Be Excellent To Each Other

My first 360 was a launch day one that I inherited from my cousin. That was two years ago, and it ran okay for a bit. It was kind of beat up and my cousin had opened the case and voided the warranty, but it was fine. After a few months, it started to act up. I babied it along until it finally RROD on me, when I got a new one. That was in June 2009.

Of course, now the new one has decided that it's year is up and it needs to be a shithead, apparently. Today, it has started freezing out of nowhere. I've been letting it sit for a few minutes in between freezes so it can cool down and take some time to think about what it's done. When I start it back up, sometimes I can get a game loaded and other times it freezes right at the dashboard. Removing the hard drive hasn't solved the problem. In comparison to all the times my old one would overheat, this one seems pretty cool and not really overly warm to the touch, so I'm sort of puzzled.

I'm not really familiar with troubleshooting consoles. My first 360 was clearly on its last leg to begin with and every other console I've owned has worked remarkably well. My knowledge base regarding broken consoles contains two actions: blow on the cartridge then bang on the console real hard to make sure the cartridge is fully in. I would welcome any and all suggestions.

Maybe I pissed it off too much with Alan Wake.

Probably yeah.

I'm afraid to play Fable II again as that's what cooked my old Elite at Xmas.

Fable II is actually the game that was in when the 360 started throwing a shitfit. I'll probably be gun-shy, too.

Have you tried flashing the BIOS?

Unplug it, take the lid off it and see if there's any obvious dust blocking up holes or fans. Blow it out with some air duster, failing that use a vacuum cleaner, failing that blow it off yourself (try not to spit all over it).
Test it without putting the lid back on (keep your hands out of the way).
If that doesn't help, try changing the alignment (ie. stand it on its side if it's currently on its arse or vice versa) - doubt that'll help, but you never know.
No joy with either and I'd be throwing it into the bin and buying a dirt-cheap Arcade model - now the slim is out the prices of the older 360s are falling.
Or, of course, you could use this as the excuse you need to get a shiny new 360 slim.

After making sure there was NO dust, unplugging everything, and plugging it back in (for the umpteenth time) I turned it on and the screen went black at the dashboard. I turned it off and it wouldn't power back up. I let it sit there for a few minutes without touching it or doing anything but glaring a hole in it, then hesitantly pushed the power button again because I had no idea what else to do.

It booted up fine and hasn't frozen again (yet, fingers crossed). Four hours of dicking around with it (not solid, obviously, since I was giving it a lot of time-outs in the corner to no avail), I accomplished nothing, and it's fine now, a few minutes after I decide to ask the internet to help me. Having tentatively declared it free of evil spirits, it will probably now decide to blow up or something.

XBOX, YOU GOT A TOUCH OF THE DEVIL IN YOU.

I bet you used to blow into cartridges too, didn't you?

That 360 is fucked, mark my words. It's not long for this world. Microsoft have probably sent out the kill signal now the Slim models are out.

You can upgarde your old Xbox to SlimOS for free!!!

What's that? It'll slow it to a crawl? Nah, it's full of shiny new things nowbuySlimbuySlimbuySlim.

So your new one has decided to die? yes? Well it should be covered by warranty. Phone REDRINGASOFT and get it feeexed!

FTFY


I'd be planning to buy a new one.

Alternatively , turn it on , let it overhead and freak out then turn it back on instantly and see if you get an error code / red rings
Type that into Microsoft's website and see what comes out - if your box is less than 3 years old and you get error E74 or the 3 red rings you can fill in the details on Microsoft's website and they will arrange collection , repair and return of the xbox for free.

I was four when I owned my first cartridge game. I make no apologies for the times I may have accidentally wheezed graham cracker crumbs onto cartridge contacts during my youth.

And Jesus, Doc, now my xbox is bad juju. Well, worse juju. Sigh. That fucker is going to give out any day, isn't it. Here's hoping it red rings because it's just past the warranty for regular failure stuff, according to the MS person I talked to. I'm getting me a shiny new one if it kicks the bucket sans red ring.

Zaphod, if it gives me any shifty looks again, I'll try that. Thanks.

This may not be any consolation if your 360 dies, but I like your style, sir!

This will be neither consolation nor assistance, but when I pronounce your name in my head it sounds like a Korean name

I blow into my iPhone.

I've heard of people wrapping the console in a towel or blanket and turning it on to try and 'encourage' it to overheat and give the RROD. Could be BS and belmtastic but it's an easy thing to try, and at least you can pretend like you're punishing that filthy, naughty little mi... er..... ; and then you can report back.

I wonder if Microsoft check the insides for lint build up.

But anyway, sounds like that 360 is well on the way to being pretty fucked anyway.

Listen, it's late here now and most will be asleep but if someone called John turns up and advises you to place the console into a toaster oven, please don't do it. That's his solution to every computer problem and it never ends well.

I thought that was to 'fix' the RROD.

No, it is to provoke it to get the free fix. I'm pretty sure someone here has successfully done it as well, on a freezing-up box.

