Xbox 360 Elite now suffering from Red Ring of Death?
Has your Xbox 360 suffered from the Red Ring of Death yet? Did you think you’d got away with it by buying a later model such as the current Elite? Then I have bad news for you, as the RRoD issue seems to be back…
The Red Ring of Death affected millions of early Xbox 360 adopters, with the first models of the Microsoft console being unreliable and liable to break at any moment. But this problem was thought to now be under control, after Microsoft promised to spend $1 billion over the course of three years righting the problem, and fixing it for free.
Now though, it seems the issue could be rearing its ugly head once again, and affecting the Elite models which were thought to be completely devoid of the problem. The problem is, the evidence we have for this is a report in a British tabloid newspaper, which only talks to one gamer experiencing the problem.
The Daily Mirror article makes for an interesting, if not highly subjective reading. For starters, the article’s writer talks about the “£500million repair bill” that Microsoft is facing over this issue with the Elite models. Yes, the math works out fine, but the £500 million was set aside a long time ago, and has nothing to do with this new problem, if indeed there is one.
The report goes on to say that “hundreds of angry owners are sending back their £290 consoles, which are being shipped to Germany for repair. But the fault remains a mystery.” If it’s hundreds of angry owners, then why is this the first we’ve heard of it? Indeed, the newspaper itself only manages to find one unhappy Xbox 360 owner to talk to.
Unless of course they were contacted by the owner, and then basically concocted a story around that rather than the other way around. Stranger things have been known to happen. This is the British press we’re talking about here after all.
Microsoft has responded to the claim, issuing a statement to The Mirror saying:
The majority of Xbox 360 owners enjoy a great experience with their console. Anyone with a problem should call Xbox customer service.
How bland. Tech Radar contacted Geoff Croft, customer service manager at the UK’s leading console repair service Micromart, who told them:
We don’t deal directly with the three red rings problem any more, although we would still have heard from our retail clients if it was becoming an issue with the Xbox 360 Elite.
I can’t really comment on that story in today’s Daily Mirror. All I can say is that we have had very few Elites in for repair since they launched last year.
So, hardly an epidemic of the proportions the newspaper seems to claim. However, even a few of the Elites going wrong is a serious problem, as these later models were thought to be immune to the Red Ring of Death, enabling Microsoft to move on from the issue. If it urns out that a new batch of consoles starts going down, then I can’t see the Xbox 360, or Microsoft’s console plans, recovering for a second time.
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60 Responses to “Xbox 360 Elite now suffering from Red Ring of Death?”
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July 7th, 2008
Why did you waste the webspace to say nothing Dave?
July 7th, 2008
Since you just started writing about the world of Video Games let me bring you upto speed since you guys are cluless. When the Elite first came out there was nothing different from the first 360’s and the Elite except HDMI, 120 GB and the colour Black. RROD just showed up a few months before the launch of the Elite. Therefore if you have a first generation Elite then yes it is the same hardware that caused the problem in the first place. If you buy an Elite today there is nothing to worry about.
July 7th, 2008
ok next time I read the article before commenting. I just have very little time to read these things so I just look for the headlines. Sorry.
July 7th, 2008
DAVE – why no separate article about the ps3 being bricked?
July 7th, 2008
I am now on my 4th xbox. The first I got 2 weeks after they were released. The second replaced that one and was the same model. When that one went down I got one of the Pro’s with HDMI out which, like the Elite were supposed to be imune to the RROD. That was my third to go down. When this one goes down, as I will bet money it will, I will be getting a PS3 even though I don’t like its controlers and the Box has better games. I am tired of constant problems.
July 7th, 2008
PS3 Brickware 2.40 I think . . . Not seen any articles on that from the Blorge. . .
