http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/11...0-Dissected/p7

he Xbox 360 Dissected
By: César A. Berardini - "Cesar"
<b>May 12th, 2005</b>
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2005
Xbox 360 (Xbox)

Be Cool

One of the surprises we found when checking the Xbox 360 innards was its cooling solution. <b>To keep things quiet and cool, Microsoft has designed a liquid cooling system that dynamically adjusts the flow of the liquid and the speed of the fans depending on the temperature and power consumption.

This intelligent approach has allowed Microsoft to build smaller console by removing the traditional heatsinks found in most computer and replacing them with a combination of fans and liquid cooling.</b> This combo is more efficient and keeps the processor at a lower temperature than the original Xbox, which is a remarkable achievement considering the higher clock speeds and power consumption that the new Xbox 360 hardware has in comparison with the old console.


Not satisfied with that, Microsoft has also used a high-end technique that allows the system to turn off the cores when they are not being fully utilized. So let’s say you are watching a DVD movie or just listening to music, the system will automatically turn off the two cores that are not being used for the console to consume less power during that time.

I bought my unit the first week of December, and i had a problem with my dvd drive in March, 7 days before my 90 day warranty was to expire. I called and was informed my warranty was good until June. I called Wednesday night, got the return box Friday, mailed it Monday and got my new unit the following Monday.
Two weeks ago my unit froze and when I restarted I got 3 red lights on my ring of light (#1, 3 and 4) which means a hardware failure. I called on a Thursday and after a delay (stating they did not have my city - Oklahoma, Oklahoma is good enough with the zip code for UPS) got the box the following Friday, sent it off yesterday. I was told that they would make this exchange quicker since this was my second. They also told me, my current warranty was good until November. I was also informed to call back when I got my new unit and check the warranty on that unit.

If you have not done so yet, call MS, (800)4MY-XBOX and check the date of your warranty, they are all over 90 days and some have been a year.

I was told by a couple of different people at 1-800-4MYXBOX that it is a 6 month limited warrantly. Don't know if it is different because I am in Canada and maybe the laws are different, but when I called a few days ago to get the 2 year warranty, they told me it would start in Nov, six months after I received the replacement console.

Sucks about your 360, JHosk. When you didn't show up online last night to race in PGR, I figured that you had chickened out :)

Just got my 360 back after a week and a half. Exactly, what I was told by MS. What I noticed immediately after trying it out was how quiet it is. I thought it was broke because of how quiet it was, but plays perfectly so far. The manufactured date is Jan., my broke one was Feb. Must be a problem with their drives.

My launch XBOX 360 died (3 red lights) Friday night. I'm kicking myself for not buying an extended warranty. Have to pay $129 to get it repaired through Microsoft. First console I've ever had die on me and I've owned them all. Next gen = pure love.

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fab

I have been getting a lot of freezes on my system lately. It happens when I am playing disc based games or Xbox Live Arcade games. It has even locked up when I was just sitting at the dashboard. So far I haven't gotten 3 red lights yet.

here is a typical screenshot of what my freezes look like.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...d_pig/dead.jpg

I dont feel like dealing with MS so I am most likely going to buy a new system and sell off the bad one on ebay.

Yay, my launch 360 died on Sunday morning while playing PGR3. I never kept it enclosed and there was always adequate ventilation. I have been getting freezing every once in a while, mainly during demos (N3, Rumbling Roses).

Luckily I had bought mine from Costco and they took it back with no problems. I don't advocate taking advantage of the Costco return policy by treating it like an equipment upgrade or price guarantee plan, but they did come through for this defective return/exchange.

Ok, I just got the 3 Red Lights. Sometime in the next few days I will be purchasing a new system. All of my info is saved on the HD right? My live profile, wireless settings, ect? So all I have to do is pop that into a new system and I am all set?

Yep. Ive had 360 gamers come to my house and just bring their HD to plug in to my system to show off their gamesaves etc. It basically turns into their box when they do this.

Looks like I won't have to buy a new system. Apparently I purchased gamestop.coms "Replacement Plan" with my system bundle. Has anyone had any experience with them? I'm hoping that I only have to send my system in.

Edit: I just got off the phone with them. They have no record of my purchase or my warranty. The person I was talking to didn't have any clue what was going on. A supervisor is going to call me tomorrow. Fun stuff.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I just went to change the faceplate on my 360(my replacement from this ordeal), and noticed the entire "swiss cheese" grill on top(where the hard drive goes) of the system is cracked. It's no small crack either. I don't know how I missed that when I installed the hard drive. That fucking pisses me off to no end. The 360 I sent in was MINT. This is such bullshit. I was out of commission for a month the first time, I really don't want to be out another month.

I wonder if that is something they even replace. It's been 3 months since I had it replaced.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

here's the damage:
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5...0bustedob8.jpg

Just got off the phone and I think this represents about the way I feel:

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8012/42466vr4.jpg

They are going to look at it, but since it's cosmetic, I may be charged the $130 fee outside of the warranty to fix it. Charged to fix some other asshat's mother fucking console. Spoke to a supervisor and they gave the same rhetoric speech. Since I didn't notice it the day I got it back, they have no proof that I didn't drop or damage the damn thing myself. They also state that I have no proof that it came back that way. Me knowing I opened the god damn box and sat the unit on my shelf where it hasn't moved since isn't quite good enough.

