Microsoft Speaks Out: Few 360s are Having Problems

[Jetherik]

Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051124/ap_on_hi_te/xbox_glitches) has a story about just a few glitches happening with a very small number of Xbox 360s and Microsoft's response. At last, the truth is starting to come out about the number of problems.

O'Donnell urged anyone with Xbox problems to call 1-800-4myXbox or go to http://www.xbox.com. If the problems can't be resolved immediately, Microsoft said it will pay to ship the console overnight to a repair center, overnight it back once it's fixed, or ship a replacement.
This seems like a great solution to the problem a customer may have. There is no cost to the customer, except time. Even then, Microsoft shipping overnight both ways - that should really help calm the broken Xbox owner. As the guys said,

"It's a few reports of consoles here and there not working properly," said Molly O'Donnell, a spokeswoman for Microsoft's Xbox division. "It's what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity .... par for the course."
You can't expect there to be no problems with electronics.

Now if it was over 20% of the 360s having problems, that would be bad and make me wonder when my system would go down.

[sflufan]

There is no real substance to that Yahoo news story though as it is largely MS's response to the glitch issue with no real independent verification of the number, frequency, and severity of the glitches. Essentially, the story repeats MS's press release with no verification or corroboration. Thus, the story doesn't prove in any way that the number of glitches is as few and infrequent as MS claims.

[ezra]

Well, this is good news, but I think we'll have to wait a little longer before we know for sure what the extent of this problem is. Many of these purchases were probably christmas gifts and so we're not going to know a true failure rate until much later.

[Vandenh]

It is probably around the same number as PCs (1-1.5%).

[earthworm48]

I don't really think its (having a fault) a big deal if Microsoft are not charging you for a solution. Far too often when I buy faulty electronics I end up paying at least £20 on shipping both ways. For small items too.

[Sloth]

sounds like a good deal. I plan on buying a 360 someday, maybe when a decent football game comes out for it.

[Draft]

There is no real substance to that Yahoo news story though as it is largely MS's response to the glitch issue with no real independent verification of the number, frequency, and severity of the glitches. Essentially, the story repeats MS's press release with no verification or corroboration. Thus, the story doesn't prove in any way that the number of glitches is as few and infrequent as MS claims.Good observation, o Socrates of gaming news.

But what the news story DOES say is that if your console is fucked, you'll have a brand new one in 2 days. Pretty good response from MS.

[MusicToEat]

Good observation, o Socrates of gaming news.

But what the news story DOES say is that if your console is fucked, you'll have a brand new one in 2 days. Pretty good response from MS.


No it doesn't, it says they'll pay to overnight it to a repair center, and pay to overnight back to you "ONCE" it's fixed. Who knows how long those repairs will take, but I highly doubt it would be the same day they recived the system and that they'd have it back in the mail the very same day. From my expeirence with repair centers it will take anywhere from a week to two weeks.

[karak]

The things people do man! I just discovered something interesting. 2 of my "friends" (PS2 lovers to the core)have been posting fake problems on webpages for the last 16 hours. These losers have posted over 60 fake xbox360 crashes. They thought they were oh so cool when I came over and they were showing me their little posts. So I checked the forum on my little website and lo and behold, 2 people on there were lying as well. All it took was 1 or 2 questions to find out they not only didn't have the games they were talking about but didn't have xbox 360's.
I am NOT saying people aren't having problems, but this fanboy metality is becoming freakish. It's hard to tell the truth "those with videos make it easy" from those who just want something to fail. It's nuts. Its the damn Chevy Versus Ford mentality all over again.
I am glad Microsoft is doing their best to fix the "REAL" problems. But sometimes this along with the "oops we messed up and quoted something that was never said, CNN story" that sometimes gets my goat.

[ezra]

Fuck sides. This is about enjoying games, on whatever platform. Having one colour of shiny metal box with computer bits inside of it instead of another does not make you a better person.

[Cubfan]

There is no real substance to that Yahoo news story though as it is largely MS's response to the glitch issue with no real independent verification of the number, frequency, and severity of the glitches. Essentially, the story repeats MS's press release with no verification or corroboration. Thus, the story doesn't prove in any way that the number of glitches is as few and infrequent as MS claims.

Likewise, where is the 'verification or corroboration' from other sources proving that there are widespread glitches in 360s? Is there really a 'glitch issue'?

Or are we just going through the standard hiccups associated with a launch, when unproven, new hardware is released on the market, and therefore Microsoft doesn't feel the need to provide hard facts and numbers in response?

[Major Scud]

this is why I bought the two year extended warranty on my system and my brothers

[lpmiller]

You can't expect there to be no problems with electronics.

that sentence hurts me.

[novicius]

Show me the numbers.

The 360 hauled handsomely without a single fault last night ("only" 6+ hours of PGR3)...

