The Xbox 360 hardware problems - why wasn't the fallout nastier?

Monday, December 31st, 2007 - The Xbox 360 did far better than it deserved in 2007 despite its hardware deficiencies (and Microsoft's atrociously slow acknowledgment and response.)

Mike Antonucci of The San Jose Mercury News would like to know: How come more consumers and gamers didn't avoid it based on the screaming headlines about its dubious quality?

[Anything but Cute]

A lot more people bought XBOX 360 this year, a lot more red rings in 2008 and every year since the XBOX 360 is really weak.

[mesh1]

@bladestar i found that out a while ago this site is a joke all the people wit the power to approve articles ARE SONY TROLLS its plain to see i gave up wrting replys on this wait of space .

[whoelse]

What this is about is there are more Sony supporters than Xbox supporters because people realize that the 360 cant compete with the PS3 and this year is Sonys year and the 360 will fall short of the competition.

[ThePantsMobile]

Open your eyes you corporate whore. If there where more sony supporters wouldn't the ps3 be selling more than the 360 and have a larger attach rate? Wouldn't Blu ray actually be successful (P.S. no hd format is successful, and if you believe so, then haven't seen dvd sales compaired to both formats combined)? You are just as mindless and brainwashed as the 360 fanboys. In fact, any console fanboy is just a tool of a company. regain your dignity, please for the sake of free will.

[Xbox is the BEST]

RROD couldn't stop the 360 what make people think Sony and their overhyped games will?

[Rama26285]

I agree with that statement except for the "overhyped games". I think you'll find that is what Sony's problem is - they don't hype their games enough. If you want to see an overhyped game then you only really need to look at Halo 3 - it even managed to appear on normal news!!

[MaximusPrime]

RROD couldnt stop sale because M$ is greedy. Still advertising and kept quiet about RROD.

Clearly M$ is very greedy.

[rich13er]

Its becasue MS handled the issue the best why they could. Greedy would be not extending the warranty and taking a couple billion dollar lost on their service and supoort side of the business.

Granted they should have done alot more product testing before the 360 come out.

[Fanboy Slaughter]

Listed as FANBOY of the XBOX360 persuasion.

have a nice day

[ThePantsMobile]

fanboy slaughter, I haven't seen you enough, but thank you for reporting fanboys. This way I can find them and help remove their bubbles where ever you post. Lets cure the website, one by one if we have to.

[Boink]

as MS is excellent at damage control, they've had the practice:)

[toughNAME]

GAMES!

[DJ]

It's more or less evident in their decreased hardware sales throughout the majority of the world. More than two years on the market and they only have 14 million 360s sold?

If it wasn't for the RROD and numerous hardware problems, sales would probably be closer to 20 million right now. A lot of people I know have held off because they don't want "to deal with that 33% failure rate." My bro just visited from Fresno this week, and two of his buddies have already been hit with the RROD.

[ktchong]

I bought a Xbox 360 for myself because I'm a techie and warranted by Best Buy, and I can deal with the problem.

However, I would NOT buy a Xbox 360 as a Christmas or birthday gift for anyone. I didn't want to buy a gift that's gonna break down on a friend/family member, and then have him go through the pain and suffering of having to deal with Microsoft's customer service.

[dantesparda]

And the 360 on display was red-ringing, so the guy replaced it with another one and i asked him how often does this happen, and he said, "alot". My friend bought a 360 during October (and its one of the HDMI ones, so you know its not some older one) And its starting to freeze up like crazy. So now he's telling me he wants to sell it and is asking me to post it up on craigslist for him. And my roommate bought his in July, and his is also freezing up. And it sounds disgusting! the worst sounding 360 I've ever heard, its got the Hitachi drive, and is also a HDMI unit.

So these things are still breaking down and fvcking up its just you dont hear about it as much. My 3rd replacement 360 was freezing up and disc read erroring since i got it back

[Synex]

RROD consoles are still sold consoles so without RROD they would only have about 9.74 consoles sold.

