360 "Red ring of death", wtf?

[nam97]

Was happily playing FIFA08 tonight when suddenly my screen froze. I waited about 20 seconds to see if it would continue, but nothing. So I turned the 360 off and started it up again to find myself stuck with a blank screen and 3 red lights on the light quadrant.

I've heard the ring of death involves the first 3 quadrants flashing, but mine involves (if you place the xbox flat down, not standing up) the 2nd 3rd and 4th which is different to the actual sigh of the red ring of death. Can this problem be solved at home? Or do I have to send it in and get it repaired?

This truly is f***ing annoying, the mere fact there is a series of warning signs on the 360 to estimate whether it's gonna crap out or not is pretty much asking for us to be prepared to take this problem on the chin.

 

[Brodizzle]

Hehe, sucked in!

I had a red ring thing a while ago, I turned the 360 off, unplugged it totally and didn't use it for a day or so....and it was fine...

 

[nam97]

Well I keep hearing that it overcomes itself most of the time, but I'll just send it in and get it fixed for free. Only takes 2 days to repair or even better, replace. The consoles been giving me **** for the past year with unreadable disc problems and freakishly loud operation (much louder than any other 360 console I've played on) so about time something happened. The red ring is a blessing 'cos it means I get it done free.

 

[Brodizzle]

How often do you play it? Mine has been a dream ever since I got it....and that's coming on around two years now...

 

[nam97]

How often do you play it? Mine has been a dream ever since I got it....and that's coming on around two years now...
[/b]

I've had it for 2 years this upcoming April. Play on it in patches, sometimes not for as long as 3 months at all, and sometimes for about an average of 2 hours a day over a month or so (still not much). I think I just got stuck with a dud console really, everything about it over the past year has been f***ing annoying. The disc drive seems f***ed as I keep hearing it make churning sounds as if it's about to crap out altogether... I really do think it's a goner...... so here's hoping for a replacement.

 

[Rhinos Flanker]

I love how they extended the warranty
because Ive got it twice in the span of a year!!!!
but im cool now
>_>
about time haha

 

[St Helens RLFC]

It did it to me once a few months back, I unplugged it from the wall and it was then fine.

 

[esoj]

well i don't own a 360 I have read on various forums and internet sites that the newer falcon 360's seem to have basically no rrod's at all. My advice would be send it in and they will proabbly give you a replacement which will be the newer version which proabbly won't rrod.

 

[C A Iversen]

Total agreement esoj. It's an unfortunate situation, but I think that's the only way to handle it.

I'm planning on getting an Xbox Elite halfway through this year, by then I'd imagine stock will be of this new 'falcon' type. I'll have paid for the last of my Bravia by April, so maybe after that.

Then it's amp updating time.

 

[Goth Power]

I haven't experienced the dreaded ring of death yet but my mate did.

All the components melted inside his console, but his simple trick was to wrap an old towel round the machine, turn it on for a while and the towel which keeps it warm will melt all the components back into place.

 

[C A Iversen]

He sounds like David Copperfield. Or Paul Daniels.

 

[Gay-Guy]

Had this problem with my first xbox.....which was one of the first in NZ...yep...loud noisy fan...overheating problems....luckily it was replaced instantly for a much quiter one haha. It wasn't called the RROD back then....microsoft hadn't thought of inventing an excuse for faulty consoles at that time lol!

 

[nam97]

Well I sent it in yesterday, didn't want to try the towel trick in case it didn't work which would void the 3 year ring of death warranty altogether.

 

[ak47]

its sucks

but the wrap around time to get fixed one is quick, and its quieter

havent missed a beat since i got mine fixed - although its a farce, these things are that faulty

there is a conspiracy the EA games do it - or are more prone to get u the RROD

happened to me on Tiger Woods, and i heard lots of reports on FNR3, Madden n Fifa08

my mates is on the brink - 10% of the fifa matches we play his freezes up, so i win 3-0........i tell him, its coming - armeggon is coming, and aint no thing u can do, but play the waiting game, then the crying game

 

[kaftka]

My old 360 was great. Worked like a charm. Then it got stolen. Last year I got a new one, and it makes that churn sound. Always seems to freeze up on FIFA 08 too. Says disc is scratched when it's a brand new game. I want my 360 to just crap out altogether... Get a new one. Pain in the arse.. Madden 08 works fine...

 

[dobrien7]

I've got a 2nd hand one, been fine to date, but am sceptical of it's impending sh*tting of itself...

 

[nam97]

Does anyone experience the disc churning? It sounds as though somethings jammed, the game momentarily freezes and then reboots itself. On FIFA, the warning sign is when the crowd and commentary cut out, which is then followed by the churn. It's just an accident waiting to happen.

 

[Zonerunner]

Yeah, I get an awful grinding noise every time the DVD drive seems to wind down from high-speed. I have no idea why it does it, especially as it doesnt seem to adversely affect the discs. Sure, sometimes I get "disc cannot be read" messages, but examining the discs reveals no obvious problems and a quick wipe always seems to resolve whatever issue the 360 has with the disc.

Still, statistically speaking, by the end of 2008, all of the original launch consoles will have probably gone kaput. They really shouldnt have gone kaput in the first place if we're being brutally honest, but it should mean that the issue should start fading more and more into obscurity now...

Oh, and any rumours about EA games or any other specific game in particular causing the RROD seems to be complete and utter horse radish according to my research. Who knows, maybe they are the cause, but from my experience, RROD can strike whenever you put any new game into the console (In my case, it was Tenchu Z). New releases just tend to get the flak more because everyone tends to pick up the new releases at launch. My two pennies at least.

 

[esoj]

I found this on one of the tech news sites I visit every day or so. article about the rrod from a microsoft insider

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/13974

First, MS has under resourced that product unit in all engineering areas since the very beginning. Especially in engineering support functions like test, quality, manufacturing, and supplier management. There just weren't enough people to do the job that needed to be done. The leadership in many of those areas was also lopsided in essential skills and experience. But I hear they are really trying to staff up now based on what has happened, and how cheap staff is compared to a couple of billion in cost of quality.
Second, MS was so focused on beating Sony this cycle that the 360 was rushed to market when all indications were that it had serious flaws. The design qual testing was insufficient and incomplete when the product was released to production. The manufacturing test equipment had major gaps in test coverage and wasn't reliable or repeatable. Manufacturing processes at eall levels of suppliers were immature and not in control. Initial end to end yields were in the mid 30%. Low yields always indicate serious design and manufacturing defects. Management chose to continue to ship anyways, and keep the lines running while trying to solve problems and bring the yields up.

The insider says the best way to avoid the "red ring of death" is to keep the console vertical and well-ventilated, because many failures are heat-related. However, he adds that newer Xbox 360 models are more reliable than early ones, with a failure rate of "only" 10%.

 

[nam97]

Well finally got it back after 3 weeks of wait. They fully replaced the console with a newer version and threw in a free 1 year xbox live subscription card for my troubles.

That's $100 that subscription is so it turned out brilliantly, and the xbox runs smooth and have noticed that it's much quieter and cannot hear the disc playing up at all whilst playing.