360's freezing/overheating

[Shifty Geezer]

I'd like to hear a real number myself, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the internet is greatly exaggerating the scope of problem.

Asbolutely. Remember the ruckus with PSP's, and the day of release all the scare stories of busted controls, naff screens and ninja-death UMD launching? People make a big noise to complain more often than to congratulate. I'm sure someone who never frequented the XBox forum in their life would feel compelled to rant when their much anticipated new toy went wrong. And often there's rarely any moderation, which adds an emotional slant t the presentation. It's either 'everything fine, this XB360 is great' or 'this is the worst %*@#£* piece of ~@£*%*&ing %~#@?$ ever. I hate MS, They are scum and I will burn their houses and eat Bill Gate's children.' It'd be nice if just once someone who did have an error made a Nick Park-esque complaint - 'It's not working. It's kind of annoying as I was looking forward to Kameo, but hey, I've still got a house which is more than many, and it's not like MS were trying to palm a busted console off on me. It's just one of those unfortunate things and maybe I'll have to wait a couple of months to get it fixed. Worse things happen at sea.'

 

[Powderkeg]

I'd like to hear a real number myself, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the internet is greatly exaggerating the scope of problem.

Most of the people who have working 360's aren't on the internet, they are on Live.

 

[swaaye]

Most of the people who have working 360's aren't on the internet, they are on Live.

Wow, that's scary. MS has created their own Internet basically. So, can you guys see where MS is going in the long-term?

 

[Powderkeg]

Wow, that's scary. MS has created their own Internet basically. So, can you guys see where MS is going in the long-term?

No, they created an Intranet, not their own Internet.



BTW< is Sony behind a large portion of the overheating comments?

Sony Employees Caught in Act
November 23, 2005 (7:04 PM EST)

By Jeff Wagoner, CF Editor

Tokyo (AP)-
As cries of Xbox 360 defects in the United States have consumed the online world in the past 48 hours since the launch, it has been discovered that Sony is apparently the fuel to the fire. Known as "Project Light Flame" it has been revealed that third-party employees of a Sony subsidiary named Koyeo are actually being paid to insight negative views upon the newly released console. Why you ask? Because Sony themselves are gearing up for a launch of their new console, the Playstation 3. More news to come as soon as it's available...

http://www.1up.com/news/0001ab32/sony.php?3.asm

 

[shred5]

No, they created an Intranet, not their own Internet.



BTW< is Sony behind a large portion of the overheating comments?



http://www.1up.com/news/0001ab32/sony.php?3.asm

that is fake..

 

[PG2G]

welp, mine is going back to the store. I'm gonna try and beat Kameo first tho

 

[ANova]

Sony doesn't have to do anything, the system is apparently doing it for them.

 

[Powderkeg]

welp, mine is going back to the store. I'm gonna try and beat Kameo first tho

Where is your 360 located?

 

[PG2G]

Los Angeles, CA. Would you really want one that freezes though...?

 

[gmoran]

Based on the heatsinks yeah, probably the CPU produces more heat, but i think the GPU is responsible for the heat issues, because it seems to me that GPU receives less cooling, and on top of that its located under the dvd-rom drive, so even more heat.

We've been discussing this at work and we sort of came to the same conclusions that the GPU was probably the main culprit, based on the diminshed heat sink, the videos on slash dot that showed what appeared to be GPU artifacts in the crashing process and the ealier photos from a few weeks ago of graphical aberations in store displays that seemed to resemble the effects of GPU overclocking.

 

[PC-Engine]

If you expect a console to match or exceed a high end gaming PC in abilities it's time to expect it to need all of the ventilation and cooling requirements of said PC as well.

Uh..no.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

that is fake..

So is this MS emplyees paid to pose as Sony employees posing as XB360 owners with troubles, so the heating issues, which are real (though likely a small minority) are considered lies ascribed to Sony's dirty tactics thus moving attention away from MS?

Intrigue!

 

[Phil]

WTH? I did see that Xbox360 is pretty big (bigger than I expected), but that really looks like a PC inside. I once opened my PS2 that I got on launch day and I was pretty amazed how dense everything was packed in. Not sure though how the original Japanese PS2 from March 2005 compares with the PAL Nov. launch PS2 I got and opened...

 

[PC-Engine]

Looks like MS opted for a half height DVD drive instead of a slim drive...

 

[MrWibble]

Let's just hope their problems aren't as serious as the potentially fatal issue the original XBox had.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/23/xbox_blaze/

I'll take a bulky/noisy/underspecced console over one that might kill me in my sleep.

 

[PC-Engine]

Is it just me or is the application of thermal paste on the GPU/CPU really sloppy?

Isn't thermal paste supposed to be only applied to the top surface of the die and not around it?

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/system/microsoft/xbox360/mb.jpg

Also does anyone know if there is a heat shield on the underside of the DVD drive?

 

[robofunk]

Is it just me or is the application of thermal paste on the GPU/CPU really sloppy?

Isn't thermal paste supposed to be only applied to the top surface of the die and not around it?

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/system/microsoft/xbox360/mb.jpg

It's probably silicon based and not conductive like some computer thermal pastes.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Could the freezes actually be due to the DVD drive overheating.
The reports saying the discs are pretty hot after you take them out would point that direction.

The GPU heatsink is mounted underneath the DVD drive, which could have ill effect as the drive itself would function as an "extension" to the undersized GPU heatsink.
At the same time the drive could be preventing efficient cooling of the GPU, the area might be just too crowded for good heat transfer, both from GPU and the drive.

 

[Carl B]

It looks like the residue often left when a heatsink with a thermal pad (like on many stock heatsinks) is removed, rather than thermal paste.

Also the DVD drive looks full height to me, but maybe my sense of scale is all thrown off.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Also the DVD drive looks full height to me, but maybe my sense of scale is all thrown off.

Heh...no...you're probably just not old enough to know what a "full height" device is. The standard 5 1/4 inch drive bays on today's PCs are "half-height" bays.