Please Enlighten Me!

[Akaymay]

Well, I have never had an XBox or an Xbox 360 before, and never really planned on getting one, but me and my friend are both getting one just for Rock Band. Now, I've known about the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" on my older computers forever. But now with the Xbox 360, people are saying "Dont get one used, you may be stuck with the dreaded red ring of death!" And all I can really afford is a Game stop "Refurbished" one

Now, I'm guessing this red ring is around the power button, which is supposed to be green. But when something is wrong, it goes red.

What I want to know is, what causes it? People are telling me to "Be Aware" of it as if it were a ghost or demon or something is causing it (That's a joke). But, what actually causes it, and is it common in 360's?

[WildWalker]

Well, I have never had an XBox or an Xbox 360 before, and never really planned on getting one, but me and my friend are both getting one just for Rock Band. Now, I've known about the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" on my older computers forever. But now with the Xbox 360, people are saying "Dont get one used, you may be stuck with the dreaded red ring of death!" And all I can really afford is a Game stop "Refurbished" one

Now, I'm guessing this red ring is around the power button, which is supposed to be green. But when something is wrong, it goes red.

What I want to know is, what causes it? People are telling me to "Be Aware" of it as if it were a ghost or demon or something is causing it (That's a joke). But, what actually causes it, and is it common in 360's?

The 4 quadrant indicators to indicate a different fault type, so the 'red ring of death' does not always require the console to be returned.

A lot of the early hardware failures were caused by some bad soldering on the early units. This did require a return.

If in doubt then I would buy a new unit, even if it meant waiting a while longer, especially with the number of people that try to 'hack' consoles (and get them banned from Live).

I think all the units from Game stop (like a lot of larger retailers) would have been properly tested first though, but what degree of testing is done I do not know.

WW

[Eman311]

One from gamestop is probably fine, and you could always just get their warranty and then if something does happen simply return it for another one. 360's are known for being fragile but its not like you need to worry every second that you play. Theyre supposedly coming out with a cooler, more efficient version of the system. I'll probably trade in my old one for that one when it comes out

[Akaymay]

I don't know, I've heard a lot of things. Like, a LOT of people saying "Yeah...sooner or later, it's gonna break, like, within the next 8 to 9 months." Due to very easily overheated. I heard a lot of people saying they've gone through at least 3 systems. I got the core version, because, well, that's all I could afford. But I'm going to get a hard drive for it soon to put in, 20 gigs. Any comments?

EDIT: I forgot to mention. When I first went to Game Stop to get my 360. I got it, went home, it ALREADY had the Red ring. I had to take it back and trade it in for a new one. I found out when they say "Refurbished" they mean they just clean to cover of the system, and air out the insides. No tests, no checks, just a quick clean-up and they remove and stickers or just random crap that's on the system itself. Don't trust Game Stop!

[BeckRokk]

Yeah, I don't have a 360 yet for good reason. I'm going to buy one new. That way I know that the only fault involved in a red ring would either be MS' fault or my own.

[MrtyMcfly]

I was iffy about it at first as well. I just bought my 360 back in March. But as long as you don't run it 24/7, and you keep it in the open, where it can be well-ventilated, I think you should be fine.

There are faulty ones, but they've made minor changes with the system since launch to prevent problems.

Also, people have had to send back their systems to get repaired, thinking they've gone through 5 of them. Apparently, they attempt to fix your system when you send it back, you don't get a replacement console till about the 4th or 5th time you send it back.

But for the record, the only problem I've had so far was that it overheated a couple times, but that was my own fault. I kept it inside my entertainment system, in an enclosed area, with it laid down. It got so hot you could cook eggs off it.

I resolved the issue, simply by standing it up on the floor next to my tv stand, and also buying a cooler for it. Keep in mind, my room has zero ventilation, the average tempature was at least 75º+ in my room.

Hope this helps!

[lithiumkc]

I was iffy about it at first as well. I just bought my 360 back in March. But as long as you don't run it 24/7, and you keep it in the open, where it can be well-ventilated, I think you should be fine.

There are faulty ones, but they've made minor changes with the system since launch to prevent problems.

Also, people have had to send back their systems to get repaired, thinking they've gone through 5 of them. Apparently, they attempt to fix your system when you send it back, you don't get a replacement console till about the 4th or 5th time you send it back.

But for the record, the only problem I've had so far was that it overheated a couple times, but that was my own fault. I kept it inside my entertainment system, in an enclosed area, with it laid down. It got so hot you could cook eggs off it.

I resolved the issue, simply by standing it up on the floor next to my tv stand, and also buying a cooler for it. Keep in mind, my room has zero ventilation, the average tempature was at least 75º+ in my room.

Hope this helps!

My friend had a crashbox. Wouldnt run any game, at all. Brand new, it'd say please insert a game disc if it was in there.

He sent it in to MS one time, and they sent him a new one right away plus a month of xbox live

[MrtyMcfly]

Damn, granted he had that unfortunate problem, but he's the luckiest I've heard so far. A month of xbox live is pretty nice.

[JB4GDI]

I've heard that it's a serious problem, but since the 360 has that 3 year warranty now, you should be fine. I mean, you'll probably have to wait a couple days while you ship it back and forth to Microsoft, but you probably won't have to pay for it. I've had my PS3 lock up 3 times due to overheating (like 85 degrees in my room), so I'd say the best thing you can do is just keep the 360 well ventilated.

-Jaime

[ThePaska]

Similarly I don't own a 360 yet, but both me and my friend are going to have to buy one since we are dying to play Rock Band. Which 360 are we going to have to buy? Does the Core System have any kind of internal memory at all? Or will we have to buy the one that is $100 more that has the 20Gigs of memory?

And i've heard that they are trying to improve on the system so it doesn't mess up all the time, is that going to be something that is happening in time for Rock Band?

I've been trying to find articles and stuff about my questions, but so far I haven't got anything.