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I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:53 pm
by UltraPrimal
I keep getting the RRD. Occationally I'll be able to start it without the red ring, but sooner or later(mostly sooner), it'll freeze. I tried checking Mircosofts site and they're basicly useless.

Now this may actually be a good thing. I've been looking to uprage to an Elite recently. Only problem is that I can't seem to find them in stores anymore. Did they discontinue them? So this is what I'm thinking. I try to sell my current 360 to EB Games and hope when they boot it up it doesn't do the Red Ring. Then I turn around and buy an Elite.

Or I could call Microsoft for the cardboard coffin, and ask them if I can do some kind of trade in thing. What should I do?

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:33 pm
by Shadowman
I really, really...reallyreallyreallyreally hope they fix this by my birthday, because I'm very serious when I say that I'm getting a 360, and I really don't want to play it for five minutes before I have to ship it to the other side of the goddamn country.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:00 pm
by TheMuffin
Just get the coffin. Does the extra HDD space really make that much of a difference?

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:41 am
by Grahf
Go with the coffin. Its cheaper than going the EB Games route. If you really want to upgrade, I would just buy the larger hard drive instead of a whole new system.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:20 am
by Pot Bot
man ive had 3 360's since launch and not had a problem with any of them, in fact, i only know 2 people that have had problems. Its something that does happen, but its over dramatised by the media. Just ring Microsoft and they will take it off you and replace it or repair it for you within a week!

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:43 am
by Shadowman
TheMuffin wrote:Just get the coffin. Does the extra HDD space really make that much of a difference?


Especially if you dish out $450, only for THAT to get the Red Ring.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:49 am
by UltraPrimal
TheMuffin wrote:Just get the coffin. Does the extra HDD space really make that much of a difference?

It's not the HDD I want, it's the HDMI port. I got one of those old pre-Elite 360s that doesn't have an HDMI port. Plus the black color isn't bad either.

But I think I'll send for the coffin. If they send me a new one it'll be good enough. If they send me my old POS, well then I'd have to see about trading it in. They don't charge you anything do they?

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:50 am
by Pot Bot
nope, they even pay the p&p

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:16 am
by TheMuffin
UltraPrimal wrote:
TheMuffin wrote:Just get the coffin. Does the extra HDD space really make that much of a difference?

It's not the HDD I want, it's the HDMI port. I got one of those old pre-Elite 360s that doesn't have an HDMI port. Plus the black color isn't bad either.

But I think I'll send for the coffin. If they send me a new one it'll be good enough. If they send me my old POS, well then I'd have to see about trading it in. They don't charge you anything do they?

When you get the box, you can send a note along stating you want a new console and not some refurbished POS. If you're lucky you might get one of the Premiums that has the HDMI port....Not like it really helps with the 360 anyways considering it only does 1080i. I've hooked mine up through both and honestly didn't notice a difference.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:05 pm
by Shadowman
TheMuffin wrote:
UltraPrimal wrote:
TheMuffin wrote:Just get the coffin. Does the extra HDD space really make that much of a difference?

It's not the HDD I want, it's the HDMI port. I got one of those old pre-Elite 360s that doesn't have an HDMI port. Plus the black color isn't bad either.

But I think I'll send for the coffin. If they send me a new one it'll be good enough. If they send me my old POS, well then I'd have to see about trading it in. They don't charge you anything do they?

When you get the box, you can send a note along stating you want a new console and not some refurbished POS. If you're lucky you might get one of the Premiums that has the HDMI port....Not like it really helps with the 360 anyways considering it only does 1080i. I've hooked mine up through both and honestly didn't notice a difference.


Pottermus_Prime wrote:nope, they even pay the p&p


That's actually pretty assuring. Fixed and/or NEW console, no money down, and all I need to do is a couple of weeks with my PSP, DS, or PC? OK!

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:14 pm
by TheMuffin
I guess I should ask, you are getting the 3 red lights right? Not 4 or 2 or 1?

Because their 3 year warranty doesn't cover those hardware problems.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:57 pm
by Grahf
I would also reccomed keeping your 360 in an open space. I don't know how you kept yours, but mine that I've had since the lauch is still chugging along with now problems. It is sitting on a table next to my entertainment system, standing verticle with plenty of space around it. In an enclosed space then can overheat very quickly, and the internal fan just can't keep up.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:00 pm
by Pot Bot
not moving it works well, i moved my room round the other day, and my xbox ha a proper hissy fit for a few days. even got the 3 lights up once. Just left it for a few days, and its perfectly fine again now

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:54 pm
by UltraPrimal
TheMuffin wrote:I guess I should ask, you are getting the 3 red lights right? Not 4 or 2 or 1?