Also the reason the 360 didn't do as bad as expected this year is because of the gamer points thing in XBL without that no one would be that addicted and dedicated to a console. The addiction creates denial and the people that lose their console to RROD are more than willing to go and buy another one to keep their points.

[SonyDefenseForce]

Were only 8 Million Consoles Behind and falling behind and being outsold everyday 2:1 in every country but hey we'll catch up!!!!! PS3 FTW

[TrooGamer]

Shows how ignorant you are by sayin 2:1 in every country...

Truly idiotic

[Douchebaggery]

Because the mainstream doesn't know they exist.

[Rama26285]

Which I guess you can sort of say is credit to Microsoft. Can you imagine if there was another product out there which had such a high failure rate - like a mobile phone or a tv - no one would go near the thing!

[THE_JUDGE]

and the major games retailer (Gamestop) won't tell people because in my experience most of them are FANBOYS! Sad but true.

[name]

No one gives a crap if microsoft does anything wrong. If anyone noticed, I've been kind of steering toward the fanboy level lately and I apologized. It's just hard being objective when everyone else does that for me in the form of slander. Microsoft has gotten away with murder this gen and everyone glamorizes every little thing they do in the gaming industry and rediculously overestimate everything bad Sony does.

The fact that someone can have a failure rate THAT high and get away with it, and yet there was a massive revolution against a 600 dollar console is beyond me. You people have the most retarded sense of loyalty. And I know this is a fanboy comment I'm just really low on patience to be honest.

[Daz]

it might be because not everyone of the mainstream knows about the problem or its could be the games macking people buy the 360?

Im not sure but whatever i hope they get the problem fixed because compitition is good for gamers.

[Fanboy Slaughter]

I agree with you completely, name. I've been trying for months to make THAT exact point, and people start flaming and trolling like a bunch of little b!tches.

I got 2 RROD's before I told my 360 to go f*ck itself. It has a great game lineup, and I may pick up another one a year or so from now when I'm positive they got it ironed out, but until then, I wanted to see MS take it's shots that it deserved for releasing a paperweight.

I've talked to kids who are fanboys of an almost inhuman caliber, saying they've gone through over a DOZEN 360's (no joke), and also saying that's they'd go through 100 of them before buying a PS3, simply because it's a PS3, and they love their halo as it if were a woman. Sad, isn't it?

[Daz]

i got the red ring and i turned it of soon as i see it and it still works today, im so lucky.

[Gazman]

Best thing you can do

[supermandead666]

Peoples, look at it this way on one hand you have M$ a retarded child if it fail peoples simple look the another way and if it does well peoples will hype and applause the sh!t out of it, with SONY a genius child if it doesn't do well peoples will bash like there no tomorrow and if does well peoples still said it not good enough.

[Daz]

Lol it not just ms fanboys it ps3 fanboys do as well.
Hows ms retarted tell me why?
hows sony a genius tell me why?

I tell you something they both have lied so there as bad as each other but fanboys only believe there side never lies and are so right, year right.

[Synex]

Well what I think he is saying is that Sony has been in the gaming industry for years and is expected to dominate the competition and MS is new to the scene and people seem to be more lenient when it comes to their failures.

[makingdamage]

I find it interesting that someone brings this up because I have also thought about the reason to it. I think it´s because the media didn´t do their job at reporting it to people. Why? I don´t know.
But media imo has reported a lot of negative news for the PS3.
It´s sad when the media can´t stay unbiased.

[Daz]

the media always biased but i did see this problem on the news a while back including gamer tv as well.

And for the ps3 it was alwyas about the price when it was 599 but nows it about that it has no games.

But ps2 had a bad problem, i had 4 myself (4th one i trated in for a ps3.
But it did not bother me because i enjoyed the games that the ps2 had too ofer.

[TrooGamer]

I bought a 360 and i turned it on and system error i did not even get to the set up screen.

Obviously it effect other people more than othrs but in the long run it will effect MS if they dont sort it this year.

