How safe are 360s to buy now?

[sevanig]

He probably can't answer that without incriminating himself

Yer something like that

But I remember when I was a 360 Fanbot, and convinced my mate who is a lifelong Sony fanboy to get a 360...

At work about 4 of us owned 360's, and it was his one that got RROD (1 in 4 chance to RROD by my calculations )

Soon after the repair he sold it for cheap, and his words where "i'm never buying anther MS product" so he got a Ps3 and I felt guilty so I got a Ps3 aswell

Now its all I play due the the unique games, and I'm sick of console FPS's (played wayyyy too many on the 360)

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Same here. I certainly accept that theres units out there that has those problems, but between myself and the people I know that own one, hasnt happened yet *knocks on wood*

Well, the failure rate was projected at what? 30%? Sure, that's absurdly high both for consumers and the manufacturer. But it still means that the vast majority of people won't have their 360 fail and also won't even know of somebody who did.

 

[DeathKnight]

Launch console here that is still working to this day. Had never scratched a disc, but I added in my own pads to the drive anyway just for the hell of it. I did this after my EB 1 year extended warranty was up. I also changed the thermal compound to AS5.

 

[mrcorbo]

Well my first unit, bought in Nov '06 was both a disk scratcher out of the box and eventually succumbed to the RROD after having lockups for a while. I had bought the extended warranty at BB, so I exchanged for a brand new unit and that one (or at least it's power supply) lasted 1 day (and one electrical storm). This may or may not have been the fault of this second unit as my house wiring is pretty old and worn. So in addition to swapping out for a 3rd unit I also bought a UPS to protect it and provide clean, stable, power. This unit has been going strong since April and has had no issues with either disk scratching or overheating.

 

[Silenti]

I've been through 5 of them.
1. Returned to store, DVD did not work.
2. Returned to store, open display model.
3. Returned to store when the DVD began making grinding noises which reminded me of
4. the original which I sent in because the DVD drive failed.
5. currently running, DVD drive having increasing issue with "cannot read" disc errors and the noise level increasing.

And what is really sad, it gets so much use around here that I am considering purchasing another (Falcon, Premium, HDMI). I've bought 9 games for it so far (And have not bought Bioshock) and that is at 60$ each or the premium price the Collectors Edition Halo 3 ran (70$ I think.)

Every problem I have had is almost always traced directly to the DVD drive. I've read and inspected my various boxes and have had at least 2 different drives so far. They are loud, and they fail on me. And yet, I keep buying games. More than I have bought since my Sega Genesis days. Go figure.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I've been through 5 of them.
1. Returned to store, DVD did not work.
2. Returned to store, open display model.
3. Returned to store when the DVD began making grinding noises which reminded me of
4. the original which I sent in because the DVD drive failed.
5. currently running, DVD drive having increasing issue with "cannot read" disc errors and the noise level increasing.

And what is really sad, it gets so much use around here that I am considering purchasing another (Falcon, Premium, HDMI). I've bought 9 games for it so far (And have not bought Bioshock) and that is at 60$ each or the premium price the Collectors Edition Halo 3 ran (70$ I think.)

Every problem I have had is almost always traced directly to the DVD drive. I've read and inspected my various boxes and have had at least 2 different drives so far. They are loud, and they fail on me. And yet, I keep buying games. More than I have bought since my Sega Genesis days. Go figure.

I wonder if there was a bad batch sent to certain areas or something. I've never had a drive problem with my units (disc drive that is).

 

[jb]

Mine died recently, and my experience with Xbox Support in getting it repaired hasn't been brilliant. First I was told that because it's so close to Christmas, I wouldn't see it again until nearly the end of January. It tells you in the small print at repair time (at least here in the UK) that you should allow 4 weeks to get it back, so it seems that 6 weeks is actually the norm at this time of year.

I love the damn thing so much that I've decided to buy another one while the current one is in for repair, and I'll sell the repaired one when it gets back (or maybe give it away on the forums, not sure yet )

I decided it was down to either an Arcade and I'd use my current HDD (which doesn't need to be sent back with the console), or an Elite and I'd use the data transfer cable to migrate. I chose the Elite (getting it this weekend). In preparation, I decided to call Xbox Support up and explain the situation, tell them I'm getting the Elite shortly and can they send a cable out in advance so I can migrate on day one with the new console.

