Have you ever had a Xbox 360 malfunction?

[physx7]

All right,

I was planning on purchasing a Xbox 360 Premium off of Ebay. But I have heard so many horror story's about RROD's. I was planning on playing a bunch of backward compatible Xbox games on it as well. I really was looking at The Force Unleashed and Mercs 2.. But I also have heard of quite a few people who have never had a single problem with the 360..

Soo my question is: What is your overall experience with the 360? Positive or Negative?

 

[SnareSpectre]

I haven't owned one myself, but I have had three roommates who have one. Two of them have had RROD's, but neither has had their 360 die on them. They seem fairly reliable, but you should be warned that they eat game discs if you even slightly tilt the system while it's reading a disc. One of my roommates lost Gears of War to it and had to buy it again. Another one had his 360 eat Halo 3 twice, but fortunately he bought the $3 scratch protection all 3 times he has purchased the game, which I would highly recommend doing, given the 360's track record of burning those geometric grooves in the readable side of the disc.

 

[Heyyou27]

I've had my Elite red ring once and I've had it for just about a year; it's simply very poorly designed. A good friend of mine just had his second 360 red ring, and it was only about two months old and he got it through his Best Buy extended warranty program, so it was brand new out of the box. The PS3 on the other hand is a much more solid piece of hardware, and has a larger feature set these days, and a game library that is becoming very competitive. There was a bit of a fiasco with the new firmware apparently causing some user's hard drives to corrupt and require a reformat, and a friend of mine experienced it but I myself have had no problems.

 

[physx7]

A good friend of mine just had his second 360 red ring, and it was only about two months old and he got it through his Best Buy extended warranty program, so it was brand new out of the box.

What kind of environment was your friends 360 in? Did it have plenty of airflow and such?

 

[Heyyou27]

What kind of environment was your friends 360 in? Did it have plenty of airflow and such?

Please don't give me that crap; everyone who tries to defend the system dying as if it was something caused by user carelessness. When my Elite red ringed in the beginning of March, we were experiencing temperatures below freezing where I live, and my system is keep sitting on one of the shelves of my completely open glass television stand. My friend's system was merely sitting on a stand under his TV as well with plenty of room around the system for airflow.

 

[Ananan]

As far as I know (I talked to them about a year ago before I bought mine) 2 guys from my hometown still have original launch Xbox 360s that run fine.

My Xbox 360 has gotten plenty of use and still runs great after a year. Not doubting anyone, but some of the failure stories sure seem extreme.

edit - backwards compatibilty was a dud for me. Almost none of my Xbox titles worked and the ones that did (like Fable) stuttered badly.

 

[th_username]

no

 

[physx7]

Please don't give me that crap; everyone who tries to defend the system dying as if it was something caused by user carelessness.

I wasn't trying to defend the system. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't the users fault.

 

[Flakes]

my flatmate has one of the original 360s from launch, and its starting to show signs of dying, its in a open area on a glass shelf under our TV, and every so often it will just freeze up, the other day we where playing GTA4 and it froze displaying red lines running down the screen...

 

[physx7]

As far as I know (I talked to them about a year ago before I bought mine) 2 guys from my hometown still have original launch Xbox 360s that run fine.

My Xbox 360 has gotten plenty of use and still runs great after a year. Not doubting anyone, but some of the failure stories sure seem extreme.

edit - backwards compatibilty was a dud for me. Almost none of my Xbox titles worked and the ones that did (like Fable) stuttered badly.

That's great..hmm.. success story's like yours still seem to be few and far between though. That's bad about the backwards thing. I was planning on running a good many different Xbox title's on it.

Has anyone had any success running a few different original Xbox games on the 360?

 

[MrIcky]

I have had no problems for a year on mine. My backward compatibility has been a mixed bag. The 360 will download a compatibility file off XBL if your old game is part of it's database. Most of the more popular old xbox games work. Jade Empire and Ninja Gaiden worked right away.

Like I said, I haven't had any issues. The people who have had issues are very vocal and I've read conflicting information on percentages of people with issues. Xbox has extended their own warranty to 3 years. I would say that spending the extra money to buy from a brick and mortar retailer where you can actually return the system may be a wise investment.

