Red Ring Chronicles Pt 1: Death
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Aug 2nd 2007 at 11:30AM }
Well kiddies, it finally happened. No, I'm not going slightly mad; my Xbox 360 has officially decided to call it quits. the Red Ring of Death has arrived and refuses to leave. In the coming weeks -- perhaps months -- I will be chronicling its repair here on X3F.
The Red Ring of Death made its first visit about a week ago, after some extended sessions of Crackdown. It popped up on a few other occasions throughout the week, but would go away after a brief period of downtime. Finally, after a quick local session of Bomberman Live with my friends, the next power cycle produced a red ring that won't go away. For the record, my 360 was situated as you see it above. It was vertical, in completely open air, and placed at a diagonal angle behind my TV in a very feng shui kind of way. Considering that fateful game of Bomberman had been the first time my close friends and I had played the game since the Saturn Bomberman days of yore, I find the timing to be somewhat poetic. Or perhaps overtly cruel. Depends on how you look at it I guess.
Gallery: Red Ring Chronicles
The next day (yesterday) I placed a call to Xbox customer support. The first step in one of these calls is to argue with an unhelpful automaton for a few minutes. After exhausting every combination of unplugging, replugging, and hard drive removal, I was finally directed to an agent. Or, rather, I was directed to some very upbeat hold music. After several minutes of tapping my toes to the beat, I was connected with a human being. The agent was perfectly polite, no hassles or anything like that. He took down my shipping info and told me that my coffin would ship out in 5 to 7 days. He then hit me with gut-wrenching information that the repair itself would take 4 to 6 weeks. Ouch. And yes, if you've extended those dates out to their extremes, that gets my Xbox back to me just days before the release of Halo 3, and that's without adding any shipping time. Now I know what it's like to live every moment of my life in fear.
Next time on the Red Ring Chronicles: the coffin.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
ANt @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:33AM
Welcome to the club.
MS had mine for 37 days before I got it back. It got lost in there warehouse.
Comforting, I know.
ANt @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:35AM
One other thing, I live in a large community, and my UPS guys said he sees one busted 360 a week coming in or going out!!
Tony @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:35AM
I tried chronicling my repair story as well, but basically it wound up being "Shipped it off, they got it, then the site said 'no pending repair' and now I'm waiting for a new tracking number.
I'd say it's been almost three weeks total if I count from when I actually sent the box off. It took about 5 days to get the box, though.
I think that recording is named "Max". I did what he said, but had to hang up to even do half of it. The next time I just said "next" over and over lol.
The dates sound longer than they have been in the past. I think was I was told 3 weeks on the phone, but this was literally four days before the extended warranty announcement. I had to pay $140, which I should get back eventually at least.
I did notice that they seem to have taken that "we will return the system to you in five business days" thing off of their site. I wonder if that was EVER accurate.
Evan @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:40AM
I'm pretty genuinely tired of bloggers making posts about their dead 360s. We get it -- you're hoping Microsoft sees it, and somehow speeds along your system's delivery. In the meanwhile, it's fucking uninteresting, useless content for the rest of us.
SAGExSDX @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:37AM
i personally feel like its more worth it to void my warranty and fix it myself. only takes like half an hour, most of the time due to the effort required to take apart the 360.
Loban @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:40AM
That's it, I'm officially waiting until the Falcon (65nm Xbox 360) hits to get one.
DjDATZ @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:41AM
Well, guess what? I had the RRoD visit me last night... yet again. (Btw, I JUST recieved a replacement console AT THE BEGINNING OF JULY!!!)
Rich, don't worry about the bullshit dates they give you. I've had my console in for repairs twice, and looks like this'll be a third time and they've always gotten the console back to me in a week or so. But then again, this is Canada...so I'm guessing it happens less.
Tyler @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:43AM
I am surprised at you Mitchell. I would think you would have been smart enough to get a in store warranty. They are so much better then sending it to MS. Just give the store your broken 360 and they give you a brand new one on the spot.
DjDATZ @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:43AM
Well, guess what? I had the RRoD visit me last night... yet again. (Btw, I JUST recieved a replacement console AT THE BEGINNING OF JULY!!!)
Rich, don't worry about the bullshit dates they give you. I've had my console in for repairs twice, and looks like this'll be a third time and they've always gotten the console back to me in a week or so. But then again, this is Canada...so I'm guessing it happens less.
Token @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:44AM
I feel for you man. Crackdown killed my 360 too.
