So, my 360 went quietly in its sleep the other day...

[Darksider]

Now that's more like it. I knew I'd never seen a product with such a pitifully small duration on the warranty. Someone needs their head kicking in the US to allow this kind of crap.

[Conservative moron] But Valdamar, don't you realize that the free market will magically even itself out when everyone everywhere stops buying XBOX 360s until microsoft is forced to offer a longer warrenty? RAR THE FREE MARKET WILL ALIGN ITSELF! ME SMASH EUROPEAN COMMUNIST PIGS! RAR! [/conservative moron]

[Stark]

Hilarious. Call the fair trade comm... I mean the ACCC... I mean the consumer righ... oh wait, you're Americans. LOL! Taste the invisible hand, bitches. My nanny state rules you.

I hear a lot of 360s killing themselves. Is it hardware failure, or MS's update thing fucked up? What sort of fault could make a console die mid-game like that?

[Shogoki]

90 days? How the hell do they get away with that when Nintendo keeps their consoles under warranty for a whole year?

Because they sell the hardware at a loss, when you buy cheap stuff corners have to be cut somewhere. Not saying i approve, but really, you can't really act all annoyed when you're buying stuff that's made to be cheaper than it actually cost to make and it turns out there's a catch to it.

[Stark]

Yeah, you could never demand that a product meet a certain minimum standard of merchantability! US DAMN SOCIALISTS!

[Bounty]

Not saying i approve, but really, you can't really act all annoyed when you're buying stuff that's made to be cheaper than it actually cost to make and it turns out there's a catch to it.

I expect the hardware I buy to work and I most certainly expect the manufacturer to have sufficient confidence in his product to offer more than a token warranty.

I don't care if they sold the 360 for $19.99 and a hug - I payed for it, I expect it to work.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

This kind of news really makes me apprehensive of our potential plans of eventually picking up a 360 some time after the first price drop, as a nice high-end companion for the Wii...

[Admiral Valdemar]

So then buy a PS3. It's pricey, so it must be built solid.

[Stark]

This kind of news really makes me apprehensive of our potential plans of eventually picking up a 360 some time after the first price drop, as a nice high-end companion for the Wii...

SCAREMONGERING.

I'm curious as to the nature of these faults. Unless they're all different and the 360 just has shocking build quality... I can't think of any one component of the 360 which would be prone to such quick failure. Maybe they have the worst HDDs in the world? Maybe they have serious cooling flaws?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

So then buy a PS3. It's pricey, so it must be built solid.

I actually had a dream last night that we bought a PS3 a couple days after getting our Wii. For some reason it it had two drives...

[Admiral Valdemar]

If there weren't any scantily clad girls in that dream doing your bidding, I'm about to call you weird.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Maybe they have serious cooling flaws?

I do know that their cooling is definately not perfect. I recall in Ben Heck's coverage for building that 360 laptop, that the CPU and GPU run very hot even with cooling.

[Ubiquitous]

So then buy a PS3. It's pricey, so it must be built solid.

I actually had a dream last night that we bought a PS3 a couple days after getting our Wii. For some reason it it had two drives...

Why am I not surprised you were dreaming about computers?

[Gaidin]

Maybe they have serious cooling flaws?

Anecdotal of course, but there are people who like to keep their system on a friggin carpet where airflow is worth shit. Guess what happens then.

[phongn]

The Xbox 360 produces a lot of heat and you need to ensure that there's plenty of room around it so that it doesn't roast.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

So then buy a PS3. It's pricey, so it must be built solid.

I actually had a dream last night that we bought a PS3 a couple days after getting our Wii. For some reason it it had two drives...

Why am I not surprised you were dreaming about computers?

Eh? That puzzles me, because other than frequently using computers for a lot of general stuff, I don't know much of a damn thing about them.

[Ypoknons]

MS' supreme plan. Bring out a game that is in actuality a cleverly disguised coded apoptosis signal to the Xbox unit. It happens just after the warranty expires, ergo, you have to buy a whole new console to run those expensive games you've got sitting there.

