The hugely scientific B3D hardware failure poll 2011 edition

[Shifty Geezer]

No, the shocker is how many PS3's have failed and how it pretty much has passed under the radar.

I actually expected more people to have been on their third or more PS3! But yeah, some 50% of 360 owners have needed a replacement, and a third of PS3s. That corporate '5% failure' figure seems unrealistic, unless B3Ds absolutely hammer their PS3s! My PS2 had a disk error many years in, but that was fixed by greasing the rails.

 

[BoardBonobo]

My launch PS1 had disc drive issues about 2 years or so in. Had to turn it upside down to play until a friend did some adjustments with a screwdriver.

My launch PS1, PS2, and XBOX are all still working. Rolled the old XBOX out a couple of nights ago for a quick blast on Black. Though the PS1 is starting to have problems with audio CDs.

 

[TheChefO]

...Though the PS1 is starting to have problems with audio CDs.

Seriously?

I'm guess you din't play it very often, got it late in the cycle, treated it like a royal jewel, AND work part time / hobby in fixing electronics!

 

[Rys]

I got to Xbox 360 #3. The first launch unit died not long after the original Elite came out, then the replacement Elite bought died after 10 mins at home, took it straight back to the store and got a replacement that worked fine until I sold it earlier this year, and died in the hands of my friend who bought it.

Also got a PS3 in April 2008 that's still going strong.

 

[Gradthrawn]

My launch PS3 died about 3 years in after heavy use. Had it repaired and was sent another launch 60GB that itself just died (UC3 killed it, didn't make it past the initial start screen ).

My launch 360 died about 1 year before the first PS3 after heavy use. Purchased a Falcon MOBO Elite and had the original replaced under warranty. Gave the original away, not sure about it's status. Elite just died on me after heavy usage up until about the last 3 months where it was barely used. Skyrim killed it, though, didn't even make it past the first loading screen to start the intro .

I now have a PS3 Slim and a 360 Slim. And 2 consoles waiting for me to bother placing a repair ticket. I want my same PS3 back, though, because I hadn't done a full backup in over a month.

On a side note, comparing the various revisions, IMO, the PS3's feel of quality dropped off with each subsequent change, while the 360's improved. My 360 slim has a better quality look and feel about it compared to my launch and Elite. My PS3 feels more like a toy than a piece of A/V equipment like my original (not to mention the laughable USB port count and all the additional little hardware "nicities" that have been dropped off). Also, my PS3 Heavy had a much quieter BRD than my slim, from what I can tell, and I didn't have fan noise issues like other heavy owners have reported.

I do like the HDMI CEC support in the PS3 slim, and the better HDMI chipset in the slim 360 (since it can auto-switch inputs).

 

[dlm]

I realized I voted on this poll wrong. Since it included a year, I took it to mean if I'd had hardware die in the last year (I have not) other than lifetime (2 dead 360's).

Not present in this poll was the 3DS. My first unit died in 4 days. The second although it didn't die entirely was defective and needed to be replaced in less than 2 months. That hardware is *garbage*.

 

[Daozang]

My 360 died three times...
Now it is collecting dust...
I'll never bother with MS hardware again...
And although I don't know how widespread the problem is, or if the new boxes are better than the old, my personal experience is enough
I have a good PC, and a PS3. More than enough for my gaming needs...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Just revisiting since RenegadeRocks' PS3 just died, and the numbers are shocking. Out of a total of 60 respondants for XB360, 36 have had dead 360s. Out of 54 PS3 owners, 20 have had failures. That's 60% and 37% respectively not counting multiple failures. That basically says buying a console early on left you with a good chance of needing to replace it. Is this unique to this gen, or were a third of all consoles dead within 6+ years of release? Can we expect the same next gen, with hardware being pushed too far, or will lessons have been learnt and reliability restored?

I'm thinking the budgeting for a console might need to include buying a replacement or actually getting an extended warranty, which are normally complete ripoffs. So a $400 launch console should be considered maybe $600 for the years of hardware ownership.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I still say that many modern failed electronics can be blamed on the forced move to lead free solder for purely political motives (unreasoned and unproven environmental fears = more political dollars). As I've mentioned elsewhere, when working at a metal salvage yard in Japan, we saw a very high spike electronics gadgets being brought in for the first wave of electronics that featured lead free solder. Nvidia had some serious problems with it as well.

Both X360 and PS3 are the first generation of high performance consoles that have been required to use lead free solder. I expect things to improve slightly with each generation but I have doubts that electronics will ever be as reliable as they were with leaded solder.

