the wait is over, and you fork out over $600 for a glorified Blu-Ray player, you can play the same graphics that us 360 owners have been playing with since November, minus the online play of course, which just makes you all a bunch of suckers.
Happy Waiting!
on December 12th, 2005 at 8:06 pm
i been playing my 360 since day one(nov22). and i have not had one problem. i also have five friends that got one too and they have not had one problem with it. with all the units that were made a few are going to have some issues. lots of people are making a bigger deal then it really is. name one system that did not have problem with a few. anything man made can fail and there are always a few that do. xbox 360 is great and i am enjoying ever moment of it.
on December 13th, 2005 at 10:40 pm
I agree with you both. Anything will fail on its first try, some of the Xbox’s are just a little poorly constructed, i never said I wasn’t going to get one. And i never said I was going to wait for PS3.
on December 15th, 2005 at 11:41 pm
Trust me, ps3 is worth the wait, i work at sony, i have the damn ps3 DEMO, its perfict, and it wont cost 600 bucks, 360 SUCKS.
on December 18th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
look the problem is the power cord
ps2 breaks
xbox 360 overheats ONLY LAUNCH WILL DO THIS
same with old xbox
the power cord
on December 23rd, 2005 at 9:23 pm
after 1 week and afer i paid £300 for a core system of ebay and the 3 red light are flashing everything was fine untill i bought tiger woods i had perfect dark zero project gotham condemned fifa 06 and al played great for a week i bought tiger woods played for an hour and bam crashed then when i turned it back on 3 red flashing the top right corner was the only 1 not flashing after trying everything microsoft said still the same problem i can get about 5mins every 3hrs i am well pdd off this shouldnt be happening £310 and 1 week later i need repairs ,i was desperate for an xbox 360 so i paid £100 over the odds for one and i was happy i have spent over £700 on it now with games and accesories and all it can do is flash 3 red lights at me i think its a joke and the things i ve been reading microsoft want shot i will end up having to wait over a month to get it fixed and by that time the new stock will be in the shops and i will have paid for 1 and not have one a think microsoft need to stop talking about getting them repaired i think they should have to give everyone with faulty xbox 360 a new working one out the next stock but we wont as they already have our money they wanna sell them to other. i have been stuck for years thinking whats best ps2 or xbox well we will probaly be moaning about the ps3 not working next year its a pure piss take how one of the biggest companys in the world can not make a working computer i think the reason there was very little stock was more like there were more faulty consoles then working a rumor was that they shipped them knowing some could be faulty and they knew this 3 red light error would happen just a rumor but i wouldnt put it past sony looks like ms are joining the sly suppliers of dodgey goods
on December 23rd, 2005 at 9:37 pm
these people who are saying the reason we are having a red light waring is because we dont know how to connect come on get real and you who said i think its consumer related is it bollicks my xbox 360 is on a ventilated table which has holes in like the 360 it is on its on up a height next to the window so it gets plenty of cool air within 2 weeks its crashed 3 red flashing light
4 lights flash red check av connection
2 lights flash red means its too hot needs to cool down
all other patterns: internal problem requires servce contact xbox customer support
and thats from page 21 of the xbox 360 manual
so you people who say we dont know how to connect it are we just dont look after the console you will find i treat all my electronics with so much care so u who works in gaming retail dont know crap,do you get to see in everybodys house to see how they use there console no so you dont know jack its an internal error maybe a virus a bug who knows yet i bet microsoft know but they just aint gonna tell us they could probaly make a download that could fix it but they dont want you to be able to hook you xbox 360 to ur pc so you can use your own pc hard drive to store u games
on January 4th, 2006 at 3:44 am
I owned a XBOX 360 last month. The console worked propretly before I noticed that the console makes a lot of heat. Then the console frozed once while playing NFS Most wanted. I never had the red ring, but I saw it on a demo console in a electronic store. As we can see the console is running at an overheat temperature and thats a big f**kg problem for Bill Gates because spending 500$ [canadian] on an xbox that dosent work IS A F**KN BIG PROBLEM and I think that we should send those ‘’Xbunch'’ of crap right up his *ss and stick it up with glue.