[Qoz]

this is why I bought the two year extended warranty on my system and my brothers
Cool. But where do I go to buy extended warranty for family members?
;)

[MrMeatshake]

The things people do man! I just discovered something interesting. 2 of my "friends" (PS2 lovers to the core)have been posting fake problems on webpages for the last 16 hours. These losers have posted over 60 fake xbox360 crashes.

christ. they need 2 get out more. it's not like the competition is a bad thing even if you ARE a sony lover or an *** lover. competition always improves quality. on at least one side!

[Player 1]

... At last, the truth is starting to come out about the number of problems...

At last? The machine has been available to consumers for less than 72 hours as of the time of the news post.

Is 72 hours really that long or am I just fairly relaxed about things??

Still, good turn around by MS - get your head down, deal with the issue promptly, put the consumer first.

[Silversmith]

No problems with me, Kameo, Condemed, and PGR3 Worked fine without a hitch. Thank god I'm one of the working ones.

[Reanimated]

No it doesn't, it says they'll pay to overnight it to a repair center, and pay to overnight back to you "ONCE" it's fixed. Who knows how long those repairs will take, but I highly doubt it would be the same day they recived the system and that they'd have it back in the mail the very same day. From my expeirence with repair centers it will take anywhere from a week to two weeks.




I had to send my original Xbox in for repairs and it took exactly 3 days to get it back. So... ya know.

Same thing with my iPod. Had a problem with the touch pads on my iPod, so I sent it back to them and got a new one back in 2 days - WITH my custom engraving intact. :eek:

[Adam Blue]

A few of my friends had bad 360's....and at first I was pretty dissapointed in MS...but this is an amazing repair strategy. Props to MS.

[bobbler]

From what I've heard MS is quoting people 5-10 weeks on a repair/replacement time... so that overnight shipping is sort of wasted. Don't get too excited.

[MusicToEat]

I had to send my original Xbox in for repairs and it took exactly 3 days to get it back. So... ya know.

Same thing with my iPod. Had a problem with the touch pads on my iPod, so I sent it back to them and got a new one back in 2 days - WITH my custom engraving intact. :eek:


Were either of those 72 hours after they launched? With severe supply shortages? Don't get me wrong, I hope they do have a 3 day turn around, just don't want to see people get their hopes up to only have them shot down.

[Heretic Machine]

You know, I've found that a lot of people reporting "dead" 360's simply haven't pushed the damn AV cables in far enough... so they get red blinking lights. Then they get to bitch and bitch on forums because they don't call the Microsoft number.

[MasterEvilAce]

Some guy reported that he suspended his PSU in the air (big black box on the middle of the cord).. and his XBOX doesn't crash anymore. He's thinking it's overheating.

[Captain Awesome]

Thats very cool of MS and their response for problematic systems.

[kokyunage]

This is still not good press. The Washington Post has an entire article about "issues" with the Xbox360 on the front page of business section. On the day everyone buys a newspaper to see the black friday ads. Not that anyone could actually buy an xbox360 if they wanted to.

[karak]

Electronics as a whole are starting to be a Buyer Beware situation, far in excess of what should be acceptable. My xbox 360 has been on for more than 18 hours now and I purposfully left it on just to see what happened. Nothing. Everything is cool, the "Brick" is warm. But all in all I am very happy. I do find something suspicious. My local dorm has 18 total xbox360's. 0 have problems. Just seems strange, that in the land of dirty rooms, crappy carpet and mold, we would have 1 single problem. But nada. We will see I guess

[Captain Awesome]

My local dorm has 18 total xbox360's. 0 have problems. Just seems strange, that in the land of dirty rooms, crappy carpet and mold, we would have 1 single problem. But nada. We will see I guess


Oh the smells :D

[Gamewatcher]

I think there's some overheating going on. I came damn near to losing an Xbox 360 last night - three flashing red quadrants in the Ring of Death, er, Light, but the problem righted itself right after I got off the phone with Xbox support.

I've detailed what happened in my blog:

Xbox 360 R.I.P. - almost (http://www.gamestay.com/categories/blog/2005/11/24.html)

I'm keeping the service order open just in case it dies again, but I'm also going to ventilate the hell of it to try and prevent it from happening again.

-=Gamewatcher

[Carnisaur]

Have you felt how hot that thing runs? It might not have problems yet but I'd be afraid to sleep with one of those plugged in somewhere in my house.

[karak]

Nope not hot at all for me. No one in my dorm so far has had anything ASIDE from the power brick getting warm after nearly 8 hours of trading on and off in Gr3

[MeelaPo]

If overheating is your problem then try this out: http://www.gamespot.com/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=23998153&page=0

I personally can say my X-Box does not get hot at all. After playing PGR3 (720P and 1080i, switching between resolutions) for a few hours I touched the X-Box and it was barely warm in one section; the rest was quite cool. My X-Box sits at the bottom of my TV stand and can breathe fairly easily so that may contribute to this.

