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Xbox 360 technical problems

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Three red lights on the Xbox 360 indicator, representing "general hardware failure", known by gamers as the "red ring of death."

The Xbox 360 can be subject to a number of possible technical problems. Since the Xbox 360 console was released in 2005 the console gained reputation in the press in articles portraying poor reliability and relatively high failure rates.[1][2][3][4]

In the early months after the console launch Microsoft claimed in the press that failure rate was an industry average 3–5%.[5][6][7][8] However, the company has not released any official statistics on the failure rate of the console since its launch, and the company's policy is not to do so, instead focusing on a prompt solution of any technical problems arising.[9] Despite Microsoft's reticence, some retailers have reported abnormally high failure rates, with one retailer reporting a failure rate between 25–33% and another a failure rate between 30–33%. [10]

On 5 July 2007, Peter Moore published an open letter recognizing the problem and announcing 3 years warranty expansion for every Xbox 360 console that experiences the general hardware failure indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. [11] Two weeks later, Peter Moore coincidentally left Microsoft, moving to EA Games in San Francisco under the statement of spending more time with his family. [12] [13]

General hardware failure

When a Microsoft Xbox 360 console experiences a "general hardware failure", on the front of the console three flashing red lights appear. However, new information has appeared that this is actually caused by multiple systems failing simultaneously.

Initially, Microsoft repaired consoles under the 90 day warranty for free, and charged $140 to repair out-of-warranty consoles. In December, 2006, Microsoft extended the warranty of all Xbox 360 consoles suffering general hardware failures to 1 year.[14] , and in July, 2007, as a result of "an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles," extended it yet again to 3 years, a warranty length covering all Xbox 360s sold.[15] Additionally, customers who paid to have their out-of-warranty consoles repaired would be reimbursed. Microsoft stated that they reserved US$ 1.15 Billion for fixing malfunctioning consoles, enough money to fix 2.5 million consoles. [16] [17]

It is also shown[who?] if the console is not getting enough power to run certain components, the most affected being the fans. Some people have experienced system failure after updating the firmware of their system through Xbox Live or installing the update through a CD.

The Nyko Intercooler has also been reported to have caused a general hardware failure in a number of consoles, as well as scorching of the power AC input.[18] Microsoft stated that the peripheral drains too much power from the console and can cause the faults to occur[19] and stated that consoles fitted with the peripheral will have their warranty null and void.[18]

On July 9th, 2007, CRN Australia (Haymarket Group) published an article claiming that Mircosoft admitted a design flaw in Xbox 360 which could cause a failure of all Xbox 360 consoles produced so far.

Microsoft has admitted that every one of the 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles sold in the past 19 months suffers from a design flaw that could cause the device to fail.

— Tom Sanders, CRN, Microsoft facing US$1.15bn Xbox 360 repair bill[20]

Microsoft claims that the manufacturing problems have been fixed, although they did not elaborate as to what the problems were.[21] Microsoft executives discussed some of the manufacturing problems with their shareholders in their July 5, 2007 conference call.[22]

It is known by gamers as the "red ring of death."

Diagnosing errors and troubleshooting

The Xbox 360 will display a "Screen of Death" if the system experiences a serious error. In such instances the user is prompted to contact Xbox customer support

In the case of certain specific errors, the Xbox 360 system will display a diagnostic pattern of red lighting in place of the standard green "Ring of Light." (when red, it is also known as the "Ring of Death"). These patterns indicate the following:

Quadrants lit in red Indicated error Troubleshooting
4 The A/V cable is either not properly connected to the Xbox 360 system, or is not being detected.[23] Check cable and connector.
3, bottom-left quarter Console is experiencing a hardware failure. Contact Xbox customer support
2, left Console is overheating Turn console off, unplug power supply
1, bottom right General hardware failure Contact Xbox customer support

If three red lights are flashing at the same time, a general hardware failure has occurred and the unit needs to be sent to the repair center.[24] The most common cause of this error is the separation of the GPU from the mainboard caused by the uneven heating and expansion of mainboard as the GPU temperature increases. The GPU is attached using the BGA or Ball Grid Array method which does not allow for expansion of components. When expansion occurs, the connections between the GPU and mainboard are broken and the general hardware failure signal occurs. A technically savvy owner may be able to fix the issue without sending the unit in for repairs. This is done by replacing the X clamps which hold the GPU heatsink in place with heavier clamps designed for use on Socket 775 CPU heatsinks, but this will void the warranty on the system. Further, many users, particularly modders who have already voided their warranty, choose to replace the X clamps as a preventative measure. Opening the system manually will void the warranty, preventing a user from being able to send in the console to an authorized service center, as it will be returned unrepaired with a notice that the warranty has been voided.

