XBox 360's Failure Rate (i.e., RROD) - Blu-ray Forum

vladittude0583 · 04-03-2008, 04:55 PM

I am sure almost everyone here and every other gamer has heard of the XBox 360's failure rate associated with RROD (Red Ring of Death). Well, I have had a XBox 360 since December 2006 and so far my unit is still working properly. However, I will say though that I hardly use it now since I have converted over to the PS3 side. My question is what caused all these people's 360's to have the RROD? Is it because people played the system for hours nonstop, poor ventilation, etc? I am sure everyone here would agree that it an electronics product is not properly ventilated, then most likely it will fail eventually due to the heat that resides, etc. I firmly believe that if you take care of the system as intended by the manufacturer, it should not die on you. What is your take on this issue?

skrill · 04-03-2008, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vladittude0583

I am sure almost everyone here and every other gamer has heard of the XBox 360's failure rate associated with RROD (Red Ring of Death). Well, I have had a XBox 360 since December 2006 and so far my unit is still working properly. However, I will say though that I hardly use it now since I have converted over to the PS3 side. My question is what caused all these people's 360's to have the RROD? Is it because people played the system for hours nonstop, poor ventilation, etc? I am sure everyone here would agree that it an electronics product is not properly ventilated, then most likely it will fail eventually due to the heat that resides, etc. I firmly believe that if you take care of the system as intended by the manufacturer, it should not die on you. What is your take on this issue?

I have an original 360 (purchased in June 2006). I works like champ and handles almost all my gaming (my PS3 actually has never been used to play games).

I actually kind want my 360 to have RROD -- then I could take it back to Costco for a full refund and get an Elite.

I think the generally accepted theory is a combination of poor ventilation in the environment (i.e., putting it on a carpet or running it in a enclosed cabinet) and poor internal heat dissipation design by MS.

That said -- I think the 360 is the stronger game platform due to Xbox Live and better game library.

WickyWoo · 04-03-2008, 05:07 PM

Insufficient cooling on the GPU causes warping of the board and eventually causes the solder points to break on it. The "Towel trick" overheats the system to the extent where the solder melts and they reconnect

This was caused because they rushed the system to maket with insuffiencient testing, and ignoring what the tests they did do were saying

Dynamo of Eternia · 04-03-2008, 05:14 PM

I know several people who have had to send theirs in and get replacements. I am actually still on my first one purchased in December 2005 and I haven't had a problem. I guess I am lucky, though it does worry me since I am on a launch unit and those are supposed to be the worst ones for this problem.

I don't over use mine like some do. I don't necessarily have huge marathons, and I may go for weeks or even months without playing it much, but then I get a new game or rediscover an older one and I do give the machine a pretty good workout as a result, and it's still working fine. So, I don't know what the secret it to keeping it working.

SDon1969 · 04-03-2008, 05:19 PM

I am on my 4th 360 since launch, all previous units sufferred the red rings. Fortunately, not once did I have to pay MS for repairs.

skrill · 04-03-2008, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

So, I don't know what the secret it to keeping it working.

Dumb luck -- like I said. Since I bought mine at Costco -- all I have to do is return it to them. I actually want it to RROD.

Stuart_Larkin · 04-03-2008, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I know several people who have had to send theirs in and get replacements. I am actually still on my first one purchased in December 2005 and I haven't had a problem. I guess I am lucky, though it does worry me since I am on a launch unit and those are supposed to be the worst ones for this problem.

I don't over use mine like some do. I don't necessarily have huge marathons, and I may go for weeks or even months without playing it much, but then I get a new game or rediscover an older one and I do give the machine a pretty good workout as a result, and it's still working fine. So, I don't know what the secret it to keeping it working.

Same here. Mine still plays but it freezes every once in a while and it has a wierd noise coming out of it. But otherwise it's not in bad shape i guess.
But worried to when it does finally break down which i believe it will.
I'll have to get an elite......

