I just got myself a new 360, due to the fact that my old one took a one way ticket to brickville; so now I ask you guys: Any suggestions on how to reduce the possibilities of this happening again? I mean I know that there is a 50/50 chance of this happening to ANY 360 out there, but is there any sort of precaution I can take? Maybe there are some of you who know WHY exactly these consoles get bricked I can come up with something myself.

Just the usual stuff. Don't shake it. Don't make or store sandwiches on/in it. Shoot lots of holes in your old 360 and leave it prominently displayed where the new one can see it. Stuff like that.

In all seriousness though, I believe the newer models have a much lower failure rate. I personally was having periodic Disc Read errors and had to send it in for service. Since it came back (a few months ago now) I've had no problems. About the only other advice I have is to not use it in the vertical position.

- J

Did you not send it in for repairs? Microsoft generally pays for that if you dident smash it yourself.

laikenf:
I just got myself a new 360, due to the fact that my old one took a one way ticket to brickville; so now I ask you guys: Any suggestions on how to reduce the possibilities of this happening again? I mean I know that there is a 50/50 chance of this happening to ANY 360 out there, but is there any sort of precaution I can take? Maybe there are some of you who know WHY exactly these consoles get bricked I can come up with something myself.

I think 50/50 is a bit high. I'm pretty sure the failure rate is about 1 out of 3. Which is still ridiculous, but not quite as bad as 1 out of 2.

sammyfreak:
Did you not send it in for repairs? Microsoft generally pays for that if you dident smash it yourself.

Desperation my friend. here's a guy who has been eating his nails waiting to play GTA IV. I did want to send it over, but last friday I made an extra 350 US$ I wasn't counting on so I said screw it.

I thought this thread was going to be about wearing condoms before getting intimate with one's 360. I was duped.

MichaelH:
I thought this thread was going to be about wearing condoms before getting intimate with one's 360. I was duped.

Thats just silly.
But try to make sure nothing is covering the power boxy thing. Keep it laid flat. DO NOT TOUCH IT! it doesn't like that.

conqueror Kenny:

MichaelH:
I thought this thread was going to be about wearing condoms before getting intimate with one's 360. I was duped.

Thats just silly.
But try to make sure nothing is covering the power boxy thing. Keep it laid flat. DO NOT TOUCH IT! it doesn't like that.

While we're talking about the power boxy thingy -- I'm no electrical engineer, just a humble caveman, but am I the only one who thinks the 360's DC converter is ridiculously large? Like...putting-out-enough-radiation-to-mutate-my-RNA large?

MichaelH:

conqueror Kenny:

MichaelH:
I thought this thread was going to be about wearing condoms before getting intimate with one's 360. I was duped.

Thats just silly.
But try to make sure nothing is covering the power boxy thing. Keep it laid flat. DO NOT TOUCH IT! it doesn't like that.

While we're talking about the power boxy thingy -- I'm no electrical engineer, just a humble caveman, but am I the only one who thinks the 360's DC converter is ridiculously large? Like...putting-out-enough-radiation-to-mutate-my-RNA large?

I will need a very big transformer in there with the volts the xbox must rack up so no it could be alot bigger.

MichaelH:

conqueror Kenny:

MichaelH:
I thought this thread was going to be about wearing condoms before getting intimate with one's 360. I was duped.

Thats just silly.
But try to make sure nothing is covering the power boxy thing. Keep it laid flat. DO NOT TOUCH IT! it doesn't like that.

While we're talking about the power boxy thingy -- I'm no electrical engineer, just a humble caveman, but am I the only one who thinks the 360's DC converter is ridiculously large? Like...putting-out-enough-radiation-to-mutate-my-RNA large?

I will need a very big transformer in there with the volts the xbox must rack up so no it could be alot bigger.

How to keep your 360 from getting bricked? Simple.

1. Never move it, or set anything heavier than a feather on top of it while it's on.
2. Best not to do that when it's off, either. If you must move it, handle it like eggs, never shake it or move it in any sudden manner. If you must transport it, pack it in bubble wrap and pack the bubble wrap in Styrofoam and pack the Styrofoam in another layer of bubble wrap and repeat the process until the package is the size of a small car.
3. Don't use it on carpet. If you have wall-to-wall carpet, either get rid of it (still less expensive than repairing the damn thing), or get some of those wooden building blocks that kids use and make a wooden platform.
4. Carefully regulate the temperature in the room you use the console in at all times. Don't play it in a room that gets cold at nights, and in the summer time have an A/C going 24/7.
5. Don't use it for more than an hour at a time.

