Bizill gets 3 rings of death...

BIZILL

heyya, fun times. manufacture date of 08/06 and already dead. and just when xbox is about to release the lip sync and dts & night mode/compressed audio fixes for the hd dvd add-on. so, 2-3 weeks of no xbox nor hd dvd for me. :mad:

shizelbs, sorry your xbox live kept popping up and telling you bizill75 is online. i kept getting on live and then freeze and then on and then freeze over the past week or two and now the 3 rings of death. sorry. hope i wasn't causing you to curse at me for it.

polkatese

send it in. My replacement is manufactured 8/06. I am hoping that it will last another two years, if it's going to brick. I am almost convinced that it is a matter of when, rather than if.

ohskigod

I'm not happy about seeing everyone's 360 taking a dump. mine freezes on occasion and needs a restart, but no makor problems yet. I havent been using it much lately. is it a heat issue, I keep mine way out in the open in a very cool basement.

BIZILL

mine is not heat-related. open cab with spacers in between everything. mine was just an 'unknown' hardware issue. reading that everyone and their mother have a brick at some point or other, i am not surprised. still sucks though. and so early into the game, no pun intended.:(

cheddar

Odd so many manufactured in time for the last Christmas season are failing in less than a year. Could be that they sourced problematic components trying to bring down their manufacturing costs in the ramp up to last Christmas. I know they never had a good failure rate, but it does seem that the ones bought less than a year ago are crapping out in a spectacular way. Even with proper ventilation, since the processor runs so hot in the first place, heat could be moving problematic components to failure. Guess sending in your box is just a rite of passage for being a 360 owner.

avelanchefan

I have two, and all is good with me, both are played everyday for multiple hours, plus I use it a lot for my mp3 music collection, and watching video's through my windows media center, not one glitch.

I always wonder if it because I have the DVD flash hack. I wonder if the flash makes the system more stable, than the original firmware? I mean I know 4 people with firmware flashes, and not one has had one issue with their xbox. One person has 3 360's all flashed for a year now and no issues, yet here on the site I would say the percentage of bad boxes are very high. Just makes me wonder if this is what is going on. (My buddy with the 3 360's, I would estimate an average of ten hour days on their 360's, that computes to a ton of play time with no issues)

Bill if you are willing to make a trip when you box comes back let me know, I will hook you up.

polkatese

DVD flash hack? info please...thanks.

BIZILL

won't that void the warranty? also, i wonder if where people purchase may have anything to do with failure rate. i got mine from overstock.com. like perhaps retail stores have better luck and the internet 'liquidators' are given problematic lots/batches of 360's?

avelanchefan

BIZILL wrote: »

won't that void the warranty? also, i wonder if where people purchase may have anything to do with failure rate. i got mine from overstock.com. like perhaps retail stores have better luck and the internet 'liquidators' are given problematic lots/batches of 360's?

Hmm I guess that is the risk you take. I obviously cannot guarentee anything, but I box was bought December 2005, and the other was bought a few months ago at EBgames (a used one) that was born on July of 2006. So what will they say when you say the box is busted? To me it sounds like they take your box, and put a replacement and ship it right back to you. 3 day turn around. So do they really look to see if it has been opened? And honestly there are like two stickers that "detect" if the box has been opened. I just do not see them looking that hard...maybe I am wrong since I have yet to have a failed one.

polkatese
DVD flash hack? info please...thanks.

It is a process that is quite a hassle sometimes.
1) You have to have a SATA port in your computer.
2) Open the 360
3) Hook SATA cable from computer to 360 DVD drive
4) Powerdown computer
5) Boot up computer (360 is turned on, WITH A/V cable attached)and make computer start out with a PEN drive or a floppy drive that has 360 keygen extracter on it. Once 360 is recognized, type in the correct command to release original firmware to the PENDrive.
6) Powerdown computer, turn off 360. NOW the tricky part, Boot up PC without the 360 on, Use xtreme boot maker to make your hacked firmware. It will ask you what drive you 360 has, and what type of SATA card you have (SATA card info is crucial) Then it will make a bootable hack to your flash drive with Sata card and 360 info on it.
7)Powerdown PC, and boot up 360 with PEN drive in computer, powerup PC, once 360 is recognized, type in the correct command again (this is all in DOS, and I cannot remember the command off hand) to flash the 360. ONce it is flashed...you are golden. Take a burned 360 game hook it up to your TV and make sure it works before putting the box back together.

