Ich bien ein Xbox 360 loser
Well, despite you guys telling me it just had to happen, I didn’t believe you. Well I was wrong, as my Xbox 360 died tonight. It locks up all the time and shows little vertical lines all over the place. One of my good Xbox 360 programmer friends showed me his video of Dead Rising and it looked just like it. Apparently the lockup is a motherboard failure.
I did look at my date of manufacture and it’s November 2005, which is part of the Microsoft tainted batch…I haven’t called them yet…as when I paid $1,036.35 for my Xbox 360 launch package (King Kong for $59.99, WTF), I was required to purchase a Product Replacement Plan. I’m hoping I can swap at the local Gamestop but the contract says I have to send it back to them. If I have to pay for shipping, I’m thinking MS may be the way to go. They don’t open until 9AM eastern, so I guess I will find out then. If anyone has any stories to relate, please do so.
As part of the PRP, they say they can give you used (refurb) replacement. I’m concerned that I get another shit used one. Maybe if I go straight to MS, I won’t have this problem…then again..maybe I will. I don’t know. I just have to say 9 AM can’t come soon enough.
So now that I’m Xbox 360 less for who knows how long, I have started playing games on the PC.
I’ve had my PS2 for 4 years and zero problems. I’ve had my Dreamcast for 7 years and it still works. Yes, it’s a new system and new stuff and blah blah blah. MS has said that there’s a higher failure rate on consoles made before 1/1/06…from what I hear, it seems like the failure rate is 100%…
Sorry it’s my turn to vent on this. I feel your pain. Still a week away from Blitz, so that’s going to hold that review up I guess…dammit!
Oh yeah and on Saturday, my Alienware work laptop died too. Well the backlight on the LCD died…and of course it’s out of the incredibly generous 90 day warranty, so it’s $269 just to look at it. Grreeeat. So I have two pieces of hardware that are DOA.
In other news, did anyone catch the CNBC interview with President Bush? On the interview uses “The Google.” I think I will use “The Google” from now on. What’s that you don’t know that guys number, well, use the google.
October 23rd, 2006 at 11:53 pm
You’re lucky, Dan. The early PS2’s were defective one of 3 consoles.
October 24th, 2006 at 6:13 am
If you go the Microsoft route, they will send you a refurb. I am on my 3rd refurb (the latest one manufactured in May 2006). I had 2 360’s die with the frozen checkerboard screen (Motherboard) and one die due to some other problem where it would not boot up. The deal with MS is that you call them, they send a box (takes 3-5 business days). You send the box back and when they receive it they send you back another 360. The whle process takes 10-12 business days (from Atlanta). MS uses UPS ground and their repair location is Texas. You may be better off trying the other solution, because even after 3 dead 360’s, they would not send me a new one as replacement.
October 24th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Sorry your system died. How long did you have it?
October 24th, 2006 at 11:50 am
I have a 360 from launch day that is still kicking. (knock on wood)
That means the failure rate can’t be more than about 99.9995%
October 24th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Must have great air conditioning. And a wide open space.
October 24th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
I own a launch day PS1 and PS2 and both are still working just fine. Likewise with the last 2 generations of Nintendo and Sega hardware. My original Xbox died after a year (the Philips disc drive problem that MS never completely owned up to).
Somebody at MS needs to look at Apple’s hardware strategy. They create the image of quality without necessarily using top quality components. What they don’t do is use bottom of the barrel garbage to save a dollar or two per unit, and when there is a problem they get out in front of it right away.
October 24th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
I own a launch day PS1 and PS2 and both are still working just fine.
That’s nice, but almost all launch PlayStations (One and Two) were disastrous in terms of reliability.
October 24th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
I had a launch day PS1 which, after about a year of solid use, blew up in spectacular fashion. I had friends over, I moved to pop in a little Tekken, and upon hitting the power button a bright light flashed out the side vent. That, coupled with the faint smell of smoke, told me I was about to give sony more money.