Kotaku: Rrod

Which One Is Worse?

Owen Good — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:00:00 EDT

At this point, after 17 days with no end in sight, it's fair to ask the question. the PlayStation Network Outage, or the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death: Which is worse? More »

Square Enix CEO's 360 Just Shot Itself in the Foot

Owen Good — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:00:00 EDT

Remember 2008? Good Lord, was it nearly three years ago, at E3, that Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XIII would have an Xbox 360 release, utterly horrifying fanboys of game, publisher and PS3 alike? More »

Xbox Live Indie Games Hit with The Red Ring of Death

Owen Good — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:00:00 EDT

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Need proof that Xbox Live Indie Games are reviewed and approved by the community, and not Microsoft? How about a recently released platformer that plays on the console's eternally embarrassing hardware failure. More »

Xbox 360 Over-Heating? You Could Always Try This

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:30:00 EST

The Xbox 360's famous Red Ring Of Death was usually caused by over-heating inside the console. We've seen many backyard solutions claiming to fix this, but none as elaborate — or possibly effective — as this. More »

I Hope This Target Store Is Still Under Warranty

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:30:00 EDT

Because, y'know, things break. Thanks Tim! More »

New Xbox 360 Warns You Of Possible Doom

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:00:00 EDT

The new smaller Xbox 360 will not flash the "Red Ring of Death" — the iconic symbol of catastrophic system failure. It's new warning mark is the "red eye". Sounds...ominous. More »

A Real Xbox 360 Coffin

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:00:00 EDT

When Xbox 360 conked out in the past, folks would send their Xbox 360s to Microsoft in cardboard boxes affectionately called "coffins". Here is a real honest-to-goodness Xbox coffin. More »

The RROD Is A Monster Of A Problem

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

By Pam Wishbow, as seen on TeeFury. More »

So, Now We're Leaking Cooling Fan Footage. Mkay.

Owen Good — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:30:00 EST

Not only that, for $50 you can make your Xbox 360 sound about three times as loud. Here is "leaked R&D" video of ZooZen's "Overcase," which turns your Xbox 360 into a stereo tuner from 1982. More »

Report: 60% Of Britain's Xbox 360s Have Died

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:00:00 EST

Following in the wake of Game Informer's armchair survey earlier in the year - which found that 54.2% of American Xbox 360s had broken down - CNET have done a similar study for the British market. With similar results. More »

Report: 360 More Reliable, Repairs Less Frequent

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:30:00 EDT

According to data released by third-party warranty providers SquareTrade, since the mid-point of 2008 the Xbox 360's reliability has improved out of sight. More »

Distressed-Look 360 Up For Sale on eBay

Owen Good — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:40:00 EDT

A British gamer has listed on eBay his red-ringed Xbox 360. And it's in even worse shape than that suggests. More »

Microsoft Responds to Xbox Failure Rate Claim

Owen Good — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Microsoft's responded to Game Informer's controversial survey, which found 54.6 percent of Xbox 360s - among their readership anyway - have gone RRoD. Microsoft didn't dispute numbers or offer their own, but did concede they're "constantly improving" the 360's design. More »

Report: Xbox 360 Failure Rate Over 50 Percent

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EDT

It's that time again! Time to talk about Xbox 360 failure rates — you know, the Red Ring of Death and all that jazz. More »

Put That RROD 360 To Good Use!

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:30:00 EDT

Faced with a red-ringed 360, a user is left with a few options. They could brave Microsoft customer support and send it back. Or...they could make a fighting stick out of it. More »

Have Microsoft Stopped Sending Out Boxes For 360 Repairs?

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:30:00 EST

It's been standard practice for a while now that, if your 360 broke, Microsoft would send you a box, so you could send your console back in. But a Consumerist report today claims otherwise. More »

Now You Can Be Certain You've Bought a Jasper

Owen Good — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:30:00 EST

The newer, cooler, less red-ring-of-deathy Jasper configuration of the 360 has been out since the holidays. If you want make damn sure that's what you're buying, Newegg is offering them virtually by name. More »

Sam's Club Will Swap RRoD'd 360s, Refund Difference if Necessary

Owen Good — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

Keep this in mind if you're console-shopping on Black Friday. Via Consumerist comes word that Sam's Club, dealt with courteously and calmly, replaced a red-ring-of-death Xbox 360 with a working unit, let the poor guy keep his hard drive so he didn't lose his games and gamesaves, and, since all they had were cheaper bundles, refunded him the difference in cost. And, I might add, did all this without the BS replacement plan that some other big box retailers require for just such a swap. More »

Microsoft Hit With Class Action Over RROD

Stuart Houghton — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:30:00 EDT

Somewhere in Redmond there must a be a huge warehouse stuffed to the rafters with class action notices and a random legal claims against Microsoft. The hapless multinational has been walloped with another suit - this time from consumers who are a little ticked off about the Red Ring of Death. More »