DetroitSportsFan · 04-03-2008, 05:28 PM

I bought one at launch and had to send it back around 6 months later. About four months later, I had to send back the second unit. After my third unit started freezing and acting like RROD was imminent, I traded it in at Gamestop and got a PS3 and haven't looked back.

messym · 04-03-2008, 05:30 PM

I am on my 5th Xbox 360 since launch. My original lasted 13 mths. The 4 others were refurbs that I recv'd as part of the warranty. 2 of the refurbs did not even work when I recv'd them so they had to go back to Texas. The other one's dvd drive failed. So I sent it back and they swapped the drive for me. For me it wasn't a ventilation issue. My xbox was always placed on top of a my entertainment center, standing up. The room was normal temperature and it was VERY well taken care of. There also wasn't a heat source like a receiver underneath it. I did use it quite a bit but, this issue really comes down to poor product design by MS. This was one of the primary reasons I bought my PS3. Now I rarely use the 360 and would not recommend their product to anyone until MS gets their act together. As a consumer, you shouldn't have to take special steps to correct manufacturing defects. I'm not talking about abuse, I talking normal wear and tear on a machine that promotes online gaming, which for most users is dozens of hours of usage. Just my 2 cents on the issue.

savage1984 · 04-03-2008, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skrill

Dumb luck -- like I said. Since I bought mine at Costco -- all I have to do is return it to them. I actually want it to RROD.

actually costco has a 90 day garauntee now. They changed their policy.

owa · 04-03-2008, 05:42 PM

Hmm, I thought there was a hardware issue that they've since supposedly addressed. I'd have to search for the articles to find what I'm thinking of though. Anyway, most of the people I've seen mention theirs failing said it didn't have anything to do with theirs being in a poor environment or limited airflow and these guys are computer enthusiasts that know all about needing good airflow, avoiding conditions that cause it to overheat, etc.

Having said that, I had one of the early ones and mine worked fine but I rarely used it, mostly just playing Spades and a couple of the other XBL games on it. Once the PS3 was released, I sold the x360. I debated for quite a while whether to sell it or not since so many of them were failing (and I didn't want someone to think I had suckered them into buying a faulty piece of hardware). It worked out though. The guy that bought mine knew all the about the issues since his had just failed. He essentially bought mine as a backup and to use while his was sent back for repair. Even if he did end up having issues with it eventually, I'm not going to feel too bad about it. I sold him a lot of x360 hardware/software for a very good price at the time so easily could have turned around and sold most of it and made a good profit.

Edit: Nevermind, seems I don't have to search for the defect, it's mentioned earlier in the thread.

skrill · 04-03-2008, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by savage1984

actually costco has a 90 day garauntee now. They changed their policy.

New policy started on April 2007. All prior purchases (including my 360) fall under the old policy. I know this because I just returned a Maxent Plasma (my gf's) due to image retention for a full refund (over $1600), it was purchased in summery 2006. We used the money to get a new Panny 42PZ700u (1080p plasma) for $1100 (we kept the change).

Even the new policy is 90 day return and 2 year warranty (they fix it or exchange it -- which really just means they exchange it).

savage1984 · 04-03-2008, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skrill

New policy started on April 2007. All prior purchases (including my 360) fall under the old policy. I know this because I just returned a Maxent Plasma (my gf's) due to image retention for a full refund (over $1600), it was purchased in summery 2006. We used the money to get a new Panny 42PZ700u (1080p plasma) for $1100 (we kept the change).

Even the new policy is 90 day return and 2 year warranty (they fix it or exchange it -- which really just means they exchange it).

oh. I stand corrected.

Mr. Hanky · 04-03-2008, 06:42 PM

That melting solder behavior suggests a "self-healing" capability!

That is just too kind an outcome to befall MS for this hastily prepared product.

plee · 04-03-2008, 06:42 PM

Interesting breakdown of 360 failures, not much of a sample though...

