Xbox 360 locking up (1 Viewer)

[Jerry Almeida]

Well, after hearing all of the horror stories about the "bad" 360 consoles, I can now say that I'm one of those stories. I bought by 360 on 3/28 and it started freezing up on my a few weeks ago. I'm now at the point to where it rarely even gets past the 360 logo when you first turn it on.

I called Microsoft last night, and they're sending me a box to ship my unit to their repair center in. I hope this process isn't too frustrating. It's already pretty darn annoying not being able to play something I spent $400 on. Actually, with accessories and games it's almost $1000.

Any other HTF members have 360 console problems? Any experience with Microsoft support?

 

[BillSuneson]

the support at Microsoft was actually pretty good, i had the same problem and i got the box to send to them via fedex, i had a new xbox within a week, they'll prolly just send you a refurbished one

 

[EricW]

so it didn't start acting up until 3 months+ after you bought it? weird...

 

[Jerry Almeida]

Yes, I didn't have a single crash until a few weeks ago, and it's been all downhill after that. Over at the xbox forums there are many folks who got 360 at launch and are just now starting to see it crash.

Thanks Bill. I'm hoping my transaction goes as smoothly as yours. Did you receive emails from Microsoft providing a status throughout the process? I heard they were very good with this for a while, but lately the emails haven't been coming.

I haven't received an email yet telling me my box has shipped, but I only called on Sunday.

Any problems with the refurb? I heard of people that are on the 5th or 6th refurb. Ridiculous if you ask me.

 

[Matt^Brown]

Jerry, may I ask how did your problems start? I bought/ Santa brought a 360 to my house for my son this past Christmas. I personally purchased it from CC online somewhere around Dec. 18th. Up until this last week there has not been one problem with it. My son is only 8 so the 360 stays hooked up to by HT in my living room. He has taken very good care of it and I don't understand why all of a sudden we are now having problems. I do not have it hooked up to Xbox live but I am a subscriber to OXM so I get monthly updates with their demo disc. The unit has always been horizontal and has never been turned vertical. Now games are constantly freezing up and the unit must be completely turned off and restarted.

 

[Jerry Almeida]

There's really not that much to tell, and my story is similar to yours.

It started crashing randomly during different games. At first this led me to believe that it may be an overheating issue. However, then certain games wouldn't even load. Then no games, then it wouldn't even get past the 360 logo. This whole process took about a month.

I took excellent care of my 360 as well, kept it horizontal, and I'm not a hard core gamer so I wasn't putting a lot of hours on it.

I was in the same state of disbelief that you are. It made no sense that it would just stop working. If you have a chance, go to the xbox forums. You'll see that there are many people who just started having problems out of no where.

While I hope your issue turns out differently, I think your 360 will progressivly get worse.

Here's a Linkto the Microsoft troublshooting page. Maybe you'll have some luck, most don't.

Update to anyone who cares. My replacement unit should be delivered today.

 

[Matt^Brown]

Jerry,
You replied while I was on vacation and then I had some family issues come up. Point of all of this is I do care because I had to call Microsoft Monday 8th to let them know about my problem. After a short talk they told me that my system was dead and that I needed to send it back in for repair. I bought the extended warranty so they told me that my repair would be free but that if not for that I would have been charged $129. Did you get charged or did you get yours fixed for free? I learned my lesson on the extended warranty after being burned on the PS2. I bought on launch day and had a failure within 6 months and had to pay out of pocket. Lastly did it arrive on when it was suppose to?

 

[HarryEV]

I have a question for those who have bought the extended warranty for the 360? How long did it take to get any information back on the warranty after you sent in the money and paper work? It has been almost four months for me and I still haven't seen a thing from Microsoft. Thanks

 

[Matt^Brown]

Harry, I did not receive anything from Microsoft about my extended warranty. I bank online so I just printed out a copy of the cleared check that Microsoft had cashed. However this was not needed because when I called them to inform them of my problem they quickly pulled up my unit by serial number. With this information they were able to verify my name, address, and my extended warranty.

 

[Scott Walburn]

Mine just starting locking up out of nowhere. I babied that unit so much. I had it 9 months, and had no problems prior to this. I didn't have the extended warranty, and microsoft told me it would be 129 bucks. I said ok, but man am I mad. Even after I get it fixed, I only get a 90 day warranty with a option to purchase a longer one. I'm so frustrated. I can't believe I spent so much on something that only lasts 9 months. Anyways, I had two xbox's and numerous other microsoft merchandise. I guess it is buyer beware, but I thought 129 bucks was ridiculous. My buddy had a problem with his original xbox long after the warranty was up, and they fixed it for free. I was hoping that would be the case. Oh well

 

[Matt^Brown]

Scott I feel your pain. I bought a launch PS2 about 6 years ago now. I sat in line for 6 hours the night before they came out just so I could buy one at midnight. The sad part is I was not a boy but a grown man with a wife and children at home. Haha. Anyway six months later my $329 PS2 was broken and my disc that was inside was burned up. Really it looked like the lazer had scratched it. Now here is where things get funny. Sony made me pay to repair the PS2 for $110 but replaced the disc for free because of hardware failure. WTF? Up until that point I had been a Playstation Fanboy but that left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

I learned a hard lesson on that experience and when I bought my 360 I got the extended warranty. After checking the forums I would advise you to buy the extended warranty now because I have read of multiple failures so do not expect this to be your only one.