Overheating

As with most video-game consoles and computers, the Xbox 360's components can generate a significant amount of heat while in use, which may cause the motherboard inside to develop mechanical tensions inside the board. This is because the heat is generated inside the CPU and GPU, so locally these spots of the board are much hotter than the surrounding board, and thus expand more than the surrounding board, and the board tries to become convex because of the built up tension (an effect similar to the bi-metallic strip effect). If the mother board is not sufficiently mechanically supported by a metal frame, as is the case in the Xbox 360, then the board can deform suddenly if the tension inside the board builds up above a certain threshold, in the same way a clicker suddenly deforms if you increase pressure on it. If this happens the stresses placed on the CPU and GPU can cause the delicate ball grid array solder joints between the board and the CPU and GPU to break, especially because the lead free solder that is used is more brittle than the older tin/lead solder that was used in the past. A demonstration of the effect of locally overheating the centre of an Xbox 360 motherboard can be seen here: [25]

The console's design utilizes heatsinks, vented openings, and fans to aid in dissipation of this heat, but the potential still exists for excessive heat buildup inside the console if these measures become unable to deal with the heat being generated. Users are advised not to obstruct air flow to the enclosure vents or power supply. Problems associated with overheating include reduced system performance and instability that may result in crashing or hardware failure.

Some third party manufacturers have also introduced external cooling devices that attach to the console and claim to help prevent the console from overheating.[26] However, reports indicate that such devices are doing exactly the opposite, including the attachment melting on the console itself, possibly damaging the internal microprocessors, and voiding the product warranty.[27]

Scratching discs

Almost at the same time the Xbox 360 was released in November-December 2005, consumers began complaining about rounded scratches in disks played in their Xbox 360. Almost two years later, in February 2007, a.o. Llamma.com[28] investigated the matter and concluded that some Xbox 360 drives lack a mechanism to secure the disk solidly in place. When in operation, with these drives, tilting or moving the console when operating with disk spinning inside can potentially cause damage to the disk, in some occasions rendering the disk unusable.[29] Although this problem is not covered by the warranty,[30] Microsoft Publishing will replace any scratched discs that are published by Microsoft[31] on receiving $20.[32] Other publishers can be contacted directly for a disc-exchange, but it is unclear whether they will replace disks at no cost. However, of course, this can be avoided by removing the disc and turning off the console before moving it.

December 2005

The Xbox 360 was released in the United States and Canada on November 22 2005 and in early December 2005 in Europe and Japan. At the same time in December 2005, reports of disk scratching from the Xbox 360 were appearing on Internet message boards.[33] The scratched disk problem was traced to the console laser housing design and could be avoided by horizontally orientating the Xbox 360 and keeping the Xbox 360 free from being bumped while playing games or DVDs.[34] In response to the problem, Microsoft offered in December 2005 to replace only the Perfect Dark Zero video game "even if it was not the game that was scratched."[34] The scratched disk problem reportedly affected only a small percentage of Xbox 360s,[34] but at least one company, Digital Innovations, immediately recognized that same month that the December 2005 message board reports were appearing in a sufficient quantity to present a business opportunity to fix digital media damaged by the Xbox 360.[35]

Kassa's February 2007 investigation

The Xbox 360 scratched disk problem received little media coverage in 2006.[36] However, in February 2007, the Dutch television program Kassa investigated several complaints from Dutch customers about circular scratches made in their Xbox 360 disks.[37] Some of these customers also claimed that their discs became unreadable.[37] Kassa investigation traced the problem to a design defect in which the Xbox 360 optical lens was not restrained sufficiently.[37][38] In asserting that Microsoft or at least its chain of suppliers were aware of this problem, Kassa noted that Microsoft's "TSST"[39] versions of the Samsung DVD-drive lacks rubber cushions around the optical lens while identical Samsung drives sold for PCs did have these rubber cushions.[37][38] Kassa also noted that the affected Xbox 360s all seem to have been produced towards the end of 2006. [37][38] In response to Kassa's February 2007 investigation, Microsoft denied the problem and refused to replace affected Xboxes.

