Now we all know that the Xbox 360 has its share of problems, most notably the RROD (red ring of death). For some people its very existence is a reason to never make a purchase. I can’t blame them really. After all, Microsoft knew the problem existed and decided to push the system out anyway, which is complete and utter horseshit. But there has always been a bit of a contrast provided by various companies to offset this questionable practice. This contrast has taken the form of PRP (product replacement plans). For $50-$80, you can get a 2 year replacement plan to cover any reasonable damage of occurrence to your system.
Unfortunately, 2 years to a retailer has its own definition.
Hit the jump for more »
Many users have gotten the E-74 error message and were thrilled to find out that under the old warranty that it was not under the umbrella of RRoD issues and therefore not covered. MS has heard the voices of discontent and agreed to extend the warranty to that issue as well. Here is the official Xbox.com press release letting us all know that we can get our consoles fixed for free IF we are still within 3 years of the manufacturer’s date. Better late than never I guess.
According to Microsoft’s support site, starting Monday, if your original Xbox is out of warranty, you’re shit out of luck. They’re no longer offering service for the console.
On March 2, 2009, service repairs for Original Xbox video game systems for which the Warranty has expired will no longer be available. Any other technical support, documents, and content, however, will continue to be available to all our customers. Although Microsoft is ending repair services for the Original Xbox, an upgrade program and support will be maintained for Original Xbox consoles that are still under Warranty.
How many people actually have an original Xbox under warranty anyway? Considering the short warranty period, you would have needed to buy one fairly recently. Who’s still buying this thing?
I believe the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one. Myarcadeplanet has reported that Microsoft will be manufacturing their very own first party cooling devices. I understand the third party devices that are currently on the market and I hear they are doing reasonably well, but with the new three year warranty and now this, a reasonable person would have to believe a full admission is coming soon to the heating problems.
In an effort to boost stability, Microsoft has been putting in an additional heat sink on the graphics chip of refurbished Xbox 360’s as of late. Now, that added heat sink is in all new Xbox 360 Elite models being shipped. Ben Heck, modder extrordonaire, took apart his newly purchased Elite to find the change.
This is good news for people thinking about buying an Xbox 360 right now, as the stability problems have been widely publicized.
I’m going to take Ben’s word on this one. I’m not about to void the warranty on my Elite and see if I have the new heat sinks.
I have the Today Show on this morning, for God only knows what reason. They had a segment on about video games, again, who knows why.
The interesting part of the segment is that their “tech guru” told consumers to stay away from the Xbox 360 because of the massive hardware problems. He let everyone know that Microsoft issued a 3 year warranty extension amounting to $1 billion. The “tech guru” indicated that is is the same as a recall without the legal issues surrounding an actual recall. Microsoft would not confirm to him what is causing the hardware problems, but he advised all consumers to not buy an Xbox 360 until at least the end of the year.
Along with this, he strongly recommended the PS3 and Wii for their very high reliability and technological prowess. Letting everyone know the PS3 is a much stronger machine than the Xbox 360 and it’s recent $100 price drop, the “tech guru” encouraged users to grab one. He also talked up the Wii’s motion controls and innovative games, and also informed consumers of the high demand that’s still around.
It was actually a decent segment, better than I had expected. I wonder how much effect this will have on the Xbox 360? Millions of people watch the Today Show every morning. I’ll try to find a video later today and post it up for you.
Apparently Robbie Bach admitted to the media in a conference call that all Xbox 360’s have a design fault which may cause them to fail within the first 2 years of console life, as being reported by LazyGamer.
This honestly doesn’t surprise me. I’ve personally gone through 7 Xbox 360’s, and have tons of friends who are on at least number 2.
In the conference call, Robbie Bach told everything this design flaw only recently surfaced. I’m calling Bravio Sierra here. These things have been failing like crazy for almost 2 years now. You really mean to tell me the design team JUST found what’s causing the problems?
Microsoft recently increased the 360’s warranty to 3 years because of these problems. You’d think they’d just fix the damn thing already.
You read correctly. This is an OFFICIAL press release from Xbox stating that they will pay everyone back who had to have their Xbox360 repaired due to the RLoD. Also, the new 3 year warranty will be extended for the price of on the house to anyone in the world who has the console. The new warranty is very specific and will only deal with issues that result from the RLoD and not other problems. You can contact Xbox by following the above link. I can’t say anyone saw this coming.
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