My experience is actually very positive coming up on a year. My opinion is that XBL is a very strong feature. I'm looking forward to the netflix/XBL link this fall. I see some people are steering you toward a PS3. That's a choice you'll have to make based on games.

As far as airflow goes on mine: My 360 is in a low cabinet in approximately a 2 foot by 2 foot space. It has a door, but I open the door when the 360 is in use for airflow.

 

[robwright]

All right,

I was planning on purchasing a Xbox 360 Premium off of Ebay. But I have heard so many horror story's about RROD's. I was planning on playing a bunch of backward compatible Xbox games on it as well. I really was looking at The Force Unleashed and Mercs 2.. But I also have heard of quite a few people who have never had a single problem with the 360..

Soo my question is: What is your overall experience with the 360? Positive or Negative?

Is the 360 new or used/refurbrished? I personally would never buy one second hand. For one, I don't trust people. And two, does the Microsoft warranty carry over? Something to consider.

Anyway, here's my experience with the 360. I think the console has the best game library going -- I don't even think it's possible to argue otherwise -- but the 360 also has the worst hardware of the three. Really strange. We've had three 360s here at THG and all three of them have failed (and, to be sure, repaired quickly and for free by MS). The first two launch systems got the Red Ring of Death. But more importantly, we got a new 360 Elite, which had a new hardware config, and lo and behold, it failed too. Not the Red Ring of Death, though. Instead, the system's disc reader simply broke (you put a disc it, and it sounded like a damn blender). I mean, seriously...who designed these things? So my advice would be to get a 360, preferrably the newer Elite model, and buy it new so that you're protected by MS's extended warranty.

And BTW, we've had zero issues with our PS3s/Wiis at this point.

 

[itadakimasu]

idk what happened

my 360 i had wouldn't start... i pulled the hd out and put it back then it worked.

 

[Heyyou27]

Is the 360 new or used/refurbrished? I personally would never buy one second hand. For one, I don't trust people. And two, does the Microsoft warranty carry over? Something to consider.

Anyway, here's my experience with the 360. I think the console has the best game library going -- I don't even think it's possible to argue otherwise -- but the 360 also has the worst hardware of the three. Really strange. We've had three 360s here at THG and all three of them have failed (and, to be sure, repaired quickly and for free by MS). The first two launch systems got the Red Ring of Death. But more importantly, we got a new 360 Elite, which had a new hardware config, and lo and behold, it failed too. Not the Red Ring of Death, though. Instead, the system's disc reader simply broke (you put a disc it, and it sounded like a damn blender). I mean, seriously...who designed these things? So my advice would be to get a 360, preferrably the newer Elite model, and buy it new so that you're protected by MS's extended warranty.

And BTW, we've had zero issues with our PS3s/Wiis at this point.

I feel the same way; I generally don't trust previous owners with electronics, and I need a guarantee from the manufacturer that I have a warranty especially on a product as flaky as the Xbox360. My Elite got the RROD in the beginning of February of this year, but recovered and lasted an entire month and died for good. My turn around time was a lot longer than I anticipated, as it took them 35 days to return my console. For me it wasn't really a big deal, as I have the PS3, Wii and a PC I can game on, however for someone that has the Xbox as their only platform, I'd be pretty ticked.

 

[infornography42]

My one issue was that our old premium was eating disks. It did that blender sound that people mentioned and destroyed the disk. Lost Overlord to that. We used the Best Buy replacement plan to upgrade to an Elite back when those had just come out and have had no problems since.

The backwards compatibility has been about 2/3 titles work for me. I'd recommend checking the list before buying the game.

Yeah, the hardware has been flaky and all, but the game selection and the quality of the Xbox live marketplace are phenomenal. I would say it is totally worth the risk of the occasional warrantee RMA.

 

[L33t C@pper]

The 360 has so much more raw gaming performance look at the graphic comparison and performance comparison vs. ps3 http://www.gamespot.com/features/6162742/index.html
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/617/617951p1.html

Get a Nyko Intercooler XE for the air flow issues. I just got my 360 premiun for 299.99 no problems in fact I heard they fixed the issue with the new systems.
Condemned 2 looks so bad a** on a good 1080p tv I have only played it on a Olevia 50" I would like to play on a new Samsung ToC 120hz possible 200000:1 contrast ratio on that mutha.