 

[Jerry Almeida]

I apologize for not responding to this sooner. Let's just say xbox hasn't been a priority in my life lately.

I did not purchase the extended warranty, and my repair was still free. I originally purchased the unit on 3/8.


A follow up to the story . . .

The replacement was delivered to my house via UPS. They did not require signature, so it was sitting on the front porch. Well when I opened the box the unit was physically damaged. The front right corner was smashed it. The unit still worked, although my Battlefield II disc didn't work anymore. I didn't try any other games for fear of damaging more games. I'm not sure if the replacement unit damaged the disc or not.

I called Microsoft the same day, and the process started over again. At least this time they offered me a free game, and that was delivered to my home in a matter of days. I actually never got around to sending the second unit back until a couple of days ago. We'll see what happens.

 

[Brian_Pete]

Just to add to this I have a friend from work who had to return three units before he finally got one that works. I haven't heard any complaints so far on the last unit which he's had for 3 or 4 months now.

I just received mine this week and I'll definitely be buying the warranty for the peace of mind. $60 should get you 3 years instead of 2 though. I can't believe that the original warranty is only 3 months. What, no confidence in your product Microsoft?

 

[Jerry Almeida]

I don't know where you purchased yours Brian, but I regret not buying mine at Best Buy and getting their service plan. That would eliminate all the shipping back and forth. I could just swap it BB whenever I have problems.

 

[Matt^Brown]

I would like to keep this thread alive for two reasons.

1. Update - I received my refurbished unit yesterday. It is not the original unit I sent to Microsoft and they sent a letter stating this and they did not repair mine so that I could get a unit back quicker.

2. I find the people on this forum to be honest where as the gaming sites have a lot of kids spaming and making up stories. Hopefully Microsoft isn't really having that many problems with the 360 but I am starting to believe that the number is much higher then they are letting on.

 

[Romier S]

Matt,

I run a forum of my own dedicated to mature gaming discussion where a large group of the membership are Xbox 360 owners. We recently did a poll and out of the 50+ members that voted, we discovered that almost 22% have had to have had thier 360's sent in for either service or replacement. That's a small test group of course and is not 100% indicative of the 5 million plus Xbox 360 owners out there at the moment, but it's an astonishing number of failures really. I'm mystified that Microsoft does not warranty this $300-$400 dollar device for at least a year. We, as consumers, should not be forced into extended warranties or extra money to ensure that an electronics device lasts for more than 8 months after launch. Even worse most of these machines that do fail do so via no other action than simply regular use! That's absolutely atrocious customer service IMHO.

I've got a launch unit myself that has worked flawlessly (knock on wood). If it does happen to fail within the first year of use, I'll be kicking up a serious shit storm before I ever lay down the $129.99 Microsoft is asking to get the console repaired.

 

[Carl Johnson]

Despite the fact that my original X Box failed years after the manufacturers warranty expired they fixed it for free. That was a good move on their part because before I would have paid for a repair I would have bought a Playstation 2. No need to kick up a shit storm, just take your business elsewhere. Anybody who willingly writes Microsoft a check for repairs nine months after their initial purchase is in no position to complain about having been ripped off.

 

[Romier S]

Isn't that what I just said? You seem to have misunderstood what I wrote. Let me restate: I /WILL/ completely escalate my situation to whatever representative or supervisor under the sun at Microsoft support until they repair my Xbox 360 at no charge. I absolutely refuse to pay $129.99 for the repair of a console 8 months after launch.

 

[Matt^Brown]

Carl I have to politely disagree with you on this one. Most of us with a 360 have $1000 or more invested once you consider controllers and games so just taking your business elsewhere is not that easy. That is a lot of money to me and I can't just walk away from that and throw another $1000 or more at the PS3 when it comes out in another 3 to 6 months.

As I stated in my earlier thread my PS2 broke 8 months after launch and I was forced to pay for the repair. Look over the internet and you will see where there were many problems with the PS2 as well. If I am correct a class action lawsuit was just won against Sony this past year for faulty units and for forcing people to pay for the repairs.

 

[Bryan^H]

I have been playing dead rising for the 360, and all of a sudden the game locks up, and a message appears DISC IS DIRTY, OR DAMAGED. So I take the disc out, and presto!! No smudges, no scratches or anything. Is this a software, or hardware problem ? Does anyone know?