I’ve been afflicted with what is commonly known as the "red ring of death." For you non-gamers out there, I don’t need any kind of salve, but thanks for asking. No, what happened is something that’s happened to far too many owners of the Xbox 360: my $400 next-gen gaming hub has mysteriously become a very expensive paperweight.
Why? Hell if I know. I’ve heard rumblings of phrases like "chip set" and "fragile solders" and "overheating." (And I don’t care what anyone says, I’m not wrapping my Xbox in a warm blanket as if it were a blown knee.)
Yes, Microsoft is sending me a box — a coffin — so I can return the dead unit to them for repair/replacement. But that whole process will take upwards of a month…a month where games like Halo 3, Bioshock, and Stranglehold are sitting on my shelf, woefully unplayed. (Not to mention upcoming titles like Call of Duty 4, Assassin’s Creed, and Conan that will just wait in their plastic wrappers.) And it’s very possible that my machine, or one like it, won’t make it back to me before Christmas.
Anyone else been hit by the ring? What did you do to pass the time? Did you break down and buy a PlayStation 3 just to get the videogame monkey off your back?
Oh, please tell me that it’s an easy process. I just discovered about a month ago that my box has done the same thing. I haven’t been sure who to call, and I have been deprived of all this gaming goodness.
Oh, please tell me that it’s an easy process. I just discovered about a month ago that my box has done the same thing. I haven’t been sure who to call, and I have been deprived of all this gaming goodness.
It’s not that terrible a process. From the day it happened till I got it back, it took less than 4 weeks, and I needed to go to UPS to sign for it. Even so, that’s 4 weeks without so much. Plus, with Guitar Hero III out in just 12 short days, it can’t happen soon enough.
To pass the time, I just fired up my original Xbox and played some Halo 1 & 2, and then got my Dreamcast going for Virtua Tennis 2 to give me my sports game fix.
It is a VERY easy process; it only took about 3 weeks to get my 360 back after discovering the “Red Ring of Death”. They sent me a brand new one instead of repairing my old one. They also gave me one month of free XBox Live Gold membership, which isn’t much of a big deal since I already have the Gold membership, but at least they tried to do something nice.
Don’t worry…I just got mine back and it is waaaaay better than the one I originally bought. The new one is so quiet that you will be amazed. Trust me, having it die on you is the best thing that could have happened.
It’s happened to me twice, and I gotta say, the second time I was quite angry over the whole thing. But it didn’t take very long to get it, about 3 weeks each time. Marc,you’re just lucky this didn’t happen to you over the upcoming holidays, it would take somewhere in the neighborhood of forever to get it back. To pass the time, I actually went outside a few times, it was nice.
That just happened to our xbox 360! I just wanted to make sure that we got ours back in time for Beautiful Katamari (and we did). But we were really lonely without BioShock…
I used Metroid Prime 3 on the Wii to pass the time. And I replayed Call of Duty 2. But it was tough, ’cause it crapped out in the middle of Bioshock.
On the up side, they told me a month, it took no more than 3 weeks.
-K
This just happened to me again. I had one of the launch day 360s that crapped out, and now my replacement has done the same. Someone needs to sue MS over this. Yes, they’re ‘taking responsibility’ by forking over 1.8 billion in repair bills, but that’s not actually fixing the issue: it’s delaying it. They released a faulty product into the consumer space, and did not recall it when it was found that it did not work properly. They also consistently lied about the number of systems failing in the field, saying only 2-4% had the issue. I’d like to say I’m happy that the process to get a repair IS easy, but I’m not happy I’ve had to go through it more than once. Check Kotaku for worse stories if you’re interested.
Have they made improvements to games since Super Mario Bros?
I had mine back in 2 1/2 weeks total, from the time they sent the box ’til I got it back. Unless they’ve gotten slower, I’d be pretty confident on having it back before Christmas. I think I played PS2 and PC games to pass the time but it just wasn’t the same
The only thing to do is buy every available game on your cell phone and master them one by one.
I bought my copy of Halo 3 at midnight and got the red ring of death after two freaking games! Now I have to wait weeks to play Halo 3!
Who needs to “break down” to have to get a PS3? I love mine. But don’t hate on me, fanboys, I got me a 360, too.
Ack, that was really poor sentence structure and I can’t take it back. Sorry ’bout that.