on January 4th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
i have had my 360 for over a month now and for all u people that are sending in all this crap that is not even true just go get a life.your either your just undercover losers working for sony and u now that ms is better and your (leader) just tells u to go on to random sites and say all this crap that is not true.(and explain this why do all the 360’s and the stores that are always on do they ever just start blinking red? NOOOO!!!!or do they just randomly turn off?NOOOOOO
SO CRAM THAT UP YOUR ASS SONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
on January 5th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
I finally found out wat is wrong with the 360. In order to get it in early, they had to leave out an algorythm (an equation showing an action EX: a + b = c the action here is addition) linked to the hard drive. When u get around 10 or 15 people on screen at once, IT WILL FREEZE OR CRASH no matter wat u do.
on January 11th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
I got a x-box 360 it was maed on november 23rd and it only froze ounce
on January 12th, 2006 at 5:15 am
I agree with most of you! Microsoft has this habit of releasing a product w/o even fully testing it. I work for a computer company & we’ve had nothing but calls relating to software problems ( particularly Microsoft Software Error including the operating sytem!) I figured that they released XBOX 360 because of pressure & the fear of losing profit because of the upcoming PS3 (in w/c im sure will come out far better). Hey Bill, next time try polishing your products first before relasing them!
on January 17th, 2006 at 4:32 am
Well I dont have a 360 but I do know about the system and recalls happen. Look at the PSP it had 3 recalls from Japan and 1 in the USA.
(realls include dead pixels the sqaure button sticking to the handheald and game UMD poping out while playing.)There’s been more look at the PS2 and Xbox, Xbox had a fulty AC plug and the hard drives would fail and that can not read disc screen and a bad DVD player. The PS2 had problems with the DVD drives and the Disc speed and texture could fry you motor and PS1 and PS2 both suffered from heating issues that could fry your console. In fact the only company that hasn’t had any recalls for a long time is Nintendo. So words of advice about next gen consoles dont buy them for at least 3-6 month after they come to market and peaple play and beat on them for a while.
About the freezing issue it gose back to the day of the orgainal Nintendo with the NES and it happends dosnt mean the system dosnt work right its usual a bug in the game codes. Ever console todate has these probems computer do and ever system from DVD players to CD to VHS getting ur tapes eatten so by no means it only comes to Mirosoft and Sony or Nintendo it inculdes all company that make any device from JVC to Samsung.
Inconclsion I beat the PS3 will have bugs too it happends when they try to make things affrodable to the AVG consumers and come out with more preformance for less.
on January 25th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Ive been a HUGE fan of microsoft’s xbox system since it came out, and since they started making xbox 360s i couldnt wait to get one, now ive had my 360 for a day shy of a week, but u see i bought it from a fellow friend that bought it the day it came out, and let me tell you these things might as well be called nintendo or something. Yea there that bad, i mean come on, any way, i say that they better recall these peices of shiat. Who all agrees?
on January 28th, 2006 at 8:38 am
i agree just got the thing yesterday played on it for about an hour and i cant go on it now for more than 10 mins without it crashing
on February 3rd, 2006 at 3:39 pm
I BOUGHT MY 360 FROM A GAME STORE USED. I BOUGHT IT ON JANUARY 15 AND HAVED PLAYED IT FOR AN AVERAGE OF 3 HOURS A DAY SINCE PURCHASING THE UNIT. I HAVE HAD ABSOLUTLEY NO PROBLEMS. I DO KNOW OF SOME FRIENDS WHO HAD TO SEND THEIRS BACK TO MS. SOME SYSTEMS ARE GOING TO HAVE PROBLEMS WHEN FIRST RELEASED. I AM ENJOYING THE GAMES I HAVE AND ARE LOOKING FOR MORE TO COME OUT. I ALSO WILL PURCHASE A PS3 WHEN IT COMES OUT. I AM JUST A GAMING FAN. I JUST WONDER WHAT PROBLEMS WILL BE WITH THE FIRST LAUNCH OF PS3??????
on February 15th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
I had my 360 for about 3 weeks and in that time it crashed several times especially online, once I turned it on and it started flashing red and came up with an error mesage, I have a 4mb broadband connection but expierienced prety bad lag when playing, DOA4, COD2 and PGR3 , also talking to other gamers in the xbox live comunity I found out a lot of people had expeirienced the same problems and worse, I recenty sold my 360 on ebay and am very disapointed with the 360 I was hoping that all the rumors about the 360 crashing were just from sony fanboys but I have expierenced the faults first hand. I dont particulary like sony products much but I hope the PS3 will be better than the 360, I might get another 360 in the future if microsoft release a new model when they iron out all the problems.