 

[Heyyou27]

The 360 has so much more raw gaming performance look at the graphic comparison and performance comparison vs. ps3 http://www.gamespot.com/features/6162742/index.html
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/617/617951p1.html

Get a Nyko Intercooler XE for the air flow issues. I just got my 360 premiun for 299.99 no problems in fact I heard they fixed the issue with the new systems.
Condemned 2 looks so bad a** on a good 1080p tv I have only played it on a Olevia 50" I would like to play on a new Samsung ToC 120hz possible 200000:1 contrast ratio on that mutha.

It's difficult to really compare graphical abilities between the PS3 and 360 when most titles are developed primarily for the 360 and then ported over to the PS3. There's no denying the 360 is easier to develop for, but there are titles on the PS3 that look better than the best 360 titles like Uncharted and MGS4. Also, using a Nyko Intercooler has been reported to increase your chance of the RROD, and using it voids your 360's warranty.

 

[tallguy1618]

I need to bring up a point: The new batch of 360's are coming out soon. The current batch are all codenamed Jasper, if I remember correctly, which uses a smaller processor fabrication and saves heat and energy. The new batch coming out (I forgot the codename) will have a graphics card shrink, which WILL solve all the heat problems. I have an elite with the processor shrink and have had no problems for about 8 months. I also have no trouble playing xbox originals on it and nobody I know has problems, not sure why some people here have problems with that. If you get the arcade version, it doesn't support xbox originals, but the other 2 do. The only thing I've noticed is that if I try and play one of the few games that came out for 360 and the original xbox the original xbox version cannot play on the elite. Also, don't always believe people who say that their 360 had RROD and then they got it back from MS and it RROD'ed again. MS does little when you send it in, and they send you back the same one. If it RROD's once it is more likely to do it again. The RROD is not always heat failure. It also happens when it gets unplugged from the TV while it's turned on. Many people whine about RROD when all they had to do is plug it back up. My overall experience with the 360 is extremely positive and I don't see any reason to buy a different console over it.

 

[L33t C@pper]

It's difficult to really compare graphical abilities between the PS3 and 360 when most titles are developed primarily for the 360 and then ported over to the PS3. There's no denying the 360 is easier to develop for, but there are titles on the PS3 that look better than the best 360 titles like Uncharted and MGS4. Also, using a Nyko Intercooler has been reported to increase your chance of the RROD, and using it voids your 360's warranty.

Well I will take my chances with the Nyko it said on the box that it doesn't void the warranty. The RROD is caused by overheating problems the Nyko has three fans thats all im saying.

Look at the memory speed in the benchmark. PS3 vid card not as fast as ATI now Nvidia seems to be faster in the computer gaming area. I still like the under dogs.

 

[Heyyou27]

Well I will take my chances with the Nyko it said on the box that it doesn't void the warranty. The RROD is caused by overheating problems the Nyko has three fans thats all im saying.

Look at the memory speed in the benchmark. PS3 vid card not as fast as ATI now Nvidia seems to be faster in the computer gaming area. I still like the under dogs.

You shouldn't need an after market product to keep your game system cool, when the competition's hardware fails a lot less without such gimmicks.

Ignoring the fact that those charts are from a previous Microsoft E3 conference, do you not understand what they're showing in that last chart? They're merely adding up the maximum theoretical bandwidth between different components to a total sum as if it actually means something. The only reason they can even do that is because the Xenos is technically two dies, even though it functions as one with a bus system that accounts for the majority of the "bandwidth" they show on the chart. That's like comparing a CPU's ability to read its own L1 or L2 bandwidth with a different CPU's ability to access RAM through its memory controller. In fact, the PS3 and 360 both use 700MHz DDR3 (1400MHz effective) for their GPUs and memory performance is actually identical. The RSX also has a higher TMU count, and is capable of more pixel shader operations at peak but that doesn't really matter either. It all depends on how the developer optimizes their game and what features they are going to focus on. Another thing you're forgetting is while the Cell is not the ideal CPU for a multi-platform developer, it is very capable of taking on graphical tasks.