July 7th, 2008
he just made one dumbass….and it doesnt brick your ps3…there was only a couple of people..not the whole nation..dumbasses…and this is something that can be fixed..the RROD…well that sounds alot better than a minor firmware issue
July 7th, 2008
Here is the article talking about the PS3 firmware issue:
http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/07/07/patched-ps3-firmware-v240-coming-wednesday-xmb-trophies-at-last/
Yea, it dosen’t brick the PS3 per say, it messes up your harddrive and you just have to reformat it to fix it.
July 7th, 2008
Even Xbox 360 Elite sucks LMFAO Microsoft can’t make a good or decent reliable console or model just like Vista a failure. I installed firmware 2.40 on my 60GB PS3 and all my friends did the same it works perfectly.
July 7th, 2008
dont you have a 360 ivan? why did u buy one if theyre so crap?
July 7th, 2008
go read the stories on google noobs. the d/l is bricking consoles so much that sony discontinued the d/l. yet, these bloggers fail to even dedicate an article to it, yet create one against the 360 that’s admittingly subjective, with NO word from anywhere else in the world of the elite’s issue.
very slanted… not suprising…
July 7th, 2008
I have an Elite and sadly, it did RRoD on me last month after about 6 months of flawless operation (and a LOT… I mean at least 8 hours a day) of gameplay. So yes, there does still seem to be a problem.
HOWEVER, Microsoft was AMAZING at getting it replaced quickly. I called them Wednesday, had a box Friday to ship it to them, and had the new system back in about a week.
July 7th, 2008
Actually, there was something different in the elites inside. They had the heatsinks altered (I don’t know how exactly, but they dissipated the heat better), and this helped to stem the RRoD problems caused by the solder melting and parts of the circuit moving.
They also put a smaller processor in to produce less heat. However, until Microsoft admits defeat and finally gets chips designed by experts (yes, microsoft did the bulk of designing the hardware in house as opposed to outsourcing parts such as the graphcis chip just to save money), the problems will continue because they have a lack of experience with hardware.
Then again, they’ve a lack of experience with most things. They just buy companies and use their code. They have some ability to make money, but they’re no geniuses. You can prove their lack of skills quite easily – I mean, has anybody tried contacting Microsoft Customer Support?!
July 7th, 2008
AFAIK Kev a format will fix it. Of course not everyone will be able to do that.
Also the word is delayed and not discontinued
But please, use more words like ‘noob’ and add PWN! WTFPWN! , it makes people take you a little more seriously. Honest
I don’t know how many of you don’t see the 2.4 news item however, its right underneath this one on the ‘gamer’ homepage…
July 7th, 2008
‘very slanted… not surprising’.
That’s how most of us would describe you Kevin.
If it screws game saves, then sure that is pretty anal, but a screwed console, which could well be replaced by a new, screwed console, is worse.
I know Kev, I know, I’m so wrong. I am just awaiting your enlightening criticism.
Strike me down with all your anger, or whatever.
July 7th, 2008
Kev – Dave said that the article is highly subjective and that they only found one person who had this problem. On the PS3 bricking subject, maybe Sony has great customer service and when the complaints came in they didn’t want to take any chances. Maybe they didn’t want to have to come out with a 1 Billion dollar three year warranty in a couple of months. They wanted to stop the problem in its tracks. You see some companies stop small issues from becoming bigger before its too late.
July 7th, 2008
# Bourne:
July 7th, 2008
dont you have a 360 ivan? why did u buy one if theyre so crap?
Well duh of course i have an Xbox 360 1 Premium hacked and 1 Elite and 2 PS3 60GB and MGS4 80GB. I didn’t buy none of my Xbox 360 it was a give from the PlayStation Family. Things i hate about Xbox 360.
Red Light of Death (Never had it but it worries the shit outer me i would never not a billion year send my xbox to Microsoft)
The stupid power brick get’s me really mad it gets hot really hot even with two fans on good ones.
The damn DVD9 disc drive is too noisy
The Xbox 360 fan way too noisy and useless basically
Xbox Live Arcade is totally trash full of PC Popcap Mini games a rip off.
the Xbox 360 controller charger it get’s my controller too hot also if i forget to unplug it
I hate paying $100 dollars for a wifi adapter a huge money rip off from Microsoft.
