8 of our Xbox 360 have died since April 15, 2006 |
Didn’t update the blog when our 7th Xbox 360 went down, but now that we have our 8th, which is the Xbox 360 Arcade package that we purchased in November 2007, it’s unfortunately that time of year again. If there was ever a time for me to go thumbs down on something, it’s this:
Here’s the historical breakdown so new readers can catch up and old readers can shake their heads along with our family again.
Xbox 360 systems that have died since April 15, 2006
#8: Tuesday June 2, 2009, red rings. We’re swapping it out at Best Buy today, June 17, 2009. Good thing we bought the warranty! My advice to all continues to be one of the following: 1) never buy an Xbox 360 without a warranty or 2) (new) never buy an Xbox 360 at all.
#7: January 2009, red rings. Didn’t record the exact day, but it was just after the first of the year. This unit is covered by Microsoft’s Red Ring of Death replacement and we just need to send it in. Microsoft has stopped sending boxes, but we have the packing slip ready.
#6: Saturday August 18, 2008. Three red rings of death. We used Best Buy replacement plan to swap out with brand new Xbox Elite.
#5: January 1, 2008 (Happy New Year, Microsoft!). Status: three red rings of death, unrepaired. Under warranty, Microsoft replaced within a month.
#4: Xbox 360 broken November 3, 2007. Status: broken disc tray, unrepaired. We replaced this system by buying a new Xbox 360 Arcade package (and yes, bought 2-year warranty).
#3: April 2007. Status: red rings of death, replaced three weeks later on April 23, 2007
#2: September 22, 2006. Status: red rings of death, replaced on October 20, 2006
#1: June 14, 2006. Our first Xbox 360 dies. Didn’t even make it two months.
I think with my last post we’d reached ashamed status. Not sure what customer emotion comes next when or if we reach double digits with all these hardware failures. The biggest videogame player in our house is going into the Army in September, so maybe that means we’ll see fewer Xbox 360s die moving forward.
I want, maybe need, to be emotional about it but the truth is I’m past angry, disappointed and perplexed. Without being too dramatic it’s become more of a way of gaming life now. I don’t like it but have come to accept that the time will come when the Xbox 360 will error out and we’ll be forced to dig for the receipt and/or warranty paperwork.
Was telling a friend in IRC this morning that it kind of reminds me of the pinball machine we had. Pinball machines are notorious for requiring lots of maintenance. Too much for a guy like me that isn’t a huge fan of that kind of work. Kudos to those who are but we all have things we like that somebody else feels the opposite.
As long as these systems stay under warranty we’ll keep swapping them out. It’s hard for me to imagine another gaming machine in my lifetime that will have as many great games and encouraging gaming experience but be so completely awful in system reliability. It’s not like any of these 8 systems have tanked during a game – they haven’t - but when you shut the system off you walk away wondering if that will be your last gameplay session on that box ever.
Usually when something is this bad, it’s bad all around but that’s not the case for the Xbox 360. The software side is clicking while the hardware side is frankly inexcusable.
The funny thing is we have two of the original Xboxes and those are still working fine, so it must be a case of Xbox 360 design. Our PS3 and Wii are both doing fine. It’s well beyond making excuses when something breaks down eight times in (roughly) three years. It’s beyond making excuses if something goes bad twice in three years.
So I cannot and will not defend the Xbox 360 hardware problems any longer. As a gamer I will continue to play on the Xbox 360 platform. I’m starting to feel like something I’m not: a fanboy. Or a sucker. Maybe both. Tormented, there’s the word I was searching for.
Whatever the case, maybe some higher power can shower some good luck on our household so no more of these will die. Pretty please with a strawberry from Ms. Pac-man on top? If you are in the Xbox 360 has died brother and sisterhood, yes, we feel your pain.
Did this post make you go hmm?
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Maybe Related Posts (plugin generated)
- 6 Xbox 360 dead in less than 30 months, our first Xbox Elite dies
- Another Xbox 360 bites the dust tonight, 5 bad systems in less than 2 years and counting
- Xbox 360 three year warranty page
- With 61% sales increase in July, PS3 still lags behind Wii and Xbox 360
- PS2 outsells Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 in March 2007
- This coming holiday season’s console videogaming champ, chimp and chump
I don’t understand why you’ve had so much trouble with this. I’ve owned my Xbox for about the same time and did have to swap it out once, but 8 times seems really high for a problem that only affected 10% of the consoles. We should contact Guiness and see if you qualify for some kind of world record.
Comment by Davis Freeberg — June 17, 2009 @ 9:40 am PST
I’m not trying to blame the victim here (I’d be pissed too), but you either *love* xbox or *hate* yourself to a degree that is probably unhealthy if you’re willing to burn throw EIGHT of them line up to get a ninth.
Also, that looks like a fair amount of dust on the topside of your 360. I’ll have to pry off my HD to see if mine is the same way, but it seems excessive. I wonder if that is a contributing factor?