Sony have the line up this year to entice people from buying a 360 and if there decision is based on realiabilty then its MS own fault if the dont sort it.

3 year warranty means nothing as it should not need that long of one for a problem going on for 2 years now.

I have a 360 Elite now with the new chip. Still loud tho

[Noodlecup]

Their console breaks down more than twice and they keep buying them because they're stupid. My xbox 360 failed the first time, I thought "hey, must've been a faulty unit, I don't mind the wait" then it happened again so I sent it off and traded it in for a PS3. I couldn't be happier with my purchase, looking back on it now the 360 looks extremely tacky and poorly made.

[Lex Luthor]

So what do you think happened to all the faulty ps1's and ps2's. Even though they kept on breaking, people still bought them because of great games.

I remember having to turn my ps1 upside down in order for the laser to read the games, and i won't even mention ps2 DRE.

[TrooGamer]

@ Lex Luthor

PS1 & PS2 had near enough noprolong competition. 360 is not in that position at all.

Reliability could be on of the reason why PS3may outsell 360 this year.

Who knows!

[bizi6498]

As we all know, ps1 & ps2 had one of the worst failure rates in the whole consumer electronics history with the disc drive: sony got the well deserved class action lawsuits. Mine never got a problem but I know some people who did and I supported them, not sony: we should stick together if we're to stand a chance against big corporations. Even if you love your console, you need to be respected as a consumer.

now here's a mind boggling fact:

the failure rates of the ps1 & ps2 were ~2%.
ask anyone in the industry: 2% is a big problem, an embarrassment...

now how in the hell is microsoft getting away with 30%?
and why are xbots trying to cover it up instead of holding them accountable?
how can anyone think for 1 sec that microsoft didn't know and therefore is not guilty?
how can we let the media lie us into crap again???

[6wl]

Is the main reason I got a PS3 over a 360.

Anyhow, true story about my mates 360. Had it 14 months now, hardly uses it (maybe 6-8 hours a week, tops).

Started crashing all the time playing HL2 - rebooted it, started crashing turning the dash, and often during the splash.

Phoned up MS - nope, not covered under the new extended warrenty - thats only for very specific things, such as the RRoD.

So they said they were going to charge him 65 quid to have it repaired. However, as the money was to be payable to a company in america, they could only accept credit cards. Which he didn't have.

So after arranging someone else to pay for it, finding a box (which MS wouldn't provide, but did warn if it was damaged due to transit they wouldn't do anything all) - he tried to get them to collect it. Couldn't give a time, and as he had no hols left before xmas, his only option was to drive 19 miles to the nearest depo for the company MS had picked to use.

On the positive, it only took 3 weeks to return....

Sadly, when he got it back, it now crashes everytime playing in 480p (standard def). (tho lucky for him, he plays in 720).

MS - doing you up the wrong un royally.

[Korosuke]

MS should change the manufacuture line and order production trust of xbox360 from Toshiba then Reliability might be up.
Of course, HD DVD Drive would be implemented :p

[Power of Blu]

360 is doing well in america, home of biggest is best. The 360 was the first "next gen" console on the market and a lot of yanks had to jump on the band wagon as soon as possible to be the first to own the latest hardware.

It's a shame that what they don't see is the shoddy half generation leap that the 360 is. I wouldn't consider it next gen, it's a slight upgrade from the original Xbox. One that will probably be obselete next year. Sure it's got some good games but I really don't see it staying in SECOND place for long.

The early buyers realise this so even after their 5th RROD they still come back with Microsoft is king because they don't want to lose face.

As a lot of you already said, if the problem had been made mainstream it would only be the xbot retards like Firstknight, PoG, TheMART and Zhuk who would have fallen for the microsort scam.

Maybe 720 will actually be a next gen console that works.