No next gen video player just old dvd9 crap
i hate that game developers have to use about %90 of all Xbox 360 power for most games while PS3 is only using %10
Things i like about Xbox 360 Achievement points but i hate Gamerscore crap.
I like Xbox Live game content not the service
I also enjoy the Camera rip off microsoft made Xbox Live Vision
I like the streaming video is way better than PS3 for that.
Things i hate about PS3
Mandatory Install, i want that shit optional or fixed.
I hate the some useless PSN games like PAIN Pixel Junk and many more Warhawk RULEZ most PSN game kick ass perfect and really fun.
I hate that the PS3 is missing some feature already found on PSP.
Things i love PLAYSTATION 3
#1 Blu-ray Disc
#2 Games
#3 Reliable
#4 The Price
#5 PlayStation Eye
#6 Free PLAYSTATION Network Home and Qore
#7 The Controller is PERFECT really comfortable
#8 The system stylish look pure hich tech look futuristic amazing
#9 Keyboard Mouse and Printer support.
#10 Remote Play with my PSP
#11 Linux
#12 Internet Browser
#13 Folding@Home
#14 Xross Media Bar the best menu ever made
#15 DivX XviD WMV MPEG-4 MPEG- AVC
#16 MP3 ACC WAVE PCM WMA
#17 Flash support great for viewing Youtube videos.
#18 Exclusives
#19 Game developer and publisher support.
#20 Themes
#21 Memory Stick SD Card Compact Flash support
#22 4 USB ports
#23 backwards compatibility with PS1 and PS2 games.
#24 JPEG GIF PGN Bitmap and more
#25 Hacker prof
#26 DVD upscaling to near HD
#27 Warhawk hack
#28 PPL Online they are really cool to play with.
#29 Built in HDMI on all system
#30 free wifi on 60gb and 80gb
July 7th, 2008
I forgot i talk a lot lol here’s what i miss…
I forgot PS3 has
#31 MPEG-1 Video support
#32 Trophy i can’t believe i miss that shit wow
I forgot about Xbox 360 being backwards compatible with almost every single Xbox 1 games which is great. I hate that sometimes Xbox 360 hard drive crashers imagine if i lost all my save game omg that will be devastating for both consoles.
LoL you see me hating on Xbox 360 more because my first gaming console was a gift from aunt and my mom they asked me what i wanna a PlayStation 1 Or a Nintendo 64 i picked the PS1 i didn’t even know what i picked i had never heard or neither of them it was the beginning of my gaming world.
I write a lot bad things about Xbox 360 and mostly good ones for PS3 they all facts i don’t report lies. You might think I’m lying but i love my Xbox 360 a lot not more than my PS3 but i like a lot. I can write many things that i hate about ps3 but i won’t.
Things i want Microsoft to do a portable Xbox it will kick ass they got everything like internet explorer windows mobile and many more features. I would love to see Sony competing with a real hand held instead of trash like DS.
Things in gaming i have never done.
I have never in my life touch a Nintendo console or game. I hate Nintendo i will pay for people not to buy it is gay waste of money they SUCK.
Am i a fanboy? i don’t think i am let me know if i have your love or hate.
I got banned from Youtube i don’t why i got nothing there leave comments. http://www.youtube.com/user/IvanSaidsFvkY0uTvb3
July 7th, 2008
I would still take my xbox 360 any day over a ps3. As a matter of fact, I would buy another xbox 360 before I would let someone give me a ps3, but, to each his own.
July 7th, 2008
You just saying that because you you can’t have one. And who in their right mind would give master piece reliable system like PS3 for free that just a DREAM wake up buddy. Your stupidity and denial is someone Else’s gain. PS3 is for elite gamers Xbox 360 is for the rest of the trash.
