360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire - Kotaku Comments

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

swim2000 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:23:07 MDT

wow. whoever wrote that article has the story wrong. i know the two guys that lived at this house. first of all, that wasn't the homeowner on the news broadcast. it was some random "gamer" they found because the homeowners refused to comment. they refused to comment because they don't know anymore about the cause of the fire than the fire department telling them "it looks like it was the xbox." another correction: it caused about 155 k worth of damage. get your facts straight biotches.

swim2000

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

curtegg — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:30:01 MDT

True the homeowner did not properly provide adequate ventilation for that unit. However, why isn't the console properly designed to avoid these issues to begin with? It is because MS wants to save a few bucks and not do the job right.

Typical MS quality (reflects on both their h/w (farmed out) and their software.

curtegg

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

MasterYong — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:59:21 MDT

How much anyone wanna but that he left the xBox ON while it red-ringed hoping that one day he'd come home from work and it would have loaded the dashboard?

MasterYong

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Fistynuts — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:22:29 MDT

"He's on fire!"[/NBA Jam]

Fistynuts

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

VagrantRadio — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:06:35 MDT

-insert obligatory response about should have bought a PS3/Wii, they never would have burned down your house...Blah, blah, blah Microsoft..

VagrantRadio

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Ashurahori — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 06:30:59 MDT

All kinds of power supplies can cause something like this. The other day, I mistakingly used an old Mega Drive power supply on a VGA converter box, and it almost burst into flames. Stupid mistakes can cause something like this, I guess.

Ashurahori

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Kleppe — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 03:21:20 MDT

I dont get it. Who would leave a broken piece of electronics turned on? Most people should know that whatever electronics that is, if thats and tuner, tv, xbox, playstation or whatever, that is a risk to take.If its broken, turn it off, unplug it, and do not use it, it is some reason that it is broken.

Kleppe

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

AqueousBeef — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:59:47 MDT

[imgs.xkcd.com]

AqueousBeef

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

bobtheduck — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:52:59 MDT

@neoraul20: Man, I'm drowning in your wit. Question, though, are you an xboy or a sony boy? I'm actually the latter. Being a fan doesn't mean you gloss over the dark periods of their recent history, though.

bobtheduck

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

PaulHunter — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:47:49 MDT

Instead of buying flammable liquids, arsonists should just buy their enemies Xbox 360s.

PaulHunter

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

robinandtami — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:37:08 MDT

It sounds like this guy was trying the towel trick and it went horribly awry.

robinandtami

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

gblock — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:30:53 MDT

I. Have. Got. Red. Rings. Of. Death.
Burning down the house!

gblock

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

neoraul20 — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:06:40 MDT

@bobtheduck: you should be called bobyousuck

neoraul20

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

neoraul20 — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:05:41 MDT

News

Microsoft just extended the warranty from 3 years for the RROD to 3 years for the RROD + Home Fires.

neoraul20

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

bobtheduck — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:49:02 MDT

I'm surprised no one's gotten their "but the other guys" speeches out about Sony's laptop batteries (ignoring that the laptops are not made by SCEI, but still, same parent company)

All the xbots lost their prime chance at misdirection. I'll help you: Sony Laptop batteries.

bobtheduck

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

KM91 — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:43:16 MDT

Geez, when I told those kids on Xbox Live to die in a fire, I didn't mean it literally.

KM91

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Adam In Texas — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:36:03 MDT

We had that huge storm here in Texas on April 17th and it did something to my 360. It will come on and boot to the dash but no light will ever show up on the console (no power, green ring) and you can plug in a wired USB guitar from rock band and play games with it. No wireless control will work at all. none will sync up. Anyone know how to fix it? Here is a link to the crazy hail from the storm.

click

Adam In Texas

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

blkpaladin — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:34:29 MDT

First off it is a light that normally doesn't come on during normal usage and its not working properly then I wouldn't keep it on no matter what it is.

It just a lack of common sense like the people who complain that they always get the wrong order and think it is beneth them to check their orders before they leave the store.

What probally happen is the 360 was stuffed into a small area, the brick cloged up which caused the RRoD (there is some sort of cooling system in the brick and the breathing holes get clog easily. And it sounded like he left it on for an extended period of time where the heat built up and the brick melted and caused the fire.

I only quickly scanned the article since Person being an idiot causing injury and damage isn't really earth shattering news.

blkpaladin

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

DarkTetsuya — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:54:28 MDT

Lawsuit in t- 5...4...3...2...

DarkTetsuya

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

teraphony — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:43:31 MDT

Sorry to be late to the party on this, but what is this thing about wrapping your 360 in towels? Are these wet towels or some other desperate attempt to achieve cooling? That sounds like that Fail-Picture of the guy rinsing his CPU.

teraphony

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

PlayerX — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:33:51 MDT

@OrionnoirO: "red=bad/stop/no/etc."

The PS2, PS3, Wii and NES all have red lights that don't mean bad things. There is no established legal standard as to what colours lights should be in given situations on electronic consumer goods. This argument is spurious.

PlayerX

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

PlayerX — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:24:26 MDT

@katboi: "...why the need for a power brick in the first place, was it that hard to include it into the box itself?"