All info is here....
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showforum=169

To see what drive you have look here...


IT is EXTREMELY important to keep you original firmware. Say the drive goes bad, and you need to reflash the drive, YOU need the original firmware in order to do this, if you are just flashing the drive to an upgraded firmware you do not need the original firmware, you only need it when the firmware goes bad, like when XBOX live did the update in october and bust a ton of 360's. A lot of people with flashed 360's got dinged, and a lot of idiots did not have their original firmware, which resulted in a 400 dollar door stop. People that had their originals where able to reflash to stock firmware and update to a more secure one.

FORGOT TO ADD: Hitachi's are flashed in Windows, Toshiba's are flashed in DOS. I obviously gave you the Toshiba way to hack , my friend does the Hitachi way, and we both do the Toshiba's together.

BIZILL

i've read about this hack, sort of. the purpose is to play burned games, yes? i've read that future xbox live updates could possibly render the newly-flashed xbox's useless? and that the games may possibly not run on xbox live. any probs with said issues? i've got a dvd burner and some dual-layer discs ready to rip.

polkatese

thanks for the info, avelanchefan!

Shizelbs

Sorry to hear that. Its a shame that a 360 dying seems to be a sort of rites of passage for 360 owners. It should be a rarity.

BIZILL

don't you worry your sweet breeches, i'll be back...

BIZILL

damn it! the microsoft insider over at avs.com just announced the hd dvd player update is slated for tonight/tomorrow morn. i've been waiting for months for this patch. now i cannot even celebrate with my fellow whiny, pissed off bretheren and sisteren!:mad:

krabby5

avelanchefan wrote: »

I have two, and all is good with me, both are played everyday for multiple hours, plus I use it a lot for my mp3 music collection, and watching video's through my windows media center, not one glitch.

I always wonder if it because I have the DVD flash hack. I wonder if the flash makes the system more stable, than the original firmware? I mean I know 4 people with firmware flashes, and not one has had one issue with their xbox. One person has 3 360's all flashed for a year now and no issues, yet here on the site I would say the percentage of bad boxes are very high. Just makes me wonder if this is what is going on. (My buddy with the 3 360's, I would estimate an average of ten hour days on their 360's, that computes to a ton of play time with no issues)

Bill if you are willing to make a trip when you box comes back let me know, I will hook you up.

It's probably just a coincidence..you just hear more about the Xboxes that crap out..Most people won't go onto a message board and say, "my Xbox is still working perfectly"

However, I'm in no way making light of the failure rate...It does seem there are a TON of dead xboxes..

I've been lucky so far..but I also paid $60 for a BB replacement plan..and I hate doing that stuff..it's usually a waste of money..

avelanchefan

BIZILL wrote: »

i've read about this hack, sort of. the purpose is to play burned games, yes? i've read that future xbox live updates could possibly render the newly-flashed xbox's useless? and that the games may possibly not run on xbox live. any probs with said issues? i've got a dvd burner and some dual-layer discs ready to rip.

The live updates are not going to happen any time in the near future, the one I mentioned in October of 2006 rendered a lot of flashed 360's useless, BUT it ruined even more non-hacked 360's useless, resulting in a lot of people demanding new 360's. So I do not see any updated dvd firmwares in the near future or in the future in general. M$ tried once, they lost a lot of money on it, I just don't see them doing it again.

BUT again, if you have the original firmware, and if there was a DVD Live firmware update that made your 360 useless, you just flash it back to the original state(THAT is why you keep the original firmware), and wait for a new flash release, reflash and enjoy.