July 8th, 2008
“I would buy another xbox 360 before I would let someone give me a ps3″
You’re an idiot.
I would rather work for an hour than take paid time off!
See, now I am an idiot too.
July 8th, 2008
ivan you sound like a clown. I got my 360 a month after it came out. I havnt had a single problem, i love it (i could just be really lucky). I would buy another 360 before i bought a PS3 i seem them as over priced, even if they do have blu ray. Thats not a reason to get one for me. I like 360’s controller way better than a stations aswell
July 8th, 2008
Well It didnt brick anyone I know, but heres the main thing you fail to realize, instead of having a possible problem ps3 yanked the dl to patch it. It happens in anything just like wow updates. Its nothing new. The only difference on this and the article is, microsoft can give 2 shits if you have a problem, just give them 399 and they pray for the best. Microsoft sucks.
July 8th, 2008
Ivan_PSP your Fanboyism is blinding, i swear i could stare at the sun and retain my vision.
“PS3 is for elite gamers Xbox 360 is for the rest of the trash”
?????
Wow, thats all i have to say.
and that paragraph long dribble of your fan loyalty is almost sad.
July 8th, 2008
Most well about %99 of all Xbox 360 owners are on denial they know it is PATHETIC i feel sorry for your gaming misery. “PS3 is for elite gamers Xbox 360 is for the rest of the trash” what i meant is that only get FPS games all hype trash like Halo and Gears of War. If Gears of War was on ps3 with better graphics and more online mode it will still get about a 8 for each reviewer since fanboys here the good old USA most website are fanboys towards American garbage of Technology.
July 8th, 2008
haha SW that bs made me chuckle
July 8th, 2008
PS3 WII-CONTROLLER SPOTTED: http://stuff.tv/News/Wiistyle-PS3-controller-surfaces-online/10389/
heres a thought, would the 360, if it had a wii-like controller, have to have an add-on device to allow it to work (as PS3 already uses motion controller with sixaxis built in) because 360 doesn’t use motion control yet.
July 8th, 2008
wylie – you, nor sony, knows for certain what is causing this issue. the point i was making is they post an entire article that’s anti-360 with NO validation other than ONE news article in ONE country, with NO supporting information or complaints. meanwhile, sony’s online “plan” is bricking consoles and having to have people wipe their hdd, yet that somehow isn’t news worthy.
royzy- i call them like i see them. a noob is a noob. and this site full of teenage “journalists” are chock full of them.
July 8th, 2008
Kevin, you aren’t a teenager? or a “journalist” holy christ…
July 8th, 2008
bourne – do you have anything factual to add are you going to stick to your lame strategy of personal attacks to draw attention away from your lack of insight?
July 8th, 2008
hmmm, well i could use factual information but you usually ignore/find some way to ridicule it.
July 8th, 2008
bourne – ALL of your “factual” information contains nothing but baseless predictions of what sony WILL do (ignoring historical contradictions and what they ARE doing) and opinions.
July 8th, 2008
Kev- I invite Blorge to write a story on the bricking issue. If they do it is just information being passed along. I would not take it as anti-PS3. So Dave Parrack wrote a story about one bad elite 360, so what, he’s just throwing out the possibility of more problems, making people aware. He could lie and say there are thousands of new 360’s RRODing but he doesn’t, he only knows of one and states that fact.
July 8th, 2008
wylie – if he’s not anti 360, prove it. post a story of the new ps3 d/l bricking consoles and how consumers can get their ps3 fixed and what sony is doing to compensate their customers for the inconvenience. After all this is EXACTLY what they “report” on about the 360’s rrod issues. i’m starting to think this site is a sony-paid site as there is just about zero negative press about the ps3, the abysmal sales, lack of titles or how their online is nothing but smoke and mirrors. meanwhile, he posts articles of rrod issues that are 1. subjective and not accurate 2. and UNSUBSTANTIATED.
if you don’t see the slant towards sony on this site it’s only becuase you choose not to see it.