on February 19th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
I have just bought an Xbox 360 over ebay its a japanese premium console i buy all the wires and stuff i need to get it working and then it just turns off showing 3 red lights i mean WTF iv been an xbox fan all my life but iv got 2 say its rather disappointing to have 2 ring ms on monday and have them come out and repair it its shite any one else know how to get rid of the 3 red lights??
on February 23rd, 2006 at 11:50 am
i was just wondering if one of you could help me with my xbox 360? my name is shane and if you can help me plz plz e-mail me at talkin_2fast4u@yahoo.com because my xbox 360 had a problem yesterday by freezing up on the game fullauto after 1 hour it would freez and it did this about three times. all i had was it standing up on the side of it and it was a table with a shower towel over the table because there was spilt soda the day before so i didnt think that because the power pack was on a towel and the unit would over so i havnt tried since then i am afaid it will over heat agin and i need help. so i got to go because i am in school right now so peace all…..
on March 13th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
I dont think the Xbox 360 system is junk, It think it was a well designed system. However like anything new it is prone to experience problems and bugs. Ok my experience was similar to others, however I didnt really put any playtime in until the release if GR3AW, I’m not as much a fan of other games, I had played and completed Call of Duty 2 which had experienced more than a fair number of freeze ups. But when I played GR3AW, I wasnt able to get through training, it never made it, freeze ups, black screen, freeze ups! After about three hours of continuous freeze ups, I got tech support involved. After another hour of haveing them instruct me to do this and that. Comes the Part of Xbox 360 that really sucks! The RMA process, although they pay for the shipping and repairs, its about a 3 week turnaround! I have alot of money inveted in my system,they had no problem rushing defective equipment to the hands of anyone who had the patience and 500$, but now that the money has changed hands, and we are now holding the junk, we again have to wait for them. I would have preferred to wait till jan, to purchase a good sytems, that didnt reqiure repair, that to get a bad one in dec. Thats what sucks! They should ship replacemets immediately, these are very expensive systems, and should not be failing at the rate they are. They should by now have enough of these systems available to replace OBF equipment like mine and others. If I ever tried to run my repair service department like that, I would be out of business.
on March 17th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
I am also pissed off. I have had my 360 since launch and now, just recently, the fucking thing is freezing non-stop. At this point I can’t even turn the system on. It IS WELL ventilated it is definaltey NOT an overheating problem, but a manufacturing fuck up. The system freezes after a few minutes and it hasn’t been played all day. This is a BIG problem. Now I have to wait 2 fucking weeks! Bull Shit. I want a replacment system NOW. I am very pissed off at Microsoft. They are definatley going to be losing out in the console marjet because of this problem. Get ready for Sony to take control of the market again with PS3. Sorry Microsoft, you fucked up. Big time.
on April 11th, 2006 at 8:37 am
I went out yesterday and bought fight night round 3 when i got back I was dying to play on it so i put it in but it crashed, so i turned it off and turned it back on but it crashed again i did this several times but it still crashed i took it down stairs to see if it was just my tv but when i got it down there n pluged it in and 3 red lights where flashing i rung custermer services the man told me what to do and i thought my problem was solved. !!!WRONG!!! it started doing it again i rung bak and he has put me up for a replacement it has realy pissed me off because i havent evan played my new game yet but i am still sticking with my xbox 360 you can stick your ps3 up your fuckin arse!!!
on April 12th, 2006 at 3:22 am
has any1 thought it might be overheating well ur playing a game, and it getting to a point where its slowly damaging the processor each time u play a game, till it gets to a stage where the processors are completly damage n thr4 those 3 red lights come n it wont boot up.
on May 5th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
my 360 just crashed and i havent played it in a week, came home turned it on for about 2 minutes and it crashed. no overheating here just straight hardware failure. what a piece of crap
on May 17th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
My 360 crashed too. I called MS support, and they were awesome! The 360 crashed 4 months after having bought it. MS sent me a pre -paid shipping label to return the old one to them, and they sent me a brand new unit. 10 days from the time I mailed my old one, to the time my new one arrived at my door. Microsoft stands behind their product. MS rocks. Peace out.
on May 21st, 2006 at 10:59 am
Jeez I can’t believe some of you people - saying that these problems don’t exist or are down to people not wiring their machine up properly just because you personally have not experienced the problem is just plain dumb.