They probably didn't integrate the power supply in the 360's case because it was already having enough problems with its CPUs generating too much heat.

PlayerX

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

PlayerX — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:21:25 MDT

@AqueousBeef: "this is just stupid. he's simply trying to get attention. i bet he did it to collect insurance and i bet he's gonna sue microsoft now. what a tool"

Who on Earth has enough time to burn down a part of their house on the off chance they can collect, what, 10K?!

I don't think that makes much sense at all. Even if he DID collect that money, part of his house is still fucked up. He'd have to spend the money to rebuild the house anyway.

PlayerX

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

ekstrapiksels — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:17:04 MDT

I wonder if the actual outlet itself was what triggered it.

ekstrapiksels

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

jimdandy — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:04:52 MDT

@mixmastermind: You're absolutely right. Spreading stereotypes is incredibly offensive to all those involved. This is right up there with calling a whole nation idiots and an entire race lazy. Except its okay, because Arkansans are such a small minority.

jimdandy

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

ceokhan — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:01:54 MDT

wow! this is insane... 360s are dangerous! I have been afraid of them ever since it chewed up my game!

ceokhan

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

jimdandy — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:00:31 MDT

Black people are lazy, Mexicans are worthless, and Arkansans are stupid.

Stereotypes are real funny, aren't they?

jimdandy

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

TornadoTK — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:59:41 MDT

@fuchikoma: You are the winner at this point.

@Bakachan: Second place.

TornadoTK

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

jimdandy — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:57:12 MDT

Black people are lazy, Mexicans are poor, and Arkansans are stupid.

Stereotypes are real fucking funny, aren't they?

jimdandy

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Piraat — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:53:04 MDT

@Americo:
Cause I was totally being serious.

Piraat

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Bakachan — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:51:01 MDT

@OrionnoirO: Funny, about half the consumer electronics and appliances in my home have red lights to indicate that they're on or simply plugged in. (The other half either have no indications, or in the case of all of my computer hardware, have blue LEDs)

Also, most people are goddamned stupid idiots. Who's to say this guy knows a computer chip from a potato chip?

People still pound on TVs and stuff (Even computers sometimes...) as the first step in troubleshooting. I rule out NOTHING.

Bakachan

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

mixmastermind — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:42:12 MDT

"insert joke about Arkansas property values here"

As an Arkansan, I am deeply offended, sir.

Deeply.

mixmastermind

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Meldy — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:08:35 MDT

@Edmon: Too... many... puns...

Meldy

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Soldrak — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:07:09 MDT

This is the Consumerist we're talking about? The same blog that aired the dust killed my PS3 story that turned out to be a hoax instigated by a Fox undercover reporter? That Consumerist?

Soldrak

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

fuchikoma — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:05:13 MDT

How many people have done home fixes on RROD'ed consoles and continued using them? Is this suddenly a stupid idea because hindsight is 20/20? How many people have stupidly wrapped a bricked 360 in towels and turned it on? - now that IS dangerous!

Even in a failure state, a device should not burst into flames. This is extremely rare on the 360, but should probably get a lot of attention considering how the last generation was also known to ignite.

fuchikoma

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Americo — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:05:00 MDT

@Piraat, Kid_Kitten: Jokes. They were jokes. If you don't have a sense of humor, shrug it off and move along.

Americo

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Americo — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:03:31 MDT

There was an Xbox recall in 2003? I'm just learning of this.

Americo

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Jac21 — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:03:10 MDT

@OrionnoirO:

You don't get it do you? He's not talking about red lights in the middle of the damn freeway, he's talking about a complicated high-end piece of electronics that poses a fire hazard.

Jac21

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Verge — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:54:20 MDT

Ah now I get it, this is Microsoft's ultimate way of covering up the RROD problem. The console self-destructs after it RROD's. Cool.

Verge

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

OrionnoirO — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:54:19 MDT

@OrionnoirO:

*while the walk sign turns to red*
lmao

OrionnoirO

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

OrionnoirO — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:53:25 MDT

@Gannoc:

Hmm... Well then, I guess I will go and stand in the street while the walk sign turns to green, figuring it will turn green again eventually anyways... There is a reason for a bold display of red light in both events, and one would think its common sense to get out of the road, turn the device off, stop, etc. They are nearly universal in meaning, red=bad/stop/no/etc.

Unless Arkansas has adopted a new color for that use..

OrionnoirO

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Piraat — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:52:23 MDT

Aww Arkansas hate :D It's funny to see this on here as I live in Arkansas. Jokes about our property value cute =), lets joke about your homeless editors?

Piraat

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

ShaggE — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:50:54 MDT

@dead_red_eyes: Yeah, it was a little vague. My communication skills seem to be in the shitter today.

ShaggE

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

phloog — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:50:32 MDT

This guy might be a doofus - I don't have the facts, but I will wonder if by 'leaving it on' he really meant just leaving it plugged in.