July 8th, 2008
I’m not saying the article isn’t putting down 360 and I’m not saying he should have written such and article when he only has heard of one case in which this has happend. I am saying that he does disclose this information in the article. Furthermore I would agree that there should be an article on the bricking issue. As a PS3 owner I am not afraid of some bad press. I know I like my console and this blorge wouldn’t change that. I will not sit here and type that this firmware update isn’t an issue, but I have confidence it will be fixed. Of course mine wasn’t affected or I might be more outraged!
July 8th, 2008
DP is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pro Sony – altho lately you can almost see ‘forced’ anti sony comments and pro MS ones.
As for the firmware bricking. Blah. Probably like a drop in the ocean compared to RROD.
At least they had the sense to pull it, and fast.
As for the rest of your post, anything about the site is correct, things about ‘bad sales’ is pathetic (as usual) as we all know its selling at the same rate as the 360 (worldwide) you jsut happened to launch earlier.
Big whoop, BOTH consoles fail comapred to last gen winner. The wii has this round.
July 8th, 2008
Yep the site is biased.
Kev you’re also biased.
Big deal.
July 8th, 2008
Haha you sony fanboys make me laugh. You really think that sony pulled the ps3 brick patch as a precautionary measure? No, they pulled it because they fucked up, and wound up fucking many ps3s. They are in damage control. At least microsoft had the balls to acknowledge a problem and address it. Sony are just sweeping it under the rug.
July 8th, 2008
hey Kev
Don’t you realize this is a Sony Fanboy site. Were only here because this site keeps popping up on Google News and were here so poeple don’t believe the lies that come from this site.
July 8th, 2008
Harry that is dead on the truth. Sony would never tell the truth like Rumble is so last gen like they lied in the begining saying that it was illigal to put rumble and Motion senseing together even though the Wii controller had both. Then they decided to pay the bill to get rumble. That is 1 of many lies. If it wasn’t so wide spread the sony forums would be packed with complainers and if it wasn’t so wide spread they would have never pulled it. They say as soon as it was out it was pulled shortly after. I know all of you downloaded it so don’t act like it was something not on your mind. This was probably the biggest update to recieve as XBM was such a huge deal so I know a lot of people did it as soon as it came out probably 80% of PS3 owners downloaded it if not more. You don’t pull something that affects a small amount of people.
July 9th, 2008
huh so the never ending battle still goes on here…
July 9th, 2008
DAVE – still waiting for the “PS3 IS BEING BRICKED BY PSN” article. don’t forget to include your “professional” opinion how this spells the end of the ps3 like you do with the 360.
July 9th, 2008
Oh grow up Kev you whiny little sook.
July 9th, 2008
spidey – first, what the hell is a “sook”? second, Dave P is the one who needs to grow up if he wants be taken seriously as a writer.
July 9th, 2008
CAD- don’t go guessing on how many people did or didn’t download 2.40 because you have no idea. It was released late in the evening, a lot of people may have been in bed, and then went to work the next morning. I still don’t know what your complaint is, at least Sony pulled it, and they did admit there was a problem. They are fixing or replacing any machine that is affected. What did almight M$ do with RROD, they kept selling them until there was such a loud outcry from the public that they had to do something! Besides 2.41 is now out so this has been put to bed.
July 9th, 2008
One more thing CAD, going on how you judged what percentage of people downloaded it. None of my friends downloaded it except me. So that must mean only 10% of owners downloaded it. That’s how your polls work right CAD?
July 10th, 2008
Cry baby …. does that do it for you Kevin…english a hard language to understand m8? And you have the gall to have a go at DAVE for poor writing skills. Perhaps re-learn reading your reading skills…or are still learning it at school?
July 10th, 2008
spidey – you’re a tool. i point out dave’s OBVIOUS bias and i’m in the wrong? face it; dave p is NOT a writer, and from all indicators will never be one.