[Pumped'Up]

Even if the 1st generation of 360s are considered lemons, no worries, MS should iron out most of these problems and have the "real" version out when the PS3 and Rev launch.

Thanks to all the early 360 owners for beta testing and helping Microsoft maintain a history of producing high quality products!

[omnithrope]

No it doesn't, it says they'll pay to overnight it to a repair center, and pay to overnight back to you "ONCE" it's fixed. Who knows how long those repairs will take, but I highly doubt it would be the same day they recived the system and that they'd have it back in the mail the very same day. From my expeirence with repair centers it will take anywhere from a week to two weeks.

"or ship a replacement."

[ÜberJumper]

I recall similar news stories for the launch of the PS2 and Xbox 360.

After seeing the post on the forums here about the fellow not plugging in his AV cable all the way, I figure half of them are similar.

[Kelegacy]

Thanks to all the early 360 owners for beta testing and helping Microsoft maintain a history of producing high quality products!

Heh. Launches are always the testing period for electronics, that's kinda true. I always hold off buying brand new things these days, from cell phones to MP3 players, to graphics cards, etc. so I can look at user and professional reviews online and see if there are any technical issues involved. A second batch usually smooths things out.

Anyway, by the time the broken machines are fixed and returned it should be close to the first price drop. :)

[Cha-Ka]

Heh. Launches are always the testing period for electronics, that's kinda true. I always hold off buying brand new things these days, from cell phones to MP3 players, to graphics cards, etc. so I can look at user and professional reviews online and see if there are any technical issues involved. A second batch usually smooths things out.

Anyway, by the time the broken machines are fixed and returned it should be close to the first price drop. :)

Smart man. Early adopters mainly exist to look cool and fund the R&D that leads to working products. Bless these trail blazing gadgetphiles for helping to bring stablility to unproven technology before I own it! ;)

[Phades]

Whine all you want. New technology is likely to have a few problems. That's life. Microsoft's response to it is commendable. As far as taking very long, I doubt it. I had a friend who's Xbox died when they first came out and he had it back in a total of 3 days.

[bboy]

You can't expect there to be no problems with electronics.

That's odd, none of the electronic items I have bought in the last 5 years (in Japan) have had any problems. Mind you I don't buy SONY products and got lucky on the first Xbox. ;)

[rein]

Why is it so commendable that a company is willing to repair a brand new product if it is defective? The thing comes with a 90 day warranty out of the box. They have no choice but to repair it. Oh, I guess because they are throwing in shipping to cover their asses before they get bad press. You guys are so easily bought and cheap too.

[Gamewatcher]

My 360 died again. This time I got a picture of the Ring of Death, as I'm calling it. I tried the power brick trick - it didn't help.

Xbox 360 R.I.P. - almost, then dead again (http://www.gamestay.com/categories/blog/2005/11/24.html)

-=Gamewatcher

[Heretic Machine]

Gamewatcher... your post was a bit unclear about this, did you try taking it out of the cabinet all together? Just don't put it in there.

[Paranoia]

Why is it so commendable that a company is willing to repair a brand new product if it is defective? The thing comes with a 90 day warranty out of the box. They have no choice but to repair it. Oh, I guess because they are throwing in shipping to cover their asses before they get bad press. You guys are so easily bought and cheap too.

Whine whine whine

[lpmiller]

i'm guessing it's a thermal paste issue. either poorly added, or a bad batch of paste.

[kokyunage]

Gamewatcher... your post was a bit unclear about this, did you try taking it out of the cabinet all together? Just don't put it in there.

That's fucking idiotic. What's next? System requirements that require you put your Xbox360 in your kitchen freezer? A console should work inside a fucking entertainment unit. Particularly when it's not fully enclosed (which he said only the back end is close and the front he keeps open).

[rein]

Whine whine whine

WTF is that supposed to mean? I'm not whining.. ..my 360 works great. I just think it's sad that a company is commended for fixing something that is their fault. With their 90 day warranty it is not like they have a choice. Notice I said I have a 360 so it is not like I dislike Microsoft or anything. I would say the same thing about Oster if it was the release of a new toaster.

[Borgboy]

FYI, according to Microsoft Support, three quadrants red in the Ring of Light means there is a hardware failure. When there are only two quadrants red, it is an overheating issue. This is freely available on the support site. I have not read of a single person having only two quadrants lit...Only the three quadrants, which they are mistaking for overheating (I'm not saying it's not hot, I'm just saying according to support, the problem is a hardware failure, not overheating).

[Gamewatcher]

Yes, I took it out of the entertainment cabinet, as I said I would in the blog entry.