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/...ZyQkEMHoXP.php

Independent warranty company SquareTrade says the 16 percent Xbox 360 failure rate it reported earlier this month is just a starting point and that the actual figure could be higher.

For its study, SquareTrade tracked 27 Xbox 360 Elites, 57 Cores and 956 Premiums. Out of the 171 claims reported (60 percent), 102 were general hardware failures (Red Ring of Death). Of the other 69 claims:
- 18% were disc read errors.
- 13% were video card failures.
- 13% were hard drive freezes.
- 10% were power issues.
- 7% were disc tray malfunctions.

landry_p2000 · 04-03-2008, 07:29 PM

I have had different luck with my 360 as well. I had my 360 since October 2006, with absolutely no problems at all. I got a PS3 in January 2008, and it crashed on me in March 2008.

I am happy that I got it back today, and hopefully it won't happen again. Sony is pretty fast on getting you a replacement unit. Excellent service.

Seablazer · 04-05-2008, 04:17 AM

I have had pretty good luck *knock on wood* with my 360's...

My original, which I had won from the Mountain Dew contest worked for exactly 10 hours. Funny thing was that I couldn't do anything about it at the time because they were not prepared for problems as early as it happened (got it the Sat. before launch, called Sunday afternoon).... Anyways, wasn't the RROD or other console failure, it was the power block...

Ended up sending in the console anyways because they were not "sure" what was wrong even though I was telling them my power supply was giving me the "fault" indicator...

1 week before Christmas of 2005, the graphics card decided to start going (could only produce blue and green, no other colors)... Was a GPU failure, got a refurb... That lasted until August 07, when it started to RROD... Ended up selling that one with games and accessories for $400 to someone who had the patience to deal with MS. Ended up buying an Elite and couldn't be happier...

I must say, out of my 24 friends (college friends and co-workers) who have 360's, counting myself, there have been 3 RROD's, 1 DVD drive failure, 1 power supply failure.... So, considering I account for 2 of those problems, 3 out of 24 is not that bad...

Beyond that, I've actually gone through more DS's than 360's... I plan on picking up a PSP soon, so hopefully that will have no failures.

CptGreedle · 04-15-2008, 01:42 PM

A friend of mine at work has just told me he is on his 3rd XBOX 360 now. He just got ANOTHER RROD!!!
It is still going on and he is seriously considering going to PlayStation now.
I am all for this and am trying to get him to switch, it would also help him get out of HD DVD and into Blu-ray.

scweb13 · 04-15-2008, 04:39 PM

I'm on my 2nd. That's only because my 1st was stolen when my house was robbed last year.

SilverFireshot · 04-15-2008, 04:49 PM

I'm on my 4th. I just got a new arcade console that has all the new components to it so hopefully it will last awhile. I do most of my gaming on my 360 just because most of my friends are on Live and I like the controller much better. Although I have to say MLB 08 The Show has been sucking up most of my gaming time, that game is fantastic

.

Anyway, it's got the 3 year warranty on it, so I'm not too worried if this one dies too.

04-03-2008, 04:55 PM	#1
vladittude0583 Senior Member Member since:Oct 2007 Location:Jacksonville, FL Blu-ray collection:398 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:2	XBox 360's Failure Rate (i.e., RROD) I am sure almost everyone here and every other gamer has heard of the XBox 360's failure rate associated with RROD (Red Ring of Death). Well, I have had a XBox 360 since December 2006 and so far my unit is still working properly. However, I will say though that I hardly use it now since I have converted over to the PS3 side. My question is what caused all these people's 360's to have the RROD? Is it because people played the system for hours nonstop, poor ventilation, etc? I am sure everyone here would agree that it an electronics product is not properly ventilated, then most likely it will fail eventually due to the heat that resides, etc. I firmly believe that if you take care of the system as intended by the manufacturer, it should not die on you. What is your take on this issue?