Game Tester Fired For Going On Record About Xbox 360 Defects

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:20:16 EDT

VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi recently published an exhaustive history of the manufacturing issues that have surrounded the Xbox 360, resulting in still unknown numbers of defective consoles and a $1 billion price tag for Microsoft's games division. Hypersensitive readers who pined for the day when we could all just "move on" from the story weren't the only invested parties who took issue with the exposé. One of Microsoft's own contract employees was fired for his participation in the story. Robert Delaware, a Microsoft game tester employed by temp agency Excell Data, was let go on Wednesday and is expected to face civil charges from his former employer, according to an update from VentureBeat. More »

The History Of The Defective Xbox 360

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:00:27 EDT

How, exactly, did Microsoft wind up shipping a notoriously defective Xbox 360, resulting in thousands upon thousands of gamers burning through temporarily working consoles and over a billion dollars in warranty expenses? That's largely answered in Venture Beat's massive feature on the birthing pains of the console, one designed under the gun and hastily revised with a software "ship and patch" philosophy. More »

Get Your 360 Fixed - Quickly - In Four Easy Steps

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:20:00 EDT

If you own a 360, odds are you've had to call Xbox support at least once. Maybe even more than once. And if you have, odds are also high you had a thoroughly unpleasant experience doing so. Next time you need to call them (or, for the lucky few, the first time), then, arm yourself with this quick and easy (and paraphrased) guide to getting shit done, courtesy of Consumerist reader Jason:

1. Call 1-800-4-MY-XBOX

Live GTA IV Player's Xbox 360 Goes RRoD

Mark Wilson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:40:00 EDT

When you steal a game before release and broadcast its play over Justin TV for seven consecutive hours, sometimes, apparently, your console will RRoD. Is it karma? Sony sabotage? Or just shoddy Xbox 360 craftsmanship? We'll let the commenters sort that little life lesson out. More »

Owen's Xbox: We Have a Winner!

ogood — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:40:00 EDT

"Guess the Date Owen's Xbox Returns" is officially over. Corey Goupil correctly guessed April 7, winning a Rock Band hoodie and some other great schwag. But really, there's only one winner here: Me. I got my Xbox back yesterday, delivered to my office. More »

Pretty Sure This Violates the Warranty

ogood — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:00:00 EDT

From reader Michael Hurt comes this: a watercooled Xbox 360. As casemods go, this one looks like someone locked the A-Team in a barn, Murdoch and B.A. improvised with some aquarium tank hose and an aerator, and the gang saved the day. I love it when a plan comes together. More »

How To Get Around Microsoft's Shitty DRM

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:30:00 EDT

It's a safe assumption: many of you will have been jerked around by Microsoft's bum digital rights management setup for the 360. You've bought content, lost a console, and now can't play arcade games or use DLC unless you're online. Chin up, eh? Courtesy of Consumerist reader James, there's a way around it! James called up Microsoft support and hassled them about transferring the license from his old console to his new, replacement one. Voilà! The content was tagged to his new 360 instead of the old one, and James can play with the stuff he paid for whenever and wherever he likes. As should always have been the case. Only downside? There's two: it took 32 days for Microsoft to transfer the license, and there's no way of confirming whether this was due to some new Microsoft policy or the fact James is an expert at complaining. More »

More Details On The 360's "16%" Failure Rate

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:30:00 EST

360 warranty issuers SquareTrade are still at it. Fresh off claims that they'd "nailed" the 360's failure rate at 16%, and a subsequent "who are you?" from Microsoft, they're now showing off the details of their study into the console's failure rates, and claiming that the final figure is probably even higher. Apparently they got their 16% figure from a sample group of 1040 consoles sold between April and July 2007, of which 171 consoles died. Interestingly, they claim only 102 of those were due to red rings: the other 40% were done over by things like video card failures, HDD freezes and my personal favourite, disc read errors. SquareTrade also say that because their sample numbers don't include customers who returned their consoles to Microsoft, the actual failure rate is probably higher than 16%. Which it probably is! If we ever find out the actual numbers, and they're not in the 30-40% range, then I'll wolf down humble pie til my sides split. More »

Microsoft Lights Up GDC With Red Ring of Death

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:00:10 EST

Click to view Microsoft kicked off GDC with red! Here, the BBC spotted this Xbox 360 demo kiosk that has been RRoD'd. No way to know if this console was made before things were "bad" or after things got "good." But think about it this way: All those other GDC Xbox 360s are working fine! So now all that there's left for you to do is go check your Xbox 360, make sure it still works and pray. More »

16% Failure Rate Is News To Microsoft

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:30:00 EST

Over the past few days, stories have been circling around the place that the failure rate for the 360 had been "nailed" at 16%. This figure was taken from SquareTrade, who claimed to have issued warranties for the cosole, and was based on a sample group of 1000 360s. Today, Microsoft have hit back at these claims, saying they've never heard of SquareTrade:

We have not seen the report, and are unfamiliar with the agency that filed it. Based on the enthusiast community's feedback yesterday, the methodology of this report is suspect.