Kassa's April 2007 investigation

A scratched game disk, visible in the Dutch broadcast Kassa

During the February 2007 investigation report, Kassa stated that either not all Xbox 360s without protective pads would spontaneously scratch disks, or that the complaints were from Xbox 360 users who had moved their Xbox during use, or who used an unstable setup.[37] Here, Kassa's February 2007 investigation left open the question of whether consumers contributed to the rounded scratch problem by moving their Xbox 360 (TSST version) during the playing of a disk.[40] This resulted in Kassa receiving an additional 1,000 complaints over the subsequent two months, with many customers denying the Xbox had moved when the scratching occurred, or that it had been placed in an unstable position.[41]

Prompted by consumer reaction to their February 2007 report, Kassa performed several tests with Xbox 360s from customers who claimed their Xbox had the problem. Kassa stabilized these Xboxs and positioned them at a location remote from contact by anyone. The results of the laboratory conditions test revealed that one of the nine tested Xbox 360s had spontaneously scratched a disk after five hours of gaming. The Xbox also were tested standing upright, and the test revealed that three of the nine tested Xbox 360s had significantly scratched their games disk. The complete investigation, with all the relevant details of the tests, was made ready to be aired in April 14 2007. But weeks before it aired Kassa solicited input from Microsoft Netherlands. The video's (also with English subtitles) can be found here: [42]

One day before the airing of the April 14, 2007 show, Kassa received a response from Microsoft Netherlands stating that "as a result of regular use it is possible that scratches on discs can arise",[43][44][45] and that Microsoft Netherlands "would seek a solution for the Dutch customers with this problem".[46][47] Additionally, Microsoft released the following statement ten days after the show, on April 24, 2007:

"Due to the fact that we did not participate in the experiment done by Kassa and have little insight into the methodology that was used, we cannot comment specifically on the outcome. While we are aware that discs can potentially be scratched through normal wear and tear, we have not received any widespread reports of the issue highlighted here. That said, it is important to us that all of our customers have the best gaming experiences possible, and these claims are obviously very concerning to us. We encourage any Xbox customer who believes that their discs have been scratched in the same manner as identified by Kassa, to contact us. We will examine the console and make appropriate repairs if necessary in order to restore the console to full working order, as well as provide customers with information on how to obtain replacement discs should they need them."[48]

The European Commission's June 2007 investigation of disk scratches

In June 1 2007 European Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva, after talking with the makers of "kassa" and other Dutch consumer organizations, [49] announced that the European Commission would investigate the Xbox scratching problems, and would ask Microsoft for an Xbox replacement program for the whole of Europe. She expects Microsoft's answer within a week.[50] Informal sources now say that Microsoft's response was to deny the problem exists, and that "The users are to blame". [51]. But as of June 13, 2007 The EC's (Meglena Kuneva's) news site [3] was still silent about Microsoft's response.

Lawsuit claims Xbox 360 system scratches discs

A man who claims Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 scratches game discs has sued the company, saying the consoles are "negligently designed and manufactured." In the lawsuit filed on July 9 2007 in a Florida federal court, Jorge Brouwer says Microsoft has received thousands of complaints but has not replaced all scratched discs. The lawsuit seeks class-action status.[52]

The Law Firms of Wasserman, Comden, and Casselman, LLP of Los Angeles, California and Stritmatter, Kessler, Whelan, Coluccio of Seattle, Washington are investigating consumer complaints regarding the Microsoft X-Box 360 Video Game Console.

Many consumers have complained the Xbox 360 Console scratches game disks while they are being played. The scratches leave the disk ruined and unplayable.

WCC and SKWC have filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court Western District of Washington at Seattle on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers who have suffered scratched game disks while using their Xbox 360 Console. The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for consumers for the cost of games damaged by the Console, reimbursement for consumers who have paid a $20 fee to Microsoft Corporation under a limited disk replacement program offered on ten Microsoft games, repair the Consoles free of charge to prevent disks from being scratched, and/or reimburse consumers who have paid for an aftermarket repair solution. [53]

Fall 2006 update technical issues

The first Fall of 2006 update patch released on November 1 2006 is known to brick consoles, rendering them useless [54] The most obvious issue occurs after the installation of the patch, the console immediately reboots and shows an error message. Usually, the error code, E71, is shown during or directly after the booting animation.

