That's some horrible luck.
Maybe it was jostled a bit during shipping?

Now I'm scared to turn my launch 360 on...

Man that sucks.

That's absurd. I wonder if they actually spend more than 2-3 minutes checking if the 360's are fixed after working on them. I think I'll watch my commenting for the rest of the night. *cowers*

Well, at least you're still under warranty, right...?

Maybe they sent you a broken one by mistake which would be really bad. I really don't think I've ever heard something like that happen.

Ashcraft, is your 360 a Japanese unit or a North American model? The reason I ask is because I have a North American model here in Japan and I'm wondering if I'm just S.O.L. if it red rings on me here. So far so good but it is a launch day system so it seems to be a matter of when rather than if.

dude that's weak. considering halo 3 is right around the corner, I'd hope microsoft is like overnighting the halo edition for the next return.

is it the same serial number? I actually told them to just give me a different console in fear of repeat crashes. Turns out my unit was serviceable so that's exactly what they did.

Did it have the new heatsink?

** i mean wasn't serviceable.

@Allenby: I'm pretty sure everyone is who hasn't modded their 360 and still has a receipt. The console has a three year warranty and it has barely been out for two years.

Ah man, that's some bad luck right there, and just this week, when a certain Xbox360 game is hitting the shelves...

That's insane! Do you think you'll buy another 360, or keep with the Wii/PS3 for the holidays, Crecente?

Any obscenities exit your mouth? Your post is.. calm.

holy shit, the backlash coming after halo 3 makes it out is gonna be tremendous if this keeps happening to others.

sorry bash, id be dyin to play bioshock too. just sent you guys a bitchy drunk letter about not being able to connect to PSN cause firmware 1.93 keeps failing me...its shit like this that makes me realize why most of the world is still holding its breath and playing PS2.

f word....that sucks man :(

@.endejas.: ashcraft's a different guy; he's cool, bans a lot & doesnt wear shirts as sexy as crscente, just for the heads-up.

@Yardarm51:
Japanese unit.

This is pathetic, and beyond cruel. I say this of course as one of the millions of individuals who had to deal with this mess. My story is more awkward. I have two sons, and like everything else, when I get something, I have to get two of them to prevent fighting. So with that, I ended up getting two Xbox360's from Costco. 3 months later, my youngest son came to me and said his Xbox was not working. Went to check on it, yup, red ring of death. I told him it was okay, he can play with his older brother. The very next day, they come to me and say the Xbox is broken. I assumed they meant the first one, but no. 2 Xboxes down in less than 24 hours. I returned both of them to Costco...yay for the no hassle return policy. The telling thing about all of this is that Costco no longer sells Xbox360 bundles in their warehouses.

I'm truly sick of this crap myself. If Microsoft won't impose a recall, our government officials should. A consumer product with such a high failure rate should not be allowed to be sold in the marketplace. Oh well, my sons are enjoying their Nintendo Wii's better anyway.

the question being wtf do you do with your 360? lol
tbh it could save you from the impending shit of halo 3...

Xbox 360 no sekai ha chotto...

And I was getting all geared up and planning to acquire one because of their pre-TGS goodie news too, but I think I'll still play the Russian Roulette probably during the upcoming Xmas rush. Crazy, I am.

Sorry to hear that mate, and seriously for another 22 days (probably) too man. I sympathize with you. ;___;

@TheIrishNinja:

The servers are really slow right now. It took me a good 30 minutes to download the update. I think they're doing something with the servers for tomorrow's big update.

Jezz, Microsoft might as well bite the bullet at this point and start repalcaing the damn things. I've had mine for a year and it's all good, but I'm afraid constantly when i hear a weird sound or it gets hot in my room. At least it still falls under the new extended warrenty.

Moving to Japan soon, i'm hoping to buy a Japaneses 360. Hopefully they'll have the newer falcon chipped ones available when I get there.

Sorry to hear that, Bash, but... LOL. This is just ridiculous, what will you do now? I mean, wow. under 5 minutes. Wow.

I heard of this happening a couple of times. They really do need to do a recall for everyone and PERMEANTLY fix the problem the "right" way otherwise it will be a endless cycle.

Damn, that's pathetic. Argh.

Yeah... My launch console (which was treated with the utmost respect and care) started having some color issues a few days ago. Yesterday, the screen went black... no video... just audio. So I call Xbox support, and apparently it's the same problem with the GPU, but I don't get free repairs because I don't have freakin' RED LIGHTS! Not only do I get screwed for the Halo 3 launch, but they want me to pay $100 for a manufacturer's defect in a system less than 2 years old! This isn't over Microsoft...

The number one reason I still won't buy a xBox 360 is...

Not only are they pissing off current customers, they're scaring the shit out of potential customers.