04-03-2008, 05:42 PM	#11
owa Blu-ray Knight Member since:Apr 2007 Blu-ray reviews: 96	Hmm, I thought there was a hardware issue that they've since supposedly addressed. I'd have to search for the articles to find what I'm thinking of though. Anyway, most of the people I've seen mention theirs failing said it didn't have anything to do with theirs being in a poor environment or limited airflow and these guys are computer enthusiasts that know all about needing good airflow, avoiding conditions that cause it to overheat, etc. Having said that, I had one of the early ones and mine worked fine but I rarely used it, mostly just playing Spades and a couple of the other XBL games on it. Once the PS3 was released, I sold the x360. I debated for quite a while whether to sell it or not since so many of them were failing (and I didn't want someone to think I had suckered them into buying a faulty piece of hardware). It worked out though. The guy that bought mine knew all the about the issues since his had just failed. He essentially bought mine as a backup and to use while his was sent back for repair. Even if he did end up having issues with it eventually, I'm not going to feel too bad about it. I sold him a lot of x360 hardware/software for a very good price at the time so easily could have turned around and sold most of it and made a good profit. Edit: Nevermind, seems I don't have to search for the defect, it's mentioned earlier in the thread. Last edited by owa; 04-03-2008 at 07:24 PM.

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04-03-2008, 05:07 PM	#3
WickyWoo Blu-ray Champion Member since:May 2007 Trading Score:2	Insufficient cooling on the GPU causes warping of the board and eventually causes the solder points to break on it. The "Towel trick" overheats the system to the extent where the solder melts and they reconnect This was caused because they rushed the system to maket with insuffiencient testing, and ignoring what the tests they did do were saying

04-03-2008, 05:14 PM	#4
Dynamo of Eternia Blu-ray Knight Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 4K collection:335 Blu-ray collection:1857 DVD collection:1573 Trading Score:3	I know several people who have had to send theirs in and get replacements. I am actually still on my first one purchased in December 2005 and I haven't had a problem. I guess I am lucky, though it does worry me since I am on a launch unit and those are supposed to be the worst ones for this problem. I don't over use mine like some do. I don't necessarily have huge marathons, and I may go for weeks or even months without playing it much, but then I get a new game or rediscover an older one and I do give the machine a pretty good workout as a result, and it's still working fine. So, I don't know what the secret it to keeping it working.

04-03-2008, 05:19 PM	#5
SDon1969 Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Feb 2008 Location:Massachusetts Home Theater Gallery:32 Blu-ray collection:745 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:1	I am on my 4th 360 since launch, all previous units sufferred the red rings. Fortunately, not once did I have to pay MS for repairs.

04-03-2008, 05:28 PM	#8
DetroitSportsFan Hot Deals Moderator Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Michigan 4K collection:439 Blu-ray collection:2226 Trading Score:93	I bought one at launch and had to send it back around 6 months later. About four months later, I had to send back the second unit. After my third unit started freezing and acting like RROD was imminent, I traded it in at Gamestop and got a PS3 and haven't looked back.

04-03-2008, 05:30 PM	#9
messym Active Member Member since:Feb 2008 Location:Fall River, MA Blu-ray collection:158 Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:25	I am on my 5th Xbox 360 since launch. My original lasted 13 mths. The 4 others were refurbs that I recv'd as part of the warranty. 2 of the refurbs did not even work when I recv'd them so they had to go back to Texas. The other one's dvd drive failed. So I sent it back and they swapped the drive for me. For me it wasn't a ventilation issue. My xbox was always placed on top of a my entertainment center, standing up. The room was normal temperature and it was VERY well taken care of. There also wasn't a heat source like a receiver underneath it. I did use it quite a bit but, this issue really comes down to poor product design by MS. This was one of the primary reasons I bought my PS3. Now I rarely use the 360 and would not recommend their product to anyone until MS gets their act together. As a consumer, you shouldn't have to take special steps to correct manufacturing defects. I'm not talking about abuse, I talking normal wear and tear on a machine that promotes online gaming, which for most users is dozens of hours of usage. Just my 2 cents on the issue.

