Okay, so I've had my XBox 360 for a while now with no real problems. I always hear about the RROD (Red Ring of Death) but have not actually encountered it myself. Well, the other day, my 360 gives up the ghost. But it isn't the standard 3 light red ring I get. I get a single red light in the bottom right corner. I call Microsoft, who tell me to send it in for repair. Oh, and by the way, that will cost you $100. But wait, I thought they extended the warranties for XBox 360 to 3 years because of the hardware failures? No, they only extended the warranty for the standard 3 red ring failure. And my standard Microsoft warranty expired 13 days ago...which is pretty ****ty. So anyway, my solutions at this point are to wait until I have the extra money to send it in for repairs...OR...find some sneaky way to get this thing to fail with the standard 3 light RROD. If I could do that, then the failure would suddenly be under warranty, and we have no worries. Anyone have any theories or ideas on how I could do that? I did some research on the single red light and some people claim it is just the AV cable. Anyone know about that? It seems odd to me that a cable would just suddenly fail when the system hasn't been moved. My stepson read somewhere to try running the thing for 20 minutes with the whole system wrapped in towels. I'm not sure what that was supposed to accomplish, but predictably it didn't fix anything. Any help anyone could provide would be appreciated. Thanks. Also, the code the screen shows when it fails to start up is E-74.
I had the same exact thing about two weeks ago. I went and tried a new A/V cable and that didn't fix the problem. I went ahead and purchased the fix but I too are really upset about paying for hardware failure. If it is not the A/V cable then it is something in the box itself that takes XBox in Mesquite, an hour to change out max. UPS tried delivering it back yesterday but no one was home to sign for it. Once I get it Thursday afternoon, then I will let you know whether or not the fix worked.
I doubt they even check it. When I sent mine in, I don't really think it was the RROD. I only got it one time and the rest of the times it would just freeze after playing it for a while. I didn't even say it was the RROD when I called but the guy just assumed it was because I told him I got them once. It might have been 3 lights and not 4. Who knows, all I know is they received it on a Thursday and they shipped me another one on Friday. Thats why I am saying I doubt they even check it. They just send off a new or refurb.
I thought hard on this one, because it is very tempting. But in the end this XBox is really my son's and I don't want to set a bad example for him by doing this (I know that in the end, all it really does is punish Microsoft...but it still feels dishonest). I guess you could argue that trying to get the XBox to fail RROD so I don't have to pay is dishonest, but I don't really see it that way since they are both hardware failures that should not have happened this early in the console's life.
That surprises me since I have read plenty of accounts of people who sent their's in for a fix/replace of the RROD and Microsoft sent it back claiming it had been tampered with, or otherwise finding other ways to get out of them being responsible for the money to repair. I just assumed they would do everything they could to put this back on me, and if all that entails is looking at how many lights are blinking when the thing is turned on, that's easy money for Micro$oft.
You know, that's a fantastic reason to NOT switcheroo. Having a kid has made me rethink my downloading ways as well. Of course, you don't have to tell him what you're doing. But that's another moral conundrum.
You should have told them it was the 3 rings, when you send it in, they just send you an entirely new one. Try calling back and saying that you now have the 3 rings of death, what have you got to lose? DD
I may give that a shot when I do finally send it in. But the thing is that right now I don't have the funds to pay for the fix if they charge me. So if they fix it and bill me instead of sending a new one, then I'll be screwed. I guess I'll wait until I have the money and try this method. I've done several searches over the net this morning and no one seems to have a full proof way of getting the 3 red rings from the one red ring. Oh well.
I see no moral dilemma in doing the wal-mart swap when microsoft has screwed over so many people with not testing the initial hardware good enough. It is their fault and the wal-mart swap isn't stealing it is replacing a defunct product. Everyone I know that has an xbox had it die on them including myself. 5 people and 5 wal-mart swaps. For those that are concerned about getting caught. Don't worry. Even if you don't know anything about electronics you can find highly detailed tutorials with pictures online that is dummy proof. Just do the swap and don't worry about the wal-mart employees in customer service. They don't even look. They just check that all the extra cords and stuff are there. I had one friend that had to do the swap and he went from a known HDMI xbox to a HDMI xbox. With the big gapping hole left in the HDMI slot from the swap wal-mart still didn't notice anything.
Well I guess it really isn't stealing when you are just exploiting the stupidity of Wal-Mart employees.
Look here Morel Orel... if God wanted everyone on Earth to have a working Xbox... he wouldn't have made Bill Gates so evil. Wal-Mart or Microsoft won't miss the money. Thats like stealing a grain of sand from the beach. You take more capital when you use the "take a penny leave a penny" tray at 7-11.
Wal-Mart probably doesn't lose a dime when they send back bad merchandise to MS. All of their manufacturers bend over backwards to make them happy. So in the end, MS is absorbing the cost of a busted 360, which is what they should have done in the first place.
You guys have probably convinced me to do the switcharoo. The moral dilemma wasn't so much about me feeling bad for stealing (I know it is Microsoft that ends up paying since Walmart will send the broken unit back to them) but merely for lying in order to get the replacement. I didn't want to have to explain that to my son...so I'm not going to. I'll do the switcharoo, and he doesn't have to know how I did it. Out of curiosity...if I do the switcharoo but keep the current hard drive, will we have to do any of the system setup that is normally involved? I guess I should read some of these online tutorials on how to go about doing this.
Whether you exploiting Wal-Mart customer service ineptness or telling MS you have the RROD when you don't, you deserve a new Xbox360 at no cost. Its MS's fault, let them eat the loss. Why should you have to pay a single cent for their negligence?
Jesus Christ, man. You are always talking about what you are going to buy. What's the hold up? You've been talking about your new hdtv and PS3 or 360 you're getting soon for what seems like 3 years. Buy your tv. Buy your video game console. What are you waiting for? You're missing out. Just splurge.