Brilliant!

Given how MS makes a loss every 360 they sell, wouldn't they actually just lose another $100?

[Count Dooku]

The Xbox 360 produces a lot of heat and you need to ensure that there's plenty of room around it so that it doesn't roast.

Yes indeed - the cause of most of the heat-related issues at launch were due to people cramming their 360 inside tiny entertainment centers, and not giving it enough room to breath.

On topic: I know it's a long shot, but did you buy your 360 at Costco? If so, they'll take it back, and give you a new one for free. Personally, I always caugh up the extra dough for a warranty that seems reasonable, ie, I buy a warranty for the amount of time I think I'll use the product (or, as long as possible). I've done that with every piece of electronics I've owned, and I think I've saved more money than I've dished out. Sometimes buying mass-market electronics can be very hit-or-miss.

[Vendetta]

Hilarious. Call the fair trade comm... I mean the ACCC... I mean the consumer righ... oh wait, you're Americans. LOL! Taste the invisible hand, bitches. My nanny state rules you.

I hear a lot of 360s killing themselves. Is it hardware failure, or MS's update thing fucked up? What sort of fault could make a console die mid-game like that?

The invisible hand gives no reacharound, bitch!

On the bricking - there are a couple of causes. One is certainly the updates, Microsoft have admitted that the fall update caused some bricks. (There are rumours that some Wiis are being bricked by an update, they are, after all, firmware flashes). I also hear that some of the DVD drives in Xbox 360s are, shall we say, a bit on the cheap and nasty side, and they have some read faults which can cause either a DRE or a game freeze.

[Vendetta]

Given how MS makes a loss every 360 they sell, wouldn't they actually just lose another $100?

Actually, the Premium unit is now selling at a $71 profit. The loss on the core can't be that big either (though they're undoubtedly raking it on the hard drive).

[Icehawk]

I recall reading that MS is going to switch to using 65nm CPU's in the 360 in early 2007. I'd think this should get rid of any overheating issues it may have.

[Gerard_Paloma]

Basically, here's the question: is there any way for me to get this nebulous "hardware failure" fixed without letting MS screw me, or should I just resign myself to the inevitable?

Assuming you either registered the console online or told the tech support person that you got your box 5 months ago, they've got you on the expired warranty.

However, if you call back and request to speak with a supervisor, they can offer a 50% discount on the out of warranty repair; if you make it clear that you think a 90 day warranty is total bullshit, of course. That's what I did. I'm not sure if you can complain to the point of getting a free out of warranty repair, but it might be worth a shot.

The 90 day warranty isn't even the worst part about the 360 repair experience, though. Once they ship your replacement, you've only got an additional 30 days. So if you want to shell out for MS's extended warranty ($40 for 1 year or $60 for two years), you've gotta be quick about it.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

(There are rumours that some Wiis are being bricked by an update, they are, after all, firmware flashes).

That itself has me a bit concerned, since it'll be a while before our unit gets online, plus hopefully there's a good chance that the number of affected units is very small.

[Stark]

I'm pretty dubious about reports of updates released within a week killing consoles, to be honest. Once again, it just sounds like scaremongering 'lol teh wii does it too' nonsense.

At least Wii has an actual warranty: if there are problems they'll be worked out at no cost to consumers, unlike MS who waited until warranties were void before deploying their update that killed 360s.

[Malfeas]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your 360. But if microsoft wont repair it and you want to replace, I recommend waiting until 1st quarter 2007. As mentioned before, microsoft should be releasing an updated version and I think also reducing the price. Or if you do replace it immediately, you could also look into a watercooling or fan case mod.

Also, does anyone know if the Bestbuy extended warranty is worth it? I recently purchased a 360 and was in a hurry and familiar with the failure rate, so I agreed for the extra 30$ charge for the warranty (I'm a sucker, I know). But if something does happen, what are the odds that besbuy will honor the warranty?

[Jaepheth]

Some credit cards have an automatic +1 year extended warranty when you use it to purchase something.

So if you used a credit card to buy the 360, you may want to look into that.