Any Xbox 360 expert here?

[Datsrboi]

Was thinking about getting the Xbox360 for my brother and sister but did some research and saw this "Ring of death" crap along with all these other issues the console was having. I am planning on getting the version with the 20 gig with it.

My question is:
Did they ever fix that disk scratching problem with the new console?
Did they ever fix the ring of death thing?
Did they ever fix the cooling problem?
Any other problems currently that I should know of?


I saw some site with quotes from Microsoft saying they fix the problem and/or deny the problem.... Coming quotes from them does not justify anything to me.

Any answer will be helpful. Don't want my siblings to think their older brother just fucked them over with a worthless pos.

 

[sscrono53]

Right Quick...........I think with that the main problem is the placement of a system and its ventilation. Alot of people with the ring of death placed there systems on carpets and by letting them overheat that caused many problems. You are looking at the premium edition which is the 20 gig microsoft has tried to fix that problem by using better thermal paste. I think most xboxes should come with a warranty but that might be a pain to deal with. Just make sure the xbox is kept in a well ventilated area and you should be fine. If you are still in doubt you can by one of those system cooling add-ons. Hope that helps ya out.

 

[SupraOfDoom]

I didn't hear anything about them fixing any problems except in the Elite system ( that I know of ). Although, I did hear that the scratched disc problem may have been a certain generation of the 360... one of the early models.

Then again, I've heard horror stories about Elites as well... and even the ones that Microsoft "fixed" breaking in a matter of hours.

There also was a bunch of people on SF's who's 360's broke playing Forza.

Sounds like a winner to me.

The actually number of defective 360's was 33% and rising. Microsoft lost billions so far.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/05/xbox-360-warranty-extended-to-three-years/

Anyway, just don't be surprised if they have to send it in to be repaired every so often...
Get them a Wii or PS3 Below 1% failure rate for both.

 

[Yellow 13]

They've upgraded the internals and made the hardware a lot better. I don't know if they've changed the processor from 90nm to 65nm yet or not but I think they have.

My 1st gen finally crapped out and gave me the RRoD last week after almost 2 years. Lucky for me Microsoft has a 3 year warranty on hardware failures, and from what Ive heard they pretty much overhaul the system with all the new parts before sending it back. Sucks its gonna take a month though.

I never had any problems with disk scratching, I had the system vertical for about 6 months and horizontal the rest of the time. The only problems it ever gave me was that it was freezing up progressively worse about a week before it died.

If you're really worried about it buy from best buy and get the 2 year warranty. You can just walk in and exchange it if it breaks, you can keep your hard drive too.

 

[Fuzz420]

Nope the processor hasnt changed yet

Xbox still scratches cd, still overheats, still get the rings.

On my 4 box and so far so good, but my opinion on the cd scratching is certain ga,es. The only two games ive got with any scratches is gears of war and possibly cod4, because it seems like disk are spinning hard

 

[Lino]

The disc scratching thing was when people moved/bumped the system while a game is running. They have upgraded the cd drive with a quieter one, but that was a while ago.

The overheating/3 lights of death has apparently been solved (well, we will see) with some of the newer Elite/Halo Edition systems getting better cooling and a 65nm processor. http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/28/65nm-xbox-360s-starting-to-trickle-out/

I have had my Xbox 360 for about 1.5 years. Never had a single problem. I have always had mine out in the open, on top of some sort of table or shelf.

 

[Fuzz420]

The disc scratching thing was when people moved/bumped the system while a game is running. They have upgraded the cd drive with a quieter one, but that was a while ago.

The overheating/3 lights of death has apparently been solved (well, we will see) with some of the newer Elite/Halo Edition systems getting better cooling and a 65nm processor. http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/28/65nm-xbox-360s-starting-to-trickle-out/

I have had my Xbox 360 for about 1.5 years. Never had a single problem. I have always had mine out in the open, on top of some sort of table or shelf.

interesting so they finally did start putting the processors in. I know they were definetly late doing so. Do u know if theres a way to find out if you own a new processord 360, cause this latest one that i have seems to be doing way better, thus far

 

[Lino]

There is a thread on the xbox forums describing how to find out with out opening up your xbox.

http://forums.xbox.com/15804553/ShowPost.aspx

 

[SupraOfDoom]

They call it the 360 for a reason. You buy it, it goes right back to Microsoft, then back to you, then back to Microsoft...

