XBOX 360 Problems

[thebruce44]

Architecture wise, the Gamecube/wii has no comparison to the PS3 or 360. What is it, one circuit board with SD memory? I don't mean to infer that MS didn't design a sub par system (there have been systematic issues, for sure), reliability wise, but let's compare apples to apples, please. The more sophisticated an electronic component is, the better the chance something goes wrong.

 

Wasn't the Gcube on par with the XBox and more powerful than the PS2? It then turned out to be much more reliable, which is no surprise really.

 

I can understand what you are saying...there is just a lot more things to go wrong when something gets more complicated. As a consumer though, I think its a cop out. I support Nintendo because their systems just plain work. I support Sony because even though their track record isn't as good as Nintendo's, everyone of their products I have personally owned works for years, while every Microsoft product I have ever owned has not worked well.

 

Just my two cents as a general consumer who is willing to spend quite a bit of money on electronics. I am sure you know more about the specifics of the hardware than I do though rluz.

[mothershipconnection]

Architecture wise, the Gamecube/wii has no comparison to the PS3 or 360. What is it, one circuit board with SD memory? I don't mean to infer that MS didn't design a sub par system (there have been systematic issues, for sure), reliability wise, but let's compare apples to apples, please. The more sophisticated an electronic component is, the better the chance something goes wrong.

 

Those systems are still more durable than the Genesis, Sega CD, or PS1, though, which they're obviously way more advanced than. Other companies, in each generation, have not made a system as reliable as Nintendo. NES killed Master System and SNES killed Genesis and TG-16 (but not Neo-Geo, which was also a bajillion dollars).

 

Several of my clients, who are young kids with autism, tote around their gameboy variants and beat them like you would not believe - but they still have the same one and it still works. Let's see a PSP stand up to a couple tantrums these kids can throw.

 

I think Nintendo takes into account that its systems will be played by young kids and designs them accordingly so they won't be broken. Adults replace broken electronics while parents hold a grudge and will lose all brand loyalty when they buy something for their kid that breaks down.

[giffted1]

Nintendo is definitely in a league of its own when it comes to durability. My Super Nintendo has been dropped a few times, had controllers thrown at it, and spent a few years in a moist basement. I could probably run it over with my car and still play it.

[rluzinski]

Having an objective conversation about video game manufacturers sure is a challenge these days. When you mix MS hate and and Sony and Nintendo love, things get a little crazy. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

Wasn't the Gcube on par with the XBox and more powerful than the PS2?

 

I didn't really play much of the Gamecube (Mario party, Zelda and Mario Kart was about it) but my understanding was that it had nothing that compared to Halo 2 type graphics. What Gamecube games pushed the graphical power of the system?

 

As I tried to make clear, my point wasn't that the 360 is durable or the wii isn't, just that expectations should be adjusted to a certain degree for both. I've never had a single problem with a Nintendo console but those devices have all been relatively simple, so I just keep that in mind when making comparisons. Sony's and MS's consoles have been pretty cutting edge, console-technology wise, so I'd expect more problems with them. There's just more things to go wrong. Is that a silly assumption to make?

 

I support Nintendo because their systems just plain work. I support Sony because even though their track record isn't as good as Nintendo's, everyone of their products I have personally owned works for years, while every Microsoft product I have ever owned has not worked well.

 

How many MS products do you own, other than their operating system? What other hardware? You aren't exactly coming across as unbiased.

[thebruce44]

Your absolutely right rluz, an objective conversation is difficult and I am bias. I hope I didn't come off too strong, but to answer your question on MS products I have owned:

 

Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, Mobile 5, Office, IE, a couple of keyboards and mice, and every flight sim except the last one.

 

I am not a big fan of any of those OS's and would switch to linux/apple if I wasn't so lazy. I have all logitech peripherals for my computer now but I didn't have any real problems with the MS stuff. Mobile 5 seems really buggy on my phone. Firefox is amazing compared to IE, and I have switched to Openoffice and love it.

 

I am basing my MS "hate" on the fact that where other options are available, they have always worked much better for me. MS is everywhere though, so a lot of times their products are unavoidable.

[logan82]

I believe that I heard somewhere that the Gamecube was actually capable of the best graphics of the last generation consoles. They suffered a lot because they had higher liscensing fees on the N64 and lost a lot of 3rd party support which they never really recovered. I doubt the Wii will help them much with that since it has a very different controller making a port more difficult. Companies can't really afford to make games exclusive like they used to. Personally if I was going with only one console I would go with the Wii only because I have been a fan of Zelda and Metroid since the start. Last generation if a game was multi platform I always bought it on Xbox because I liked the hard drive. I hate memory cards. I personally buy a system based on the games not on any fanboy love. I will eventually own all 3 systems, but that PS3 is really looking out of my price range right now.

