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[BrLvgThrChmstry]

My 360 died a few weeks ago (out of warranty). I did the X-Clamp fix and a shoddy reflow job (many attempts). The fans eventually shorted during the 12v mod (increase fan speed), I didn't plan it out. It works, sort of. It freezes under certain condition.

It's mind boggling, I put my other consoles through the paces and they show little to no shows of wear. The quality of build is incredibly...who designed these things?

I'm trying hold out on buying a new one, I really don't have the money to spent and Reach is right around the corner. I'm going to keep it alive for as long as I can!

 

[Sumidor]

My 360 died a few weeks ago (out of warranty). I did the X-Clamp fix and a shoddy reflow job (many attempts). The fans eventually shorted during the 12v mod (increase fan speed), I didn't plan it out. It works, sort of. It freezes under certain condition.

It's mind boggling, I put my other consoles through the paces and they show little to no shows of wear. The quality of build is incredibly...who designed these things?

I'm trying hold out on buying a new one, I really don't have the money to spent and Reach is right around the corner. I'm going to keep it alive for as long as I can!

I'm in the same boat.. I don't know if I should buy a cheap arcade and just swap my HDD or just go to the new slim. Le sigh...

 

[Captain Tuttle]

I'm in the same boat.. I don't know if I should buy a cheap arcade and just swap my HDD or just go to the new slim. Le sigh...

If you can find an Arcade I'd go with that. 3 year warranty and reliable hardware. It's a bit noisier than the Slim though.

 

[Chrange]

360 S stopped working but it appeared to be a freak power supply death.

The real story comes in on the repair side of things, where Microsoft's repair squad massively shit the bed.

I called in for the repair and they walked me through a bunch of steps - resetting the 360 (that wouldn't turn on) trying it in a different outlet, etc... When nothing worked they said they'd send me a new one, got all my info verified and gave me a service number, then that was it.

Two weeks later I called back to say I'd never gotten the power supply and, after having to go through the diagnosis steps again, they 'found' a mistake the first guy made in creating the order. They said they'd fixed it and I'd get the power supply in 7-14 days.

A week later I used the new service number to check the repair status and found there wasn't one...so I called back. After giving them the number and being put on hold FOR-FUCKING-EVER while on my cell, they told me that they had found the problem, an issue with the way the order was entered, and they had fixed it...I'd get the new supply in 7-14 days.

At that point I wasn't willing to accept that same line. Not only did I miss the launch of NHL 11 but now I'd also be without the 360 S for the launch of Halo Reach and the Kinect beta equipment was just sitting there waiting for the authorized console to be active again...

So I asked for the power supply to be fast-tracked to me, either overnighted or some form of expedited delivery. The rep said he wasn't able to do that, so I asked to speak to his superior. His superior (Casey) talked to me for a short while to express his condolences for my rough experience with the process and tell me what a great job this rep had done to track down the issue and fix it. He assured me it would be shipped out for sure (though I realize now I haven't checked to see if that was actually done, using my third service number) but he was also unable to offer any form of expedited delivery. When asked, he was unable or unwilling to provide me with a number or contact e-mail for anyone farther up the food chain and the call came to an end.

After what...four years of RRoD repairs?....surely they should be better prepared than this for a far easier request - simply mailing out a power supply. The turnaround time for my last RRoD repair was a week, how can a power supply leave me without one for five weeks or more? :lol

 

[Psychotext]

Jesus, though nothing surprises me after all the time I've spent in this thread.

Couldn't you have just gone back to the retailer btw? I couldn't imagine dealing with MS over a machine that can't be more than a couple of months old.

 

[Chrange]

Jesus, though nothing surprises me after all the time I've spent in this thread.

Couldn't you have just gone back to the retailer btw? I couldn't imagine dealing with MS over a machine that can't be more than a couple of months old.