Now, even with these instructions, the thing will most likely brick anyway. After the first one of mine bricked (which it did less than a month after I bought the damn thing), when I got the next one I followed these instructions TO THE LETTER, and the thing still bricked after two months. But at least with these instructions, the thing will last for two months instead of one.

And if these instructions seem inconvenient and unfair, just remember one simple rule: Microsoft has the right to bypass all forms of quality assurance to keep a toehold in the console race, and if you have a problem with this, you are a WHINER. Thank you for choosing Sylocat's tech support, have a nice day. :-)

Don't EVER try to play games on it...

Honestly, mines a newy and i keep it vertically. I suffers from a rare disc error and a more frequent jamming disc drive, persistence prevails though. Between myself and my cousins, we have 5 xbox 360s, only 1 of which decided to vacate these earthly plains.

I have an Elite (so hopefully better cooling than the old ones) but I keep it vertical as, after testing it both ways, found this keeps it cooler. When horizontal the bottom panel gets very hot, when vertical its a fan on the bottom so the air is allowed to move more.

I have a launch 360 and it's still working fine. Honestly, it's just about treating the thing like you would any expensive object; don't crowd it, keep it clean, keep it in a sensible place and just... Tell it you love it every once in a while...

3 words. Get extended Warranty. If she dont blow within the first 3 years then youre generally golden.

Edit: Wrap it tightly in plastic. Itll keep it safe from dust. <.<;;;

the new kind - aka with a HDMI slot - Is an almost completely different build from the original one that died every time you tried to play it, i had two old ones - both died, i have now had my new one for over a year and it is fine.

I keep it horizontal and on one of the shelves used for DVD players on TV table things. - so it is protected.

davidboring:
I have a launch 360 and it's still working fine. Honestly, it's just about treating the thing like you would any expensive object

I thought that too when I heard about the RRoD but then it happened to me, and I'm always very careful with consoles. I don't think it's a matter of taking care of it, I think this sort of thing just happens to some consoles. And in the 360's case, that's alot of consoles.

I am on my 3rd 360. Have had this one more than a year though and still no problems so maybe the refurb is a pretty permanent fix.

MichaelH:
I thought this thread was going to be about wearing condoms before getting intimate with one's 360. I was duped.

You're thinking of the sexbox threesexy there I think.

(I have heard that used before. Seriously.)

Singing Gremlin:

MichaelH:
I thought this thread was going to be about wearing condoms before getting intimate with one's 360. I was duped.

You're thinking of the sexbox threesexy there I think.

(I have heard that used before. Seriously.)

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you heard that from someone who spends an inordinate amount of time throwing 20-sided dice.

MichaelH:

conqueror Kenny:

MichaelH:
I thought this thread was going to be about wearing condoms before getting intimate with one's 360. I was duped.

Thats just silly.
But try to make sure nothing is covering the power boxy thing. Keep it laid flat. DO NOT TOUCH IT! it doesn't like that.

While we're talking about the power boxy thingy -- I'm no electrical engineer, just a humble caveman, but am I the only one who thinks the 360's DC converter is ridiculously large? Like...putting-out-enough-radiation-to-mutate-my-RNA large?

Power transformers and rectifiers are pretty inefficient, which means that they generate a lot of heat. If Microsoft had put that "giant brick thing" on the power cable into the console itself, it would overheat more often than it does now, as well as being larger than the original Xbox.

avykins:
3 words. Get extended Warranty. If she dont blow within the first 3 years then youre generally golden.

Edit: Wrap it tightly in plastic. Itll keep it safe from dust. <.<;;;

Extended warranties are worthless. Your statutory rights guarantee you a refund if something breaks down through standard use in an unreasonable timeframe. It's the law. You may as well buy breathing air, or get some dude to sit beside your own kitchen sink and sell you tap water.

I keep mine stood vertically on a glass coaster, and have had a 100% success rate. Well, 90%, if you include a trashed copy of Bioshock when my father failed to check if the thing was empty before moving it from one room to another. But that's human error.