In response to the Fall Update error that "bricked" (rendered useless) his console, Mr. Kevin Ray of California has filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft in Washington federal court in early December of 2006 [55]. The lawsuit seeks $5 million dollars in damages and the free repair of any console bricked by the Fall Update. This will be the second such lawsuit filed against Microsoft, the first having been filed in December of 2005, shortly after the 360's launch.

Warranty

Template:Wikinewspar2 Microsoft offers a 1 year warranty on inoperable consoles.[56] This support is offered for those who bought and live in countries which the Xbox 360 was officially released; depending on the country, the customer will either have their console repaired or replaced. This policy will be transferred to a new console if one is exchanged through the Microsoft Service Centre. All repairs come with a 90 day warranty starting at the date the repair is finished, or the original warranty, whichever is longer. Once past this date, the customer must pay around $140 (£80) to receive a repair or replacement. This charge covers shipping and handling, as well as a one year warranty on the repaired or refurbished console. There is also a service contract available through Microsoft (in select countries) to extend this warranty by up to 2 years at a time. The cost is $29.95 US per year and is infinitely expandable. As long as the console is in warranty, and doesn't at the time have more than two years from the current date to the end of the coverage, another year can be added.

Increased warranty coverage

On July 5 2007 Microsoft announced changes to their warranty coverage, increasing it to three years warranty for all console purchases (retroactive). However, this extended warranty only covers the "General Hardware Failure" fault, and all other faults are only covered by existing warranty terms. Any customers who have previously paid for repairs following a failure indicated by General Hardware Failure will be reimbursed. [57] [58]

