My 360 died on the 6th of December.

MS sent me a shipping box, and they received my console on the 12th.

Anyone have any experience with their repair center on Don Mills? Am I going to be gaming on my Christmas holidays, or am I screwed?

Ironically enough, I have two friends whose consoles red ringed on the exact same day.

This red ring thing really pisses me off. No more DLC, no more Live Arcade games for this guy. At least with physical media, I can resell it if my box dies. I'm not sinking any more money into a console that appears to have a limited lifespan. I'll keep repairing it until it's out of warranty, and if it croaks again, I'll replace it with a PS3.

My friend said they shipped him one back in about a week or two, not more, so hopefully you'll be in the same boat.

I am on my Fourth 360, and they all have come back within a month. none of them ever RROD'd though, they all started spouting "unreadable unplayable disc" so i had to pay for it one of those times. then they screwed up so bad, they sent me a brand new 360 (manufactured July 2008 with HDMI) 3 months of live (as opposed to the 1 they usually send) and 1200 miscrosoft points. hopefully you get it back in time for christmas, however i would doubt it.

When my buddy got the red ring I pulled the HD outa the thing before he sent it back and then when the new one got there a few weeks later I threw his old HD into it and all the downloaded crap was there as well as all saves.. If you do that at least your not just screwed outa all the crap you've paid for..

Oh, I know that all my downloaded stuff is safe, as I kept my HDD.

My issue is that in another two years, the box won't be under warranty anymore, and since it broke down the first time after just a year, I don't expect it to last that long. I expect to do at least one more warranty repair, and unless they replace my falcon box with a new jasper box, it will just break down again. Once it's out of warranty, if it breaks, it's toast, as I refuse to sink any more money into it. (I bought an Elite, before the price drops, and paid $599.) With a game, it was an $800 investment for me.

It also bugs me that MS points and xbox live are so much more expensive here than they are in the US. 800 MS points is supposed to be $10.00, in Canada it's closer to 15. Now, with the latest trend to charge 1200 or even 1600 ms points for some of the games, it's getting really expensive.

That, and they placed even more restrictions on silver members when they went with the new XBE. You have to be a gold member to send messages now? What?

I'm sick of being nickle and dimed to death.

I'm really down on the 360 right now, can you tell? When I was buying the system in Nov 2007, I was confident that it was the right choice. I still believe that 360 has the better game, and a better online service. I just wish it was more reliable.

Note to Lost: Spend $600 on a gaming PC. Play better games. Don't have it crap out on you every year.

^Agreed, however reluctantly. I'm enjoying the 360 that I've had for the past while now. I'd have no regrets purchasing one at retail if I could afford it. It has been a solid system to me with tons of great features. Xbox Live has been pretty sweet from what I've used of it, as well.

Even still, I'd rather upgrade my PC and enjoy some higher quality PC gaming. Unfortunately for the price it will be to upgrade my PC, I can purchase a 360, a mid-line HDTV and some games.

Posted by Bryan Note to Lost: Spend $600 on a gaming PC. Play better games. Don't have it crap out on you every year.

I don't really agree with that. For the price of a new pro console (399), you can't get much of a gaming PC. I have a nice PC, but I would rather sit on my couch for gaming instead of at my desk. I already spend 8-12 hours a day at a desk. The last thing I want to do is sit at another desk when I get home. Plus, I'd rather be playing on my 42" tv instead of my 22" monitor. I'm a console gamer. PC gamers might make fun of me, but I beat GTA IV twice before Rockstar even released the buggy piece of shit they gave to you.

Posted by LostintheWoods I don't really agree with that. For the price of a new pro console (399), you can't get much of a gaming PC. I have a nice PC, but I would rather sit on my couch for gaming instead of at my desk. I already spend 8-12 hours a day at a desk. The last thing I want to do is sit at another desk when I get home. Plus, I'd rather be playing on my 42" tv instead of my 22" monitor. I'm a console gamer. PC gamers might make fun of me, but I beat GTA IV twice before Rockstar even released the buggy piece of shit they gave to you.

I dunno, my buddy plays on his 40 something inch HDTV and has long ass cables to the mouse and keyboard, he sits on his couch and plays on his nice TV across the room.. modern computers can easily cross over using a TV as a monitor...