[rich13er]

Please explain your comment on "half generation leap' because for a gaming system it seems pretty next gen to me with all the AAA games that have come out for it compared to the PS3(At least as we sit right now).
Many of you act as if Sony did everything right in its launch and business plan, but if it did they would not be sitting in a distant 3rd place. MS has its problem as well. Its just a shame this site can't be more level in its thinking.

[Power of Blu]

I didn't say it had bad games, neither did I mention the PS3. When the PS2 is outselling "nextgen" consoles it goes to show that the next gen hasn't really started.

Gears, Bioshock, Mass Effect and PGR4 are great games but 2 of those can be found on the PC. Mass Effect although great started to show limitations in the 360 Hardware and as and when it comes to the PC I can bet it'll run a lot better. 2 years in and the machines shows signs of it's limits is not a full generation no matter what way you try to look at it.

How long did the Jaguar and 3DO last? I rest my case.

[rich13er]

So in that thinking many of the games that are on both the 360 and the PS3 look better on the 360. So by your statement the PS3 is already showing its limitations. So the PS3 must not be a full generation machine as well. Of course this is not the case and it would have to do with the development of the game. The Jaguar and 3DO NEVER got to the point of the 360 or the PS3 in sales comparatively. So please pick up your case, because you rested to soon.

[PirateThom]

I think the fact the 360 sold half as many consoles in 2007 as it did in 2006, even with the "Holy Trinity" of Halo 3, BioShock and Mass Effect is backlash enough.

It's dead outside of America, to be honest.

[Bathyj]

M$ could openly engage in terrorist attacks and they would still spin it to their favour. Never underestimate M$'s influence in the gaming media with sites like Gamespot in their pocket. That and people apparent short term memories for getting screwed by Americans favourite dictatorship.

Meanwhile if a random van with a Sony sticker on it runs over a puppy people will hold grudges for a decade and dedicate their pathetic lives to becoming Xbot trolls on every forum.

[Rexysgod]

Ps3=mercedes xbox 360= Ford Contour Wii= Geo metro.
Be Smart!! Choose wisely.

[mario888]

Most people don't even know that there is a 33% failure rate. I've spoken to so many people who complain of disc scrathing and freezing. I just advise them to call Microsoft. If you go to gamestop or any electronics store they won't advise the customer that there is a known hardware issue with the xbox 360. I always go to Gamestop just to look around and I always hear the store clerk tell the person on the phone Call Microsft.

[mario888]

Most people don't even know that there is a 33% failure rate. I've spoken to so many people who complain of disc scrathing and freezing. I just advise them to call Microsoft. If you go to gamestop or any electronics store they won't advise the customer that there is a known hardware issue with the xbox 360. I always go to Gamestop just to look around and I always hear the store clerk tell the person on the phone Call Microsft.

[mario888]

Most people don't even know that there is a 33% failure rate. I've spoken to so many people who complain of disc scrathing and freezing. I just advise them to call Microsoft. If you go to gamestop or any electronics store they won't advise the customer that there is a known hardware issue with the xbox 360. I always go to Gamestop just to look around and I always hear the store clerk tell the person on the phone Call Microsft.

[goodgameslover]

I think it comes because it was a lot on the internet news and lots of people doesn't follow that.
I have an 360 since it launch and played a LOT of hours so far and never had a problem with it so far. Al my friends who also have a 360 never had problems with it.
I checked while the subject was a hot topic in my local gamestores and most sellers said the hardly had any complaines about the RROD.
Wich must mean the topic was a little overrated or else microsoft would have seriously burned their hands on it.
Wich would be justified if it failed to delivered a good product.
@piratethom : the 360 is far from dead in europe. it runs behind the ps3 but that doesn't mean it is dead.
If you look from where MS is coming with the Xbox franchise wich was almost a nonfactor in the previous generation then they have won no matter what all you people may think a great victory against Sony.
They are in most countries (except japan) at least their equal, and in the case of America clearly their superior.
MS is happy you better believe that about the progress their Gamingconsole has made so far (again except Japan).
They have gained a much bigger piece of the pie of the gamingworld then most dared to expect.
This is not fanboyism but just a simple fact.