Fair point, as when releasing the 16% figure, SquareTrade disclosed neither their methodology, nor the entirety of the report. More »

Msoft: Don't Tell Bill Your 360 Problems

Brian Crecente — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:00:25 EST

It was a little stunning to learn last week that at least one disgruntled Xbox 360 owner had decided to skip the regular channels when dealing with a burnt out 360 and instead went straight to Bill Gates. Even more stunning, Gates apparently knocked some heads and got the guy sorted out in record time (24 hours). More »

Emailing Bill Gates Results in New Xbox 360

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:00:58 EST

What sucks worse than getting the Red Ring of Death? Getting the console fixed. Sure, there are some success stories regarding Xbox customer support. But there are some real headaches as well. Over at The Consumerist, tipster Jon took matters into his own hands. When his launch Xbox 360 crapped out, he emailed Bill Gates and customer service VP Kathleen Hogan. Within 24 hours, he got a reply from the escalation department saying that a new console was on its way. Jon tells The Consumerist: More »

The Truth Behind The Red Ring Of Death

Mike Fahey — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:20:35 EST

Jake Metcalf over at 8Bit Joystick.com has recently posted an interview with an "individual who has worked on the Xbox 360 project for many years", who goes into explicit detail about the extremely high failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles since the console's launch in 2005. While normally we take such anonymous interviews with a grain of salt, you may remember Metcalf as the man who broke the story on Bungie leaving Microsoft a week before any official word was released. His source details everything from the various reasons for failure, and how much Microsoft knew about the system's instability before the product was shipped. If there's truth behind this, it's downright disturbing. More »

RRoD Is Truly Frightening

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 02:00:00 EDT

This, yes this, is what we've been waiting for: The Red Ring of Death jack-o'-lantern. According to reader Zhao: More »

The Red Ring of Death T-Shirt

fdemarco — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 15:00:00 EDT

Are you one of the countless many who have suffered the indignity of those three red lights on your 360? Are you still waiting for your 360s triumphant return from the Microsoft repair center? Well, now you can wear your misery proudly on your chest with this Red Ring of death T-shirt until your 360 comes marching home again, a little worse for the wear but hopefully functioning normally. More »

Halo 3 Disc Read Errors Rampant

Mike Fahey — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:30:19 EDT

A storm is brewing in both the Xbox and Bungie forums, where over a hundred posters have now verified that their copies of Halo 3 are causing disc read errors. lockups, and even the dreaded RRoD on their Xbox 360 consoles. From what I can glean from skimming through the 22 pages of replies to the original poster's problem, most of the people affected purchased the standard edition, though a few are reporting having the problem on both the standard and the LE version of the game. Some believe the discs are corrupting the data on the hard disc itself, as some have had their game discs replaced twice or more now with similar results, and removing the hard disc seems to keep the error from occurring with some posters. Some can load the game fine and play it for short bursts before the problem occurs, while others are finding the issue limited to certain game modes. Check out the forum threads for more info on the problems had, and hopefully some official response will be given about the issue soon.
More »

Hey, Elites Crap Out Too

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:00:52 EDT

Just a reminder not to leave your Xbox 360 on all day in a plastic case. Not good for the machine! Rumors of better Elite performance aside, this must be the first conked Xbox 360 Elite I've seen. Bummer, because I quite like that sexy paint job. The platform's good fun, too. Shame about the quality.
More »

Xbox 360 Falcon Chips Are Coming This Year

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:00:33 EDT

It's coming. Obviously. Later this year, Xbox 360s outfitted with 65-nm chips should be hitting store shelves according to The Xbox 360 Uncloaked author Dean Takahashi. Dubbed "Falcon," these chips are smaller than the current 90-nm processors and should use less energy. And that *should* lead to fewer Red Rings of Death. Well, theoretically! We won't know until these consoles are out in the wild, performing under real world conditions. However, Takahashi has confirmed that the chips are in the first batch of consoles currently being made, meaning that they could be there by fall. But Microsoft isn't going to disclose to customers which consoles have what. Takahashi points out: More »

Bashcraft's 360 Finally Dies (How's Yours?)

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 02:00:48 EDT

The exciting and inevitable conclusion to the my-Xbox-360-starting-freezing post! On Saturday night, after playing the BioShock demo to death, I decided to fire up some Gears of War. I played for ten minutes and then it moved on from this world, leaving Red Rings of Death as a memento. To recap: I got the "checkerboard effect," and the next time I switched on a disc-based game, the box konked out. So Xbox Live Arcade games and free demos could be the answer to Microsoft's hardware woes! Or something. More »