I loved my old Xbox and really looked forward to getting the 360 but 3 weeks later it dies mid-game. I checked all the FAQ’s and called Microsoft and they agreed that the old 3 red sectors problem confirmed it was a hardware fault. I have been playing consoles for 18 years and never had one die until my original Xbox. Thing was that it was replaced by the retailer on the spot - with the 360 I’m being told that I have to go through Microsoft and wait 3 weeks for a replacement. The machine I love, the service is disgraceful. I will think twice about ‘early adoption’ in future.
on May 24th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
Man I brought my Xbox 1 month and I only had 1 game NBA 2k6. My 360 is on a wood table along with the power next to a fan so I don’t have any of those overheating problem. The problem I am certain is with hte console itself. The game would freeze once in a while and up to a point 20 mins per freeze, call support and they said it is because of courrpted saves. So delete all saved games and the game runs fine (still freeze but NOt as often). Now I brought my second game 1 week later Elder Scrolls VI. Freeze very often for a week and then it plays fine until one sad afternoon when I turn on my xbox 3 lit red light come on and I was like “OH F***k!”……So put my xbox into another box and sent to Microsoft……For my 13 years of gaming life, NO Other Consoles have brought me these much troubles….I owned SNES, Saturn, PS 1 and 2, Dreamcast. Now I never brought the 1st Xbox and I am giving Microsoft 360 a chance and guess what…it is NOT GOING TOO WELL!
on May 26th, 2006 at 10:17 am
I bought my Xbox the Day of Release i had to wait in line for 8 hours + i got just about Every game That has been released to date i have a year gold subscription i have been a Live Member for 3 years+ Yesterday my xbox crashed after downloading the Hitman Demo.. My box has been well vented so it won’t overheat!… I called the TECH SUPPORT LINE ( WHAT A JOKE!!!) and the guy informed me my warrenty had expired like a week ago! WOW THAT IS CONVENIENT!!! Now i Have to PAY an Extra $96.00 (after 25% discount ) to have their shitty mistake fixed.. I am not a Fanboy of any machine but i have had my playstation 2 since release and never had to replace it! but i have went through 2 Xbox’s and now a 360 .. It’s starting to make me questions about Microsoft’s ability to make a quailty product! Let’s add all this up!!
360 = $399.99
Year gold subscription = $49.99
22 games @ $69.99 = $1,539.78
I have Almost $2,000.00 wrapped in it & thats not counting Accessories
THis is Some bullshit!
on June 3rd, 2006 at 12:56 am
I’m with ya Josh.. my started the freezing thing a few days ago.. I know what i’m doing..the thing has been sitting on a well ventilated entertainment center , i keep my place air conditioned at 74 degrees 24/7 (4 open sides, nothing enclosed) This device is defective. I called microsoft..they said if i would of bought the extended warranty it would be covered..ewwww..i wanted to jump threw the phone. I am going to make a stand and not pay the 125 bucks they said it would cost to have it repaired. That made me think. They are going to price the repair before It is sent in for inspection.. I find that odd microsoft… maybe the reason you told me how much it will cost to have it repaired is because you freaking KNOW its a piece of cr!!p and you know exactely what is wrong with it. I”m going back to sony..
360= $400
Year gold 50.00
year for old xbox (that does still work I might add) 50.00 (2nd account)
a few games and all of the accessories $1,000
I want all my money returned and this hot box removed from my house before it starts on fire and burns the place down. I would be thinking about a recall..not screwing your faithfull customers microsoft..because the first house that gets burned down and death occurs because of your big mistake called the xbox 360, your going down~!! I can promise that.
on June 4th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
I was in my local HMV today and guess what i saw?
i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/pecks2005/Picture32.jpg
(sorry for the rubbish quality photo only had my old phone with me)
This isn’t good advertisment Microsoft
on June 5th, 2006 at 2:14 am
I got my shit box on March 30th… was working fine, I put in mega hours of Oblivion, BF2 and GRAW…. then recently it started freezing up on GRAW… I thought it was the game as it will only happen with this, then it started happening with my other games.. So I went to their site, checked out some of their tips, tried all of them.. and low and behold, the flashing red lights… this is redicolous…. I would say 1 out of 3 xbox’s are faulty.. the reason why I say this is because a friend mines talked me and another friend to purchase this thing so we can all get online and play, and guess what.. as of now I am the one with the faulty system, theirs are working fine… so.. it’s not all systems, but you can count on 1 out of 3 with my experience..
