Xbox 360 Failures Explained

In response to the recent Mercury News interview, a man who has had 8 consoles fail so far explains what he believes the issue with the hardware is.

"When the system gets too hot, the combination of loosened solder with a mainboard that flexes from heat causes the GPU or CPU to actually break its connection from the board - resulting in the 3 red lights and secondary error code 0102 (the "unknown hardware error" code).

This is true of ALL systems manufactured thus far, not just the launch systems. Hopefully, Microsoft's new measure of adding a heatpipe to the GPU heatsink will reduce the heat on the mainboard itself enough to keep this from happening. We shall see."

[THAMMER1]

This should work fine.

[Diselage]

Seems like a sound enough theory, hopefully that heatsink fixes the problem.

[PS360PCROCKS]

blah blah blah blah blah blah my comment is about as useful as these never ending "MORE 360'S FAILED" stories

[Fisher339]

I like news like this, it makes MS have to fix the problem.

If no one complains MS will never do anything, I personally am saving up for an 360, but im not gonna buy one till MS confirms they got it under control.

[PS360PCROCKS]

I see your point and I have never thought of it that way, It could make sense, I just got sick of seeing the same story over and over...I appreciate your comment back. Thanks for being mature.

[Blackfrican]

Take Advice from the guy who had 8 systems die on him. He clearly knows what hes talking about.

[Lyberator]

Everyone already knows the GPU is the problem.

[Bathyj]

Is the mainboard only held in place by solder? Shouldn't it be screwed in place as well?

[sumfood4u]

But 1nce its all said an done, exspect alot of 360 Fun. If it ain't broke don't try to Fix it, but since a Majority Breaks, use Research to Fix it!

[power of Green]

Are you kidding or just stupid?, the guy obviouslly has a life style thats lethel to the 360 or takes poor care of them.

[sjappie]

I can play for hours and hours and my 360 won't get warm at all, only the power-brick gets a bit warm. Had mine since launch and never had a problem with it. I think a lot of problems are caused by a lack of ventilation space around the 360 and having it too close to other heat-producing devices.
Not to blame the consumer, cause in the end it's Microsoft fault, but if you break 8 360's I get the feeling you're not being smart about it.

[power of Green]

We already know this who approved this sh*t?. Theres No excuse for the 360 for being so sensitive to its enviroment but keep it cool and you'll never have a problem(big open TV stands, a fan blowing the air from the back vents helps keep the inside of your 360 no more warmer than your breath). Its not a PS2 wher you can play games with the console on a shag carpet under pile of dirty cloths.

[AngryTypingGuy]

...then you are doing something to abuse the system. My 360 actually runs somewhat cool. I keep mine where plenty of air can get to it, and I keep the power supply where it can get plenty of air as well (not on a carpet).

Back in the early days of the 360, I went into a GameStop. The person behind the counter and I were talking, and he let me touch the power brick of the 360 that was next to the counter. It was extremely hot. Then again, it was surrounded by plastic casing that allowed for little, if any, ventilation. My power supply is ALWAYS cool to the touch, because I allow it plenty of ventilation like the manual says to.

Honestly, what are the odds of 8 consoles failing you? If he took proper care of his consoles, he would still be on his first, maybe second 360.

[ErcsYou]

If microsoft is adding new heatsinks then they should step up admit their is a problem and fix everyones 360's.

from what ive seen, the cpu and gpu are not connected directly to the main board, they are on sperate sub boards and then soldered to the main board. when things get hot, they often bend or warp. the 360 board just needs top and bottom column supports to counter act the bending.

this is not like a dvd drive breaking, this is a design problem that needs to be fixed.

my 360 is resting in piece as we speak. i didnt know about the 3 rings of death and decided to mod my 360 for import games. then one day it died and i called M$ . i knew i blew the warranty but was willing to pay the $120 for repair but they said no. since its modded the wont touch it.

i want another but not until the problems are addressed.
.......and yes, your 360 will break too if you play 50 hours + a week

[Skynetone]

i two will never buy one until this is sorted

i thought the new elite would have sorted this out

HOW MANY BETA TESTERS DOES THE 360 HAVE 13 MILLION ARE SO

[Saint Sony]

Only 8 dead ones?... come on!.. You can make it up to 10, I know you can! Don't give up!

I still have launch console running like a charm, but well...I don't sit on it.