I got it via Futureshop's website and there's no store within about 200 km of where I am for the next month or so, so I was thinking when it happened that it'd be more of a pain in the ass to deal with them about it. Apparently I was wrong. :lol

 

[FunkyPajamas]

I'm going to use the bump to ask you guys about 360S reliability. They're about to enter my price rance where I live, so I'm thinking that in a couple of months I may be ready to jump in and wanted to ask: how reliable are they? Chrange's story is the first I've read of such issues, and it seems like an isolated incident, so I'm guessing I shouldn't worry about faulty hardware?

 

[Psychotext]

Short answer, we don't know yet.

Until a decent chunk of time goes by we wont really know if the odd few are isolated incidents or symptoms of a bigger problem. That said, the Jasper models were pretty damn reliable on the whole so it would surprise me if they've taken a step backwards, especially given the better cooling and process reduction.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Alright, that makes sense. Thanks a lot. The old elite (120GB, is it?) is even cheaper (of course), so I may go after that one if it's also proven reliable. The 360S has some features that interest me (larger storage, wireless), but I'm not sure it's worth the extra $100 for me. I'll wait a couple of months to see if there are any reports coming in and then I'll make a choice.

Thanks again.

 

[Chrange]

Let's add to the Xbox repair comedy hour with this news. I got the power supply today! Wow - only five weeks to ship something from the center of the universe (Toronto) to here!

So what's the comedy part? I plugged it in and the power supply works fine, the 360 won't work at all. Gets to the logo and freezes at the part the X starts to roll in from the bottom right.

Call support and get another run around about how terrible they feel and then told it'll be two-three weeks for the repair. The good news though, because of how badly they feel they'll send me a shipping label ABSOLUTELY FREE to handle the shipping costs. Oh yeah, that's standard...my bad.

Told the guy that wasn't good enough at this point and asked for something expedited. After extended periods on hold I had to get transferred to a supervisor. Waiting more (total length of the call? 1 hour, 3 minutes) I finally got the supervisor who reiterated all the stuff I'd already heard about apologies and no options for doing anything to make this finally over.

Got escalated again and that supervisor will call me back. It's getting fucking ridiculous at this point.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

So what's the comedy part? I plugged it in and the power supply works fine, the 360 won't work at all. Gets to the logo and freezes at the part the X starts to roll in from the bottom right.

This is a 360S, right? Is it a 4GB or 250GB model?

It sucks that this is happening to you right after Reach launches, I hope they fix this for you and make it up in some way.

 

[Chrange]

This is a 360S, right? Is it a 4GB or 250GB model?

It sucks that this is happening to you right after Reach launches, I hope they fix this for you and make it up in some way.

250 GB and it happened a month before Reach launched, it's just been ongoing until after it.

The power supply arrived in a small box without any kind of note apologizing for the delay or even the typical one-month of Xbox Live card.

 

[Chrange]

It's now been three days since the supervisor of the supervisor's supervisor was going to call me back....in 24-48 hours.

For some reason the delay isn't at all a surprise to me at this point :lol

 

[Daigoro]

sounds like a damn nightmare.

 

[mclaren777]

Just to be sure: the three-year RROD warranty doesn't count from when you got the replacement back, only from when your first 360 was purchased?

A direct-from-Microsoft refurb dated 4/6/08 doesn't have coverage until 2011, right?

 

[WickedLaharl]

number 5 is circling the drain. starting to get lots of DREs and frequent hard locks.

luckily i extended my warranty last year and still have a month left on it so i requested a repair via the online system. damn, it is so much nicer using the online form compared to the nightmares i used to have calling support.

 

[Eyemus Lutt]

Not sure if anyone can help, but here goes.
I got a 360 that had some weird error in a different language which I think was the E-74. After a while the screen went totally black and the bottom right light started flashing.
I tried a xclamp repair and while the xbox turns on normally there is still no video and audio.
I can still navigate with the controller from memory and turn it on and off but that's it.
I also searched around and it might be a problem with the ANA chip, but I have no idea how to try to repair that.

By the way, this is a spare 360 and I just like taking electronic apart and trying to fix them for fun by watching youtube videos.

 

[Miburou]

My Falcon 360, bought almost 2 years ago, bit the dust last month (August 13th, it was a Friday!).

