Has it been long enough? Ok good. Sorry for your loss. When I got my arcade unit for $99 last November (and moved my old 120gb HDD over), I almost passed at Walmart's "extended warranty" offer. Thankfully I spent the extra $40, which covers me for 3 years (it hasn't even been 1, obviously). It's a nice lil security blanket :) Hopefully you get your repaired/new unit soon. Now excuse me while I get another 10k achievement points and widen the gap ^__^
Thankfully my 360 is apparently still covered for RRoD failures through March. It was honestly just sad to see it working one minute, get the visual problem, turn it off thinking a wire was unplugged, and then seeing that horrible red glow. I'm planning on getting a slim eventually and will definitely go with an extended warranty at that time.
Noooooooo! Clearly I need to spend the next week acquiring games which are easy 1ks! Avatar, TMNT, Backyard Football, CSI... here I come! ;)
Aw, frack! There ain't a 7/11 within twenty miles of here!
...
Anyway, sorry to hear about your Xbox. It happens to the best of us... in fact, I'd go so far as to say that it happens to ALL of us. I was able to fix my system, but if you're more comfortable having Microsoft deal with it, go ahead. I just don't think they get to the heart of the problem. One of the big reasons the system overheats is because of the X-Clamps on the bottom of the motherboard that Microsoft staunchly refuses to retire. Hey guys, the branding doesn't work so well when 99% of Xbox owners will never see it.
Enh, it's under warranty and it's not that I'll be totally deprived of gaming in the interim. I was planning on upgrading to a slim anyways, so this XBox is just gonna be a temporary thing.
I didn't know that about the X-Clamps though. The failure rate's been reduced significantly, so I didn't think there was such a holdover component that was problematic!
Even the new slimline model has one... just one this time, since the CPU and GPU have been merged. My understanding is that the X-Clamp(s) put pressure on the board and eventually loosen the chips underneath, making it tough for them to communicate with the rest of the parts on the motherboard. When I fixed mine, I had to ditch the X-Clamps and unplug the system fan briefly to heat up the CPU and GPU, presumably to reflow the solder for a better connection. The clamps have been permanently retired, replaced with washers and screws that relieve pressure on the board and allow for some airflow under it.
The new systems have a reduced failure rate because they don't run as hot as the old ones. It's possible that this means the X-Clamps are no longer an issue, but they had to be removed from my launch model.
Comments 7
Reply
Reply
Has it been long enough? Ok good.
Sorry for your loss. When I got my arcade unit for $99 last November (and moved my old 120gb HDD over), I almost passed at Walmart's "extended warranty" offer. Thankfully I spent the extra $40, which covers me for 3 years (it hasn't even been 1, obviously). It's a nice lil security blanket :)
Hopefully you get your repaired/new unit soon. Now excuse me while I get another 10k achievement points and widen the gap ^__^
Reply
Noooooooo! Clearly I need to spend the next week acquiring games which are easy 1ks! Avatar, TMNT, Backyard Football, CSI... here I come! ;)
Reply
...
Anyway, sorry to hear about your Xbox. It happens to the best of us... in fact, I'd go so far as to say that it happens to ALL of us. I was able to fix my system, but if you're more comfortable having Microsoft deal with it, go ahead. I just don't think they get to the heart of the problem. One of the big reasons the system overheats is because of the X-Clamps on the bottom of the motherboard that Microsoft staunchly refuses to retire. Hey guys, the branding doesn't work so well when 99% of Xbox owners will never see it.
Reply
I didn't know that about the X-Clamps though. The failure rate's been reduced significantly, so I didn't think there was such a holdover component that was problematic!
Reply
The new systems have a reduced failure rate because they don't run as hot as the old ones. It's possible that this means the X-Clamps are no longer an issue, but they had to be removed from my launch model.
Reply
Leave a comment