Well contact X-box they are really good at getting that fixed. Just make sure that you keep the HD some where safe while it is out being repaired and depending on where you live will depend on how long it will take to get repaired. The actual repair time is not that long it is the shipping and back that seams to take the longest time.

Microsoft will not repair 'chipped' units.

Maybe that's why the ring of death was invented? To crack down piracy? XD

No, poor design. I have 2 Elites with the RROD, both failed a little beyond 13 months, one month out of the super special MS 12 month warrantee. Every person I know who has a 360 has had one RROD on them. I bought 2 of them about a month apart and they both lasted literally the same number of months. I expect these will be the last XBOXs I'll own. If I owned a car that was this reliable I'd never buy that manufacturer again.

What is particularly annoying is that both these machines sat out on shelves (living room, bedroom), they were never in a cabinet so they always had plenty of air.

You do know Microsoft extended the warranties to three years, right?

Yes, but it's hardly a good one for the problems. Beyond one year the warrantee isn't free as it should be.

It is for the 3 red lights problem.

As for other problems, why should it be? Most other electronics don't offer more than a year.

True, but most electronics don't fail with at the rate these machines do :)

And what rate would that be?
Got any official figures? Doubtful, since Microsoft have never released the failure rate figures.

and no, it's not 33%

Modding or chipping the system voids it.

One of the biggest flaws of Microsoft's monstrosity... shoddy internal construction.

I am remebered of a quote I heard sometime last year that goes something along the lines of "It's insane how the console with the worst reliability has the most rabid fanbase."

But hey, you still have that Elite, right? I guess that's good.

I think I'll stick with my other consoles. Seeing my friend go through 5 360s in the past, despite treating each one like it was the secret to eternal life... also, there's a lot of things Microsoft does that really irks me as a company... primarily their blatant ripping-off of other companies' ideas, then having the balls to say they were the first to come up with the idea (IE: Avatars = Mii... they even have facial components that are directly copied from the Miis)

PS3 and Wii for me.

Sony has done the same thing, even Nintendo has copied other companies and claim something as theirs. It seems to be an industry standard to copy your competition these days.

I wasn't too thrilled with Sony's idea to use motion controls very well either... but at least it's not nearly that bad. Otherwise, both Sony and Nintendo seem to do a lot of their own things without looking at everyone else.

The largest ripoffs I've saw last year came from Microsoft and Activision(?)... and both, ironicly, were announced during Microsoft's E3 presentation.

1) The "new XBox Experience" - a version of Sony's Cross Media Bar tilted 45 degrees and shifted to the left... and a Mii knock-off so blatantly done that I could actually find eyes, nose, hair and mouths IDENTICAL to the ones on the Mii library!

2) Guitar Rock Band 2 - Seriously... nobody else seems to notice this? Guitar Hero, knowing they were failing in sales, decides to do the only thing the money-grubbing company can to try to beat Rock Band sales... copy them completely? And people are actually OKAY with this? Hell, I've actually heard from some people that they think Guitar Hero dominates Rock Band in every way... WHAT?

Ugh... I'm going back to LBP =/

You are forgetting Sony's online service and their Trophy system, as well. Also I find it funny that both Sony and Nintendo are using decade old technology and calling it new, and innovative. As for the microsoft avatars...yes they are ripped off, no I don't care...I never saw the point in it really. NXE more resembles a crappy layout of Media Center, than it does Cross. As for Actiblizzsion don't get me started on it. I will say that Guitar Hero World Tour sucks with everything being cheaply made. As for the CEO of Actiblizzsion I believe he could choke on a pretzel and everyone will be happy. I would go something like this:

Dead CEO in hell "Why...why am I dead?"

Gaming gods: "You chose poorly. You decided to cancel Ghostbusters, even though you knew it would be a popular game, to focus on milking your franchises for all they were worth. You shall now be tortured by playing bad atari games, HAHAHAHAHA!"

CEO: "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Yeah, those early 360's are notorious for RRoD and overheating.

i have had 3 xbox360 of them since they came out and everytime they just tell me to try all different things with the controls. I kept saying the same thing it doesnt work the red light are on and the system wont respond to anything I try to do. first two times they took away my hard drives so i lost all my game data the last time they just asked for the system and told me to update my warranty on the unit. I even told them that I have only haad the new one for 3 months and played on it possibly 9 times in that time so WTH is wrong with the systems.

sorry about the rant but after all the crap from microsoft I prefer my ps3 or wii over the other craptastic system.

LOL.... xbox

...In any case.. it's still selling like hotcakes at a lumberjacks hotel. >_>

You got the RROD too on your 360 I got that during the Summer and I just got Soul Calibur 4

did you call me? you just made my day. wow 2 years? thats the most ive heard and 1st gen xbox 360 has lasted. quick! that must be a new world record!

Mine's a launch and has never had a RLOD error.

It's had the disk drive fail, and an A/V port problem...but no RLOD. =3

but it still had problems... the 60 gb ps3 i have has never phailed and i bought it at a pawnshop for just $250 dollars! its one of the old models

I had mine since launch as well. I have never had ANY problems.

And that's why I unplug the power supply when it's not in use X3

Well I had the problem and Microsoft sent me a free shipping box and I sent the box off. I did this right before going on VK and it showed up the day I the day I got back. Problems where solved. Of course I then had my home broken into and that machine I just got back was stolen.

ring of fire? Don't you mean Red Ring of Death?

I have a legit xbox and I had the ring of death. Took about a month for me to get it back.

LOL
That's why I'm a PS3 man. Since I got it, i haven't had any problems with it and I can play all my games online for free!

All 4 of them!

From what I understand, if you take your 360 apart, clean off the chip and the heatsink attached to it. You might be able to get it to run again. I watched a friend of mine do it to his 360. I can ask him to explain it to me in detail what all he did. I don't think its a guarantee fix....but its better than having it...dead.

I've got my 360 months before it came out (Beta testing rules!!!). I knew it had the cooling flaw in it, I just cut holes in the cover and installed 120mm fans in the holes. It looks like shit, but I've never had it die on me yet!!!

i spoke to a dude while waiting in line the day of the release for the newest metal gear solid..he had been through 5 of the x box. the 5th and final one he bought didn't ever work out of the box. hats off to those who still have an old, and still working x-box..you the lucky ones. personally i will never touch one. microsoft can't make a stable operating system..so why would i buy their game system? never had a single problem with any of my playstations..and i still have and use all of them. the thing that makes me the most angry at microsoft..is they keep scurrying to buy up all the exclusive rights to downloadable content in a sad attempt to lure folks to their system..leaving those of us who can get the same game for the ps3 with absolutely nothing. this is my own little opinion..and i'll probly catch hell for it..but screw microsoft..i hate that i need their dumb windows product cause there is nothing else that will play my games..i hope linux or some other/better system comes along and destroys windows and microsoft.

end of rant.
i feel better ;p

the x-clamp fix could help... sometimes it also might help to go over the mainPCB with a heat fan.

I hate how often the thing desides it wants to crap out on people. The red ring is just one of the many problems the system has, it also has that whole mess with the video system fragging, and the wiring burning out, and the disk reader going wonky, the red ring is the least of the issues that thing has. And people still say that the PS3 is the faulty system. -.-

If there was a way to un-mod the box and make it factory again. Microsoft may repair/ replace the damn thing with the newer one with a cooler chip and a larger heat synch. But if they did it could be 2~3 months before it comes back.