It's cool that MS is fixing the issues, but I'm pretty sure some fangirls will find some other issues after this, for example whine how it still bricks when they drop it on the floor several times by accident.

[TheMART]

That was already known, heat that could bend the motherboard just a little, loosened solder etc. etc. That's why the towel trick sometimes works to get it connected again.

The soldering also has improved in the mean time. In the beginning manufacturers weren't paying that much attention. So even with the model not changed, there is less chance of breaking down. New cooling added helps also.

The 65nm GPU/CPU is the best solution though

[NeXuSIoN]

I've had 5 of them go out on me. My 5th one just went out on me yesterday afternoon. I called Microsoft to get it repaired but the weird thing is that most of my Xbox Live friends Xbox's broke as well so I'm not the only one hanging. But yeah, this guys advice seems to be what I was exactly waiting for. All of them with the "Red Ring of Death!" Lol.

Thanks for the news.

[nix]

ahem.. that would what most of blind xbox fanboys will accuse you of... they don't believe that things like this exist! most of them will accuse you of lying. already someone has disagreed with you. it's just sad... too sad.

MS MUST do something. but then why should they? there are enough blind followers who will worship them till death. pity sight. )))):

[funkysolo]

I upgraded to the xbox 360 elite thinking that at least it will be better but man was I wrong, it's still loud and sounds like it's about to take off. Why is there a power brick, I also have a ps3 and no power brick and runs real smooth. At night when I play my 360 it's all I hear, I can't turn up the volume cause wife is sleeping. M$ needs to go back to the drawing board and redesign the 360 completely, with no power brick and fix the dvd drive so it can run smooth. The way M$ is going they're going to find themself in a lawsuit, it's just a matter of time before a state representive gets a hold of this.

[Foulacy]

this sounds like a plausible explanation

[Close_Second]

I own a 360 and would like to know what conditions result in a higher failure rate. We all know overheating seems to be the problem but what is more likely to push your 360 over the edge?

[Shadow Flare]

"This is true of ALL systems manufactured thus far, not just the launch systems."

And the xbots were so confidently preaching it was just the launch systems

[nobizlikesnowbiz]

Shadow theres a reason you have one bubble. Can you guess what it is?

I can. It's not because everyone else is an 'xbot'. It's because your a d1ck. Plain and simple.

[kevin1122]

i really dont get the die hard fans who make it seem like there is no problem with the 360 when there clearly is. I mean when ps2 had the dre everyone kept complaining, they didnt act like there was no problem they kept complaining until sony answered. This is one reason why i dont understand fanboys of specific company's. it just boggles my mind.

[nix]

...so far they've avoided the media etc... but i wonder for how long they will be able to avoid it.... such a pity!

[FeralPhoenix]

Well I guess he should know;

"a man who has had 8 consoles fail so far explains....."

-*Luckily my console hasn't failed, I guess I'll play the lottery tommorrow too, but I'm just wondering who is this "man", because personally there's no way in hell I would still put up with a 360 after so many failures....after 2 or 3 I would be so pissed off at M$, by the 4th or 5th I just don't think I would be willing to risk it again, but damm 8 failures!, 8 failures?...thats like every other month since launch and thats not counting "shipping time", -well at least M$ shipped back his "refurbs" quickly over the last 18, 19 months, so he should at least be grateful that he never experienced that hassle. Still, I would probably be thinking maybe its just not meant to be, maybe I should just stick with the PS3, ya know?

[Edit]vvvvv Andres....Well I didn't accuse YOU of anything, also hope M$ fixes the problem, I'm sure they "believe", that this is what the new "heatpipe" is designed to do, we'll have to see if it works. I don't doubt there are some owners with legit problems but I don't know how helpful it is to have a news story from every "single" person who has had a problem. -I don't have a problem at all if you believe this news helpful, I just have a different take on it. -Its all good though....this heatpipe should help so thats good news for M$.

BTW guys checkout my Ride, I spent quite a few hours of blood, sweat, and tears creating this baby! I just put it on the site too.

[Andres]

First of all, I want to say the 360 has great games, really great games... but the console itself is poorly made. At the moment i'm waiting for my 3rd console. I've been waiting more than a month now. I find it unbelievable that there are people who say that we are lying and making these stories up.
I like these articles because it shows that there really is a problem with the 360.. and it would be not OK to say nothing about it. Microsoft has a problem and they have to solve it. And for the moment Microsoft is getting away with this... absolutely outrageous!!!