[Zhuk]

The answer is that the 'fallout' was bigger than the problem in the first place. The power of the internet allowed a vocal minority and those with a anti Xbox 360 agenda to blow the issue out of proportion with gross exaggeration. I believe the phrase 'mountains out of molehills' applies well here.

The issue is not as big and widespread as people make it out to be, in fact most Xbox 360 consumers have been enjoying the greatest gaming lineup in history without any issue.

[Rugludallur]

say that to half of the user base of the 360. this isn't a small issue, this is Microsoft selling broken consoles and they know it and just offer a warranty and will be over next year and what then you ask? then they will demand 65$ for EVERY time you ship out that broken junk named the 360.

[ravinash]

They kept denying it until enough cases showed up to show that this isn't something they could put under the rug.
In fact there a lot of people on this site who have experienced this problem. Don't go telling them this is a little deal, because if you have to go through the hassle of sending you machine back and wait for 3 weeks before you can use the thing you paid for.
When their machine is away, how can they play that great library of 360 games?
Does MS still charge the cost of the live account while this person is still with out a machine?

[ChefDejon]

money

[whoelse]

Microsoft is covering up the problem so people don't realize how big the problem really is!

[IQUITN4G]

Insanely funny that Sony is having to play catch up considering the massive problem that could have been RROD and Sony's already massive following.I guess is shows how good MS are at damage control.A slight shock though to say the least as i had the 360 down as severely underperforming when it came to battling Sony.

It shows just how much Sony has dropped the ball

[Chug]

Got red ringed Fall of 06' (extremely pissed off I was). MS demanded $140 (Pissed me off even more, but I paid).
Down the road I received a reimbursement check (Sweet!).

Got ringed again Aug. 07' (OMG, not again!) I was assured by customer service that this will not happen again, his quote was "Well, the first time your console was fixed, we really didn't know what we were doing". LOL!! Thats nice to know!
So I'm now on my 3rd 360 and it sounds like a ticking time bomb when I turn it on. I honestly hope I get ringed again before my 3 year warranty is up, because if it happens outside the warranty I absolutely refuse to buy another one.

Edit: BTW, I've always taken good care of all of my consoles.

[IQUITN4G]

It's interesting reading some of these comments.To those that say this and that about MS concerning money etc.They're hardly not going to use it and i think they should be applauded for being such a big pain in the arse when it comes to halting Sony's monopoly - something MS is ironically rather good at as well of course.

I think there should be one standard if we're talking about pc os's as it makes more sense so i can more easily handle MS here.What i don't like is how consoles can fail as a result of a much more successful competitor.It's how it is but it surely does suck when a person can only afford the one machine.Thankfully it looks like there is room for 3 competitors going at it.

[Nameless]

The Sony Idiots are at it again, If the PS3 & Uncharted is so damn good why are you wasting spending all of your time bashing the 360 on news4thesonydefenseforce ? When a real Sony Fan would be to amazed & wowed & would be talking about Sony products & not talking **** about the competition & I can almost bet those here saying "My friend got prod" is full of ****" & everyone that Sony Idiot knows has a PS3.

[mintaro]

there is one and only one reason that microsoft was not i as much trouble as it coul've been. and that was because of the impending release of halo 3. if halo 3 didnt come out this year, i fear it coul've been waaaay worse.

[headblackman]

you simpletons just dont get it. the xbox360 is a masterpiece of hardware combined with the greatiest of software with a slight error that is being fixed even as we speak but aslong as they keep doing what they are supposed to be doing as far as repairing what they messed up on then we should all be cool but also everytime you simpletons mention the xbox360 in conversation (even when talking of the rrod) all your doing is giving microsoft free advertisement because the you try to talk bad about they system but then the conversation changes to xbox live,halo 3,gears of war,mass effect,pgr3 and 4,call of duty 2-4,saints row,and many more, then the subject of the new titiles come up like ninja gaiden 2,splinter cell conviction,bioshock 2,golden axe,fable 2,jade empire 2,knights of the old republic 3,banjo kazooie,killer instinct 3, and many more but the never ends the conversation. then the possibles always come into play like the possiblity of metal gear solid 4 and tekken and many others to come to the beloved system wich is highly likely even now :) so if you think about it the positives outweigh the negetives :) so keep advertising and while your at it go ahead and jump in like the rest of us and stop bumping your gums, save that for xbox live. you'll appreciate it much better

