Short Christmas Story of 3 Rings of Death

keystone

Hi all

Just wanted to share a quick story with you.

I apologise for the irrelevancy of most of this.

Christmas morning......my two kids wake up at 6:30am, Santa has come and they are all hyper. They are happy so we are happy.

After brekkie, we crack into the collection of presents under the tree, I open what I know are XBOX 360 games. I have intentionally not bought Assassins Creed so they wife get at leats one game right....which she did!!

After a busy day and a huge dinner, the kids go to bed around 4pm for a nap. The wife claims the couch........I am not concerned by any of this. All through dinner and its preparation I have been excited about popping on Assassins Creed. To put it in perspective, I have been looking forward to a nice long Christmas break, the family and some quality time with the XBOX!

I open the game, eject the drive, take HALO 3 out for a well deserved rest and pop in Assassings Creed. I sit back......controller in hand........sort out the TV and await the moment I have been waiting for...............10 seconds.....20 seconds......nothing. I look at the XBOX and the three red rings of death are showing!!!!!!!

I try numerous games, reseat all cables, check the web for troubleshooting, curse quite a lot (luckily the kids stay asleep)........no joy.

To cut a long story short and I don't think anyone wants to see grown man crying, I rang MS today and have arranged for the repair. I cant find the receipt so I can't pop down to the store I bought it from 2 years ago. It will take two weeks to arrive back on my door at least.

The question I have, should I just buy a new XBOX anyway? What would be the benefit of having two or more in the house...........I'm waiting to be convinced!!!

Again, my apologies for the long and for my waffling!

Terminator

Most stores will only let you return faulty goods within 30 days so finding the receipt probably wouldn't have done any good. Just wait it out. A couple of weeks ago I got the 3 rings of death but I found out through customer service that it was the power brick that was faulty not the machine (it was displaying an orange light instead of green). So they posted me out a new one that came within a week.

dmigsy

Got the three red rings on christmas eve. In my panic I tried the towel trick and it actually worked! Still going strong. Was standing by with a fire extinguisher though!

Link:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/15/towel-trick-provides-temporary-fix-to-xbox-360s-red-ring-of-d/

keystone

I have a green light so its not the power pack unfortunately. I have to send it back.

On the receipt side of things, if I had it, I could have gone back to the shop.....check the 3 rings sticky

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055202987

Still not sure whether to just buy one or not!! Thinking of trading the returned console in for a Wii or PS3........is there any benefit in having two XBOX's?

dazftw

awh man thats crap.. im waiting for mine to die lol I play it to much! You should try the towel trick I didn't believe it until I watched a video of a guy doing it and explaining what it does and it actually makes sense.. Overheat the system to it resets all the settings on the motherboard inside the xbox.. Worth a shot!

TheDoc

you actually couldnt go back to the store.

Retailers cover your goods for 1 year after sale unless you have purchased additional insurance.

the extra warranty concerning the three red rings is a manafacturers promiseup to you, so you would have had to gone deal with them anyway.

unfortunate story ihave to say.

my console has frozen twice now in the past month during rainbow six then during guitar hero 3, i thought i was getting three ring so jumped up crazily and ripped every plug out of the wall

i seem to be doing ok now though

Creamy Goodness

i like seeing peoples views on the 3 rings of death.

1. i'll send it back to microsoft for repair
2. hmm i think i'll buy another xbox and this won't happen again.

i dunno it just seems strange to me that it takes your first xbox to get broken for you to go and think about buying another one?

keystone

I'm going to try this for the craic........will post back the results.......

I've nothing to lose really!

Watch this space.

keystone

I've just tried this 'towel-trick' and amazingly it has worked. I'll probably get a couple of hours out of it but anyway.......will be worth it. Unfortunately, the wife and kids have claimed the TV's.............arrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh


Thanks for the info TheDoc, I'm keen to find out more about the rights here and will check this out, I would have thought that the seller would have to honour the manufacturers warranty however what you say makes perfect sense.

Cremo, if the warranty is there, use it. On the buying a new one and it not happening again, I see 90% of electrical goods as consulables with a 3-5 year lifespan give or take so yes it may happen again but the product and experience was good so buying a new one is always an option.

Not sure what you mean by waiting until the first one is broken to buy another one? Is there a real benefit. I have a media center Pc and the whole service is excellent, am unsure how a 2nd XBOX would be beneficial but am willing to hear the reasons.

Think I'll have to pick up a new TV aswell!!.............lol!