References

  1. ^ "BBC - Consumer - TV and radio - Xbox 360". BBC. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
  2. ^ "Rings of Red". GamesIndustry.biz. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Massive Failure Rate For Xbox 360 Exposed". Smarthouse.
  4. ^ A Tale of 11 Broken Xbox 360s
  5. ^ http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=22776
  6. ^ http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=13636
  7. ^ http://techdigest.tv/2007/06/xbox_360_failur.html
  8. ^ http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2091221,00.html
  9. ^ "Peter Moore interview, part three (answers to readers' questions)". MercuryNews.com. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
  10. ^ "Retailers Estimate Xbox 360 Failure Rate as High as 33 Percent". Retrieved 2007-07-02.
  11. ^ http://www.xbox.com/en-US/warrantypetermoore
  12. ^ http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/07/17/552114.aspx
  13. ^ http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6467&Itemid=2
  14. ^ http://www.gamespot.com/news/6163599.html
  15. ^ http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-6195058.html
  16. ^ http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/WireStory?id=3350155&page=1
  17. ^ "Microsoft to Incur Xbox Cost of Up to $1.15 Billion". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
  18. ^ a b Murph, Darren (2006-10-27). "Nyko Intercooler scorches Xbox 360 consoles?". Engadget. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  19. ^ Ruben (2006-10-27). "Microsoft Doubts Nyko's Intercooler". Elektriq. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  20. ^ CRN: Microsoft facing US$1.15bn Xbox 360 repair bill, 09.07.2007
  21. ^ Fox News: Microsoft 4Q Profit Rises 7 Percent, 20.07.2007
  22. ^ Audio recording of Microsofts Webcast for shareholders discussing the manufacturing problems
  23. ^ "Xbox 360: Four lights flash red on the Ring of Light", Microsoft, 24 November 2005
  24. ^ Xbox 360: Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light, Microsoft, 2006-12-22. Retrieved 2007-01-06
  25. ^ A technician demonstrates the effect of local overheating on the Xbox 360 Motherboard
  26. ^ 3rd party fan attatchment, Gizmodo Retrieved 2007-06-22.
  27. ^ user feedback
  28. ^ "XBox 360 games scratched?". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ "Xbox 360 scratch". YouTube. 2006-06-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accesdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ "Scratch that: The Xbox 360 might damage discs after all". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ "Xbox Disk Replacement Program". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ "Microsoft Xbox 360 Game Disk Replacement Order Form" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Business Wire (December 12, 2005) GameDR Repairs Scratched Xbox 360 Discs in 60 Seconds. (republished by xboxsolution.com) For a March 2006 newspaper report on this issue, see Godinez, Victor. (March 25, 2006) Dallas Morning News Over the top: Texas Gamer with Victor Godinez - Xbox 360 troubles. Section: Guidelive; Page 2G.
  34. ^ a b c Kriho, Ami. (December 14, 2005) The Stoutonia Xbox 360 hard to come by, but worth it. (Distributed by U-WIRE).
  35. ^ Business Wire (December 12, 2005) GameDR Repairs Scratched Xbox 360 Discs & Other Digital Damage. (republished by digitalinnovations.com)
  36. ^ But see, Godinez, Victor. (March 25, 2006) Dallas Morning News Over the top: Texas Gamer with Victor Godinez - Xbox 360 troubles. Section: Guidelive; Page 2G.
  37. ^ a b c d e f Template:Nl icon Kassa. (February 25, 2007) Kassa: Xbox 360 maakt krassen op schijfjes.]
  38. ^ a b c Kassa (February 24, 2007) English subtitled fragment from the first Kassa broadcast about the circular scratches. (republished by Google Video) (accessed April 15, 2007)
  39. ^ TSST is an abbreviation for Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation.
  40. ^ van Ballegoie, Eric. (March 1, 2007) Hardware.info. [Scratching Xbox 360? Research into the claims that the Xbox 360 console damages discs.]
  41. ^ Template:Nl icon NRC Handelsblad (April 12, 2007) Bijna duizend klachten over Xbox 360.
  42. ^ Kassa broadcast with the test (asf) (Consumers program). Hilversum: VARA. April 14. Event occurs at 14:13. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |year=, |date=, and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)CS1 maint: year (link) The videos are also distributed with English subtitles, for those that are not Dutch users can be found here (part 1) "first part of the second broadcast about the scratches, with English subtitles". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-04-29. {{cite web}}: Text "date" ignored (help) and here (part 2) "second part of the second broadcast about the scratches, with English subtitles". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-04-29. {{cite web}}: Text "date:2007-04-24" ignored (help). Note that Kassa has produced and uploaded these video's themselves, and therefore it is not a copyright violation to reproduce these links here. They can also be found on the Kassa Website here [1] together with some press information about the case (in English). The test setup details can be found here, and the complete movie of the Kassa TV program that includes the test can be found here (in Dutch) Template:Nl icon Kassa broadcast with the three day long tests (asf) (Consumers program). Hilversum: VARA. April 14. Event occurs at 9:00. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |year=, |date=, and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  43. ^ Template:Nl icon"Microsoft geeft krassen Xbox 360 toe". VARA (broadcaster). 2007-04-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ Template:Nl icon Kassa broadcast with the reply from Microsoft Netherlands (asf) (Consumers program). Hilversum: VARA. April 14. Event occurs at 22:11. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |year=, |date=, and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  45. ^ Template:Nl icon"Microsoft neemt verantwoordelijkheid voor Xbox-krassen".
  46. ^ "Microsoft admits Xbox 360 problems". Hardware.info. 2007-04-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  47. ^ http://www.n4g.com/xbox360/NewsCom-35218.aspx English language article about the case
  48. ^ Microsoft admits xbox-360 may cause scratches. Microsoft Netherlands now accepts these complaints from users (when within the guarantee period), and offers to replace the Xbox 360 free of charge. Whether Microsoft Netherlands will also replace scratched disks is still unclear [2] Template:Nl icon After the official broadcast, (in a continuation of the show which can be viewed on-line) you can see a customer calling the Microsoft help-desk, who was told Microsoft would replace his Xbox 360, but could not promise him they would replace his games, but there are reports from some other regions where Microsoft will replace scratched disks when published by Microsoft."Xbox Disk Replacement Plan".
  49. ^ "Meglena Kuneva talks with "kassa" about xbox scratching problems". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  50. ^ Template:Nl icon"European Commission investigating Xbox scratching problems". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  51. ^ "Microsoft tells Kuneva that users are to blame". Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  52. ^ "Florida man sues Microsoft for disk scratching problem".
  53. ^ http://www.wcclaw.com/CM/ClassActions/X-Box-360-Investigation.asp Website of WWC and SKWC with a form you can fill for the class action suite
  54. ^ "Xbox 360 update "bricking" consoles". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  55. ^ "Microsoft Sued Over Fall Update Issues". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |acessdate= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  56. ^ "Microsoft Extends Xbox 360 Warranty to One Year".
  57. ^ http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/petermooreletter.htm
  58. ^ Expanded Xbox 360 Warranty Coverage FAQ

See also

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