XBOX360 - Overheating still a problem?

[mswood]

As the apparent poster boy for X-Box problems (13 times its failed and been replaced), and with my huge headache last time of taking over 3 months to get it repaired, my last unit (#14) died 21 days ago and they still have yet to get me my shipping box to send it in.

I just have no frigging luck (and I absolutely love the games, unquestionably an awesome game library, and I love X-Box live, except when trying to transfer stuff from old unit to replacement which has gotten very, very old).

14 failed units just sounds crazy. I know the 360 suffers from major, major design deficiencies but 14 consecutive failures for one user sounds ridiculous. Do you place your 360 inside of an oven while playing it?


It's not that I don't believe you - I'm in the process of returning my THIRD consecutive replacement for a monitor I bought off Newegg (never buy a Hanns-G piece of shit). But 14 failures? Jeez... I'd have given up on the 360 LONG ago if anything like that had happened to me (never had an issue with mine, knock on wood).

You at least keep the console in a relatively well ventilated area, correct?

Well in truth it isn't one unit. It's two that I own, after the first one broke for the 2nd time I had the opportunity to purchase another so I did just to have one for the down time.

They are kept, on a table (so they aren't unclosed in cabinets or anything. And have clearance on all sides (Except the bottom) of at least four inches.

ANd yeah, seriously I have terrible luck. Twice the units I had returned didn't work on start up, I also got the first one about 3 weeks after their rollout.

And if it was me, I would have given up on it. Not a huge gamer. But my boyfriend absolutely loves it. And it gets played a lot. Its on about 16-18 hours a day between my boyfriend, his friends, and a neighborhood kid that we keep out of trouble.

 

[Twilight]

Its on about 16-18 hours a day between my boyfriend, his friends, and a neighborhood kid that we keep out of trouble.

Well, that's part of it right there.

But yeah, still shitty luck. Hopefully during the course of one of your replacements you'll get a Falcon board (65nm chipset) - they have a far lower failure rate.

 

[mswood]

Twilight

Oh yeah I know its used a lot, but I guess I am spoiled by the computers I have had. They are on usually 24 hours a day, usually the only time they are off is when I have a power failure or I have system upgrade that forces a restart.

And really the thing thats been pissing me off lately (and this is fairly new, just the last 9 months), is the incredible slow repair times. It used to take about two weeks/three weeks top. But the last one over 3 months and this one is certainly going to be over a month since I still haven't got the shipping container.

 

[gh4chiefs]

As the apparent poster boy for X-Box problems (13 times its failed and been replaced), and with my huge headache last time of taking over 3 months to get it repaired, my last unit (#14) died 21 days ago and they still have yet to get me my shipping box to send it in.

I just have no frigging luck (and I absolutely love the games, unquestionably an awesome game library, and I love X-Box live, except when trying to transfer stuff from old unit to replacement which has gotten very, very old).

Good Lord,

You must have the patience of a saint.

 

[ByrdMan]

Why do you have issues transfering stuff to the replacement unit? The two times I've had to send it in, I just detached the HD and put in on the new unit once I got it.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Ok, went for it today since I was fed up waiting .

Got a 60 GB model with Force Unleashed. I tried it out for a bit today, and I'm really liking it so far. Really looking forward to getting more games in the near future.

^^^well done, and at this stage there are some really fun games you can buy that are really really cheap, a few you really must get are....

PGR4.(Visually amazing racing game).
Crackdown(Spider man would get vertigo in this game)
Condemned(Horror CSI FPS that will have wondering whats waiting for you in that dark corner)
Tomb Raider legend(Lara's first outing on the next gen consoles)
Bioshock(You can fire bee's from your hands)

You should be able to get these for a song now on places like eBay or Amazon as they have been out a while now.

And that list hasn't even remotely scratched the surface.

If i had attempted to type in every good game on the 360 i would be suffering from severe Carpal tunnel syndrome.

 

[MyCylon]

^
I've been enjoying The Force Unleashed today. At this point, it's terrific fun (working with the Force is both powerful and, at times, very, very entertaining indeed). It might wear a bit thin after a while (which is what some reviewers seem to be saying) but we'll see. At the very least it looks gorgeous, I think.

 

[MyCylon]

By the way, which XBOX games will the XBOX 360 play?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

By the way, which XBOX games will the XBOX 360 play?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

 

[firehawk12]

By the way, which XBOX games will the XBOX 360 play?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

 

[Bob The Skutter]

By the way, which XBOX games will the XBOX 360 play?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

By the way, which XBOX games will the XBOX 360 play?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

snap!

 

[PKerr]

Sounds like the jasper chip set might be out in the wild.