Neither my brother or myslef have had any problems with our 360's. I have had mine since March of '06 and he has had his since Sept. '06. Of course I lay mine flat and with plenty of ventilation.

[7rebmun]

Just figured I'd throw in that I just got the Red Ring of Death last night.

 

I was very not excited. Nothing like waiting 5-7 business days for an empty box to show up, and then another 10-15 to get the thing back.

 

You'd think they could overnight the damn empty box. That's what Dell did when I needed to get a laptop repaired.

 

Just had to vent. Anyone else had this happen lately?

[bthurley19]

Our XBOX 360 was supposed to come today but we weren't home to get it but I just thought I'd let everyone know that the turnaround was 9 days from when we sent the box out till we got the system back. Hopefully now when I pick it up it will work.

[bthurley19]

So far so good. Everything seems to be working the way it should and the only noticeable difference to the system is the DVDROM tray opens normally and then slows before coming completely out. It's also noticeably quiter. Nice that we got the system back quickly but sucks that it was busted to begin with. Looks like Microsoft is going to lose a lot of money doing all these repairs.

[Trading123]

Well at least the refurbished machine that you got has extra cooling.

[rluzinski]

MS just upped their warranty to three years as well.

[davebobn]

Well I got to almost 2 years without any sort of problem, but my Xbox finally took a crap today. While playing some Rockband my screen turned a hazy shade of green. I reset and all seemed fine, but 2 minutes later it was green again. So I reset the machine one last time and....nothin. Black screen. I can hear audio, but there's no pictures whatsoever. From looking around on the net it looks like a problem that a lot of people are running into right now.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...al_problems#Video_failure

 

The worst part of it is that since I'm not getting the red ring it is not covered by the new warranty from xbox. I got on customer service and they told me it would cost $99 to send it in and fix it. I'm thinking of just getting an Arcade version for $200. At least then I'll get a new system and a controller. Anyone know if I can transfer my hard drive over to the arcade version?

 

I really don't want to buy another one of these things, but about 45 minutes before it pooped out on me I pre-ordered Fallout 3. Unreal.

[bjkrautk]

Well I got to almost 2 years without any sort of problem, but my Xbox finally took a crap today. While playing some Rockband my screen turned a hazy shade of green. I reset and all seemed fine, but 2 minutes later it was green again. So I reset the machine one last time and....nothin. Black screen. I can hear audio, but there's no pictures whatsoever. From looking around on the net it looks like a problem that a lot of people are running into right now.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...al_problems#Video_failure

 

The worst part of it is that since I'm not getting the red ring it is not covered by the new warranty from xbox. I got on customer service and they told me it would cost $99 to send it in and fix it. I'm thinking of just getting an Arcade version for $200. At least then I'll get a new system and a controller. Anyone know if I can transfer my hard drive over to the arcade version?

 

I really don't want to buy another one of these things, but about 45 minutes before it pooped out on me I pre-ordered Fallout 3. Unreal.

I believe that you can just unplug the hard drive and install it into your new 360.

Reliability problems are the biggest reason that I still can't bring myself to buy a 360 in addition to my PS3.

[T B0NE 10]

davebobn- What I would do is try to get the red ring of death however you can. What you could do is intentially overheat it. You could take some towels, wrap it around the xbox, and just burn the sucker. However after you do this it is likely to reset in the inside and it would actually work fine for a while, why its called the towel trick, but anywhere from 1-3 days later you should get the red ring of death. Do it at your own risk though http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

 

The towel trick does work as a temporary fix for the red ring of death though (Ive done it a couple times), I'm not sure about actually trying to cause it though. If you want to see the towel trick just youtube xbox towel trick.

[mothershipconnection]

Reliability problems are the biggest reason that I still can't bring myself to buy a 360 in addition to my PS3.

 

It's why I bought a PS3 and not a 360 even though it's a very similar system with (it definitely seems) more games in stores, especially cheap used ones.

[nate82]

The design of the Xbox360 case is flawed and is the real reason why the system over heats so much. The inside design of the case for the 360 is one of the worst designs ever for cooling a system down. When you open up the 360 and a PS3 you will notice that the cooler for the 360 is about 1/4 the size of the one in the PS3.

 

The PS3's cooler is about 2 times the size of some decent coolers for a PC. This is all the reason why the PS3 costs so much Sony actually put the time in to the case to make it efficient at cooling the case. Also you can notice that the fans are a better quality than that of the ones in the original 360 and even the newer 360's. The fans on them are still small RPM fans that I wouldn't even use to cool an old PC that has a Pentium in it.

 

I own both the 360 and the PS3 so I'm not really biased each way for either system. It is just that Microsoft dropped the ball on the 360 case design while Sony made a solid design. I don't own a Wii but I'm guessing it is very similar to the Game Cube and not much changed with the Wii and Game Cube design.