I keep mine horizontal, limit the amount of time I use it, and obsessively dust it just about every day. I've only had it since December, but everything's fine so far...

The only precaution I took was protecting myself from future instances of RROD syndrom was to take it back to the store where I purchased it from demanding my money back when it first took a one trip to brickville. It took some doing but SEARS eventually gave me store credit which I used on a lawnmower. I will buy a PS3 after MGS4 comes out.

I have an elite. I keep it vertical and have it on pretty much 24/7.

I keep my 360 on a flat wooden surface, elevated off of the ground using two wooden blocks of the same dimensions so that air circulation can happen at all times. On top of that, I blow air into it every week, and wipe it down frequently. This is excessive, I wont try and pretend that isnt. But my 360 is about 2 years old, and in microsoft years, that's fucking ancient.

Break:

avykins:
3 words. Get extended Warranty. If she dont blow within the first 3 years then youre generally golden.

Edit: Wrap it tightly in plastic. Itll keep it safe from dust. <.<;;;

Extended warranties are worthless. Your statutory rights guarantee you a refund if something breaks down through standard use in an unreasonable timeframe. It's the law. You may as well buy breathing air, or get some dude to sit beside your own kitchen sink and sell you tap water.

I think what you're referring to here is an implied warranty, and those are only applicable if a) there is no implicit warranty provided or b) the warranty is misleading (in which case it would be illegal under the Magnuson-Moss Act anyway, so refer to point "a").

A more important point to note is you can (almost) never state "it's the law" when dealing with consumer protection and have it be true in every state, every jurisdiction. While there are a few overarching laws in the US Code (like the M-M Act), it is always a good idea to check with the BBB to find out what applies to you in your state.

But an extended warranty is only worthless if it provides you no peace of mind. For some, the idea that there will be two entities protecting their goods instead of just one is worth the extra 30 bucks. Or maybe there is a voice telling you, "Sure, it's unlikely my 360 will be hurled down several flights of stairs by my drunken stepfather, but just in case..." Ain't no regular warranty that's going to cover that.

MichaelH:
"Sure, it's unlikely my 360 will be hurled down several flights of stairs by my drunken stepfather, but just in case..."

You'd be surprised how often that happens. When there's a new chipset released...

My brother's on his fourth or fifth and a friend of mine had to go through three at the same store before he finally got one that worked for more than an hour.

My suggestions are to just give up and assume it will fail. In the event that it lasts for more than a week after you bought it start sacrificing chickens every day in it's honor and don't use any harsh language around it because it might become offended.

One main precaution, don't actually turn it on.

THREE of mine have broke, THREE!

Count_de_Monet:
My brother's on his fourth or fifth and a friend of mine had to go through three at the same store before he finally got one that worked for more than an hour.

My suggestions are to just give up and assume it will fail. In the event that it lasts for more than a week after you bought it start sacrificing chickens every day in it's honor and don't use any harsh language around it because it might become offended.

HAHAHAHAHA!! good one. I already lit some candles on the living room so that I can make the space more "zen like". He sounds pretty good actually, I mean he's not as loud as my previous console was, is that a good sign?

I've had mine since august of last year and I haven't had any problems with it.

I keep it in a bullet proof condom with small holes to vent the hot air. I put it inside a reinforced cabinate safty locked and only play one game incase the disk tray breaks again. I'm scared to touch it.

About three weeks into owning my 360, it announced, red ring of death glowing hotly, that it was quitting the family business and enrolling in theater school.

"Ain't no console of mine going to go on stage and wear tights onstage like some goddamned Wii!!" I shouted, hurling a highball glass against the wall. This bluster did nothing to phase it.

"I'm more than just GoW and Halo, you son of a bitch!" it screamed back. "I'm complex!"

"Get out of my house," I shouted, "and if you ever darken my doorstep or my wall outlets again, you'd better make damn sure you come carrying more than some cut-rate Arcade package!"

That was over a month ago, and I haven't heard from it since. I saw it once under the overpass on Route 9, sharing a campfire with a bunch of broken-down Lynxes and TurboGraphx, but I didn't wave. In the end, you just have to accept that it's going to do what it wants to do and hope to god you didn't throw away your warranty card.

If you have it horizontally and not in a place where it can overheat easily, you should be fine.

I've done this, and though my console occasionally can't read disks, and periodically freezes during GTA IV, it's been otherwise fine.