As a manager at FYE in my area, i thought I should pass this info on. On Tuesday the 6th we recieved an XBOX demo system for our store. Played NFL Fever most of the day, had a blast, I was impressed. Today (7th) we again played for about 45 minutes and then, we were done.

For no apparent reason, the system made an unusual noise and then died. We called the tech line (which comes on a keychain they send you 1-800-FIX-XBOX. After several tests, the tech determined that the system was fried.

Sure, they are replacing it. But, I'd have second thoughts about purchasing this.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to push anyone toward either system, only trying to inform everyone of the problems I know about. The tech on the phone also said that this is not the first to die, nor is this the only problem they've seen.

According to Wired, XBox unleashed in NYC and LA had hundreds of XBox's running for 12 hours without a crash when the article was written. No crashes were reported the entire 48 hour long show.

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,48109,00.html

Well, a handful of anecdotal reports shouldn't be enough to stop anyone from buying a unit. If this does turn out to be a widespread problem, however, MS may be in for a world of hurt. All consoles have some minor issues at launch, but IMHO, MS is the company that can least afford these kind of problems. Deserved or not, they already have a poor reputation for reliability.

Easy solution, just pick up the $10 warranty from Best Buy or wherever.

Just like with CPU's- sometimes the early batches can turn up bad despite all the QC efforts. I'm not worried.


Yet : P

I just got my amex blue card -- +1 year warranty on purchase = sweet!

Tuan Jim

Does this work for all AMEX cards? I've been a gold member for 3-4 years haven't heard of the warranty program.

Well, if there's a problem, I'd rather the system have a quick death well within the standard 90-day warranty period than what's been seen with the original Playstation, Dreamcast, and now (apparently) PS2, where machines start keeling over 10 months out.

I think it might just be with the new Amex Blue card (funky looking one). You might want to check out their website.
There are some other good rewards as well. Supposed to be really good when you have a hassle with a company.


Tuan Jim

I am not to worried. Its called a return program.

I was at an XBOX event, and all the systems were perfectly fine for all 2 hours they were played and prodded and such. Same with all the instore displays I've seen thus far...

So in short, this is just a running scared post. What? You ran out and bought a gas mask, bottled water, canned goods, and a shotgun? Did you buy a generator for the 2000 new years eve? How's the bunker you built in your backyard for that night as well?

You know, I've seen a few fried Dell systems in my day, and you don't see any posts on that popping up, warning people not to buy Dell PC's...

And then there was the Playstation rollout and subsequent Meltdown 6 years ago...when you are mass producing something, it's bound to have a few redheaded step children. Geez...get over it people...go back to safely playing your PS2s and stop trying to sway people from buying the system that will bury the PS2...

Actually this is a problem that's been talked about a lot lately...
I was talking to my friend on the phone a few days ago who works at EB and he said that the machine at his store has crapped out a few times already, not a good sign.


But I also remember having to play my PSX on its side the SECOND day after I bought it (the first day they were released), so it may be typical, but I have heard quite a bit of this already.

another example
http://www.gamersuplink.com/cgi/ikon...rum=5&topic=11

Damn, this doesn't sound good.
I hope the one I pick up is from a good stock.

Yes, and the one at my EB works perfectly fine, same for the one at Wal-Mart, Babbages, Toys R Us, Target, and Media Play. Like I said...may be some bad ones in the bunch, no need to panic.

My first PS1 I had brought home did not work.......should I have taken it back and not exchanged the machine??? I guess I am glad I exchanged the machine as it provided me with years of enjoyment. Just because one system breaks down on you does not mean the next one which you receive in exchange is going to do the same thing. This happens with everything you buy on a general level. Hardly a reason to even consider not buying the Xbox......

I've seen about 7 different X-Box displays in the Houston area, and the one thing I've noticed is that it's usually the mass market retailers that are having problems(i.e. Wal-Mart, K-Mart etc).

At 2 Wal-Marts and 1 Kmart the X-box(and Gamecube at one location)demo units were frozen at a load-up screen. Appaerntly it's too much for one of the clerks to reset them. You would think that company reps would have instructed them to properly maintain the units. Screwed up display consoles do not a good impression make.

Eitherway, I can't recall a system launch that didn't have some probems with their first run units. I'm still getting my X-Box.