[Knightofelemia]

Well I own a ps3 and I thaught about buying a 360 I been a looking at a few are there really that many probs with a 360?

[Jandre02]

The thing is LOUD as HELL! It gets really really hot.

On the upside, however, other than this holiday season, Xbox LIVE is reliable (much more so than the PSN it seems.)

But I have had mine for over a year, and though I rarely ever play it because I use my PS3 all the time, it has never gotten RROD yet. The only problem i have with it is the damn noise. It kills me. It sounds like a vacuum.

[WilliamRLBaker]

the hardware problems weren't nearly as bad as made out by online idiots.
and people reporting under different accounts on online forums that they're xbox 360 has failed...instead of puting they had reported this on other accounts on other forums.

I have a pro launch 360 and an elite for 6 months and neither has had a problem, the pro got the 3 red lights ONCE i turned it off and then on and it never happend again.
P.S: for the past 6 months the pro is residing in my nephews room a 14 year old that has treated every system he was received like crap and never takes care of it, and it still works without a problem.

[LJWooly]

Man, you are so lucky. I'm on my fourth one right now, lol.

[jinn]

the games rule but the hardware suks

[LJWooly]

I picked myself up a new 360 (from eBay, £200 with 2 games, unopened) and this is it's LAST CHANCE. If this breaks down, there is absolutely now fcuking way i am buying another one. The fact i'm on my fourth one now is appaling, and I think i've been incredibly patient with Microsoft.

If the problems do get fixed, it'll be at least a year from now, and I think the 360 is gonna be pretty obselete by then.

Hey, who here has had the most 360's break on them? Come on, let's start a little competition! Mine's three, see if you can beat that!! :D

[Knightofelemia]

I got your ass beat lol when the ps2 first came out I went through 9 of them. The last one before the slim crashed after I played a ps1 game in it so i said f*ck it and through it hard againest the floor. Damn thing looked cool inside lmfao

[LJWooly]

NINE? Lol, unlucky mate. Yeah, you got me beat on that one :D

[sleepbox]

Why wasn't the fallout nastier? Because it was overblown. No one I know with a 360 has had any HW issues.

[JasonX43]

Besides the fact that there hasn't really been anything I wanted to play on my Elite this year, having my console RROD on me ruined my gaming experience with my 360. I play my PS3 alot more, even though Ninja Gaiden 2 and Lost Odyssey will probably change that, I'm still more interested in my PS3. I'm surprised people didn't go at M$ with lawsuits and what not because of this. If the NES had died like this, there would've been riots in the streets and Nintendo would've been sued out of existance! Maybe this is a different generation...

[Knightofelemia]

I think I will wait a bit longer to see if MS fixes the prob

[bootsielon]

Given the unsurmountable amount of hype that Xbox 360 has, not to mention Halo 3, and its supposed unbeatable amount of "AAA" titles (shooters, mind you), it should have sold, judging by Xbox 360 fangirls' words and experiences, like the Wii is selling right now. But thanks to the RROD, 360 is lucky to have sold less than twice what the PS3 has sold in less than half the time. Then again, maybe it's not just the RROD, and its the fact that 360 is not all that its fanboys (Bloodmask, bladestar, theMart, power of green, sak500, firstknight, bloody sinner, Xbox is hte best, you name it) tout it to be.

[n00dl3s]

there was no competition for them to lose business too, so there was no fallout. then the competition came out and suddenly their warranty increased by multiple years so they wouldn't lose business.