Comment by Jim d. — June 17, 2009 @ 12:13 pm PST
There’s only so much I would be able to handle with this one before I took it back for a PS3 or a Wii. Eight broken ones is ridiculous.
Comment by Bob — June 17, 2009 @ 3:17 pm PST
Not a gamer but notice that you have a son/daughter going into the Army. Thank him/her and thank YOU for this service for our country!
Comment by Tammy — June 17, 2009 @ 8:41 pm PST
Actually Microsoft has chosen not to publish the exact failure rate and we can only rely on third party sources.
Square Trade offers a warranty on XBOX 360 products and says the rate they had calculated was 16.4%:
“Square Trade also stated that its estimates are likely much lower than reality due to the time span of the sample (six to ten months), the eventual failure of many consoles that did not fail within this time span and the fact that many owners did not deal with Square Trade and had their consoles repaired directly through Microsoft via the much publicized extended RROD warranty.”
I loved my original XBOX and by the time I could afford a 360, there were already reports of the RROD. I chose to wait and am still waiting to see if they ever fix the issue so that I don’t feel like I would just be throwing my money away.
Comment by Wayne — June 18, 2009 @ 8:59 am PST
jim d - the dust on the Xbox 360 in the picture is from sitting in a dusty place for six months (that is the one that went down in January, see post) not the environment it was in when it was getting gameplay
Dust isn’t the culprit.
Comment by TDavid — June 19, 2009 @ 9:09 am PST
Davis - I read in the past that somebody else had this problem with like 10 defective consoles, so don’t think we’ve been affected the most out there. Also have to remember we have had 4 Xbox Live accounts in our house which probably is another rarity. How many households can you think of have 4 different Xbox 360 with Xbox Live running? So it’s probably more like four different customer experiences melded into one, which means we’ve each had two go bad in three years, which isn’t that different from your experience.
Tammy - thanks!
Comment by TDavid — June 19, 2009 @ 9:14 am PST
This is just unacceptable. My original Xbox (along with the majority of users) lasted years. I didn’t have any problems with it. How can Microsoft go from a decent gaming console which is reliable to a console mess? Too many problems. Too easy to break. Microsoft need to look closely at the console. They aren’t cheap!
Comment by Aidan — July 5, 2009 @ 3:03 am PST
That realy is terrible. Have you tried with an elite? They have apparently fixed the hardware fault wiht that.
Comment by Milo — July 5, 2009 @ 8:02 am PST
I thought being on my 3rd 360 was bad, but 8? Either you put some serious gaming hours in or Microsft has a bigger problem than they thought!
Comment by Dan — July 7, 2009 @ 4:26 pm PST
I’m now on my third xbox in two years. This is probably only because I have not played it for about a year.
I certainly share in the feeling of turning it off and wondering if this will be the last time I see it working. Both issues I had was teh defective disk drive. I beleive this is not even the most common of the problems but it really is extremely frustrating!
Comment by Olly — July 8, 2009 @ 12:59 am PST
wow I’m sorry. That’s one thing I’ve noticed with xbox’s, they’re certainly cheaper than the alternative ps3, but they break or get the red ring of death far too often. I find it kinda pathetic, every single friend of mine who has an xbox 360 has seen it break at least once, maybe twice.
Comment by Ryan — July 19, 2009 @ 6:37 pm PST
I got RRoD once and they returned it to me in less than 2 weeks, and I haven’t had trouble since. How many 360’s do you own cuz if you own more than one from that beginning then its gonna look like you constantly have trouble.
Comment by steve — August 11, 2009 @ 5:17 am PST
Glad to see I’m not the only one …
I purchased an XBOX 360 Pro this afternoon from Big W (Wallmart type of store in Australia), and within 3 hours of playing it, it RROD’ed on me… Its definately going back in the morning..
NOT GOOD MICROSOFT
Comment by John — September 12, 2009 @ 7:27 am PST
That is some serious Xbox 360 based misfortune, 8 broken consoles! I’m on my 3rd 360 but since I only bought the first one in April 2007 I guess that isn’t too hot a track record either. My first was locking up with a screwy colored line pattern on the screen with increasing regularity and since it was nearing the end of its warranty it went back to the store. The 2nd only lasted a few months, it went back to the store with a RROD. The current one is holding out much better but now I’ve said that it will probably go and break next week!
It’s such a shame that the reliability of the 360 is so poor, it really is a superb games console whilst it is up and running. Note to MS: bring out a cooler, quieter and more reliable 360 and you will have the ultimate games console!
Comment by Stu — September 15, 2009 @ 6:23 am PST
I agree 100% with Stu, the noise is too much, and it needs to be made more energy efficient, as that’s probably the root of many of the hardware issues. I personally have an Elite and *crosses fingers* I havent’ had an issue with it yet, but I am dreading the RROD.
Comment by Amy — December 10, 2009 @ 12:28 pm PST