I went out with a friend last night to play x-box and gamecube. We first went o TRU- x-box down and out. Gamecube working.
Then Target, X-box down frozen on main screen of Oddworld demo. Walmart X-Box stuck in config menu. Other Toys R US X-box working, Gamecube down. I'm not posting to scare people, as it was pretty dissapointing not being able to find a working X-box to try out, but it's got me scared. There's just too much of a coincidence. Plus for those X-box supporters the Cube at TRU was down, but since sound was working, me thinks it was the monitor that was down.

The in-store units are modified versions of the retail units. They have reset buttons and security systems modded into them. These could also be causing problems. Also an employee for the store could have messed with the boxes. So, I know looking at the events of demo displays isn't a very educated consumer descision, but I'm still going to wait and see what happens after the X-box gets into the dirty hands of thousands of consumers. If there are problems then we'll know then.

The XBox kiosk crash problem is a software problem, not hardware. Microsoft already cleared that up.

Disclaimer: I'm not going to buy an Xbox, so there's no bias there.

I really don't think potential Xbox buyers need to worry about these reports. I believe there is nothing out of the ordinary about a console kiosk breaking down. I've seen the way kids in the stores treat those things...I'm more surprised to see one that's actual working! Not to mention that the slack-jawed minimum wage workers they've got working at these places don't know the first thing about proper electronics care.

I can't see that there would be a widespread problem. I had to return my PS2 because it wouldn't load PS2 discs properly. It would not recognize the PS2 discs so I'd have to load a PS1 disk, leave it in for a few minutes and reload the PS2 disc. This was the only thing that would work. I figured the problem could only get worse so I took it back and exchanged it. I'm sure some X-Box machines and GameCubes will have problems of their own but can't see problems of epidemic proportions.

I could easily go find 5 systems that are broken, and have been within the first week they got it. It is common enough from what I have read, and seen myself. Could it be possible dare I believe that Microsoft made a crappy product. I will probably be buying one ventually but I can only afford one ssytem right now and it's gamecube because there is at least 3 games at launch that I want, and it's a $100 less.

lol! now that you mention it, one time I was at Best Buy and I saw an N64 with DK64 that was frozen, thats pretty amazing since its an incredibly stable machine, mine nor anyone I know has ever since the system crashed or had any overheating even when abused a little.

I'm willing to bet at least one launch will have problems, it happens every time. Some PS2's didn't load, some DC discs were stamped twice. I can't vouch for any X-Box freezes because I haven't had a chance to be there long enough for one to happen, if there is a problem hopefully they'll fix it, like what Sony did with the PS1 skipping problem by moving the power source across from the lens.

I preordered my original PS and picked it up on its release date of 9/5/95. I just sold it this past summer in a garage sale, working absolutely perfectly, since I bought a PS2.

During the entire time I owned and played the original PS, I read stories about problems people were encountering. I'm not saying they didn't occur--I'm just saying I bought a launch unit, and in the almost 6 years it was played, it never had a single problem. NONE.

Unless there is a fundamental flaw in the design or manufacturing process, I doubt that ALL Xboxs are going to have problems. Buying a "1.0" version of anything has an inherent risk of problems.

If I planned to buy an Xbox at launch, I certainly wouldn't let these stories stop me. I might have an experience like I did with my PS and never have a single problem with it.

Does anyone here remember PS1 launch machines? Any machine with U52 or U58 as the start to their serial number had major overheating problems. I'm sure you're probably aware of the pros and cons of these machines. You could play import games with no mod at all, just the swapping trick. This of course was reason enough to have one. The con was that 3/4 of the time, if not more, you'd be keeping your machine upside down in order to keep it remotely cool. Both the pro and the con were "cured" in later machines. There are still U52's and U58's that work, but few and far between.

Realistically speaking, I would expect there to be a "problem" with just about any launch unit, seeing as it's built from scratch, and bugs will always show up no matter what beta is done on it. This has been true for all of the gaming systems released, whether it be in Japan first or in America, it just doesn't seem to matter.

What a long way we've come since beating the piss out of our NES systems, blowing on the cartridges, and getting angry when Bases Loaded would freeze up on me during the charging the mound scene before Bay could come up to the plate and revenge Paste's ejection.

I am pretty sure the date was 9/9/95 I picked one up on the first day as well and never had a problem.