X box red lights

Idiophreak

lifesuckssometimes wrote: »

What is it with xbox 360 and ring of death loads on ebay are selling info:rolleyes: on repairing them.. It sounds to me that they are not that reliable PS3
for me then

If reliability's really the most important thing you look for in a games console, then you might be best off with the PS3, yeah. Although it's fair to say they're not exactly bug-free, either.

What you'll also find on the net is that MS have a 3 year warranty for RROD failures and very few people have any real problems with the customer service in getting it repaired/replaced...

Marty_J

Microsoft made many concessions in the design in order to ensure that it was noticeably smaller than the original Xbox (which did look like something you would build a garden wall out of). Ventilation ducts were shortened, components where squeezed together, and heatsinks were made smaller. This has led to Xbox 360s generating a lot of heat, which unsurprisingly has had a detrimental effect on their performance.

If I had to choose between the Xbox 360 and the PS3, I would certainly get the PS3, in large part because it plays BluRay disks. But I wouldn't discount the Xbox 360 totally. It's still a capable machine with a lot of games available for it.

Unfortunately though, in some instances, it does end up as a bubbling puddle of melted plastic.

RustyFlange

Lifesucks, we have both never had any problems with the xbox til now but its being repaired for free ... the ps3 is great except we both (my partner and I) miss the gamer points

elmer

Thanks everyone for all the helpful comments, as this is NOT my area of expertise I shall keep all the useful info to hand.

To date we have had no more red lights and as the school hols are here and of course its raining , I shall keep an eye on it, but am loath to send it back just yet, 9 or 10 days without it would have me at the end of my tether unless the sun comes out.

Elmer xx

Psychofly

If you've only recently bought it then take it back to the shop if it gets the red lights again. The overheating is just a temporary fix - I know, I've done it myself many times. The length of time it works for will get shorter and shorter. Bite the bullet next time it happens and get it sorted properly.

I've got a spare one I use as a media extender and I've got to the stage where overheating it alone doesn't work anymore. I have to open it up every couple of weeks and mess around inside (it was out of warranty and 2nd hand when I got it). Don't risk messing up your warranty on your console for the sake of getting it fixed properly.

baloo

Hi there - my son has recently suffered the great "tragedy" of the RINGS OF DEATH aka XBox 360 Burnout.
The Xbox was classed as pre-owned (in box and all original packaging).It's 3 years old according to Microsoft. We bought it 13 months ago.
My husband rang the helpline and has been charged £60 for the repair.
Basically I'm not happy about having to pay for a repair on something that Microsoft are well aware of - the RROD. Yet instead of product recalls they are charging £60 to fix it is it's out of warranty.
I'm thinking that there must be some sort of letter template out there that I could use to complain to Microsoft.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Tribulation

If ever your xbox fails, for whatever reason, if you say it has the 3 red lights flashing, they will always authorise a repair free of charge providing it's under 3 years old.

Bearing in mind it wasn't launched until the end of 2005, all consoles must still be in warranty for this fault.

Once they've authorised the repair, that's the end of it from the users point of view, the bod fixing it couldn't care less what the fault turns out to be, they simply fix whatevers wrong with it then send it back out.

I want to stress what others have said about ventilation. Ours was fine until my son got a new monitor and I moved the 360 on top of a bookcase with air all round. But because the back was only a couple of inches from the wall, the heat couldn't escape properly and it ended up freezing.

Once repaired, I simply turned the 360 around so the hard drive is closest to the wall as there's little heat generated that side, and it's been 100% fine since.

Tribulation

baloo wrote: »

The Xbox was classed as pre-owned (in box and all original packaging).It's 3 years old according to Microsoft. We bought it 13 months ago.
My husband rang the helpline and has been charged £60 for the repair.

See my above post. Wasn't released until Nov/Dec 2005 so cant possibly be over 3 years old.

Maybe the person on the phone went by the manufactured date on the back of your 360? But could have been manufactured months before they actually went on sale.

Maybe your husband told them you'd brought it pre owned and they're being funny because of that? The sale of goods act applies to second hand goods as well as new goods, so I'd contact trading standards and ask them. It's a well publicised and known fault so I wouldn't have thought you would have to pay.

Marty_J

baloo wrote: »

Hi there - my son has recently suffered the great "tragedy" of the RINGS OF DEATH aka XBox 360 Burnout.
The Xbox was classed as pre-owned (in box and all original packaging).It's 3 years old according to Microsoft. We bought it 13 months ago.
My husband rang the helpline and has been charged £60 for the repair.
Basically I'm not happy about having to pay for a repair on something that Microsoft are well aware of - the RROD. Yet instead of product recalls they are charging £60 to fix it is it's out of warranty.
I'm thinking that there must be some sort of letter template out there that I could use to complain to Microsoft.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Try this:

https://service.xbox.com/servicehome.aspx?mkt=en-gb

You can request a repair online.