In short, after some wrangling, they've said no. It's because I've got an open repair on one of the consoles, which stops them opening another support claim until that's closed down. It's just a damn £5 cable and a CD, why they can't send it out when I'm spending £300 on a new console is beyond me I guess. So I'm having to hit eBay for that, since the only other way to get it is to buy the 120GB HDD upgrade kit.

Rys,

another option is to get a memory card, transfer your profile and saved games to it, then transfer it over to the Elite. All of the games patchs, and things you have bought like map packs, etc then can be re-downloaded. I know its a pain but thats what I did when I won my Elite and wanted to transfer my data from my current 360. It worked well.

 

[Rys]

Rys,

another option is to get a memory card, transfer your profile and saved games to it, then transfer it over to the Elite. All of the games patchs, and things you have bought like map packs, etc then can be re-downloaded. I know its a pain but thats what I did when I won my Elite and wanted to transfer my data from my current 360. It worked well.

Yeah, that's what I did, worked a treat. Couldn't be bothered buying the cable on eBay in the end, just splashed out on the MU.

However, Xbox 360 #2, the Elite with Falcon hardware, has just died tonight. Less than 2 hours total game time on it since I first switched it on.

And like a total dumbass, I moved the data from MU to new HDD, rather than copy, so I have no way of recovering the profile and my saves without yet another Xbox 360 involved.

Sweet mothering fuck.

 

[LunchBox]

Well if you can just exchange it with the one with HDMI it should be all good, getting the HDMI socket alone is good enough. It's so much easier to use.

 

[Rys]

So, urm, after RRoDing itself silly last night, I pressed the guide button on a controller this morning in the vague hope I was dreaming and it still works........and it does. Huh. I'll get my profile copied to the MU again and have it swapped out for another unit tonight, since I now have no faith in it being able to work for long periods.

 

[Silent]

Soon after the repair he sold it for cheap, and his words where "i'm never buying anther MS product" so he got a Ps3 and I felt guilty so I got a Ps3 aswell

That is something I have also witnessed. I know allot of people who bought a PS3 after numerous faulty 360 units. Even people who were very passionate about the 360.

Personally I never intended to buy a PS3 (was mad about the high price and the software BC) but when my fourth 360 broke I eventually bought one.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

So that's Sony's best long term hope for HD console domination ?

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Well, I think if MS ends up losing the battle with Sony it will be because of the quality problems. At the beginning I was one of those people who thought it was a mountain being made out of a molehill, but now I'm of the mind that MS quality control for X360 is probably the worst in console gaming history.

 

[infinity4]

Well, bad experience doesn't help at all. I am seriously moving onto PS3 at the moment even though the console looks running fine because I can't be nervous all the time.

 

[assen]

Listening to you people one would think you're talking about the artificial kidney life support system for your little child.

 

[Kyyla]

Listening to you people one would think you're talking about the artificial kidney life support system for your little child.

Hey, dialysis is nothing to joke about!

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I'm thinking about purchasing a 360 & GTAIV this afternoon, provided that I can find both.

I'm leaning towards an Elite. How safe are the Elites to buy at this point?

Also, what peripherals are must have with the console? Do I need a plug & play kit or a recharge kit or anything else that doesn't come included with the Elite?

I was also wondering about the conversations about the Elite's HDMI output and splitters needed for audio. Why? I thought both audio and video streamed through the HDMI output?

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[22psi]

I'm thinking about purchasing a 360 & GTAIV this afternoon, provided that I can find both.

I'm leaning towards an Elite. How safe are the Elites to buy at this point?

Also, what peripherals are must have with the console? Do I need a plug & play kit or a recharge kit or anything else that doesn't come included with the Elite?

I was also wondering about the conversations about the Elite's HDMI output and splitters needed for audio. Why? I thought both audio and video streamed through the HDMI output?

Thanks in advance guys.

are you in USA? BB is giving free $50 gift card with system and game purchase.

with Elite, out of the box, you're set. It comes with hdmi cable and batteries too.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Yes, planning on heading to BB to get it. I've already got a $50 giftcard to use for the purchase, so the 'free' one will replace the one I'm using.

How long do batteries last in the controller?

 

[Dave Baumann]

Play 'n Charge kit. Must have.