on June 5th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
Wow. I can’t believe how ignorant some of you a$$es sound. on both sides of the ps3 360 arguement. I bought 3 360’s when they came out. 2 failed…. same failure 3 red flashing lights. I am an xbox player I had 3 ps2’s that all shxt the bed and then I traded my 4th for an xbox. from then on it was all xbox for me. I will not bash sony because i have no reason to. xbox is my preference, but to all you stupid xbox players that are claiming this is some sort of conspiracy you’re fxckin ignorant. There is definitely a problem with the xbox 360 and it is not fair to the consumers. I am gonna wait it out. not gonna buy a ps3…. just thankful i bought the product replacement plan on my 360’s, but for now i would not shell out the $400 to risk another crap box. i suggest to everyone to wait til its fixed and stop claiming there are conspiracies
on June 7th, 2006 at 7:23 am
should i return my 360 if sometimes while in gameplay the game disk stalls
on June 10th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
have you tried more then one game disk? If you have and you get the same problem then return it
on June 25th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
the first xbox had a bunch of problems locking up..
and now the xbox 360 which i spent over 900 dollars on because you have to buy the hard drive with it to get online…and now thats freezing up too…and of course walmart is not going to help since theres a 90 day return policy…call the stupid microsoft help thing takes hours to get a hold of then all they tell you is buy a new one or ship it to us…of course thats not free either!!!…
screw it im stickinga with a pc F… consoles/microsoft services…
oh ya also..
the stupid waranty on the counsle expired..only had it for about 5 months…screw the waranty im about to open it up a fix the problem myself…
to hell with microsoft i want the money back or refurbished like the other guy said if they are going to make a 2nd version we should be the 1st to get it…
on July 3rd, 2006 at 8:26 pm
I have bought an xbox 360 in december. 2 week after the xbox start freeze dring game i call ms and i send my 360. I received a new xbox 360 and a extra hard drive. now my xbox don’t work again it’s the 3 red light problem and i call ms and they i send my xbox and they gave me a free project gotham racing 3.
on July 5th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
The 360 is quite a piece of Technological Mastery Brought about by the Microsoft Company as it is an Early Modle Man Consumer Problems shall and will Occur, Due to MS’s Lack of Testing Prior to Release(only about 15 thousand hrs of Testing rather than the usual of 35-50)Bugs and Glitches have made it Past thier Screening I am and Always will be Hopeful that the will Rectify thier Current Situation, I for one have never had a Problem from MS. (that they Haven’t Fixed anyway
)
I also Plan to Get a PS3 Just Cause I am a Gamer and cannot limit myself to one System.
on July 10th, 2006 at 6:04 am
I bought mine six months ago, and it finally crashed on me. I played Halo 2 on it about average 20 hours a week. I finally got the 3 red lights in the ring. Now the stupid thing wont do anything. I don’t see why they have a recall or something if so many people are having problems….
on July 11th, 2006 at 2:14 am
I’ve gone through two 360s, both got the 3 red lights - the second one after a whopping 45 min of gameplay…some dork said he refused to believe all the crash reports and wants pictures as proof - like all the people complaining are making it up as part of some great conspiracy. I’m happy there are a few working units, but I think the sheer # of complaints would lead any potential consumer to maybe wait and see if microsoft fixes the bugs before dropping that kind of cash.
on July 19th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
Hey, MS is doing a recall for the 3 red light problems! Just forward them $129.00 for a prepaid cardboard box. And then you get it back ASAP, with the reminder to buy a 2 year extended warranty for a mere 60 bucks! And who said Microsoft was losing a hundred and some odd dollars on every 360 they sold? Bill had it all figured out I guess. What a deal!
on July 24th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
Ok ive had my 360 for close to a year now and no problems have occured. Until just yeaterday i had been playing oblivion and it worked just fine. Then it said this disk is unreadable and wouldnt boot it again. No red lights nothing. If the system is broken, im pissed. Then i got a brand new one but it said that was unreadable after a day or so. Then i look at it and it has scratches on it. Is it posibble that dust inside the system is scratching it because i have had it in a dusty area. ive also noticed that its unusually hot. Im confused. Can someone help?