My first 360, a launch unit, died less than a year after buying, but with this one being a Falcon I had hoped it would last.

 

[Chrange]

Just to keep it updated, the phone call I made last Thursday in which I was escalated twice and then told a person would call me back in 24-48 hours was a total bust. The repair order, which I was repeatedly assured had been taken care of, wasn't. The person that was to call my cell phone in 24-48 hours still hasn't called back five days later.

I called back tonight to once again try to get the repair done and had to be escalated three times. They say that they've got the repair underway this time and that someone will call within 24-48 hours. I have some difficulty believing that to be true at this point.

They also said that there are no 'special' options to offer me in the way of getting a console to me any faster than the normal two-three week waiting period, even after what's now six weeks or so of trying to get a repair done.

The rep said I had to be treated equally, as the repair was a normal process. When I asked if every repair process had two failures to ship and countless broken promises, he said "this is a normal repair"

I don't even know what to say to that. :lol


At this point should I just make my repair its own thread and hopefully embarrass someone at Microsoft into DOING SOMETHING about this?

 

[Chrange]

Still no call or e-mail with a shipping label, so I filed a Better Business Bureau complaint. Six fucking weeks is enough.

 

[Psychotext]

SMH

 

[Dr Frasier Crane]

E74 today. Just stuck Mass Effect 2 in to Cerberus Network it and got all these weird artifacts. Thought, FUCK THAT! Ejected disk and reset.

E74.

Cock and balls, Microsoft. Next fucking time do some QA.

Dear My First 360, I shall miss you. Together we completed Mass Effect 1, Fable 2 and Halo 3. You introduced me to the power of the Impossible Game and then you left me.

Good night sweet prince (motherfucker).

Further to this. 360 arrived back 26th August. Fantastic, all appears to work. Go on Holiday for a week. Come back and fire up Mass Effect 2. About 3 hours into playing it, it gets stuck on a bit of dialog. Bug I think so I reboot.

Error.

Now the fucker won't boot Mass Effect saying the disc is fucked. I try a few others. Halo 3 won't load and Fable 2 gets to menu but no further.

Back to Microsoft it goes. Piece of absolute shit. Apparently its now been repaired (in Prague this time) and is on its way back.

unimpressed.com

 

[WickedLaharl]

wow that sucks chrange. i got my shipping label 11 hours after i placed the repair order.

 

[Chrange]

Okay so after filing the BBB complaint I wake up to find they've sent me TWO e-mail!

One is the shipping label, the other is an e-mail from the supervisor who is going to help me out.

Printed the shipping label. Got it on the box. Go to set pick up and....Note: None of the entered Tracking Numbers can accept return shipping or pickup charges.

I don't think there's a single way that this repair could have been more screwed up than it has been. :lol

 

[Chrange]

Got a call from a rep who apologized again for the lousy experience so far. Once again they couldn't really offer anything concrete, but promised that the issues were all discovered and near the end of the conversation he offered to expedite the return shipping of the "new" console.

At the start of the conversation, he floated the idea that a power surge might have caused the problem. I told him I didn't think it was likely, as I'm pretty sure my TV on the same outlet would have been considerably more vulnerable to a power surge. The PS3/Wii/PVR all on the same loop weren't affected either, so...yeah.

When I said I would prefer to not receive a refurb of this brand new console I'd bought, he said that was not something he could provide. It doesn't really seem like these guys, regardless of the level you take it to, can provide anything more than you get at the entry level.

That said, he asked after I again expressed how utterly disappointed I am with the whole process what I would like to have him try to do for me in terms of compensation.

He offered to give me an extension for all the Live that I missed, which I kind of laughed at. What is that...$8? Missing that was absolutely not a concern. With the constant 'I'm unable to do that' stuff I've been hearing from them, I didn't want to ask for a pony and get turned down again.

In the end I told him the whole process has been a surprise to me, and not a good one, so he should surprise me in a good way. He said his 'researchers' would look into it.