Richard Mitchell @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:44AM
"I'm pretty genuinely tired of bloggers making posts about their dead 360s. We get it -- you're hoping Microsoft sees it, and somehow speeds along your system's delivery. In the meanwhile, it's fucking uninteresting, useless content for the rest of us."
No, if I wanted an expedited repair I'd call up someone from Microsoft and ask for one. I could have done that, but I decided to go the normal route to see how long it really takes for the average repair to go through.
Vipralion @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:44AM
4 to 6 weeks???
My 360 broke down on me the last week of June but it only took about 10 days after I received my box to ship to them, repair my 360, and then ship it back. Yay! The custserv rep even said it'd take 1-2 weeks explaining 3-5 days to ship to and back, and about a week to repair.
Then again, I didn't get 3 red lights, I had a dead disc drive.
Jeff @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:49AM
I just received my 360 back from Microsoft on Tuesday. It took about three weeks from start to finish (from the phone call to support to receiving it back in my hands). They kept my old unit and replaced it with a newly manufactured unit that was made July 14 - it's less than two and a half weeks old.
Here's hoping that you get your console turned around to you in about the same amount of time!
Vader582 @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:47AM
lol...Bravo on the Queen reference, Mitchell!
Tony @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:48AM
With in-store warranties, will they let you just switch the hard drives before you trade for a new unit? I don't want to give up my saves and such too.
Drem @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:50AM
Mine died right at the time of the warranty change announcement. I called on July 5 and they quoted me 4-6 weeks in the shop for the repair. My replacement was in my posession by July 26. I think they're quoting a worst-case scenario, but actual times may vary.
Fjr @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:54AM
Does the warranty extend once they give you a new machine? Do you get another 3-years?
Bmurph @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:54AM
I called two weeks ago. They told me the same thing - 4 - 6 weeks. "Damn", I thought. On Tuesday I had an E-mail from Xbox Support with a UPS tracking number, saying it was on it's way back.
I think Microsoft has this process down very well. People I have spoken to at Microsoft were very polite and understanding. I guess practice makes perfect.
So, keep that in mind. 4 - 6 weeks, could end up being 2 weeks!
DjDATZ @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:55AM
I personally dont deal with Max...I just press 0 until i get someone that'll help me.
Matthew Moore @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:00PM
If my 360 dies between now and the release of Halo 3 I am just going to buy a H3 console and sell my 360 to a friend or something and let him deal with Microsoft.
Good luck Richard I hope your 360 is fixed promptly.
DjDATZ @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:58AM
Right now I'm on the phone with customer support...well actually...on hold...go figure...lol
FJR - they don't extend it. you get the rest of your warranty or a month whichever is longer.
Joshua @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:59AM
@5
Evan,
If anything I think Richard owes it to the community to document his case including updates on the time the repair process takes. We read this site for information and this is blog based news. Personal input from the writer is expected and is what makes these sites as popular as they are.
I don't like to read the stories about this stuff either, but face it...too many units have failed, yes Microsoft has extended the warranty to address it. However, it's writing from these groups that brought it to the attention of the general public and has to be one of many reasons Microsoft was finally forced to admit to the problem.
bdanisek @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:03PM
I'm not sure what to do...two Sundays ago I started to get the RRoD...but it turned on later that day yet kept freezing after a short period. I called and ordered my coffin which I got yesterday, but in the last week my console has gone from booting up and freezing to giving me the RRoD to yesterday playing for about 35 minutes after an initial freeze. It's clearly got hardware issues, but I don't want to send it into Microsoft for them to boot it up and think its fine and send it back to me without fixing the issues.
J8675309 @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:00PM
Call it in, obviously, but after that...
USE THE TOWEL TRICK, IT WORKS, I HAVE DONE IT ON TWO CONSOLES. A friend of mines, and my own, it will make your console work for a few days.
LETSGO 7777 @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:06PM
SORRY RICHARD HAD MY THREE RINGS 4 DAYS B4 THEY EXTENDED WARRANTY I AM GLAD TO SAY THE WHOLE EXPEIENCE TOOK 3 WEEKS START TO FINISH GO MY MACHINE THIS MORN UNFORTUNALLY I BOUGHT ELITE ALREADY
Tony @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:07PM
@17
I was told I'd get another year warranty, but keep in mind that this was before the extension. That's all it was then.
Dan @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:07PM
For future reference you can dial '0' a few times when you call Xbox tech support and bypass the automation menu. This will get you directly to an agent within minutes, worked great when I called in my repair last week. This will be my second repair and the first took about 2.5-3wks, but this is before they extended the warranty.
