XBox 360 - 3 Red Lights

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Dont send it off in the retail box, you won't get it back, get another cardboard box that it will fit into and wrap it in bubblewrap or crumpled up newspapers to keep it from getting bashed about in transit, did you ask them to email the labels? If so make sure you get them and if you don't within 48 hours give them a call, check your junk/spam mail folders sometimes they go straight into them for some reason.

Thanks for above! No e-mail yet so might give them a bell.

Picked up a box at work today that should do the trick!

What packaging does the xbox come back to you in? Just from reading the thread, would it be worth popping off the front plate to check they put the warranty sticker back on etc?

Also, i take because i have a HDMI Premium, that's what i'll get back?

Im sure you've heard this all before, but i was thinking last night - If supposedly Xbox set aside 1 billion to fix this issue, SURELY it would have cost less to fix it? Or would the solution alter the entire system's shape? It's related to overheating/not enough ventilation right?

Snake Plisken

Mr_Roger_Bongos wrote: »

Thanks for above! No e-mail yet so might give them a bell.

Picked up a box at work today that should do the trick!

What packaging does the xbox come back to you in? Just from reading the thread, would it be worth popping off the front plate to check they put the warranty sticker back on etc?

Also, i take because i have a HDMI Premium, that's what i'll get back?

Im sure you've heard this all before, but i was thinking last night - If supposedly Xbox set aside 1 billion to fix this issue, SURELY it would have cost less to fix it? Or would the solution alter the entire system's shape? It's related to overheating/not enough ventilation right?

It comes back in a brown plain box with special cutout foam brackets to support it, I recommend hanging on to the box in case it ever fails again.
You can check it when it comes back they might send you back your old one or you might get a newer one back, it will state on the letter. It will have a new warrenty label on it, if you had a old holographic silver one this will be replaced with a white microsoft warrenty label.
You will get deffo get a hdmi one back.

Regarding the design rework, they have gone the route of reducing the core size of the GPU & CPU on the Xboxes, smaller chips generate less heat, the GPU is the main culprit for the 3 Red Rings. Next year they are going to shrink the chip down down further so that they can encorperate the gpu & cpu in the one chip, this will probably sit where the cpu sits which will have better airflow and bigger heatsink. Well thats the rumour on xbox sites.
Let us know how you get on and if you get your machine back or a new one, thing is even if it's your old case they send back the machine will have both a new/reworked motherboard and a new DVD drive in it.

Hope this helps

Snake Plisken

danois wrote: »

My son is looking for the xbox 360 elite for xmas and after reading this thread I'm thinking maybe I'm better getting him a PS3 are the newer models more reliable as in if I buy one now presumably it will be a fairly new model would there be less chance of it getting the rrod?

Yeah make sure you go to somewhere with high stock turnover, if you want you can ask the shop assistant to check the manufacture date on the box (there is a cutout on the box that can be pushed in to reveal the serial number and date of manufacture), your guarenteed to have the more reliable Jasper motherboard in it. Another way is I'm sure Microsoft are releasing bundled games like Forza or Call of Duty MW2, these will also be new boards, so you would be safe there.
As regards the PS3, not as reliable as you would think, the Blu-Ray lasers failed a lot on the older rev's of the PS3, not to sure on the new slim models time will tell, the other issue is which is similar to the 3 Red Rings which I think is called yellow light of death, where again the GPU or CPU overheat, whereas Microsoft will extend the warrenty for 3Red Rings Sony won't acknowledge the issue and will charge you if its outside warrenty period.

Jack Vegas

Hey guys, just wondered if anyone can help me with a problem.

Was playing my housemate's Xbox 360 the other day for about an hour, no problems with it, switched it off just fine. Later on, when I return to the house I get the head screamed off me for breaking it on her. You guessed it, three red lights. She's pretty angry and is demanding I pay for a new one for her, but thing is I'm completely convinced that I did nothing to cause this problem. Furthermore, research I've done has basically indicated towards it basically being impossible for the three red lights to be my fault, since I havn't taken it apart or been running it near giant magnets etc.

I'm not the most knowledgable and neither is she to be honest, I was just wondering can anyone confirm whether I am actually responsible for this and should cough up the dough?

Cheers.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Hi all!

I'd raised a repair request under my residential address (which UPS wouldn't have been able to get into - gate at the apartment block), so figured i'd cancel the request, edit my address to the work address and re-submit the request.

But now the option to raise a new request seems to have disappeared from my xbox support profile when i sign in.

Anyone come across this before?

docdolittle

Jack Vegas wrote: »

Hey guys, just wondered if anyone can help me with a problem.