July 10th, 2008
wylie – would you prefer they stopped selling the 360 at the first sign of problems? why didn’t sony do that with the ps2? you sony fans are the biggest group of hypocrites on the planet…
July 10th, 2008
Kev- I was talking about the Ps3 and 360 not the PS2. Can’t live in the past forever. Besides, you calling anyone a hypocrite is calling the kettle black.
July 10th, 2008
wylie – my point, that you convienently ignore, is that you have ZERO room to whine about quality when your demigods, sony, did it faaaaar worse than ms did… the shipped broken units and REFUSED to accept responsibility until the courts made them. ms had a design flaw and immediately took steps to correct it at their expense. yet, you only think ms should be crucified…. interesting….
okay, lets not live in the past.. the rrod issue is past..so let it go…
face it; you only WANT to talk about the ps3 because talking about the ps2 underscores your hypocricy. nice job….
July 10th, 2008
Yes Kev we have all read your rants on the PS2 issue a hundred times now. I don’t dwell on it anymore it was how long ago? Our discussion in these posts are usually about this generation of consoles, not last gen. If you read my original post the only reason I brought up RROD is to point out a strategy to stop the bricking before it got out of hand like the 360 issue. Secondly I’m sick of you & Cad acting like M$ stepped in with their warranty out of the goodness of their heart. Bulls**t they did it because of the money they would have lost in sales if they didn’t do it. Plus if they did nothing there ass would be in court as well!
July 10th, 2008
wylie – ms took the road of integrity. i know you don’t realize this, but it’s the truth. it would have helped them more doing what sony did last gen. by ignoring the issue, many consumers were forced to buy a second and third ps2 (otherwise sending their money and library to the trash can) which they then counted as a “sale”, thus padding their “120 million ps2 sold” number. by hosing the consumer last gen, sony actually HELPED themselves. very dishonest and done intentionally…
the point i’ve always tried to make is that NO tech is perfect. the ps3 is not perfect, the 360 is not perfect and neither is the wii. to ONLY hold ms accountable for mistakes is hypocritical as the ps3 is being bricked by their own psn “service”. until you’re willing to look and address the whole issue of quality, equitably, you shouldn’t address it at all. and neither should Mike P, but that wont’ stop him from posting other anti -360 gibberish..
July 10th, 2008
Kev- I agree that no console is perfect, any kind of product can have defects. However your road of integrity line is not truth, its opinion. Just like my opinion is that Microsoft and integrity shouldn’t be aloud in the same sentence. Also microsoft isn’t perfect at downloads either, if you look there is an article on M$ download on pc that messed up peoples online service! You know what don’t look at the article on this site Dave wrote it so you wouldn’t believe it anyway!
July 11th, 2008
wylie – since you don’t want to keep the focus on gaming (consoles) then i can introduce the fact that sony crashed MANY pc with their DRM fiasco, and had many laptops explode into flames with sony batteries. this is why i laugh when you clowns equate sony to quality.
July 11th, 2008
Kev- I thought I told you not to read that article!lol. Once again I admit that Sony is NOT perfect, I can live with that. You on the other hand can not deal with the fact that Microsoft isn’t either.
July 11th, 2008
Kev, I have already made you look like an idiot (not hard really) You really want to keep going. You have shown your reading skills are somewhat lacking….and then have a go at the article writer as being useless, just because he doesn’t blow sunshine up M$ ass….. FANBOY.
He can have a bias, but at least he points out the bad and good points of ALL systems.
You are an idiot…no go away. you have already lowered my IQ just by arguing with you. Begone you little troll.
July 16th, 2008
My launch Elite just RRoD last night! I think this story jinxed me.
July 17th, 2008
My Elite just gor RROD yesterday. It is going to Germany to get fixed…….
After 6 months…..
I love my XBOX nevertheless…..
July 25th, 2008
my elite has just died too! three red lights,its gone to germany aswell,will they fix or replace ?