It came back on Dec 24, BTW.

That's pretty damn convenient.

Posted by LostintheWoods Oh, I know that all my downloaded stuff is safe, as I kept my HDD. My issue is that in another two years, the box won't be under warranty anymore, and since it broke down the first time after just a year, I don't expect it to last that long. I expect to do at least one more warranty repair, and unless they replace my falcon box with a new jasper box, it will just break down again. Once it's out of warranty, if it breaks, it's toast, as I refuse to sink any more money into it. (I bought an Elite, before the price drops, and paid $599.) With a game, it was an $800 investment for me.

I was under the impression that the falcon boxes had resolved the RROD issues for the most part. Makes me nervous now since mine is just over a year old.

I could be wrong but wasn't the red ring caused by the video card burning out? I don't see a fix for that, the 360 has shit for cooling and will always have shit for cooling.. Go Go making something look pretty any ignoring the fact that shits gotta work inside of it..
On a side note I have never seen more graphical fuckups in anything until my buddy got his 360 back from microsoft after his original one got a red ring

Posted by mada I was under the impression that the falcon boxes had resolved the RROD issues for the most part. Makes me nervous now since mine is just over a year old.

My box was most likely a Zephyr. The Falcons are pretty stable, apparently, and the Jasper boxes are very stable, due to the smaller die size for the GPU. The next hardware revision should be Valhala, due to release in 2009. It will feature the CPU and GPU on one die, which should really improve cooling.

If yours is a Pro or an Arcade manufactured after Sept 2007, it will most likely be a Falcon.

Posted by Pravus I could be wrong but wasn't the red ring caused by the video card burning out? I don't see a fix for that, the 360 has shit for cooling and will always have shit for cooling.. Go Go making something look pretty any ignoring the fact that shits gotta work inside of it..

RRoD signifies any major hardware failure inside the box, but it is typically caused when the graphics card overheats, warps, and either the GPU die pulls off the graphics card, or the entire card pulls out of the motherboard. Cooling in the 360 has always been insufficient, but as they shrink the process on which they manufacture their processors, and improve cooling in the box, it should get better.

Posted by LostintheWoods My box was most likely a Zephyr. The Falcons are pretty stable, apparently, and the Jasper boxes are very stable, due to the smaller die size for the GPU. The next hardware revision should be Valhala, due to release in 2009. It will feature the CPU and GPU on one die, which should really improve cooling. If yours is a Pro or an Arcade manufactured after Sept 2007, it will most likely be a Falcon.

I guess the Falcons aren't any better since mine just fucking RROD'd.

Posted by mada I guess the Falcons aren't any better since mine just fucking RROD'd.

That sucks.

I don't think it's a question of if with the RROD, it's a question of when. I fully expect my box to go again before the warranty expires.

What SKU was your box (pro, arcade, elite), and when was it manufactured? Are you sure it's a Falcon box? I've heard of some Falcon's going, but it's certainly not as prevalent as it used to be.

Yeah it's a Falcon Pro box. I did my research and checked the lot number, manufacturing date and even checked that it had the updated heat syncs by peering through the bottom mesh cover using a flashlight.

Funny thing happened last night, though. I decided to turn it on again just to see if it would work. Of course, it just blinked at me again. But I decided to just leave it on this time. After ten minutes I turned it off and hit the power button again and sure as shit it was alive again.

My guess is that leaving it on made it over heat and reset. Kind of like the towel trick but without the towel. I don't know how long it will last but I've still got a coffin on the way incase it doesn't.

fucking xbox is playing with my emotions.

Posted by mada fucking xbox is playing with my emotions.

Yeah, they do that, don't they? It's stressful to lose it for a month. Especially in my case. The 360 is truly the center of my living room. We stream all of our media through it (TPB FTW)

I said at the beginning of this thread that I wouldn't replace my 360 if it dies, and don't think that's true any more. It pisses me of that they're not as reliable as a $500 piece of electronics should be, but I still love it. I am convinced to this day that I could not possibly be having as much fun with a PS3 as I am having with my 360.

I'm glad I said that on a relatively small private board. Can you imagine the legion of frothing fanboys if I made that statement on a public board?