I really dont want to pay $129.00 to get it fixed if its not broken.
on July 27th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Lots of information and lots of problems, this is now my second 360, I got one the first day after an all nighter and it broke down within 3 months, now I have had my new one another 3 months and it is now broken, 1 red light and an error 74 message, got to admit, lots of problems with this system. Now it is getting sent back for “repair”. Not too good!
on July 30th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
To let all of you know if your fans are slowing down in your 360 and it displays the disk read error message and or freezes I can help. You are actually facing quite a common problem for the xobox 360’s. If this is happening to you your 360 is overheating. I found this out just today whe n i bought an intercooler. If your having this problem buy the INTERCOOLER from Microsoft at your closest Electronics botique. The INTERCOOLER is 3 seperate fans that connect to your 360 allowing it to cool off. Im glad I tried this before I sent it in for repairs at a would have been cost of $120.00 plus $25 for the extra year warentee. Please if your having this problem try the INTERCOOLER. Although i think that instead of making these “INTERCOOLERS” they should have just recalled the product when they found out it had an overheating problem………………..but the INTERCOOLER works great and has saved me time and money.
IF YOUR BOX IS OVERHEATING
on July 30th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
USE THE INTERCOOLER.
on August 1st, 2006 at 12:36 pm
I also suggest if you were going to buy an Xbox 360, its problably safe to buy by now. Considering it has been about a year maybe less of the consoles release. Keep in mind that mostly all the problems were happening at the launch. They problably fixed them all by now (or made the system halfway decent). Anyways my 360’s been a pain, but i finally got it fixed and i love it. Also dont buy the ps3 because 1.) It will be one year till its launch. 2.) It will problably have problems just like the xbox 360. 3.) Your waiting a year for something thats no better than the xbox 360 except for the dvd player, and why do u care about the freakin dvd player if your sole concept is gaming, because other than that its no better than the 360 and costs $200 more just for the freakin DVD player. I dont know about you but I cant just take $600.00 out of my pocket! 4.) It looks like a Geroge forman grill! lol. If you take a good look at it it does. (I wonder if it makes cheese burgers? lol.
5.) If you get mad and throw the controllers they’ll come back and hit you in the face. (heh boomerang controllers).
on August 6th, 2006 at 3:37 am
hey ive had my 360 for about 11 monthes now and it rocks.the only problem is is that when i get to the 2nd lvl of prey while loading it crashes.thats the thing that sucks.what should i do.is it the disk or is something wrong with my 360.
on August 7th, 2006 at 9:29 am
I got my 1st 360 on 21 dec 2005, it worked well for 5 months, then 3 red lights. code error 0102. Memmory failure.
My second brand new 360 I brought on in mid june 2006, it ran for 4 day. Now no red lights. powers on but freezes at the start up.
Phone M$ support, after more than 10 hours of tellephone calls, just no luck of helping me. I will sent it back to the store I brought it from in germany, cause I live in Namibia. In the meantime I am still waiting for my third 360 to arrive. Hope this one last longer, cause it is really now getting an very expensive hobby with no support for me.
on August 12th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
I own the original Xbox and it works fine.I played it every day for months and i am glad i bought it! Now I am hearing all this XBox 360 problems, I am hesitating to buy the console. If i buy XBox 360, I don’t guarantee that it will last a year ]:( I am going to wait a year after the release of PS3 just to make sure that many issues will arise which I can’t wait to hear ]:)
on August 15th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
I usually have very good luck with my electronics. I almost never buy warranties. But my xbox 360 crashed after only six months. I should have suspected something when I saw that massive 90 day warranty.
on August 15th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
Count me as another member of the 3 red light ring. What a POS!! I just got off the phone with MS and right after I said “I have the 3 red ring of death” not 10 seconds later, the rep responded, “that will be $129, but since you are 1 month out of warranty we can do it for 50% off”. Wow, what a deal!!! I spent close to $500 on this and it craps out. I have had my Playstation 2 for 3 years and not a single problem, not a single one.