 

[j3pz]

ive had my 360 for almost a year, no problems so far. like its been said, just get a warrenty for safe measure; something happens, just get a new one for free. ive heard the 'ring of death' is caused by poor ventalation, so i got mine standing on a shelf.ive also heard the power transformer thing that also needs space to radiate/ventelate

 

[PROJECT N00b]

well...i just got home and i can say i am an expert

anyways if youre looking for a problem to the overheating and RRoD the Halo 3 edition XBOX has the new falcon(?) processor which runs cooler (info taken from OXM) and also has the new power brick. so in other words the RRoD will not be a problem with the Halo 3 edition XBOX.

 

[Fuzz420]

There is a thread on the xbox forums describing how to find out with out opening up your xbox.

http://forums.xbox.com/15804553/ShowPost.aspx

i tried this, but at first glance i believe i have an oldchipset in this newest one and the site also said no refurbs come with the new chipset so my otherone has the old chipset as well

 

[csnow]

It is not a ventilation issue. I have a high end home theater and all my equipment is well ventilated. I am on my third refurb from M$.

 

[Yellow 13]

It is not a ventilation issue. I have a high end home theater and all my equipment is well ventilated. I am on my third refurb from M$.

Is your 360 plugged into a surge protector or directly to a wall outlet?

 

[faithless88]

The over heating was not caused by the cpu but the gpu which warped and caused the ring. Also the addons for the cooling actually make it worse air flow and give a better chance to over heat.

Anything about the seeing which you have on anything like that is all speculation some people have older ones with newer inside and some have news ones with old internals. There has been no reliable way to tell which you have unless you open it up.

Most of the places that are making the 360's have a stock pile of parts so you won't see many of the new internals untill either last 1st quarter or start of the 2nd quarter.

I have spent hours trolling over sites all about this kinda stuff. I got the elite and have not had any problems with it at all. Even with halo and oblivion marthons of 6+ hrs at a time. Mine does stay flat and not vertical.

 

[Dirgle]

I've had my first 360 for 1.5 years and no problems with RROD. It did like to scratch discs if it was bumped, but that issue was fixed when they changed DVD drive manufactures, so it's no longer an issue. The RROD problem came from the fact that they used a non rigid mainboard to mount the chipsets to. When the mainboard gets hot it tends to flex and warp. causing the solder connection between the CPU, GPU and the mainboard to become stressed. The issue was further complicated by the fact that they use a lead free solder for environmental reasons. Lead free solder isn't as flexible as it's counter part and doesn't deal well with the stress, so it can break away from the mainboard when it warps from the heat. There first solution was to add an extra heat sink, it's what most people have now. But it still dosn't deal with the original problem. Microsoft's next move was to move from a 90nm chip to a 65nm chip this makes good business since as the 65nm chips are cheaper to produce, they also consume less power and by association generate less heat. They first switched the CPU over to 65nm with plans for the GPU sometime early in 2008. Unfortunately while the die shrink doesn't produce as much heat, helping prevent the RROD problem. It still doesn't address the original issue. So the newest xboxes are still prone to the RROD it is just much less likely to happen.

So to answer your original question.
Did they ever fix that disk scratching problem with the new console? :Yes, but if you kick the 360 hard enough while it's spinning a disc I bet you could still scratch it.

Did they ever fix the ring of death thing? :No, but they have made it far less likley to happen. For best results buy the console after 2008, when the cheaper chipsets have made their way into the end cost for consumers. These chipsets are ~50% cheaper to produce so we should see a price drop sometime after the holiday season.

Did they ever fix the cooling problem? Yes, my xbox with the 65nm CPU runs a fair amount cooler and much quieter. You still need to give it good ventilation as with any high powered computer.