-Dan
Sam K @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:09PM
Here's an important thing to check:
When you get the RRoD, what color is the light on your power supply?
If the light is GREEN, then it's probably the standard RRoD.
If the light is GREEN when you turn the 360 on, then changes to ORANGE when the RRoD appears, then it may be a bad power supply.
I had a 360 Elite that got the RRoD; I called MS and gave them the symptoms (including the bit about the power supply light)and they said it was the console, and sent in the console only to have the replacement console RRoD on me as soon as I plugged it in. After calling MS and repeating the same symptoms, they said, "Oh, it's the power supply. We're surprised no one caught that the first time you called".
Got a new power supply, and everything's fine.
Granted, given the likelihood that you'll get a true RRoD, it's probably NOT the power supply. But it doesn't hurt to check.
DjDATZ @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:15PM
Apparently...I just heard this from my customer support rep...CANADIAN consoles DO NOT get repaired, they GET REPLACED.
Sweet...since this is my third "repair" I get to talk to a supervisor. Booya.
Robb @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:18PM
Mine died on July 4. Called on July 6 because it was intermittin. Got the box on July 12 and mailed it on July 13. As of August 2 I still dont have it but I got an email yesterday saying it was sent out. I called XBOX and they said they replaced it with a new one. Checked with UPS and it is supposed to be here on August 6. That makes on month from phone call to new console.
Richard Mitchell @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:18PM
Sam K,
Thanks for the tip. I checked the power supply and it stays green, so it looks like it's a genuine Ring of Death.
TORO @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:18PM
"I'm pretty genuinely tired of bloggers making posts about their dead 360s. We get it -- you're hoping Microsoft sees it, and somehow speeds along your system's delivery. In the meanwhile, it's fucking uninteresting, useless content for the rest of us"
You read the first paragraph, now move on to the next blog, don't waste your time posting a meaningless comment. So GTFO.
Scott Williams @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:26PM
5 weeks thats insane. I know it's not the same but I have had 5 ipods in my time 2 of which have broken. With both I rang apple on day one, the box showed up on day two, by day 3 it was in for repair. The ipod returned on day 4, now thats what I call service.
Grant @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:22PM
When i sent mine out it took just about 3 weeks, so unless something wierd happens, your looking at 21 days of TV watching.
as for what everyone else said about crackdown... i think i've had my 360 freeze every 3rd time i played crack-down with another person, theres just something wonky with that game.
Marasai @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:22PM
My sympathy, mr mitchell. I just got mine back.
So allow me to impart my wisdom in this area.
Max can be skipped by saying 'agent' and he will then send you to an actual person. He will still spend 5 minutes telling you about it though.
NEVER use the coffin. Use your own box (or in my case, the box they sent your last replacement in, complete with foam bracers). send a letter in with it, that is clearly visible, outlining your problem. Say you were promised a new one in 5 days. I know that means lying but trust me, no one will ever check. Make sure to complain about lost live time to the agents to get reimbursed for a month (you should have the machine back in about a week)
kevin @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:25PM
my 360 is going on its 10th month and nothing... I noticed theres cool air coming from the opposite side of where the hard drive is which would otherwise be blocked if the system is placed vertically... mines is always horizontal and kinda stuffed in a shelf... maybe the vertical position is blocking air?
Chris @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:29PM
That's pretty ironic since I'm supposed to be getting mine back today. But good luck man.
MYPS3KilledMy360 @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:27PM
mine died i aint getting into the story because im pissed that they dont except anything under the warrenty but red rings. ill buy another instead of paying for repairs. ill buy another when they say all the 360s that are on store shelves no longer have the problem look at this it was bound to happen http://www.qj.net/Breaking-open-the-Xbox-360-brick-issue/pg/49/aid/99007
the question is will it come out before halo3 think about the long hours you'll be playing then your hit with an error or red ring if crackdown seems to be the problem for most bricks then gtaIV is sure to do you in also."my 360 works fine" dude so what yours lasted longer, as far as anyone knows its in all the systems so its a matter of time, maybe your good till the end of 07 then in 08 it gets you. so right now ill kick it with my ps3 i think others should invest in buying one too and stop complaining, some of you have sent in your 360 2 or 3 times and shelled out $280 or$420 on repairs before the 3 year warrenty defeating the purpose of the money you saved. ps3 aint bad its has some upcoming games by the end of summer and fall with all multiplat games by next year it will be fully up to speed then what. im not saying drop 360, but until this problem is solved its not worth the downtime. question while they have your 360 for a month do they give you the month back on live? i think the 3 yr W. is to hold you until the new xbox is announced. that would make almost 5yrs right and fanboys would still be happy to give there money for a new system.
