The Truth About Xbox 360 "Red Ring of Death" Failures

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Q: So what do you think the real failure rate of the Xbox 360 is? Some have estimated it as high as 30%. I got my Xbox in early 2007 and so far so good but what do you think the chance is that it's going to die on me one day.

It's around 30%, and all will probably fail early. This quarter they are expecting 1 M failures, most of those Xenons. Some of those are repeat failures. Life expectancy is all over the map because the design has very little margin for most of the important parameters. That means it's not a fault tolerant design. So a good unit may last a couple of years, while a bad unit can fail in hours. I have a launch unit and have not had a single problem with it. And it's used a lot. But I don't know anyone else with a 360 that hasn't broken, except you now. There's no way to tell when yours might die. But the cooler you can keep it, the longer it will probably last. So stand it up, keep it in free air, etc. :Note : Xenon was the code name for the first Xbox 360 mother board.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/digitaljoystick/archives/129866.asp?source=rss

Wow that's brutal.

My Xbox has been alive for about... 9ish monthes... so I have no worries. and if it does RROD out then I get a free repair!

Mike, whats the repair process? How long does it take to get a replacement?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm thinking of getting one of the game consoles and to be honest I was leaning towards the 360 because it has many more games but on the other hand the PS3 is reliable, to my knowledge.

Well I've never had to send in a damaged console. My FIRST 360 had a graphics failure so I just took it back to Costco, waited the next month or two out, and then bought the Elite.

But from what I hear it can be from a week or two, to a month, depending on the problem.

I have had my 360 since the day they came out and haven't had 1 problem with it. Now that I just said that i am knocking on my head(Wood). Good product I hope my new PS3 performs the same way. It is all a crap shoot. Same with everything except my samsung bd-p1200. Total piece of junk. Will never buy another Samsung product again.

I've been reading some pretty negative reviews about the Samsung bluray players as well as the combo HD DVD/bluray players. I was thinking of getting one of the combo players down the road once all the specs were finalized on the bluray side but now I'm not so sure.

Stay away. Stay very far away. Before my PS3 I couldn't watch POTC3. Samsung has known about this problem since dec. 12th, according to their website, and have not come up with a fix yet. 3:10 to Yuma same problem. There are more movies my player won't play but those are the only two that I have had problems with. I have even read posts on othe web sites that they are not going to be providing support for my player anymore. Just a rumor but that would not be good.

Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into bashing samsung.

[Post edited by spenc7798 on Jan 20, 2008]

The repair process is pretty painless, except for having to wait the week or so until your system comes back. All you have to do is call M$ and they send you a prepaid box. You pack up your 360, ship it off to them and get a replacement sent back. I presently have an elite and haven't had any problems with it. The newer 360s have cooler microchips and better heat sinks so they are pretty reliable right now. It really has a great games line up so if you are thinking about getting one go ahead. You can even pick up Bioshock or Assassins Creed this week from Best Buy for $40. Their sale on these games ends this coming Saturday though.

[Post edited by chemteam on Jan 20, 2008]

spenc7798 said -

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"...except my samsung bd-p1200. Total piece of junk. Will never buy another Samsung product again."

Don't worry Spenc, as Samsung is issuing a new firmware update for there Blu-ray players in early February (delayed from Dec for more fine-tuning). That model #1200 player has great standard DVD upconversion, and decent Blu-ray playback, but at the moment reportedly cannot play some of the latest Blu-ray titles, like: The Fly, Live Free or Die Hard, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Ratatouille, and a few others.

I don't know why some of the Bu-ray studios are releasing newer discs that won't play on every Blu-ray player without having to apply a firmware update. They totally need to remedy this situation, and have the discs play fine on all players, otherwise bad word-of-mouth will result, and player returns, and the market potential and growth of Blu-ray will move slowly.

-LH (The Loverboy)

Hendrix,

Just curious but where did you get the info that the firmware isn't coming until Feb? And will it fix all of the movie issue?