I've gotten that a fair amount, which surprises me. I guess because I know what words I'm looking for when I see my name (shoes on wrong) it seems simple to me, but maybe sorting the letters out is less easy when you're just glancing at it quickly?

Anyway, everyone I know online and xbox live and stuff just calls me "shoes" for short. Or Annie. Because that's my human nickname.

As long as I can decipher when someone's talking to me, I don't really care how badly my name gets mangled or misspelled, though.

You should be careful saying things like that on here; the last person Gaywood introduced to this forum quickly became known as "Fanny Stupid"

Aye. Be careful, or you could end up known as ‘Gropecunt’ or something.

Also: welcome.

It was Fanny Stupid herself who assured me you guys were generally okay people who mostly walk upright and lack vestigial tails. I am beginning to suspect she was not entirely honest with me.

Gropecunt would not be the worst or least true thing anyone has ever called me.

Er, that wasn't a challenge. Let's stick with shoes, okay? Or Annie. Shoes or Annie. Maybe if I repeat them enough, they will stick.

I never thought the day would come where I would have to explain why I am called "Fanny Stupid".

DON'T SCARE ANNIE AWAY, GUYS! She is the bomb and a fabulous person. I also told her you guys were good people so don't make me a liar otherwise I will have to spank you in October!

Forgive us, we're just giddy from having two promising new members in the space of a week

And I definitely approve of Miss Shoes since I took a sneaky peek at her website and saw she keeps giving up on Dead Rising... that is a sign of taste if ever there was one

Aha! Also http://shoesonwrong.com/post/850852875/thedrunkenmoogle-fat-man-fallout-3-cocktail

For that reason. And the abundance of kittens.


We must have scared kim off pretty good though eh?

As for Dead Rising, it was given to me by a friend and I really did give it a go -- several times, even. I tried to like it. But Jesus Christ, if I want to be trapped in a mall with mindless zombies then I would get in my car and go hang around the fucking Apple store in the Somerset Collection. At least there's a goddamn Mrs. Fields cookie stall there.

And if we get a decent amount of members from the colonies, this may become a 24hr party town

Oh noes, we have the 'Dead Rising' conversation almost as often as the Assassins Creed conversation. And Dead Rising is superb. Fools.


Gaywood is being slack about organising a party. I am 'all up in his face about it', as I believe you almost-Britons say.

[edit]Jesus, I just got review-shunted at 7:40am

That is all.

I got bored of Assassin's Creed fairly quickly, whereas I actually finished Assassin's Creed 2 and enjoyed it all the way through. I'd urge anyone who fancies playing one now to forget the first and just start with the second one.

As long as you're not here to steal another of our dwarves, I think we'll all be a happy bunch. We get a little defensive when that happens, which has been more frequent than we could ever have anticipated. There are some freaks out there.

Anyway, Annie or Shoes is fine with me.

Watch out for Zardoz.

Is that like that old conundrum, Maddy Daddy or chips?

Always Annie for me.

And is he all like "talk to the hand"?

I believe his response to have been "yo, get out of my grille, bitch".

You read that in the sekrit mod forum?

I thunked they were coming Cottaging.

My temperamental, demon possessed 360 threw the RROD today, and when I turned it on to open the tray so I could extract my disc before sending it to Microsoft, it booted back up fine and has been running okay since.

Clearly, things are not okay. I've tried a forced overheat now, but the RROD hasn't come back. I wish this thing would just stop acting up or die once and for all because this is starting to irritate me.

As long as its red ring'd i'd still return it to Microsoft and get it 'repaired' or whatever they do to it.

I dont remember seeing anything to say it has to be in a permanent state of red-ringy-ness ?

Indeed, when I had mine repaired, they were quite clear it wasn't needed. The 360 keeps a log of all errors, and it should have noted the RRoD.

Although I'd check this for yourself first. I'd only feel confident it had logged the error if it also gave an error report screen.

FUCKING CUNTING FUCK IT

I've had a super shitty week at work, and then no more than 5 minutes into a quick blast of perfect dark the 360 freezes with some squiggly lines over the top of the picture, and flashes the red ring on rebooting

I don't think I've quite had it 3 years yet, but it's close (I remember buying it just after Christmas, but can't remember which one ). I don't have the receipt, and anyway I bought it far far away. Am I basically screwed, or what?

According to the microsoft website, my standard warranty expired on February 19, 2010.

Yeah but that would mean you bought it on Feb 2009 , and if you have 3 red lights or E74 then your warrenty runs till 2012 ?

Turn it on a few more times and see if you can get either 3 red lights or an error message out of it.

No idea if being in a different country makes any difference to them - given that its Microsoft I dont think it will but the only way to find out is to try.

Progress: 'Your Xbox product is covered for this problem type until February 19, 2011'

Phew, that was close-ish.... Now I've just got to get a box and get it sent off. Didn't seem to be a problem that it was from the UK, which they had recognised in the repair details page. I'm still pretty annoyed though as I could be without the 360 for a while and hardly ever (if ever) play on the wii or DS anymore, but not quite as annoyed as I was before.

General turnaround seems to be around 10 - 12 days which doesnt seem that long until your without it :-)