To the underdog statement, I agree with wanting the underdog to win, and in this case it's Sony against Microsoft, and Sony doesn't have billions of dollars to throw away to buy exclusives the way Microsoft does. It's not even like the Xbox360 vs. PS3 is a contest between Nvidia and ATI because Microsoft and Sony own the design for the 360 and PS3 GPU so they can make as many as they want, with or without ATI/Nvidia in the picture. Also, Nvidia has recently seemed to have taken a page out of Microsoft's book, as they have had to recall multiple GPUs due to cheap silicon dying quickly.

I own both systems and have personally been satisfied with both pieces of hardware, just less with the 360 due to the RROD and the month and a half I went without my console.

 

[infornography42]

Did... did you seriously just say that Sony didn't have enough money to buy exclusives? Did you actually say that?

Sony is an enormous company that has been horribly mismanaged for years. Rooting for them as the underdog is a bit silly. Generally the reason to root for the underdog is to be sure that healthy competition survives in the market. Also you need not look very far to find a counterexample to the idea that Sony couldn't buy enough exclusives to keep up. They finally won a format war and it WAS through vigorous and aggressive kickbacks and deals with the content providers. AND they were up against Microsoft in that battle as well.

You can take your underdog and shove it at this point. If rooting for the underdog ever means rooting for Microsoft OR Sony you can count me out.

Now corporate bias aside, I really feel like the 360 is the superior product, not because of reliability or the power behind the hardware, because that isn't what matter, and rarely is. They are ahead because they the better software and price point. They are ahead because the Live Marketplace is a phenomenally designed and managed software product and because they have attracted the most excellent games to their stable. They designed a better development kit, they have more intuitive software, and simpler hardware to program for.

It doesn't matter if the PS3 has a beefier CPU if it is too difficult to program for to be worth it for most developers.

I have both the PS3 and the 360 and I tell ya, the 360 gets way more play.

 

[gamerk316]

The major error with 360's is not the "Three rings of death", its the "Unable to read disk". As far as I can tell, something causes the DVD reader to mis-align after playing a 360 enough (I think its warping due to heat...). This has been confirmed as a hardware issue, not a problem with individual disks.

I've had three 360's now, all of which get the "Unable to read disk" error, usually after about a year (just after the warentee dies...). At this point, I wouldn't bother with a 360 anymore.

 

[Heyyou27]

Did... did you seriously just say that Sony didn't have enough money to buy exclusives? Did you actually say that?

Sony is an enormous company that has been horribly mismanaged for years. Rooting for them as the underdog is a bit silly. Generally the reason to root for the underdog is to be sure that healthy competition survives in the market. Also you need not look very far to find a counterexample to the idea that Sony couldn't buy enough exclusives to keep up. They finally won a format war and it WAS through vigorous and aggressive kickbacks and deals with the content providers. AND they were up against Microsoft in that battle as well.

You can take your underdog and shove it at this point. If rooting for the underdog ever means rooting for Microsoft OR Sony you can count me out.

Now corporate bias aside, I really feel like the 360 is the superior product, not because of reliability or the power behind the hardware, because that isn't what matter, and rarely is. They are ahead because they the better software and price point. They are ahead because the Live Marketplace is a phenomenally designed and managed software product and because they have attracted the most excellent games to their stable. They designed a better development kit, they have more intuitive software, and simpler hardware to program for.

It doesn't matter if the PS3 has a beefier CPU if it is too difficult to program for to be worth it for most developers.

I have both the PS3 and the 360 and I tell ya, the 360 gets way more play.

Don't get me wrong; I don't consider myself to be loyal to Sony or anything, I just consider them the lesser of two evils in this case. For me, I use my PS3 quite a bit more than my 360 because the features I use the most are either not available on the 360 or are just better on the PS3. That being said, I can see someone doing the same with the 360, especially if I played online games a lot. (which I don't)

 

[L33t C@pper]

When I say I like the underdogs I mean AMD and ATI. I've always liked AMD back when the real proccesor wars was going on. First processor I bought that had MMX was a K6-3 450 for the first system I ever built. Now it seems that Intel rules the marketplace and blah blah. Even If I ever bought another processor for a system If intel was faster (probally only slightly) I would still go with AMD. Intel to me=boring. Kind off the subject.

 

[Sikaris]

My 360 Backwards Compatibility experience has been horrible. KOTOR and KOTOR II are unplayable due to slowdown. Star Trek Shattered Universe has severe graphical artifacts. I think Battlefront works though...