Regards,
SB

 

[Gubbi]

That basically says buying a console early on left you with a good chance of needing to replace it. Is this unique to this gen, or were a third of all consoles dead within 6+ years of release?

I had a Xbox die on me last gen. The PS2 I had did survive me, though I didn't play it much, my nephew killed it once I lent it to my brother. My brother also had his PS1 die on him (after a year of flipping it on its head to get it to work)

Reliability hasn't been great since consoles with optical drives, but the situation with the launch 360s was ridiculous. The last 6 years I've spent 7500 DKK ($1350) on 360 hardware (20GB launch, 120GB elite, 250GB slim) and about 17-18000 DKK ($3000) on games (arcade games about 10-15% of that). To be fair, I would have bought the 250GB slim anyway.

Can we expect the same next gen, with hardware being pushed too far, or will lessons have been learnt and reliability restored?

I think Microsoft in particular will be very focused on producing a console with a two year minimum lifespan instead of a two year maximum lifespan.

Cheers

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I bought the 40gb ps3 model. Its drive mechanism got faulty, wouldn't load discs and discs got stuck in it, during earranty period. It got replaced byb another 40gb model which just died on the 30th december 2011. So, its two ps3s in a span of 4 years.

 

[orangpelupa]

btw i borrow a PS3 slim from a friend, its running game from HDD so no heat being made from dvd drive (took a few hours to finish installing Uncharted 3 from Blu-ray.)

i noticed the fan become extra loud when on uncharted 3. Not too loud on any other games like FF XIII.
does this mean for whatever reason, U3 is heavier work for PS3?

if thats is a "yes", then maybe the rumour about some games "killing" console is not entirely false. Maybe those heavy games really making those old consoles work too hard then died.

or maybe my friend's PS3 is gonna die...
it keep making crackling sounds in a few minutes after plyaing game and the sound still coming a few hours after turn off.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

How are you installing U3 to HDD?

 

[RenegadeRocks]

How are you installing U3 to HDD?

CFW FTW ! Is that shit back ?

 

[KKRT]

HDMI port in my PS3 died recently ;\ and it additionally interferes with Component port.
Repair cost? Around 100$ from what they've told me ...
Thanks god that i'm primary PC gamer.

 

[Nick Laslett]

I lost my PAL launch PS3 christmas 2009. (Purchased March 2007)

I lost my other PAL 60gb PS3 August 2011. (Purchased February 2008)

I have one PAL 60gb left, but that is used as a Blu Ray player mainly.

I was able to bring both machines back using the heat gun fix, they only lasted 3 months.

This gen has been a disaster for reliability.

I'm pretty annoyed and feel ripped off. No early adopting next time.

 

[orangpelupa]

yeah that PS3 is using CFW.

still concerned about the fan noise and crackling sound.
maybe i'll try vacuuming it.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I was able to bring both machines back using the heat gun fix, they only lasted 3 months.

Just the fact that you can use the "reflow" trick with some consoles to fix an otherwise bricked console is evidence that there are still serious issues with lead free solder even if companies are getting better at working around the limitations of it.

I have a feeling both RROD and YLOD would have been nearly non-existant this generation if both companies were allowed to use leaded solder.

I have one PAL 60gb left, but that is used as a Blu Ray player mainly.

That also makes me think that PS3 has relatively less YLOD per machine as X360 due to people buying some machines primarily for BRD playback. The more heavy useage a machine gets the more likely it'll eventually fail, especially if it's due to repeated high heat/cold cycles that occur from frequent game playing. If a machine is used almost exclusively for movies, it won't have nearly as much stress placed on the solder points. And while there's no way to know how many PS3's were purchased primarily or sometimes only for movie watching, it is something that exists.

Regards,
SB

 

[DuckThor Evil]

yeah that PS3 is using CFW.

still concerned about the fan noise and crackling sound.
maybe i'll try vacuuming it.

The crackling sound is because of thermal expansion and contraction of the chassis. No need to worry about it.

 

[orangpelupa]

but its making worrisome sound.

I was able to bring both machines back using the heat gun fix, they only lasted 3 months.

Xbox 360 RRoD also have the same fix. i not use heatgun (noone selling it here) but using normal hairdryer while i stand on the GPU heatsink. Heating for some minutes and Xbox 360 work again.

i keep doing that for about 1 year in Xbox Falcon revision. then i gave up when the error become 0110, RAM error.