Gave me the spiel that in the warranty it states they ship out refurbished units and only do new consoles in the rarist cases. If they won't fix it w/o the charge(the 1% chance) I wonder if I can get my money back on the warranty. I'll go buy a new one and do the swap method. I was above that, but fuck MS and their bullshit ways, I'll do what I have to-to get a system worthy of the $400 I spent on it.

So now I wil be without my console even longer. Such a fucking bullshit system. I ship MS a perfect system, just fix MINE and ship MINE back. I'll wait. I don't want some other retard's busted shit.... GOD DAMNIT.

What a fucking nightmare.
AAUGH!!!

I hate to agree with them because believe me, I feel your pain....but from their point of view they have no proof that you didn't do it yourself. I know you didn't, but I can see where they're coming from especially since you didn't see this and call them right away. Sure, they could be "cool" about it and take care of it but that's not likely.

I think it's always advised to carefully inspect products upon delivery and report problems within a certain time frame.

:(


Does the 360 still work? If it does then a cracked plastic piece won't matter. Hey, I played my PS2 with a broken on/off button from the 1st week I got it until I sold it.....

Oh, I agree I see their stance, but how many people are going to call up about a 360 they already had replaced once, with this problem? Seriously. They should be cool about it and fix it. Whatever happened to the "customer is always right" motto? It seems it only applies when it is convenient for them. I mean, I bought their $400 system. I bought a half dozen games. I bought a $60 warranty, a memory unit, yada, yada, yada. And really with all the systems they've had to replace/refurb, what is one more in the scheme of things?

As for the system, it works fine. I'm just anal about my shit. I'm not one to keep consoles though, so this pretty much kills any chance of a decent return investment for the console after this one.

So I must be the ONLY person in the world begging for the red ring now, just so I can get my system swapped for another. :lol:

I'm planning on getting a 360 soon and will likely buy it from BestBuy because I'll have a lot of RZ certs to use. Now I hear that BestBuy sells their own warranty on the console for something like $50 bucks and then MS has their own warranty for about $60 bucks. It's in my best interest to get the MS warranty only, correct? MS is the only people that are authorized to service the console correct? So why would I pay BB basically $50 bucks to send the console to MS for me, when I can get a direct warranty with MS that will cover anything that may happen to the system.

Is my logic and thinking of only getting the MS warranty correct?

First, it's not anything, read my rant above. Second, BB ties the warranty to your 360 serial. if they have to replace your 360 six months down the road, that's it, you have to buy a new warranty for the new 360. It's a sham. Go with the MS one. it is good for two years. If they send you a different one(which will be the case) they will transfer the warranty to the new 360 serial number.

At least that was the case with the original Xbox as I had to replace mine. One and done. Not a good deal at all.

Thanks for the info I will go with MS only then.

I should have been more specific because I know any type of warranty doesn't cover "everything" or "anything" was just using a generality when I shouldn't have. :) :::open mouth, insert foot, close mouth:::

Hmmmm...solution find you will...the Dark 360 Side clouds your mind it does. Once down Dark 360 path trouble you find. Need steady gaming you do hmmmmm....then retrain you must young XBox knight. Go and seek XBox you will so Dark 360 path you will not take.......Leave The Dark Side........

Kenny J. - Buzz

Finally after a week I got some info from gamestop.com. Apparently the website no longer offers warranties on their systems. The CS rep told me to bring it to any store and they would replace it for me. So I bring it to a store after work and guess what? They refused to do anything. They said that the website and the stores are not connected. They said that they had to get the district managers approval to do anything. They took my number and said they would call me. :rolleyes:



Edit: I decided to call back Gamestop customer service a few minutes later. The rep taking care of my case seemed pretty pissed about what the guy in the store told me. She said she would take care of everything and call me back in 30 minutes. 2 minutes later she calls and says that I can go in and get a new system. I was in and out of EB in 5 minutes with a brand new premium system in hand. I picked up another year warranty for $40. Not having to deal with Microsoft customer service and not getting a refurb system makes me very happy. :hump:

I got my XBOX 360 back today. They replaced it with a different unit. This unit has a build date of December 2005; I really hope I don't have to have it repaired again but I won't be surpised.

--
fab

I verified with my gamestop that they would replace my system if anything went wrong (I called and they have my info and confirmed theyd give me a new unit). I pretended my unit was broken and needed to be replaced so as to be sure I wasnt gettng a reassuring BS story. The only thing is my xbox warranty is up in november. I wonder if I can just update the service plan?

I live in Canada....does anyone know if you can get the Microsoft warranty in canada? If so, how does one get on that bandwagon?

Thanks peeps.

I left NCAA 07 on last night when I made a quick run to the grocery. When I came home, I had the red lights, and the screen was blank. Powered it off, turned it back on, and everything's worked fine ever since.

I have my 360 currently on a shelf in my entertainment center that's about 18 inches wide, 10 inches high. Should I move it to a more open space?

Yeah....just call 1-800-4MYXBOX.....the warranty can be bought for Canadian customers as well. It's a little over 50 bucks for two years.

I think it's really ridiculous that one has to buy an extended warranty to me it seems like a way for them to just get a litte bit of extra money to fill their coffers. All these horror stories have been putting me off getting a 360 until they fix these overheating issues. Hopefully the problems are fixed when they do the redesign.