Drunkenshaolin @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:33PM
my 2nd 360 died on sunday..welcome to the club, the good thing only is that no games coming for about a month so wont really lose out on playing new games.
DjDATZ @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:34PM
Well...After sitting on the phone with customer support for 32 minutes and 53 seconds, I talked to a front line agent, and then their supervisor. I got the supervisor because this was my third time sending in the 360 for repairs. I was also assured I'd get a call from a supervisor when I wanted (I told them Tuesday between 9am and 4pm cuz I'm not here from tomorrow till Monday).
Also because it was a supervisor, I requested they send me a 360 manufactured in May 2007 OR LATER, as Microsoft said that after that date consoles were "fixed" and didn't have the problem anymore. He said he would note that, and to tell that to the next supervisor and ask him if it can be done. (Plus this way, I'm basically guaranteed a "brand new" console.)
So thats my part.
ccc @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:37PM
How long have U had Ur 360?
And when they end up sending U a refurbished 360 let me know how well they handle the Ms point reembursing considering all the arcade games and content U purchesed was registered under the old system.
woejilliams @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:38PM
Something I have always wondered about the red ring of death that we may be able to answer here, anecdotally at least. What is your physical set up of the Xbox. Where is it located? Is it next to other electronics? Is it on the carpet? Do you have things setting on it? Is it 3 inches away from the wall? I am not blaming anyone but MS for the problem but it occurs to me that a lot of people may not consider allowing for all that heat to get away from the box. Long gone are the days of the Super Nintendo where you could set the machine on shag carpet and lay a blanket over it and you wouldn't have a problem.
Matt V @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:39PM
I got mine back in less than 3 weeks when it broke back in May.
All in all, it was a pretty painless process, even though I did miss some of the Halo 3 beta.
Mike @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:40PM
I'm not trying to rub this in but this is the reason why I never had and never will own a M$ console..
I dont care how long the warranty is, if it doesnt last then I'm not going to waste my time. Electronics break, its retail but this 33% or potentially 100% failure rate is ridiculous...
I wish you guys the best and hope you get your 360s back in time to enjoy some serious gaming this holiday season.
ANt @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:45PM
@5 Do us all a favor and go away.....far far away.
I can't wait until your 360 dies on you!!
Hopefully it will be three days before a title that you really really want comes out.
David @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:59PM
I too have just joyously received the RED-RING-O-DEATH. However, the interesting thing is, I predicted it. I guessed that if it was going to happen, it would happen in the heat of summer-late July/early August. And it arrived right on schedule. I didn't even play the damn thing for a week, as I was out of the country. But as soon as I fired it up upon my return...Plop...total freeze/RED DEATH.
I'm curious as to how many other people are getting zapped in the summer months. (And yes, I do have A/C, but it's not on all the time when I am out of my house.)
Tony @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:10PM
@woejilliams
I really don't think this is an issue anymore. If anything, it's part of a very small amount of the issue. Richard's post is pretty clear that he had it wide open.
My brothers' was wide open, including the power supply. No carpet. They got the error and just got theirs back.
Mine was wide open, same as the power supply, tons of room, never even really got hot. I even propped it up so that the vents underneath let out air (I use mine horizontally). I still got the problem.
People who complain of this issue months after having the thing are most likely to have a general hardware issue. If they kept it in confined hot quarters all of the time, the thing would freeze up constantly, I'd bet.
Iliad Force @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:10PM
@ 15 (Jeff):
Is your system Elite or Premium or Core? You're sure the thing was manufactured in July '07?
jdubya @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:11PM
mine has been acting up for sometime now, rrod a few times, but basically i got the freezing problem - if its been off for a couple of hours and completely cool, i could play for 20 minutes or so before pgr3/crackdown. I had sonic the hedgehog freezeon me a couple of times.
I decided i'd had enough.. right before i called to request a coffin, i was getting 1 light in the bottom right of the ring. Also error message E 71.
My coffin arrived yesterday and UPS is supposed to be here this afternoon to take it in.
I had to cancel my gamefly and pre-orders.
Because i don't know how long im going to be without it.
Jason @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:13PM
I recently sent my 360 in (beginning of July) and received a new replacement 3 weeks and two days later.
The new unit did have the new heat sink, which should help reduce the chances of the red rings returning.
To check for the new heat sink, see:
http://www.weplayxbox.com/2007/06/20/feeling-cool-how-to-tell-if-your-repaired-xbox-360-has-the-new-additional-heatsink/