Whilst my dying 360 gently steers me towards Nintendo or Sony

I've been a bit of an Xbox fan for a long time. Whilst most people slagged it off over the more popular PS2, I stuck to my guns and enjoyed what I felt was a better, more robust machine. It had it's ups and downs, but overall I was a happy man, with a good friend...my mate console.

So, when the 360 was released I didn't have to think about it, I got one! In fact I was such a fanboy I had to have it at launch, within the first week. Actually, I was lucky, I never paid more than it's retail value plus P&P, which considering the eBay auctions at the time was a bloody miracle.

Roll on 1.5 years and my faith is being savaged!

Tonight my THIRD - yep, third bloody 360 died on me. No ring of death, just this odd green hue on the screen, like a spongy mist, but no, hang on it comes, it goes and it's getting worse, what the hell...red lines now, oh nothing. Okay, switch off. Try new cable to see if they are faulty. Nope! Oh dear, it's definately not the game cause there it is on dashboard now. That's neat - ever seen everything through green stuff?

I am now looking at the 360 in pieces on my table, pouring over it seeing whether anything is visibly wrong. Hey, wtf, it's out of warranty, I no longer have much faith in Microsofts diddy asshole product - yeah, I am pissed off, yeah I am probably over reacting, but when you see £200 worth of console fa**y up 3 times after less time than it takes to even develop a game these days, then I'm afraid I just feel cheated.

Is it me, or are we launch edition idiots just being taken for a ride? There have been so many reported issues and yet Microsoft continues to deny there are any manufacturing issues or design flaws? So, let me recap. I've had three 360 consoles in 1.5yrs. Does that seem like a good deal to you? Am I alone? I don't think so.

Nuts....... b&gg&r nuts and B&ll&cks!

 

I feel for you. It looks like the 360s got American car syndrome: built like crap. Could the system just be overheating? Try it without the case on, and see if it runs any better.

 

sorry o hear that mate,,

if you feel the need to pass it on... Assembler freecycle me! LMAO

 

Nah, only if its a Ford (which I'm an owner of).

Anyway, stick with the xbox or get a PStwo. If you can get a hold of a Wii, then get one. Wait about a year until they start releasing new revisions for these consoles.

is it still under warranty?

The 360 must have been the most fubared system since it was released.

 

Agreed!!!

 

It is the console that has given me most heartache without a doubt.

It's out of warranty, so when this unit dies, my interest kind of also dies until a more reliable revision of the motherboard is produced.

Perhaps I over reacted earlier, but there's just so many failures a guy can take :-(

Tomorrow, once I get back I'll be looking at this damned thing more closely and seeing whether it's worth selling for parts or taking to the local repair guy to do his magic. He knows far, far more about the 360 than I do.

Additional freaking outlay on what should be a rock solid unit. OH:

 

Just tried it again and there is now NO graphic output what-so-ever. It doesn't love me anymore and frankly, the feeling at this particular moment is sodding mutual. :banghead:

 

It sounds like the GPU is at fault,you can try this tutorial.
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=599216
Well at least you have your other 360 to game with.I hope you
get your Kit working mate.

 

That sucks man! I'm just counting the days till mine dies....I'm really surprised it hasn't yet, considering my luck.

 

my launch xbox still works :\ no issues all... then again i take really good care of my expensive toys.

 

The irony is that I had just PM'd a pile of folks in my 360 contact list to say I was back online, had downloaded messenger and attached a USB keyboard. 5mins later I got the start of the GPU issues.

I took the unit to pieces and those X clamps truly are a work of poo! Well done the heat sink team for Microsoft - what a lowsy idea.

The units has been pretty well looked after, never dropped or hashed about and frankly it was spotless inside (I've always kept mine well ventilated and away from dust). Hell, I hid my 360 up in the attic whilst doing the house renovations to avoid dust! So, don't think that by treating your 360 like it is a nice little kitten, feeding it with love and giving it lots of attention you'll stave of the curse of 360! They die, and boy do they die fast!

Last night I was playing GoW quite happily when it all went horribly wrong.

So, now I have a pile of spare parts.

Pikkon: Yeah, but $400 burning up is a pain OH: I also sold my NTSC retail a while back thinking it was not required.

That heatsink trick might work, but I think the GPU fried and was cremated internally. You should have seen the shit coming up on my TV minutes before it all went pitch black. It went white, red, green lines through it, smudges of green, totally black and gone! :noooo:

At some stage I should have just switched it off and potentially saved the GPU, but to be honest, if I was going to get my moneys worth I wanted to watch the fireworks lol

 

Seriously, nothing will stop :evil: "T H E C U R S E O F T H E 3 6 0" :evil:

 

Gavin,do you get any error codes at all,does the led flash red or is it green.Also I heard GoW pushes the 360 to the maximum and can result in what you have.Also check this out.
http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?topic=7070.0
But I would try the X-clamp fix,it might help your problem.

 

sorry to hear about your problems parris, ive still got my launch 360 and its still going strong, (but saying that i barely play on it)

my recommendation for another console is the wii, no it hasnt got next gen graphics or 5.1 output, but it still looks good in 480p, and the games are great for it! i have rayman for both 360 and wii, the 360 one does look much better, but its just no fun to play! i bought my son a wii for xmas and have never looked back, even my58yr old mom has a play on it when seh comes round now!

 

The unit doesn't display anything on the screen - the GPU is out to lunch! The lights on the face don't appear to indicate anything. The only thing that kind of makes me think that a BIOS issue (i.e. possibly POST checks of some sort) are not being passed is that you can immediately switch off the unit by hitting the power on/off button. It's like it doesn't go anywhere.

I'll read the thread you posted. I'm pretty busy today with an interview this afternoon, so I'll have to come back to this tonight I think.

Diddydonn: Everyone laughs when I say I'd like a Wii. I have been thinking about it more recently. I realise it's not a patch (technology wise) on the 360, but it looks a lot of fun.

I just wish MS would put their hands up and do a recall for early revisions. It would help me none as I've been inside this unit and voided any kind of warranty, but I have lost count of the number of friends who've had their 360 units replaced. Just enjoy it whilst you can!

 

so whats the plane with your new dust gathering white box then?

Can the GPU be replaced on these or is it now a scrap 360?

 

Well if the X frame replacement solution, applied with lots of heat paste doesn't work then I'm afraid she's a pile of bits. In that instance I will decide whether I am buying another unit (newer revision for sure) or just giving up!

I don't like throwing good money after bad. I'll definately let you know. A new GPU might be hard to obtain as most people will sell the motherboard as a complete unit, which means it might end up costing the same as just buying a second-hand unit.

The last unit I bought cost me £60.00 so it can be done. A solution will be sought, even if it's just to let the wife and me finish GoW!

 

How did you manage to get a 360 for £60?

 

i got a premium pack (with hdd, 2x wireless controllers) of ebay just before xmas last year for £80, as it was faulty, rang up microsoft, got it repaired and re-sold it for £250! i can put you in touch with the guy i got it from as he now sells just the console on its own for £40, theyre faulty units, but as now ms have extended the warrentee to 2 years you should be covered

 

So long as they are not registered, I believe like Sony with their PSP units, they are quite happy to waver any issues of age. I think that says something about their attitude towards getting the first revisions in the bin lol

For £40 I'd be a happy bunny as I think any repair is going to cost more than that. PM me and I'll look at it. Thanks!

As for how I got one for £60. It was an NTSC unit, the PSU was blown and the seller had no idea what was wrong with it. I guess 220-240v fired into a 110v PSU ought to be the reason. Once I replaced the PSU, it worked perfectly well. Wished I'd kept it now, some of my games would have worked.