Flaccus

actually under irish law you have up to 6 years cover. year1 something goes wrong its assumed a manufacturing defect from day1. year 2 you have to prove the defect. year 3 and subsequent years you also have to proove item was meant to last longer then it did. shop or manufacturers warranty be it 1 year or 10 days is only an optional guarantee and does not affect your consumer rights. so if the op had the receipt or can prove date of purchase, he is covered if he can prove the 360 has a defect. all this is covered under sale of goods, and the 6 year warranty is the reason ireland did not ratify the european 2 year cover under consumer law. in the end a judge decides if the shop or manufacturer decides to challenge you. the same thing can happen if you refuse a repair and ask for a replacement. it is your right, but it is also the sellers right to suggest a repair. again a judge decides and takes the situation into account. you can also insist the shop deal with the repair as your contract is with them and not the manufacturer. but if the shop can demonstrate that by them sorting it is not going to take less time then sending it to the manufacturer yourself and a mechanism is set up by the manufacturer to deal with returns then they can legally tell you to return your own 360. at the very least you are entitled to a repair, seeing as you can prove the age from the manufacturing code and its clearly a fault. drop by your citizens advice bureau or use google to get the details on the sale of goods act and bring it to the shop with you or ring ms and remind them of irish law in the event of hassle.

mayordenis

i have 2 xbox's i have one in the sitting room and one in my bedroom(hd-dvds and some gaming from bed), one thing that its handy for and maybe not in your case is if your going to be in another persons house for a few days but might also be back in your own home quite a bit. also the second one i got when the elite came out so its nice to have the upgrade.

keystone

Thanks for all the advise.....especially dmigsy.

I'm flying along in Assassins Creed.....good game......may get repitive after a while I reckon!

Have decided to get an elite......buy a new Plasma/LCD.....not sure which yet and pop one of the 32" into the kids play room. This will be the home of the second XBOX which will be an elite.

Not sure how a 2nd one fits in with my Media Center pc but sure what the hey. I have kids, wife, work hard and don't go out......

thegoth

I was thinking about getting a second 360 as well. After the lastest update dash update I have decided I will. Why ?

1) Have a 360 in living room for watching DIVx movies on
2) On in sitting room with 42" Plasma for HD Gaming
3) Can play local games with friends or family

I say, go for it

keystone

I came to the same conclusion also........got an Elite.......pretty good.

tman

Just got myself an Elite as well yesterday and am now in 2 minds about selling my premium...
I'll hang onto it for a while anyway until my data transfer cable arrives. Will be handy to have the old 360 upstairs connected to my monitor and the Elite downstairs connected to my TV via HDMI.

It doesn't really seem to be that much quieter though which is a bit of a disappointment:(
I'd recommend getting a PS3 instead of a second 360 anyway, it's a much nicer machine for divx playback, has built in wireless and is dead quiet... Feels more suited to the sitting room than a 360

Skyuser

Can I just ask why people but the Xbox over the PS3. I had the Xbox for about 3 months until the PS3 came out. It was sooooo loud. Playstation is just the daddy of gaming. Why would you want an Xbox living in fear of three red lights.

Flaccus

Is this an attempt at trolling or starting a which console is better debate ? It's been done to death.

mcgovern

Skyuser wrote: »

Can I just ask why people but the Xbox over the PS3. I had the Xbox for about 3 months until the PS3 came out. It was sooooo loud. Playstation is just the daddy of gaming. Why would you want an Xbox living in fear of three red lights.

:rolleyes:
Hello Mr. Fanboi

Well why not get a PS3 or a wii for that matter if you have the cash? I have a PS3 and though I am very happy with it, I wouldn't get a second one for the house.

cedomination

Skyuser wrote: »

Can I just ask why people but the Xbox over the PS3. I had the Xbox for about 3 months until the PS3 came out. It was sooooo loud. Playstation is just the daddy of gaming. Why would you want an Xbox living in fear of three red lights.

Because we want a console that actually has games.

-annex-

cedomination wrote: »

Because we want a console that actually has games.

Damn right we do!

Anyway, this thread is drifting off topic a bit. Just to let you know that Microsoft now cover all 360's that get the RROD within 3 years of purchase free of charge.

Dan Lynch

cedomination wrote: »

Because we want a console that actually has games.

were going off the point but.. AMEN

the whole year inn

got the error 71 message on mine so did the towel trick worked for 4 days then same error did it again and its sound again.I was thinking bout an upgrade to the elite, does this have the3 rings ,other errors etc?