These problems are isolated to a relatively small number of faulty units. None of my friends have had problems. I have personally left my 360 on for 7 days straight while getting the 7-day survivor achievement in Dead Rising. No problems whatsoever. Some people got defective units. I would wager they are a small minority. As with anything, only the people having problems tend to make noise and stand out.

? You're basing your theory that there are a small number of faulty units on the fact that the small number of people you know haven't had problems with it?

I agree that the people who have problems are going to be more vocal than those that don't... but there was clearly some kind of manufacturing flaw in a big batch of the early 360s, as a lot of the symptoms people get are not just isolated incidents.

Sorry to rant... I had to play my PS1 upside down and my PS2 stopped reading blue (CD based) games, and Sony (and some people) still refuse to see that as a manufacturing problem.

It shouldn't prevent you from buying a 360 if you want one, but it should encourage you to at least consider a warranty.

No. That is just a factor, as is Microsoft's own failure/return rate report.

I have launch day 360 that has never had a problem. Therefore, the statements I have seen elsewhere that imply that ALL early 360s are faulty is simply not true. While there does appear to be a flaw isolated to a batch or batches, I do not believe this is representative of most (or even a significant portion) of the 360s sold worldwide or the 360 design in general. When you factor in that a lot of people (not all) probably had issues caused by nothing more than improper ventilation, I would not worry about purchasing a 360.*

*I probably should disclose that I am a Microsoft shareholder.

Anybody have a quick answer on this? I'm afraid to play it again without hearing for certain.

I woudn't leave NCAA on. EA did a shitty job with it.

It gave me the red lights before, I unplugged the system and removed the HD, and it worked fine when I turned it on again. It still worked fine after I put the HD back on. Don't bother calling MS or EA as they'll blame each other.

I just want to make sure my system has enough ventilation. That's the only possible cause I can think of for what happened with the red lights. Does the space I'm describing sound adequate?

Do what I do. Got a fan? I just point my fan towards my 360 when i play so there's plenty of air moving around it. I have mine in an entertainment center with an open back and the only time it ever froze up(no red lights mind you) was on a hot day when had the fan on oscillate. This meant it was only getting air part-time. ONce I put the fan back on it it was fine.

This is what ultimately happened to me. I went through so many nightmares with the PS2 that I didn't want a repeat with a $400 console not to mention with accessories, a couple of games and the warranty I would be spending $700+. However, I know a few people with 360s and all have had no issues other than my brother in law who had his unit die right after he bought it.

I personally think the issues are 99% heat releated. I don't think the console can always move the hot air away well enough depending on where its placed. Putting a fan on it or buying one of those fans that attach to it will probably prevent most of the potential problems that you could have.

I still want one down the road, but I am also wanting to wait until Microsoft can modify the console a bit so it produces less heat. I just rebuilt my PC and I have fans on the front, back and side of my case, a fan on the processor and a fan on the video card. If a PC needs that kind of cooling for gaming there is no way a compact console with three processors and a powerful video card is properly cooled.

I think MS underestimated the heat factor for this console as you say.

Yeah, but I remember reports of "heat issues" in the 1st XBOX. I remember hearing them right after I bought mine and I remember freaking out. Perhaps it was mostly the boxed up display units with poor ventilation along with XBOX/MS haters spreading trumped up rumors, but I do remember it being an issue.

I just picked up a 360 this week, and the fan is extremely loud. It's definately louder than my PC, hell, it's even louder than my central AC.

A friend of mnie was over last night and commented on how it was a lot louder than his. Is this normal? Or should I take it back and try a different one?

Nope, that's normal. The fan is loud and clearly audible. It gets even worse once a game disc starts spinning, whihc is way louder than the fan for some reason. Luckily, if you're playing a game with the volume up, it probably won't bother you, but you will certainly hear it during quiet scenes of a movie or game.

I close my cabinet on the thing. Its got an open back with at least 3 feet of space and Ive never had a problem.

The fan on mine is not loud at all. At least I wouldn't consider it loud. If I have everything off in my living room and the TV on mute I only hear a very soft "pur" from the 360, no loud noise at all.

Maybe I should take mine back then, because you can hear this fan going from another room.

I'm pretty sure GameStop wouldn't consider this my one-time replacement if I do it within the first week. At least I hope not.

I'd say take it back if you can. Sounds like there's something wrong with that fan.

Don't know if it matters, but I think mine has a manufacture date of 5/06.

If you have a year to let it break down (if you have the gamestop warranty) why not just wait 11 months? Returns under warranty are supposedly no hassle with them.

2 of my friends had to return there's because of problems, and one of them when he got it back it broke on him again, least to say, he wasnt to pleased.

I have mine on a metal baker's rack and it has open spaces and free flowing air in 360 degrees, and I have had to replace 2 units. So I do not think heat is the 99% cause of problems. Both tumes mine went out was immediately after about a 2 week period of inactivity - so I think my 360 was just getting back at me for not playing.

And out of the 8 people I know personally with 360s, I am the only one to have any problems with their system.

I went and purchased the extra warranty from MS for my 360 and mailed it in to them about 3 weeks ago. Do they still send you the contract documents for the extra warranty? I haven't received mine yet and if I should get something from them, I should have gotten it by now shouldn't I?

Since Microsoft is letting people who bought the system at launch still exchange it for free if they're having problems, are they also letting people get the warranty?

I mailed in my warranty card several months ago and I never got anything back. They cashed my check as it showed up on my bank statement. Hopefully, it was Microsoft that actually got it, and not some random dude.

That is one thing about the extended warranty I wasn't a big fan of. You don't get any hard proof, or even an email verifying your warranty dates. When I got mine they said they don't send anything out, it just stores it in their system.

I guess I must have been one of the few people who actually got the contract documents for the extended warranty in the mail. One thing though: they arrived as soon as the original warranty expired.

I got papers after I ordered the 2 year ext. warr. from MS.