Sorry for my lousy English.. i'm from europe

[sjappie]

your English isn't that lousy! At least I found no real mistakes there.

[progx]

.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Sony fans are worse then politicians trying to score votes with negative and untruthfull ads. What next the mud slinging commercials? Guys ever notic that the mud slining lies are allways worse on the losing team and sorry to be the realtiy check for you PS3 fans but the PS3 is losing (third place this time, take that Blu-Ray and Harrisons big mouth)

[SmokeyMcBear]

cmon jason, you should feel this guys pain.. you receive your second 360 yet, or are you still waiting?

[Kyur4ThePain]

This story was contributed by someone WITH a 360 gamer tag. (sorry to drag you into this, Nina)
Still think it's all Sony fans?
You need to open your eyes. Never have I seen someone in such denial.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

LOL both of the blind dudes above me were on my ignore list. I wonder what they said, oh yeah probably the same sh!t that made me put them on ignore LOL

[Kyur4ThePain]

Turn a blind eye...

[TheXgamerLive]

This man is either A-lying or B-he's lying, or that brings me to C-He's lying.

[big_tim]

I went through 2 with in the first six months. The third has worked like a champ. I take very good care of my machines. If it can happen to me, then it can happen to anyone.

My brother in-law's just died right before the year warranty ended. He has been playing it out in the open under his air conditioning vent. It died out of nowhere.

So, ya it could happen. Just because you think you know everything, doesn't make him a liar. It could be bad luck.

[JohnCarpenter]

I'm really interested about the circumstances. What are your room temperatures? Can you post a picture where your 360 works?

[Premonition]

Why is it hard to believe he has had 8 failed, and its funny because I have a friend not to far from me, near Kendall side Miami, hes on his 8th xbox360, or should I say was on his 8th which happened to be the 360 elite, and hes going to keep buying it or replacing them until Halo 3 comes out. People are hardcore, I dont understand how people can take so much failure.

[felidae]

i'm kinda angry ...

i'm on my 3rd 360. the heatpipe should've been there in the first place.

[JasonXE]

the new xbox 360's with the heat pipe comes in?

[agent864]

if ms identifies and fixes the design flaw would that open them up to class action suits ...

this wont / cant be fixed methinks till they switch to the 65nm chips that way they can claim the fixed design is due to the new chip / mobo and not the faulty current design.

isn't the EU starting to investigate .... sooner or later the EU / BBB / US Congress will put the pressure on ... there needs to be a recall of every 360 produced with a free install of the heat pipe.

take a moment to write your congress person (www.house.gov) and send them links to the complaints. as a publicly traded company MS needs to disclose their failure rate and issue a recall if proven to be defective.

[Hypnotic]

Now if only they would admit that they are having problems and how do they justify putting a new heat sink in their boxes? for fun?

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're making changes and hopefully this will eliminate the problem I just wish they would stop playing stupid.

[razer]

This news is beyond old. There are even a couple different fixes out there that you can do yourself that will fix the problem permanently. Just google "xclamp fix" and get yourself $8 and you're good to go.

I've not had a 360 die on me but I've had a couple friends who did and were out of warrenty. Both are working great now.

The fact this person has had 8 bad ones seems suspect.

[Keyser]

Fortunately for me, I haven't had my launch 360 fail but these stories led me to move it further away from my receiver and to buy a table top fan and put behind it.

I remember all the trouble the NES used to have with cartridges and all the tecniques for getting them to play. When you think back, its funny now. I don't know if people will find this funny years from now but maybe.

I think MS should take this very seriously, it will only take someone's house catching on fire and a child dying before the media gets a hold of this and drag MS threw the fire and that will be bad for all gamers.

[snoop_dizzle]

whats funny is recently I've got back into playing oblivion for 5 hours straight a few times a last week and this week, and my 360 barely gets hot.

Of course i do have it pretty well ventilated.

But anyways, Msoft does need to get their act together.

[Rims]

An Xbox dies. Think of the Xbox's!

[BitbyDeath]

He's not just saying that this is why they are failing he is saying

"This is true of ALL systems manufactured thus far"

ALL will fail, it's only a matter of time until yours goes too. It's the truth and it sucks bigtime. But until MS actually do something this is how it's going to be

[LoydX-mas]

Can a 360 owner be proactive and send in their console to have this new heat pipe intalled?

[Tackle990]

Thats a very good question. I would be extremely willing to do so if MS will allow it....