So, I got this rrod:ed 360 a while ago, and now when I opened it up to prepare it for reflowing, I found this sticker on the motherboard, right next to the fans (I've pixelated something that looks like a serial on the other sticker): There are some other oddities too. The label on the shell states a power rating of 16,5A, but the the power connector is clearly the Falcon/Opus one. The guy I got it from bought it used, and sure, the previous owner might have exchanged the shell, but the warranty sticker seemed intact before I opened the box, and also there was no scoring of the plastic close to the clips keeping the shell together. There was simply no traces whatsoever of the box being opened before. If it was, the guy who did it did an insanely good job with it. Here's the shell label and the power connector (pixelated serial numbers here aswell): My first thought is that it might be a box from a transition period between the Zephyr and Falcon models, and they had a surplus of old shells, but there are laws regulating the marking of electronic equipment at least in Sweden, and there's really no sense in breaking those laws just to save the cost of a new sticker. My guess is that they would have slapped on a correct sticker on consoles intended for the retail market. A thought that popped in my mind is that it could be a refurbished box. Has anyone seen anything like this on a refurb? Googling for "FVMI evaluation" gives me nothing useful. Do anyone here happen to have an idea about what this means/is?
Seems like that in engineering FVMI means "Force Voltage Measurement Current". And then, apparently that board is testing a new build of the power converter circuit for the CPU and GPU. These boards have tags like that because they're field tests for design variations. And that's one of the reasons why Microsoft want only themselves servicing these units. So this board being serviced by someone else is an research and development chance missed for Microsoft.
Ah, thanks for your answer! That clears everything up, had no idea MS did that kind of testing. I've never ever come across one of those boxes before, and then I've opened both one and three Xboxes in my days. Probably it was a step in the preparations for the launch of the Falcon boxes then, considering the MFR date and power rating. I'll see if I can find some hi res pic of a Falcon mobo to compare against, and also compare it to my Zephyr. Would be interesting if it is some "special" version. It's probably way too late, but maybe I should take a shot at mailing MS and see if they have any interest in field test boxes of obsolete revisions, and in that case suggest a trade for a working box. With a bit of luck, I'll get some further clarification about what it is aswell. It might be worth a try at least