So, NEOGAF, here's the question. What do you believe is going to be in the box when that 'new' console arrives? As a side bet, when do you believe that console is going to arrive... it'll be shipped out tomorrow. I'm in Alberta, the refurb center is in Ontario.

He mentioned he'd read the thread via the links I provided, so feel free to mention that pony as a possibility....you never know, maybe GAF can swing his options, and my daughter would love it. :lol

 

[Mr Nightman]

A few months back my 3rd 360 decided it wasnt going to read games or any discs anymore. I thought about it, and decided fuck it, lets tear it apart and fix it. Finally got it apart, and found increasing the power to the laser got it working again, since the laser seemed to get jammed in one spot. I now have it back together, and cut out a hole in the top of my console, so I have easy access to the laser whenever it jams. Works better than before lol

Here she is:

 

[Chrange]

It looks like you have saran wrap over the top of it lol

 

[Mr Nightman]

It looks like you have saran wrap over the top of it lol

lol its just a thin piece of plastic :lol

 

[N4Us]

So, NEOGAF, here's the question. What do you believe is going to be in the box when that 'new' console arrives?

I dunno, but I just got an e-mail yesterday that mine got repaired after 2-half weeks and it's getting shipped back right now. So we'll see what happens.

My experience with the repair has been relatively painless so far but man, some of these stories are awful.

 

[Mr. Enigma]

Got a call from a rep who apologized again for the lousy experience so far. Once again they couldn't really offer anything concrete, but promised that the issues were all discovered and near the end of the conversation he offered to expedite the return shipping of the "new" console.

At the start of the conversation, he floated the idea that a power surge might have caused the problem. I told him I didn't think it was likely, as I'm pretty sure my TV on the same outlet would have been considerably more vulnerable to a power surge. The PS3/Wii/PVR all on the same loop weren't affected either, so...yeah.

When I said I would prefer to not receive a refurb of this brand new console I'd bought, he said that was not something he could provide. It doesn't really seem like these guys, regardless of the level you take it to, can provide anything more than you get at the entry level.

That said, he asked after I again expressed how utterly disappointed I am with the whole process what I would like to have him try to do for me in terms of compensation.

He offered to give me an extension for all the Live that I missed, which I kind of laughed at. What is that...$8? Missing that was absolutely not a concern. With the constant 'I'm unable to do that' stuff I've been hearing from them, I didn't want to ask for a pony and get turned down again.

In the end I told him the whole process has been a surprise to me, and not a good one, so he should surprise me in a good way. He said his 'researchers' would look into it.

So, NEOGAF, here's the question. What do you believe is going to be in the box when that 'new' console arrives? As a side bet, when do you believe that console is going to arrive... it'll be shipped out tomorrow. I'm in Alberta, the refurb center is in Ontario.

He mentioned he'd read the thread via the links I provided, so feel free to mention that pony as a possibility....you never know, maybe GAF can swing his options, and my daughter would love it. :lol

What a disaster.

 

[Chrange]

It's really turned around though. It got sent out today and the rep called me to tell me that he'd have the 'new' one sent out as soon as UPS updated to say it had been shipped from here.

I'm starting to believe the system might have, in a huuuugely broken fashion, started to work.

Still taking bets on what they're going to put in the box to make up for the absolute clusterfuck it's been until this point though. The heads of the support staff that failed me? A year of Xbox Live? Halo Reach Legendary Edition? Signed Fable 3? Nothing?

 

[disappeared]

Woke up today and wanted to play some more Reach. First thing I noticed was my drive was oddly stuck. Never happened before, and she wouldn't open. Finally it just decides to open, but now it won't read any format of disc I try. I hear the laser doing its little "click click" to read it but nothing. Followed the amazing (har har) support guide on Microsoft's website, but nothing.

manufacturing date is June 25th, 2008.

Any tips? Does compressed air do anything, or should I just contact MS?


Dammit anyway.

 

[def sim]

I had that same problem. Had to open it up and clean the lens myself. Works fine now though.

 

[Nessus]

Fuck.

So I think my brand new Xbox 360 SLIM is already dying.

I got it a couple weeks after the Slim was released. So that's like, 3 months I've had it.