Honestly, this is a huge issue. Surprised there has not been any legal action. I know standard warranty is only 3 months, but the failure % is ridiculous due to “hardware failure”. Sounds like a recall issue to me.
on August 17th, 2006 at 12:20 am
Bought mine July 27th, 2006. It has now failed on August 16th, 2006. Didn’t even last a month. Mine was randomly freezing playing different games and finally when I went to turn it on I got the 3 red lights. I am a Computer Technician who knows how to run electronic equipment and this is a manufacturing problem. Forums I have read indicate either the RAM was soldered to the motherboard properly or that the thermal paste was not applied properly to keep it cool. It’s not surprising given Micro$oft’s history. Wish I would have waited for a PS3. Now I have to get my brand new Xbox 360 exchanged with a refurbished unit. For those of you who get exchanges, they are not new units
on August 19th, 2006 at 9:32 am
I’ve had my 360 since launch and its worked great - until today. Friends came over and we started playing as usual and then - FREEZE! Next thing I know I have the dreaded 3 rings. Troubleshot everything per the website, phone support, etc. I am a computer technician by trade, so I know what I’m talking about… in fact, I had to restrain myself from popping the cover and troubleshooting this myself, but I don’t want to risk MS rejecting my return. So now the cardboard coffin is on its way to my addresses and I will do the exchange thing like so many others have. During the freeze I got vertical bars on the screen, which I know from PC troubleshooting is typically the result of the graphics card or memory overheating.
Since my system was well venilated and expertly cared for, it is sinply a build quality and/or design issue. I cannot believe the warranty is only for 90 days - which suggests to me that someone at MS knew at least enough that they wouldn’t be lasting too long. Should have been 12 months at least for a normal piece of electronics. =S
I love my 360, but shame on MS for rushing the 360 hardware out the door. They should be replacing these for free. I’ll be waiting to jump on the class action lawsuit MS. Grrrrr….
on August 19th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
i b ought a 360 counsole in dec of2005 didn`t use it much now 3 red ligts flash all te time and microsot wants almost 200 bucks to fix it thats bs
on August 20th, 2006 at 5:39 am
Anyone who thinks the Xbox 360 isnt prone to failing and freezing up is crazy or ignorant. I have had mine repaired twice under waranty. And guess what? 3 days ago it froze up again. I sits right near my air conditioning where it should be cool. My apartment is very clean, and I take good care of my game consoles. I havent even had a good 3 full weeks of playtime on it because of sending it in to be fixed. The thing is broken period, the end. No other explainations. Failing three times from the same cause is NOT coincidence.
on August 23rd, 2006 at 12:02 am
This sucks. I’ve had mine since Dec 26 2005, and I just got the 3 red lights last night. I called MS support today and they told me the same b.s. that it would cost $129 to fix it. I told the guy that was bull sh!t and hung up on him, probably not the best idea.
I’m glad I wasted $400 on a piece of crap machine.
Screw Microsoft, I’m so pissed off right now.
on August 24th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
i had my 360 since the first day it came out november 22.i had until august 2 2006 and then for freakin reason it stopped working .i called tech support and they told me the same bs as everyone else that calls.so i took it back to walmart and got a new one.then just today i was playiong play and it froze .it better not screw up again or im taking it back,and selling it on ebay or to a friend and waiting for the ps3.hopefully sony will do a hell of a better job than micrsoft did.
on August 25th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
I bought my 360 premium in April for a total investment of $650 (with accessories) I got the red light special about 6 weeks later. I sent it to Texas and two weeks later it returned working just fine. four weeks later, now that the 90 day warranty had expired, red light special the sequel occurs. Now they want $129….I mean $96.50 thanks to punk ass 25% discount, to get it fixed….so that it can probably break again like everyone elses. Also the customer service people are so rude once you tell them that you think its unfair since their supposed repair failed so quickly. I can’t bring myself to pay them more money after hearing about all these failures, so I’m gonna use my instore warranty that I had to pay $40 for and get a new one. Then Im sellin the new one on ebay to try to recover most of my money. Then I’ll use the money for a PS3 which I dont think will have these problems. Hey didn’t Bill Gates just give away like $30 Billion to charity? What about us Bill?
on August 29th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
waited in line for hours got mine on the first day it lasted 9 mo then crapped out for NO reason. AS it sits next to a refrigerated air vent with hepa filters all around but sure enough i got 3 red lights of death today i build my own computers have massive home theatre setup so i know how to connect electronics this thing was rushed out and not only will it cost microsoft big money cause you cant sell games for a broken console. but this is also a reflection of americas economic ethics we used to pride ourselves on well built products now american companies will have everything built in china and lo and behold the chinese screw america when will america regain its sense of honor toward actual americans!!!! I WILL NEVER BUY A MICROSOFT PRODUCT AGAIN!!! cept vista cause they are making me for DX10.
