What are they? i might be getting a 360 soon and i'd like to know in advance ways i can keep it running right/tell if its been f'ed somehow.
Red Lights/ Rings of Death signify that your 360 is experiencing "General Hardware Failure", caused most of the time by the overheating of certain parts on the 360 making the pieces come apart. This is because the 360 has too few heatsinks and the type of solder MS uses to construct the 360 motherboard makes it vunerable to excess heat. I think I read somewhere that new 360s have more sinks or better chips so they produce less heat or something like that, so you should have no worries. Also MS still has there warranty going.
Correct. The new 360s should be shipping with the brand new Falcon boards. Smaller 65nm chips. They run much cooler than the earlier ones.
I got my 360 a year ago, and the optical drive is a total POS. It always grinds to a stop while trying to read discs and load data, and I get so many disc read errors, I sometimes wonder if I'm playing a first wave PS2 in disguise. It's never overheated or given me the dreaded RROD though. I'm really disappointed in the shoddy quality of 360's in general. It's got great software and unreliable hardware, while my PS3 has amazing hardware (though the power supply on my 1st one crapped out) and a lacking library. What a team they make. Good luck, and get an Elite. Stay away from that "Family Arcade Edition" crap. When my 360 finally gives up the ghost, I'll have to get me one of those fancy HDMI havin' elites.
Threads, and comments like these, have scared me away from the 360 but I'd like to get it or a PS3 sometime in the future. I have a Wii, but I keep debating on getting another gaming system when (as of lately) I'm having a hard time holding onto a small Hot Wheels car. Oh well. I wouldn't worry about the RROD as much on the newer models (I.E. the Elite) and I'd prefer a loud system, to a DEAD system. When you get your 360, just make sure to give it room to "breathe," and don't smoke around it either. Cigarette smoke is a KILLER to optical devices.
Sorry just had to do it. I am getting the kids one for Christmas (Read Shin wants Super Street Fighter II HD) and I'm toying with the idea of modding it with Better Fans.
The power supply, the moment that has no ventilation then you get problems, it has very little to do with the actual machine. It even states in the manual to keep it in open space on the correct surface. Follows these guidlines and all will be ok. Oh and don't keep changing its position, leave it vertical or horizontal and leave it in the position.
Right when I first got mine I had the red rings. Some of my friends got it, too. However, in the past year it has not happened to anyone I know personally, although members of the boards here have reported it. Microsoft has a three year warranty on that, so I would say buy one if you like the software library and just know that you are covered if it does happen. As for the optical drive being garbage, I don't know about that. I use my 360 as my DVD player and have no problems. Also, if you have those problems, Socialvegetable, why didn't you take it back to the store?
I'd like to say that's true- but I treated my 360 perfectly and I got the lights. If it were a problem that could be avoided by treating it good, then MS would never have extended the warrantys due to the problem. The replacement 360 I got has the grinding sound problem as well. Always scares me- and furthermore if you hit eject with a running game or a stopped DVD it will open with the disk still spinning and make a terrbile noise. I gotta say I'm dissapointed to. It looks like the have to learn the lesson Sony did with the PS2. Of course, Sony never really admitted to having problems, despite my 5 dead PS2's.
My 360 makes that grinding noise too, and it scares me. I thought it was just normal though. It's digesting my games.
I have two 360's in my house multiple gaming machines current and past and in like 13 years of gaming I've never, ever had a problem with a machine becoming faulty. (Except one PSX, as it was modded badly) The two PS2's are fine and always have been one is the original model, the other slim line. Original Xbox is fine, Both of the 360's are fine and we got them in December 2005. Wii is spot on, Playstion one is fine, both the original model and the PSOne. N64, Dreamcast, Snes and Mega Drive all perfect. Both PSPs, DS, GBA all fine. And yes myself and my brother are computer game freaks. I've most likley jinxed myself but what do people do to break so many consoles? Or is it a case of millions of people have no problems and we only hear the horror stories online as no one needs to write a story about a machine working fine?
I know, as a gamer pretty much my whole life, how to treat games and systems. I had great luck with the PS1, and the first two years of my PS2s life it was fine, then it stopped reading DVD formatted games. Why? Well, I think the PS2 starts having problems if you watch DVD's on it, so if you don't do that (with the larger PS2's) then it may never have a problem. Anyways, I shipped the PS2 back, got a replacement, and the same thing happend after 6 months. Did the replacement again, along with my roomates, and then now both the replacements we got won't read certain types. I also think that certain games that stream data cause problems. The 360's problem had I think a defect rate of 20% or a little higher, so that's pretty damn high, but that also means that there are millions of units with no problems at all, so actually the odds are in your favor of getting one that won't crap out. ANyways, those are the only systems I still have problems with.
Woot!! Mine has the older Box but does have the two games and is Lot # 743 and is rated at 175W!! I scored Falcon!!!
Don't let these stories get to you. It's a great machine with alot to offer. If it dies, Microsoft will happily send you a box to replace it. Very good customer service. A friend of mine broke my controller and he ended up calling up MS and they sent us a brand new one once we sent our broken one in. Fast and easy. My brothers first 360 red ringed but our new one has been working fairly well. I took care of the old one as well. Dusted it every day and made sure it had plenty of ventilation. It's just a design error and MS has been working on a fix which is very reassuring.
Ah ok, now i know(and knowing is half the battle, YO JOE!) though i'm pretty sure if i am getting one it will be the Arcade one(would be a gift if i'm right and i don't think they could afford the premium one) but i take pretty good care of my systems, well for the most part once my PS2 stopped working, we got the laser replaced worked fine again for a year or two but just recently it f'ed up again and i took it apart to see if something happened and well, it didn't turn out so well hehe, stupid thing broke while i was checking it, oh well, my NES SNES Genesis Gameboy and N64 still work so i have something to play til we get a new one(might actually be getting a slim one for Xmas heh)
meh ive never had ANY problems with any of my PSs, since the old PS1, my PS2 i bought like when it first came out, its the fat one and STILL plays standing on its side both movies and games, i think these things are like cars, everyone will experience somthing different and will judge the brand based upon so, i wouldnt mind having a 360 but i hear more horror stories about it thatn anything and since he blu ray is better than HD and i have a PS3 its HARD to justify buying a 360 for the fact so many other ppl i have it than the PS3 in short i guess im saying i held out for a classier hot chick that works rather than bang the whore that everyone else is bangin until she croaks, haha, ok im jk there dont want that to stir up too much crap both systems have their ups and downs but in my case thats how it went,i would totally buy a 360 if i had the extra cash...meh id probably buy an AK now that i have an AR and G3 clone heh
Well crap. I called my and had her check my Elite's box and she said it had a lot # of 0709 and a wattage of 203w. Guess that means I have the older chipset, correct? I bought the Elite the day it was released...back in May. I haven't really noticed any problems, but the Transformers game does sound louder than any other games. Not quite grinding, but definately louder than any other game I have. My system is standing vertically and sits on a table out in the open so it's well ventilated. Knock on wood that I don't have any RRoD problems...