Because their 3 year warranty doesn't cover those hardware problems.

No, it's 3. Let me check...

...yep, 3. All but the top right.

Do have to register my XBox before I can get it repaired? B/c I'm trying to get them send me the coffin online and the place they're sending me wants me to register it. I'm assuming their offices are closed tomorrow, but I may just call anyways to be sure. Damb holidays are so inconvenient.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:58 pm
by TheMuffin
Probably do have to register it. That way they can scan the barcode and verify when it was purchased.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:36 am
by UltraPrimal
So I called Microsoft and they're sending me the coffin, I think. It was really hard to understand the Indian lady on the phone. I think it's stupid how they have these customer service centers that have people who don't speak the same language as you. I have a hard enough time understanding some people who's first language is English. Nevermind someone who isn't. :BANG_HEAD:

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 5:58 pm
by UltraPrimal
I got the coffin today. I quickly sent my 360 back in it. Hopefully I'll get it back by Friday, Monday at the latest.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:34 pm
by City Commander
It's kinda funny how you can take that scene from the movie here, but you do want the premium package :P




They'd better fix this problem. I want a 360, but not one that's gonna fail on me.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:06 pm
by Autobot032
Pottermus_Prime wrote:man ive had 3 360's since launch and not had a problem with any of them, in fact, i only know 2 people that have had problems. Its something that does happen, but its over dramatised by the media. Just ring Microsoft and they will take it off you and replace it or repair it for you within a week!


With a failure rate of 17.2% (or 2.9 million dead) and it's proven...I wouldn't call it over dramatization with that in mind. With the facts in front of me, I just don't find it to be worth my money or time to invest in a system with the potential for such catastrophic failures.

Source: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galle ... 6-percent/

TheMuffin wrote:I guess I should ask, you are getting the 3 red lights right? Not 4 or 2 or 1?

Because their 3 year warranty doesn't cover those hardware problems.


Dare I ask...what are those system failures? I know the number of lights is a notification of a specific problem (like the overheating processor, power supply failing, etc.)

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:28 pm
by TheMuffin
4 deals with the video cable connection. 3 is hardware failure. 2 I believe is a power failure and 1 is an cooling failure. At the very least though, they are nice enough to have it tell you what is wrong with it by looking at the lights. :grin:

Also I love that article you posted. Read the update at the bottom

A spokesperson has issued us the following response: "Microsoft does not comment on hardware failures, nor do we comment on speculation. We have not seen the report, and are unfamiliar with the agency that filed it. Based on the enthusiast community's feedback today, the methodology of this report is suspect."

As in it's an independent company that offers warranties. I mean they must get a ton of systems right?

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:07 am
by Pot Bot
Autobot032 wrote:With a failure rate of 17.2% (or 2.9 million dead) and it's proven...I wouldn't call it over dramatization with that in mind. With the facts in front of me, I just don't find it to be worth my money or time to invest in a system with the potential for such catastrophic failures.

Source: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galle ... 6-percent/


Yeah, but that 17% is for the lifespan of the console up to now. that means all the 360's that were fraut with bugs from the start, seeing as thats when the problem was most rife. From what ive read, and heard, the current 360's that the shops are selling are pretty damn good. Also, if your into statistics, ive never replaced an xbox, current or origional, my ps and ps2 however, i ended up with 3 ps 1's. amd 6 ps2's down to reliability, so yeah, a whole 17% of 360's have broken down (i find it hilarious that out of probably 10-20million xbox's worldwide only 17% have gone wrong). So what i am saying is yeah, 360's aint perfect, but it hardly like its likely to brake down on you because last time i checked, 17% is pretty damn low

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:03 am
by City Commander
I'm pleased to know that a 360 I buy will probably not explode on me :P



I'd love to say that my original gameboy and NES still function fine :wink:

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:19 am
by Pot Bot
so do my amstrad/spectrum and commadore 64 :P

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:47 am
by City Commander
And my commodore 64! :-P


Apart from one of the disc drives. (My sis stuck a fake pound coin in one as a child).


The James Bond-style spy game was summat truly awesome. As was the original trivial pursuit.

Re: I got the Red Ring of Death. What do I do?

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:49 am
by Pot Bot
i still have street fighter 1 on the c64 somewhere, and remember the kids programme Knightmare??? i have a game of that 2. Thundercats is another one, and all the Dizzy games