on August 29th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
hahahahahahahha of course xbox has problems , loook at WINDOWS operating systems. they are very unstable.
the ps3 looks like a clear winner for myself.
even tho the xbox 360 has greater specs than the ps2.
the ps2 has a awsome cell microprocessor with 7 3.2ghz SPE’s!!!!
with the ablitiy to activate a 8 set of SPE for improving yield.
also if one malfunctions , it is shutdown by the cell.
the ps3 might not be as powerfull as the 360 but the design of it is alot more complex and stable. of course, the japs always make the best electronics.
on September 1st, 2006 at 12:02 pm
I am another victim of the Xbox 360 ‘curse’. Overheating. Freezing at startup. I am wondering if I am actually going to get a new system back (I had to send the deceased away, of course), for a refurbished one. There should be a website where 360 owners who get system exchanges could submit their serial numbers just to see if Microsoft actually gives new systems, or just fixed up old ones. Don’t know if that could work.
on September 1st, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Oh by the way… I was TOLD I would not be getting a refurbished one back, but a NEW one.
I am thinking the extra shells for an extended warranty may not be a bad idea.
on September 3rd, 2006 at 10:17 pm
I am going on my 5th repair. Microsoft support gave me an address after I said I plan to sue. It is like they set up an address for lawyers. They probably call this customer support. xbox 360 lost my vote. Thanks for the free games xbox, to bad my console never works or is in the mail.
on September 4th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
3 red lights error?
Go to:
www.xboxhacker.net/forums/index.php?topic=1193.0
There’s step by step instructions, plus a video on how to fix it. Since, according to MS, my warranty is expired, and I have no desire to pay those bastards $129, I figure I have nothing to lose by trying this. According to people on here, it’s worked in most cases.
I’ll let you know how it works after I try it.
on September 11th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
same thingy here, my 360 wont start, it started to crash 2 days ago, and then become more often like every 5 minutes and now I got the the 3 red lights of death.
the thing is tosted, need to call support.
again i bought my 360 like 5 month ago
ps: region code free!!!!!!!!, microsoft
on September 12th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
A friend of mine had purchased an X-Box 360. About six months later, the machine has failed specifying an error code that incidates the console cannot determine what is wrong but that it cannot function regardless.
And, to top this off, my friend has his system set up in a clean environment in an entertainment center. His console only just suddenly exhibited this problem. And, since the console was only covered for 90 days, Microsoft has indicated that he must pay for repairs, even though six months for a $400 system is, IMO, totally unreasonable since he did follow ALL installation and useage instructions.
Microsoft has now granted him a 50% discount on the repair, but still. The original X-Box, as flawed as its launch had been, was nowhere near as bad (and the problem was mostly just due to the screwy Thomson DVD-ROM drive).
Contrast this to a Gamecube that I have. It developed a problem reading discs about a couple of months after the one year warranty expired. Nintendo granted a warranty exchange for this machine anyways despite the fact that it was out of warranty. They didn’t even make any hassle about it when I asked!
Anyways, I’m glad I’m holding off on the 360 until something that appears to be a problem clears up, probably when the major semiconductor parts are made in a new 65 nm process instead of the 90 nm process. - Reinhart
on September 15th, 2006 at 3:54 am
i am 13 my xbox literley started smoking and set my smoke alarm off i am pissed because i paid $400. 00 for this it took me half a year to save up and costco would not take it back i called coustemer support but they sead” i am sorry if the distributer will not take it back we cant” it all started when i started playing dead rising.
on September 25th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
I think that all of us who bought the Xbox 360 are a bunch of suckers. They pushed this thing out way too fast and it sucks balls. I purchased one of the first ones out and it wasx beyond repair in a month. Received my second one two months later(calling them daily, getting the run around from useless people) I guess microsoft doesn’t know where Canada is. My second one is dated Janruary 25 2006 and I got it in April so the warranty was expired already. I really didn’t use it all summer and just bought EA NHL 2007(which is the only reason i bought the piece of s**t) so the thing is basically new and it crashed and won’t work and they actually think i’m going to give them more money to fix it. F**K microsoft and there bulls!@# product. My nintendo from 1987 still works fine, with all microsofts technology one would think there first priority would be to make a console that works!!!! Never will I give another penny to that sh**head for anything exept software because I have no choice when he has an illegal monopoly on the market.
on September 30th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
I’ve had my 360 for about 2weeks now.