"According to the Xbox 360 DVD Drive Database, it appears Xbox 360s outfitted with the much-anticipated Jasper chipset have finally started showing up in stores and at online retailers. The key things to look for when buying a new Xbox 360 with the Jasper chipset is a manufacturing date (MFR) as early as 2008-08-06, Lot 8031 and up, and Team CSON. (You may have to bribe your local GameSpot salesperson to poke his or her finger through the serial number window of 360 box to inspect the manufacturing date.)


For those unfamiliar with why Jasper’s such a big deal, the chipset features 65nm (nanometers) GPU and CPU chips that require less power and are expected to offer cooler, quieter operation - and consequently fewer RRoD (Red Ring of Death) failures.
Here’s a link so you can check out all of the details for yourself: Xbox 360 DVD Drive Database."


http://joeygadget.com/2008/09/29/ja...facturing-date-lot-and-team-details-revealed/


Might have to take my Elite back and see if I can score one.

 

[MyCylon]

By the way, which XBOX games will the XBOX 360 play?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

By the way, which XBOX games will the XBOX 360 play?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

snap!

Thanks guys!

Sounds like the jasper chip set might be out in the wild.

Well, it would have to since I bought my new XBOX just beforehand.

Mine's got a 2008-07-16 as the production date on the back so I think it's safe to assume that it's a Falcon.


Btw. does anybody know about a problem where discs get scratched? I heard it recently and was wondering if that was still a problem.

 

[PKerr]

^^^well done, and at this stage there are some really fun games you can buy that are really really cheap, a few you really must get are....

PGR4.(Visually amazing racing game).
Crackdown(Spider man would get vertigo in this game)
Condemned(Horror CSI FPS that will have wondering whats waiting for you in that dark corner)
Tomb Raider legend(Lara's first outing on the next gen consoles)
Bioshock(You can fire bee's from your hands)

You should be able to get these for a song now on places like eBay or Amazon as they have been out a while now.

And that list hasn't even remotely scratched the surface.

If i had attempted to type in every good game on the 360 i would be suffering from severe Carpal tunnel syndrome.

Oh gosh, I know.


BTW here is a full list with scores


http://www.metacritic.com/games/xbox360/scores/


I didn't realize the 360 was up to 472 games!

 

[Rii]

Its on about 16-18 hours a day between my boyfriend, his friends, and a neighborhood kid that we keep out of trouble.

Well, that's part of it right there.

If the Xbox 360 isn't capable of surviving actual use it should come with both printed and on-screen warnings to that effect, perhaps with an automatic cut-off feature after X hours of play.

 

[MyCylon]

Re. PKerr and the 360's number of games:

That's really impressive. I don't recall how many systems such as Mega Drive, SNES or later on the PS1 had. But it might have been even more. Granted, the 360 hasn't been out quite as long yet.

 

[Twilight]

Its on about 16-18 hours a day between my boyfriend, his friends, and a neighborhood kid that we keep out of trouble.

Well, that's part of it right there.

If the Xbox 360 isn't capable of surviving actual use it should come with both printed and on-screen warnings to that effect, perhaps with an automatic cut-off feature after X hours of play.

Oh, I'm not saying it shouldn't be expected to run that long. Any competently designed computer (which is all the 360 is) should be able to perform nonstop for 24 hours a day.

But the fact is that the 360 is a notoriously unreliable device, hampered (more so at its launch than today) by horrible, horrible thermal design in general (including form factor, heat sinks, placing the CPU next to the disk drive, etc.). And most units don't respond well to extended usage.

As an aside, a thermal design expert investigated the 360 design - the article is worth a look through if you're interested in this stuff: http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20070801/137224/

It's not acceptable, but that's the way it is.

 

[PKerr]

Re. PKerr and the 360's number of games:

That's really impressive. I don't recall how many systems such as Mega Drive, SNES or later on the PS1 had. But it might have been even more. Granted, the 360 hasn't been out quite as long yet.

Playing with the tabs there I was really surprised to see how many games the PS2 has (1572)
That is a lot and they are still releasing games for it.

Dreamcast: 143
PS one: 252
XBox: 856

 

[firehawk12]

snap!

Jinx!

 

[Brolan]

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

snap!

Thanks guys!

Sounds like the jasper chip set might be out in the wild.

Well, it would have to since I bought my new XBOX just beforehand.

Mine's got a 2008-07-16 as the production date on the back so I think it's safe to assume that it's a Falcon.


Btw. does anybody know about a problem where discs get scratched? I heard it recently and was wondering if that was still a problem.

Two disc scratch problems I know of are:

1) The clearance for the disc to spin inside the 360 is small. So if the disc moves or flexes in there while it spins it may contact part of the drive and get scratched. So don't move the 360 while it is on, or have it on a rickety table or other surface that may move while the disc is spinning.

2) The metal Halo 3 collector's box can scratch discs, don't use it for storage.