Slim is placed on a well ventilated shelf in a cool room, dusted regularly.

I don't play all that often.

The only games I've played all the way through on it are Halo 3 single player and Shadow Complex. Otherwise I've played a bit of Braid, a bit of Limbo, and bit of Oblivion and Dead Rising.

So I decided to Games On Demand Resident Evil 5, and because MS apparently has horrible servers it took like 7 hours to download. For comparison, on Steam I get download speeds of around 1 megabyte a second.

But even then, just sitting there, idle, not doing anything but downloading for 7 hours shouldn't have taxed it too much compared to playing Halo 3 for 3 or 4 hours at a time with the GPU fully engaged.

Regardless, after I downloaded RE5 I started getting graphical glitches.

First I got a comparatively subtle interlaced effect:

Then it started doing something very close to what's shown in this (picture not taken on my unit; got this picture online because the effect on my Slim flickers and I was unable to get a picture of it after trying for about 20 minutes and it seems to do it more from a cold start up):

It does this, and even more glitchy stuff over the dashboard, during games, etc.

So, are these already the symptoms of the damn GPU failing?

If that's the case I am utterly astonished that Microsoft could produce such a shitty piece of hardware. There aren't words.

There's a reason I waited 5 goddamn years to buy a 360 and they STILL haven't gotten their shit together, even when they were given the opportunity to do a complete redesign.

Why is my original Xbox still working almost a decade later? And it still sees use almost daily as a media center.

They had better replace my console if it dies.

 

[bigswords]

Fuck.

So I think my brand new Xbox 360 SLIM is already dying.

I got it a couple weeks after the Slim was released. So that's like, 3 months I've had it.

Slim is placed on a well ventilated shelf in a cool room, dusted regularly.

I don't play all that often.

If the machine is well ventilated then it's time to call the xbox hotline and get it replaced. looks like a GPU error. But just to make sure can you try to replug your video inputs on both the TV and console?

 

[DonMigs85]

I'm waiting for Chrange's next update. By the way, did you ever ask what country the reps/supervisors where from? I live in the Philippines and there are quite a few Xbox call centers here. I know a manager there, so maybe I can also warn him about all this ineptitude.

 

[Chrange]

I'm waiting for Chrange's next update. By the way, did you ever ask what country the reps/supervisors where from? I live in the Philippines and there are quite a few Xbox call centers here. I know a manager there, so maybe I can also warn him about all this ineptitude.

I didn't ask, but the latest one has been calling direct from a Washington state number.

Here's the latest comedy update. The rep promised he'd have the "new" unit sent as soon as the shipping company updated to show mine was sent. I sent it on Wednesday or Thursday last week and today got the notice it had arrived in Ontario.

The rep had given me a tracking number, but it was for the package I'd sent... Still no "expedited" package on my end, a week later.

What a joke, even with "high-level" help.

 

[Gravijah]

I didn't ask, but the latest one has been calling direct from a Washington state number.

Here's the latest comedy update. The rep promised he'd have the "new" unit sent as soon as the shipping company updated to show mine was sent. I sent it on Wednesday or Thursday last week and today got the notice it had arrived in Ontario.

The rep had given me a tracking number, but it was for the package I'd sent... Still no "expedited" package on my end, a week later.

What a joke, even with "high-level" help.

Good luck, man. Sorry to hear your troubles. I ended up buying a 360 arcade even though I was handed a free RROD 360 under warranty. It was fucking hell trying to get it repaired.

 

[Chaotic-Strike]

So, looks like I can finally join this thread. Well I was playing Halo reach, and suddenly the screen turns pink with interlaced lines, so then I shut off my console, and I am greeted by a e74 error. I would be pissed but I was lucky it decided to die now.

Out of all the consoles, I've ever owned only my 360 has broken in 3 years no less. My snes is 15 years old, and it's still kicking same with my wii and gamecube which I got before my xbox 360. Microsoft seriously needs some quality control on it's systems.