Was playing my housemate's Xbox 360 the other day for about an hour, no problems with it, switched it off just fine. Later on, when I return to the house I get the head screamed off me for breaking it on her. You guessed it, three red lights. She's pretty angry and is demanding I pay for a new one for her, but thing is I'm completely convinced that I did nothing to cause this problem. Furthermore, research I've done has basically indicated towards it basically being impossible for the three red lights to be my fault, since I havn't taken it apart or been running it near giant magnets etc.

I'm not the most knowledgable and neither is she to be honest, I was just wondering can anyone confirm whether I am actually responsible for this and should cough up the dough?

Cheers.

Well first off, that is funny as hell!

Tell her that the red ring of death has a 3 year warranty, it happens to them all the time (3 times for me so far!) Just go to the microsoft xbox support site and fill out the form. Wimmin's :rolleyes:

jaykhunter

Jack Vegas wrote: »

Hey guys, just wondered if anyone can help me with a problem.

Was playing my housemate's Xbox 360 the other day for about an hour, no problems with it, switched it off just fine. Later on, when I return to the house I get the head screamed off me for breaking it on her. You guessed it, three red lights. She's pretty angry and is demanding I pay for a new one for her, but thing is I'm completely convinced that I did nothing to cause this problem. Furthermore, research I've done has basically indicated towards it basically being impossible for the three red lights to be my fault, since I havn't taken it apart or been running it near giant magnets etc.

I'm not the most knowledgable and neither is she to be honest, I was just wondering can anyone confirm whether I am actually responsible for this and should cough up the dough?

Cheers.

First off, LOL! That's hilarious man. I must state that I love my Xbox 360 and mine's just recently been repaired, first time Red-Ringed.

DO NOT COUGH UP THE DOUGH! IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

Anyway, the bottom line is that (older) Xbox 360's are ticking time-bombs. It's highly likely (~30%) that an older Xbox (>1 yr old) will Red Ring. It's a mechanical design flaw resulting from the heat-sink not being able to do it's job properly. The heat-sink they wanted to use in the 360 was too big, and the disc tray wouldn't close. So they screwed all of us by using a smaller heat-sink, that couldn't do the job. Bull****, eh?

Her Xbox WOULD HAVE BROKEN soon after it did Red Ring, no matter what you did. You were just unlucky that it Red Ringed while you were playing. Had you not turned it on, the next person to do so, it would've red ringed for them. It was a problem that built up and wasn't something instantaneous. IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT, IT'S MICROSOFT'S.

Luckily, since this is such a common problem, XBox's that are within 3 years of purchasing it, are within warranty, and Microsoft will fix it for free. Go back a few pages and you'll find out exactly how (I wrote exactly what I did!). You gotta register it on Xbox.com and request a repair, have UPS pick it up and drop it off. The whole turn-around time averages at 2 weeks.

Tell your housemate that it's not your fault, it's extremely common (happens with 1/3rd of all Xboxes), it would've happened anyway, and Xbox extended their warranty to 3 years to deal with this exact problem, for free.

I barely used my Xbox over the last year and a half (sure I've less than 10 games for it) and mine Red Ringed. Sure, using it for 4-day stints might expedite the Red-Ringage but bottom line is that if your Xbox wants to break, no matter how infrequently you use it, it will break!

Hope that helps

jaykhunter

danois wrote: »

My son is looking for the xbox 360 elite for xmas and after reading this thread I'm thinking maybe I'm better getting him a PS3 are the newer models more reliable as in if I buy one now presumably it will be a fairly new model would there be less chance of it getting the rrod?

That's right. A newer model (with the Jasper chip) is much less likely to Red Ring, and you've a 3-year-warranty that means MS will repair your Xbox for free if anything happens.

I'd highly recommend getting an Xbox 360, since there are a lot of fantastic multi-platform and 360 exclusives for it. It's true that the PS3 has lower failure rate issues, but the amount of PS3 exclusive games aren't as great as the Xbox. Your son will be really happy with either, but I'd recommend an Xbox 360.

Even though my Xbox has Red-Ringed (and "lost it" for two weeks) I still play it much more than the PS3.

jaykhunter

Mr_Roger_Bongos wrote: »

Hi all!

I'd raised a repair request under my residential address (which UPS wouldn't have been able to get into - gate at the apartment block), so figured i'd cancel the request, edit my address to the work address and re-submit the request.

But now the option to raise a new request seems to have disappeared from my xbox support profile when i sign in.

Anyone come across this before?