Face

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=4694

BIZILL

Face wrote: »

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=4694

yeah, i'm over at avs pretty often now. and avelanche, xbox just released the spring dashboard update on live last week. i assume all is still well...

avelanchefan

BIZILL wrote: »

yeah, i'm over at avs pretty often now. and avelanche, xbox just released the spring dashboard update on live last week. i assume all is still well...

Oh yeah, all is fine, just trying to get to the World Series in MLB 2k7. Then off to either finish F.E.A.R. or play some C&C 3.

BIZILL

avelanchefan wrote: »

Oh yeah, all is fine, just trying to get to the World Series in MLB 2k7. Then off to either finish F.E.A.R. or play some C&C 3.

i'm jealous. must be nice to be able to use an item which you paid over 4 bills for.

...and for the record, i'm not hating on the 360, just hating on m$ and their **** track record for broken 360's.

BIZILL

i borrowed my buddy's 360 for a weekend to help me decide whether or not to purchase one for myself. well, he's had his for over a year. yesterday he finally got the rings of death.

polkatese

So, it is safe to assume that more than 50% of the 360 consoles out there will have a life span of 1 to 1.5 years before 3 rings showed up, and this is under normal use. Heavy users will get 3 rings early.

It must be a nightmare PR for MS. Does the media know about this?

BIZILL

i've only read stuff on forums...

and all this only feeds them ps fanboys' appetites.:(

polkatese

weeeeeee....I get to earn back my $139 soon!

Open Letter From Peter Moore
To our Xbox Community:

You've spoken, and we’ve heard you. Good service and a good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we've not been doing a good enough job.

Some of you have expressed frustration with the customer experiences you have had with Xbox 360; frustration with having to return your console for service after receiving the general hardware error message on the console.

The majority of customers who own Xbox 360 consoles have had a terrific experience from their first day, and continue to, day in and day out. But when anyone questions the reliability of our product, or our commitment to our customers, it's something I take very seriously.

We have been following this issue closely, and with on-going testing have identified several factors that can cause a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights on the console. To address this issue, and as part of our ongoing work, we have already made certain improvements to the console.

We are also implementing some important policy changes intended to keep you in the game, worry-free.

As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past. In doing so, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience.

If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience.

This will take a few days to roll out globally, and I appreciate your continued patience as we launch this program. I've posted an FAQ that should address some additional questions, and we'll update it over the next few days.

I want to thank you, on behalf of all us at Microsoft, for your loyalty.

BIZILL

Word Up.

EDIT: but sucks for those of us who have purchased a second or third-party extended warranty.

PolkThug

Got my 360 back yesterday along with a 1 month free card for Xbox Live. Seems to work fine, I left it on all last night to make sure it wouldn't crap out right away.

The letter that came with it said they sent me a replacement unit.

engtaz

But with that extended warranty, I walk in and swap units and go home a play more. I know, I have done just that very thing already.

fatchowmein

ohskigod wrote: »

I'm not happy about seeing everyone's 360 taking a dump. mine freezes on occasion and needs a restart, but no makor problems yet. I havent been using it much lately. is it a heat issue, I keep mine way out in the open in a very cool basement.

That's how mine started. Went on for 2 or 3 months. Then, I went out of town for a business trip, came back a week later, turned it on, froze, restarted, died.

Just hope it dies soon so you can send it in, have it repaired, and move on with your life instead of wondering if todays the day it won't come back up after it freezes.

Anyhow, not intending to curse you. Good luck.

BIZILL

engtaz wrote: »

But with that extended warranty, I walk in and swap units and go home a play more. I know, I have done just that very thing already.

my **** 2 year warranty only covers the 360 AFTER the manufacturer's warranty is up. (next time read the fine print) and, it was bought through overstock.com and not a place like gamestop or best buy, so no walk-in/walk-out with a new one for me.

engtaz

I got mine at Sam's Club.