 

[Chrange]

Called the rep and asked for an explanation on how the normal shipping can beat an expedited package and he said he's talking to someone about it already and he's going to call me back.

Good luck, man. Sorry to hear your troubles. I ended up buying a 360 arcade even though I was handed a free RROD 360 under warranty. It was fucking hell trying to get it repaired.

There's no way I'm going to go buy another 360 to use while they get their shit sorted out. Maybe if this was an old unit and I was thinking of switching to an S model, but this is a brand new S model!

At this point I don't even know what can go wrong next. They lost it during shipping? They try to claim it was my fault it broke? I get kidnapped by aliens?

 

[N4Us]

Auuuuugh, I got my replacement unit yesterday and it worked for a while, then I turned it on a second time yesterday and it gave me the three red rings. I figured maybe I was too quick with it so I let it cool near a vent fan for the night.

Tried it today and it worked.... for about twenty minutes. Now it crashes right on the Xbox logo.

I'm pretty flabbergasted, I'm thinking of sending it back again but part of me feels defeated and just feels like getting a new Arcade unit at this point or something.

 

[Chrange]

Holy cow...I just got an email telling me that a new console has been shipped to me from the repair center.

They JUST NOW sent it. One day short of a full fucking week after saying they were going to send it out.

Okay, so that was a way to FAIL at this that I didn't anticipate. What's next? It's lost in transit? It arrives broken? There's nothing in the box?

Edit - forwarded the e-mail to the person I've been in contact with and just got this reply:
"Thank you for contacting Xbox Customer Support. You have reached an unmonitored alias. For assistance, please visit http://www.xbox.com"

Awesome.

 

[Chrange]

Wrong again. Just got another call from the rep, who tells me to disregard those e-mails (I'm assuming just the 'it's been sent' one, since UPS confirms the arrival of my console to them on the tracking site) as there was some issue on-site in Ontario that...

You know, at this point I really don't care. Bottom line is that there's no console on its way to me. He said that the plan is to get one to me by the weekend, but at this point I can't see any way in which I can have faith in that at all.

He said he wants to get the console in my hands, and THEN talk about concessions to make up for the issues. Judging by the performance I've seen so far it'll take a year to get a 100 MS Points card mailed to me, it'll be good in the US only, and have been expired for six months.

Apparently I'll get another call tomorrow morning. Someone higher than him will be contacting the repair center to get things sorted out, then he'll call me.

 

[MrBelmontvedere]

so from reading this thread, it sounds like a number of you did not, in fact, live to tell the story?

 

[Chrange]

so from reading this thread, it sounds like a number of you did not, in fact, live to tell the story?

:lol

 

[Gravijah]

:lol

Dude, you gotta contact Kotaku. Maybe then you'll get a console. :lol

 

[Chrange]

Dude, you gotta contact Kotaku. Maybe then you'll get a console. :lol

But do you think that would work or just make them less willing to do anything for me?

 

[Gravijah]

But do you think that would work or just make them less willing to do anything for me?

In the past, contacting websites like that has lead to shit actually getting done. I don't see why they would be less willing to work with you.

EDIT: There's also consumerist.com which deals with issues like these.

 

[Chrange]

In the past, contacting websites like that has lead to shit actually getting done. I don't see why they would be less willing to work with you.

EDIT: There's also consumerist.com which deals with issues like these.

I sent all the details to the Consumerist actually, and updated them twice, though I think that was all from before filing the BBB complaint. Never heard a thing from them in return.

Forgot to mention that the rep told me today that he'd been given the BBB complaint today. Would going to Kotaku/Joystiq hurt that process?

 

[Gravijah]

I sent all the details to the Consumerist actually, and updated them twice, though I think that was all from before filing the BBB complaint. Never heard a thing from them in return.

Forgot to mention that the rep told me today that he'd been given the BBB complaint today. Would going to Kotaku/Joystiq hurt that process?

I honestly don't see how that would hurt anything. Maybe someone who knows more about this stuff can help out. You've waited this long, I guess you can see what this rep does for you. But if he doesn't do shit, I'd continue contacting people, cause you're getting straight fucked.