Also, I know the difference between the two and three quadrants being lit, but since Microsoft won't say what it means or what's the possible cause for three quadrants beyond the generic "hardware failure," I assumed that meant it might be related to an overheating/poor ventilation problem.

Anyway, it's as good as dead to me now - I'm not going to keep trying to resurrect it and wonder when it will die again. It's time for someone to fix or replace it. I'm just glad that should all happen in the span of a week.

[Borgboy]

Sorry it happened to ya Gamewatcher, that isn't fun for sure. My post wasn't directed at you specifically, just a general annoyance that (most) people seem to not even look on the support website to find out what the lights are saying, and just make a blatant assumption about it. I hope they get it back to you quickly and you find it well worth what you paid (and the trouble/wait). :)

[Twigz'N'Berries]

that sentence hurts me.
Laughing my ass off!

[Twigz'N'Berries]

Why is it so commendable that a company is willing to repair a brand new product if it is defective? The thing comes with a 90 day warranty out of the box. They have no choice but to repair it. Oh, I guess because they are throwing in shipping to cover their asses before they get bad press. You guys are so easily bought and cheap too.
You are so right. If a company makes a product that is known to have some defects, say Sony (first PS), I'd expect them to repair it quickly an at their expense. Oh wait, Sony didn't do that.

Sooo....since they are the biggest player in videogames and their policy is buyer beware, I'd like to thank MS for taking a different approach. Now, it was wise of them to recoginize this 'issue' and take responsibility for it, but I know it isn't out of the goodness of their hearts. They have recognized the 'issue' and have taken the steps to correct it; they didn't just deny it until they had to pay a class action lawsuit like some other vidoegame companies.

[Debutante]

Fuck sides. This is about enjoying games, on whatever platform. Having one colour of shiny metal box with computer bits inside of it instead of another does not make you a better person.


Agreed to the Nth degree.

[Paranoia]

WTF is that supposed to mean? I'm not whining.. ..my 360 works great. I just think it's sad that a company is commended for fixing something that is their fault. With their 90 day warranty it is not like they have a choice. Notice I said I have a 360 so it is not like I dislike Microsoft or anything. I would say the same thing about Oster if it was the release of a new toaster.

So some of us praise MS for their effort to fix the faulty X360, but you have the nerve to call us "easy" and "cheap"? Please, you'll likely to kiss Sony ass if they did the same thing with your PS3.

[Kelegacy]

You are so right. If a company makes a product that is known to have some defects, say Sony (first PS), I'd expect them to repair it quickly an at their expense. Oh wait, Sony didn't do that.

Sooo....since they are the biggest player in videogames and their policy is buyer beware, I'd like to thank MS for taking a different approach. Now, it was wise of them to recoginize this 'issue' and take responsibility for it, but I know it isn't out of the goodness of their hearts. They have recognized the 'issue' and have taken the steps to correct it; they didn't just deny it until they had to pay a class action lawsuit like some other vidoegame companies.
Wouldn't Sony have to repair a product if it was broken within the 90 day window? I'm not talking about dead pixels, which while bad, don't cause you to not be able to play the system in the first place. The dead pixel thing was eventually fixed (if you have a certain amount of dead ones), but at least the system worked.

But I agree: a company BETTER damn well try to please me if they sold me a defective unit, whether it be Sony, MS, or Nintendo. If the machine breaks somewhere down the road, I screw myself, but at launch they'd pretty much have to fix the problem without cost to the consumer or else it could cost them in the long run. This is not commendable, because it was that company that sold me the broken product in the first place.

[Player 1]

You know, if I had a dead X360 I'd go straight to eBay:

"BROKEN XBOX 360: BRAND NEW!"

I'm sure I could turn a profit.

[Sensei-X]

Wouldn't Sony have to repair a product if it was broken within the 90 day window? I'm not talking about dead pixels, which while bad, don't cause you to not be able to play the system in the first place. The dead pixel thing was eventually fixed (if you have a certain amount of dead ones), but at least the system worked.

But I agree: a company BETTER damn well try to please me if they sold me a defective unit, whether it be Sony, MS, or Nintendo. If the machine breaks somewhere down the road, I screw myself, but at launch they'd pretty much have to fix the problem without cost to the consumer or else it could cost them in the long run. This is not commendable, because it was that company that sold me the broken product in the first place.

The problem I had with my original Playstation is that Sony flat-out refused to admit it was broken, it kept freezing at the loading screen of serveral games and during play on NBA Jam. Their solution: don't play it for more then 2 hours. I had to go back and return the system to the Target I bought it at, twice. Thankfully the third time was the charm and worked well for quite some time after that. I had learned my lesson, waited a year and a half to get a PS2. So to me Microsoft is to be commended for just saying that "it is broken, and we'll fix it", instead of figuring out a way to weasel out of it.