1:00
a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, August 15, 2008 marked the downfall of
our Xbox 360 Elite console. Our console, which had performed without
any major issue since we originally set it up in late
October of last year, simply did not start up. The system had
even been working that morning, showing no signs of any problems or
symptoms of a pending system failure. Alas, I went to turn on the
system, ready to play some Xbox Live Arcade games for a bit, only to
be greeted by three portions of the console's Ring of Light flashing
with an ominous red glow.

Photo taken by Russel Bremner
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With
the knowledge that the system had been used earlier that day without
any problems, I figured it was just a faulty start, so I shut the
system and pressed the power button once again, to begin the boot
process once more. I was, again, greeted by three flashing red
lights, and knew that this could only be bad news. For those readers
who already know me though, you know I'm not ready to give up that
easily. I unplugged the system and waited the half hour, until 1:30
a.m., to plug it back in and see what happened. The sheer fact that
I'm writing this article should give you a clear hint as to the
outcome of that attempt.
No,
nothing seemed to work, and so I called it a night and left things
until the next morning. The system was still dead in the morning, but
I had official troubleshooting guides to look over, to see if there
were any remedies to the issue which I may have missed the night
before. I tried everything Microsoft had to offer, but nothing
worked. I was out of options. It was time to put in a replacement
request. I am currently in the process of boxing up the console, to
ship it in for Microsoft to replace. Replacement time is approximated
at two to three weeks, so we will be without a console for at least a
little while.
For
me this, once again, brings up the issue of manufacturers and
publishers not making the effort to make sure that their products are
up
to standard and are actually reliable. A simple search of “xbox
360 failure rate” or “xbox 360 failure rate 2008” (without
quotes) turns up a number of articles about a recent report, from
February of this year, compiled by consumer electronics warranty
company SquareTrade,
putting the failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles at a ludicrously high
16 percent. That number is considerably higher number than the
industry average of 3%, which Microsoft was claiming the failure rate
to be at that time. Thankfully, SquareTrade's number is far more
optimistic than the 30% some retailers were claiming last summer, but
it is still unacceptable from both a consumer and manufacturing
standpoint.
Clearly,
if a product's failure rates are so high, there is a problem
somewhere in the manufacturing process of that product. I have said
similar things about the
Rock Band
peripherals,
and I stand by my words. In Microsoft's case though, there is a bit
of a difference. Microsoft has made some changes to the Xbox 360
warranty, extending it to three years from the purchase date for any
system failure that is indicated by three red lights on the console
(the Red Ring of Death).

No, not our 360
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Concerning
Xbox Support, we haven't had to deal very much with Microsoft's
support staff, especially compared to our trials with the
Rock
Band
support team, so we can't
make any conclusions about their level of service yet. We had heard
some pretty bad stories, including Jeff
having to wait five whole months for Microsoft to do a simple
replacement for a game disc, but we would understand those kind of
situations as rare cases. We'll have to wait and see how our Xbox
support experience goes until we come to our own conclusions. You'll
be able to draw your own conclusions soon enough though, as we're
filming the whole process of the return – the replacement request
call, prepping the box for shipping and the replacement – so you
will know what to do in the event that you have to go through such a
return.
We'll
wait until we get our replacement system to put the video(s) online,
but we have one thing to note at the moment, for people who may be
looking to start a replacement request for an Xbox 360 that has the
Red Ring of Death. The time between the placement of the request and
the receipt of the email with your shipping label can be anywhere
between one hour and a couple of days, so don't get too worried if
you don't find the email in your inbox immediately. Once your console
is sent in, you can track your replacement with your shipping number,
so keep that handy if you get curious about its status.
I
should probably get this box to on its way to UPS.
We'll
keep you updated on the situation as things go on.