In that case I'd recommend ringing Xbox and explaining the situation.
( if you're irish it's +353 12420758 or 1 800 509 186 ) I live in an Apartment Block and it wasn't a problem getting in - they rang the doorbell when UPS arrived

Klingon Hamlet

Mine came up with 3 red lights a few times, then froze a couple more times, now seems OK. Is this a common occurrence? I thought the RROD was it, the end.

danois

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Yeah make sure you go to somewhere with high stock turnover, if you want you can ask the shop assistant to check the manufacture date on the box (there is a cutout on the box that can be pushed in to reveal the serial number and date of manufacture), your guarenteed to have the more reliable Jasper motherboard in it. Another way is I'm sure Microsoft are releasing bundled games like Forza or Call of Duty MW2, these will also be new boards, so you would be safe there.
As regards the PS3, not as reliable as you would think, the Blu-Ray lasers failed a lot on the older rev's of the PS3, not to sure on the new slim models time will tell, the other issue is which is similar to the 3 Red Rings which I think is called yellow light of death, where again the GPU or CPU overheat, whereas Microsoft will extend the warrenty for 3Red Rings Sony won't acknowledge the issue and will charge you if its outside warrenty period.

Thanks for that I am hoping to get it for him in smyths they are out of stock at the min so hopefully the new stock will be ok mind you the deal they have is very good wouldnt surprise me if its one of them ones that never seems to be in stock!!!

DarkJager

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

Mine came up with 3 red lights a few times, then froze a couple more times, now seems OK. Is this a common occurrence? I thought the RROD was it, the end.

I've had that happen before, it will eventually RROD again within the next day or 2 and that will be the end of it. Best to get the repair process started now.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Hi Guys,

I just realised that about two days ago, i changed my display settings from 720i (Am i right in saying the games are designed for this resolution atm) and figured i'd change up to 1020 (and i left it there until the RROD)

I was just thinking, does the higher res put a greater strain on the components of the xbox? Would this have cause my RROD after 2 years hassle free at 720i?

jaykhunter

Don't twist yourself up about it man. If your Xbox wants to Red-Ring, it will. Changing resolution had no impact on the inevitable It's the same strain

Bondvillain

Just a quick note to say thanks to all who posted helpful advice on this thread regarding the Red rings.

I got the RROD on the 15th, and, not being a regular gamer, if I hadn't been aware of the info contained in here, I probably would have just procrastinated, binned it, and would no doubt have eventually gone on to spend stupid hundred Euro I can scant afford on a new console.

Knowing what I knew from here , however, I was able to organise a UPS pickup on the 19th, and a shiny new console arrived at my door yesterday.

So , credit where credit's due. Thanks all.

mayordenis

Finally had an xbox red ring, it's an elite though so it shouldn't matter if I have proof of purchase or not, as they haven't been in production 3 years, am I right?

Sheepy99

congatulations you are correct..

mayordenis

Sheepy99 wrote: »

congatulations you are correct..

Thank you,
and for sure congratulations are in order, joining the illustrious 3 red ring club is a proud moment for me.

jaykhunter

Hooray! Off to Xbox.com with you

What were you guys playing when your Xbox Red-Ringed? For me it was the start of Level 2 on Dead Space. Just started playing the game a day before it bit the bad one. Gutted!

Then felt bad the next few days of how attached I was to my Xbox. The next week or so was fine.

Dcully

Hi guys after several RROD and temporary towel trick fix my sons 360 has gone for repair.
How long roughly does it take these days?

Bondvillain

I had mine back in just under 2 weeks. (It was a direct replacement rather than a repair tho - I dont know why, or whether that has any bearing on turnaround time. )

jaykhunter

Mine took 11 days repair from door to door (giving it away to getting it back)

Dcully

Thanks guys.

wandatowell

On my second 360 now after the first one rrod on me.
Now my second 360 is being shipped back to Microsoft for
repair, not bothered tbh but majorly pissed off over the fact
I'm gonna miss mw2....... :-( anybody got a spare 360 they have lying
around?........

Dcully

Is your second 360 the jasper model?

wandatowell

Dcully wrote: »

Is your second 360 the jasper model?

Affirmative, its a jasper

Dcully

wandatowell wrote: »

Affirmative, its a jasper

Hmm now thats a concern, so much for more reliability with the jasper.

wandatowell

Dcully wrote: »

Hmm now thats a concern, so much for more reliability with the jasper.

Your tellin me, I had my 1st 360 for well over 3 years. This one only last 16 months (rough estimate).

docentore

if its 16 months it can`t be jasper, you have probably falcon

Dcully

Im just looking at the "manage your device" section of the support site where you can track repairs and its saying

"Waiting for device at service center - We have processed your order and are waiting for your console to arrive at our service center."

The next stage is "Device received at service center - We have received your console." but they say they are still waiting for it to arrive.

It was shipped on Monday,surely they have it by now.