But barring some EXTREME misuse on the customers part, most electronics and appliances have to pass testing that basically says 'IF someone is dumb enough to not vent me properly, I won't set fire to everything he owns'

phloog

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Kid_Kitten — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:49:25 MDT

There's a lot of Arkansas hate in this post. Yes, this guy is an idiot but couldn't this happen anywhere? We're not all rednecks, ya know. Aside from that, I'm sure he thought maybe it'd fix itself if he left it on and then he'd be able to play some more Smackdown Vs. Raw.

Kid_Kitten

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Eltigro — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:45:27 MDT

Maybe he was using the RRoD as a nightlight.

Eltigro

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

dead_red_eyes — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:44:51 MDT

@ShaggE:

Just goes to show that you can't really convey sarcasm thru text, unless you use tags ...

[sarcasm] _________ [/sarcasm]

.... or you lay the sarcasm on nice and thick.

dead_red_eyes

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Gannoc — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:43:33 MDT

Wow. Go on and blame the victim.

"The piece of electronics equipment he bought was showing a red light. It was simply insanity that he didn't unplug it before his house burned down."

Its not exactly common sense to think that anything showing a red light immediately becomes a fire hazard or must be unplugged.

Hell, some people might even think, "It is showing red lights. I'll leave it on for a while and see if it goes away."

I'm sure that sounds stupid to someone who has been intimately following the 360 failures on Kotaku, but come on...

Gannoc

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

xKarnage — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:42:59 MDT

why would they be playing there xbox outside in the first place thats just dumb <| : P

xKarnage

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

photoboy — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:42:51 MDT

I wonder was the 360 wrapped in a towel when it caught fire and the guy doesn't want to admit it?

photoboy

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Bokusatsu_Tenshi — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:41:56 MDT

With all that, the guy could've burned his house with almost any other home appliance.
Starting with a toaster or maybe a microwave.

Also, let me guess. He stashed his X-Box 360 in a closed cabinet with booze and packs of cotton all together, right?

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Velion — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:41:28 MDT

@katboi: Or he could have wrapped it in a towel and left it on overnight, Still putting the blame on him.

Velion

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

okenny :) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:37:15 MDT

This guy should take his complaints to The Consumerist as they're willing to believe anything as long as the villain is an evil company :|

I honestly don't know as I'm not a fire investigator and the truth usually comes out after one of those guys investigates more serious cases of arson; I'm not sure if all cases are investigated. I'm also saying this guy is probably functioning under the second definition of 'relative humidity" if he seriously thinks that he may gain something if the story is as he stated.

okenny :)

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

ShaggE — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:30:05 MDT

@dead_red_eyes: I was being sarcastic. :P

ShaggE

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

gozirah — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:27:49 MDT

"The fire Marshall estimates more than $100,000 worth of property damage at the house that caught fire in Little Rock."

Perhaps? They updated the article? 10K seems a little low.

"Little Rock Fire Department Captain Jason Weaver says investigators traced the source to the power cord of an Xbox 360."

I guess it depends on which cord they mean. If its the AC line to the wall, then the adaptor is simply shorted somewhere. If its the DC line to the XBOX, then I guess flashing red rings takes a lot power.

gozirah

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

ShaggyB — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:24:50 MDT

lol so he left the RROD on for who long before the power supply melted?

ShaggyB

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Bluejuan85 — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:24:16 MDT

Hmm I think i;m gonna go ahead an unplug my X360 I haven't plaed in a few weeks now.

Bluejuan85

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

dead_red_eyes — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:23:30 MDT

@ShaggE:

No no no no no. There's no need to get all freaked out about this story. Why? Because something fishy is going on. Who in their right mind would leave their RRO'D 360 on? Something just doesn't sound right. And the fact that the fire dept said that his console and the power supply did not have enough space to dissipate heat, kid must've had that shit crammed in his entertainment system I guess. No wonder why he got an RRO'D.

Some people just don't have any common sense. Take my ladies job for example. There's a computer box that's just for all of the video cameras in her store, well the manager came up to her and asked her to take a look at the box because it was making lots of noise. So she goes down to take a look, and of course ... the thing is crammed between a bunch of books magazines so the side vent holes are blocked ... and to make it even more funny, the top ventilation hole had a piece of paper taped to it that said "let's keep things nice and organized in here (or something like that)". So your normal person thinks that vents are nothing more than what racing stripes are to a car ... just for looks.

dead_red_eyes

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

(俗・ ) Grey Gecko — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:20:42 MDT

i would feel bad for him if he wasn't trying to get attention .-.

(俗・ ) Grey Gecko

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Edmon — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:18:33 MDT

I can see this thread rapidly degenerating into flames. Certainly we should be careful with such a hot topic.

Does sound to me though that, if it is the the machine that burnt the house down, his incompetance is 99% to blame for it.

Edmon

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

Eltigro — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:18:20 MDT

@SigmundTheSeaMonster: beat me to it

I bet it was actually that he had a liquid cooled 360... filled with moonshine.

Eltigro

360 Power Supply Blamed in Strange Fire

katboi — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:17:30 MDT

I don't think this is completely the xbox's fault, the guy must have done something retarted but why the need for a power brick in the first place, was it that hard to include it into the box itself?

katboi