Wow, just goes to show you the quality of that product. Even when they "fix" it, they apparently don't do much to it- maybe just mess it up more. I get worried that mine will break, I can just see it now, during Halo 3, or worse- during Rock Band. Then I'll have to wait 3 weeks. Love the product, hate the quality.

@DELICIOUS_BUNNY: shouldnt you wait for the rumoured 90nm or was it 65 thats supposed to break down less?

looks like MS is pioneering in disposable consoles...

lol xbox's are such pieces of crap..good system but built like sh*t

Email Steve Ballmer with the following

Dear Steve Ballmer

I run Kotaku! Do you realize how many people read my site? I sent you guys a 360 because it broke and your cronies said they fixed it, GUESS WHAT? 5mins in the thing dies again! What kind of business do you run that a Internet celeb cant get a working TRUCKING xbox 360 to review Halo3? I would like to expedite the repair process immediately by MS replacing my broken 360 with a brand new elite system and some early copies of Halo3 to give out to my loyal readers. The ball is in your court Mr Ballmer to show MS as a competent and understanding company to it's hardcore fan base.

::end letter::

Soon, he should send you 10 promo copies of halo 3 and a new 360 elite, I ask that " would you kindly" next day air me a copy of Halo 3, please.

Just curious Bashcraft if your repaired bricked xbox has the new heatsink in it or not.

yeah whenever my 360 dies I by a new onw somewhere , take i apart ... i can do this in about 5 min now... swap the guts and take it back to the place i had purchased it from and ither get store credit ( so i make sure its a store i can use the credit at )or get my money back , oh and i make sure tell them its flashing red ... so that way they just dont stick it back on the shelf. takes about 3 days turnaround to fix ....

@Anemone:
honestly...from all accounts i dont think so...some get through that "stringent customer service" lol...but chalk up another RROD ...that really sucks though..

@mikeluisortega:
what do you think this is...destructoid?

I really feel bad for the people who bought the amazing modded (cosmetically) 360's off ebay in the early days. Some of them were so very neat. The coolest one had some rediculous liquid cooling system setup to it and a clear dvd case cover so you could see the disc spinning. And yea, there were cold cathodes a plenty within.

This isn't horrible luck. This happens far too often. You here it every week with editors from Kotaku, Gamespot, IGN, 1up etc. That shouldn't happen. It has happened to me 3 times as well.

@Allenby: right, but im not slowdly downloding; im stuck from being online for an update that locks at 4%, consistantly, no matter what i do. this is shit.

@whitey9: Yep, same here. I'm dying to play Mass Effect and Bioshock, but stuff like this scares me way too much to invest in a 360. Maybe when they fix the problems in another year or so? =/

damn what the hell do the repair guys actually do to the 360, is there like a checklist they use or something and not bother testing the friggen thing?

I have money saved for a 360, a year of Live and Halo 3. I was waiting to hear that the *situation* got better.

Guess not. :/

@mikeluisortega:
You should send that in and see how they reply.

Well, make it sound nicer before you send it in. lol

I'm scared my 360 is going to die while playing COD4 or the upcoming Eternal Sonata... In either case, it would happen mere days before Halo 3 goodness. Then I'll be SOL for a month. It would be the ultimate torture.

@TheIrishNinja:
they are saying you should dl the update on the comp and usb it too your ps3 ninja...try that

@TheIrishNinja: Thats odd man, i just downloaded mine in 15 mins. It just got done installing.

Ohh and Bash, I'm sorry to hear that man. What you should do is send this one in, buy a new one, use it for Bioshock and Halo 3 and then return it when you get your old one back.

You have my condolences as well. At Kotaku's TGS party, we must raise a glass (or two) to all of our red-ringed consoles.

I see so many saying horrible luck, but honestly with so many cases of the RROD it's more than just luck. I'm real sorry for you Ash. I've been going back and forth between a 360 and PS3 and honestly things like this have swayed me towards Sony. I'm actually surprised that Sony got their hardware right this time around.

If there's another case of bad luck. It's for Microsoft for providing an influential editor with DOA 360. They deserve as much bad publicity as possible for this current situation.

Man that sucks...

Lucky for me that my 360 has yet to die, but with all this talk of failing 360s it might just be a matter of time before it happens.

@Snukadaman_: ...shit. guess im off to sony's page to see if they got it up yet, then. thanks for the heads-up, christ knows everything else aint working.
picture this, last gen! fuckin' firmware problems for me, hardware for bash. youd think we were all PC gamers and shit.

So here I am about to buy a 360 for Halo 3, and I'm reading about shit like this. Please help me Tower folk, should I buy one? Or should I just say fuck it?

Wow, Ashcraft. Man, if I was in your place I'd be displaying some severe fits of anger right now. This is just absolutely ridiculous.