04-03-2008, 06:42 PM	#14
Mr. Hanky Active Member Member since:Sep 2007	That melting solder behavior suggests a "self-healing" capability! That is just too kind an outcome to befall MS for this hastily prepared product.

04-03-2008, 06:42 PM	#15
plee Senior Member Member since:Mar 2007	Interesting breakdown of 360 failures, not much of a sample though... http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/...ZyQkEMHoXP.php Independent warranty company SquareTrade says the 16 percent Xbox 360 failure rate it reported earlier this month is just a starting point and that the actual figure could be higher. For its study, SquareTrade tracked 27 Xbox 360 Elites, 57 Cores and 956 Premiums. Out of the 171 claims reported (60 percent), 102 were general hardware failures (Red Ring of Death). Of the other 69 claims: - 18% were disc read errors. - 13% were video card failures. - 13% were hard drive freezes. - 10% were power issues. - 7% were disc tray malfunctions.

04-03-2008, 07:29 PM	#16
landry_p2000 Blu-ray Ninja Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:Feb 2008 Location:Asgard Home Theater Gallery:9 4K collection:118 Blu-ray collection:800 DVD collection:25 Blu-ray reviews: 19 Trading Score:1	I have had different luck with my 360 as well. I had my 360 since October 2006, with absolutely no problems at all. I got a PS3 in January 2008, and it crashed on me in March 2008. I am happy that I got it back today, and hopefully it won't happen again. Sony is pretty fast on getting you a replacement unit. Excellent service.

04-05-2008, 04:17 AM	#17
Seablazer Active Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Long Island, NY Blu-ray collection:117	I have had pretty good luck knock on wood with my 360's... My original, which I had won from the Mountain Dew contest worked for exactly 10 hours. Funny thing was that I couldn't do anything about it at the time because they were not prepared for problems as early as it happened (got it the Sat. before launch, called Sunday afternoon).... Anyways, wasn't the RROD or other console failure, it was the power block... Ended up sending in the console anyways because they were not "sure" what was wrong even though I was telling them my power supply was giving me the "fault" indicator... 1 week before Christmas of 2005, the graphics card decided to start going (could only produce blue and green, no other colors)... Was a GPU failure, got a refurb... That lasted until August 07, when it started to RROD... Ended up selling that one with games and accessories for $400 to someone who had the patience to deal with MS. Ended up buying an Elite and couldn't be happier... I must say, out of my 24 friends (college friends and co-workers) who have 360's, counting myself, there have been 3 RROD's, 1 DVD drive failure, 1 power supply failure.... So, considering I account for 2 of those problems, 3 out of 24 is not that bad... Beyond that, I've actually gone through more DS's than 360's... I plan on picking up a PSP soon, so hopefully that will have no failures.

04-15-2008, 01:42 PM	#18
CptGreedle Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Sworn super-hero now services Atlanta (and suburbs). Blu-ray collection:128 Blu-ray reviews:5	A friend of mine at work has just told me he is on his 3rd XBOX 360 now. He just got ANOTHER RROD!!! It is still going on and he is seriously considering going to PlayStation now. I am all for this and am trying to get him to switch, it would also help him get out of HD DVD and into Blu-ray.

04-15-2008, 04:39 PM	#19
scweb13 Blu-ray Guru Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Everett, WA 4K collection:1 Blu-ray collection:512 DVD collection:29 Trading Score:4	I'm on my 2nd. That's only because my 1st was stolen when my house was robbed last year.

04-15-2008, 04:49 PM	#20
SilverFireshot Senior Member Member since:Mar 2008 Location:Boise, ID Blu-ray collection:153	I'm on my 4th. I just got a new arcade console that has all the new components to it so hopefully it will last awhile. I do most of my gaming on my 360 just because most of my friends are on Live and I like the controller much better. Although I have to say MLB 08 The Show has been sucking up most of my gaming time, that game is fantastic . Anyway, it's got the 3 year warranty on it, so I'm not too worried if this one dies too.

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