Turns out the new refurb Xboxes? Not so much any better than the old ones

[Arclight]

Still on my first one. I have till March when the MS warranty runs out. But I bought 2 years extended with Future Shop..So I'm hoping it lasts at least until March, then I could just exchange it for another at the local Future Shop.

Granted I probably don't play mine nearly as much as you guys do....Thats probably the only reason my original is still working.

[Interloper]

After the Spring update, my first and original 360 died on me - I got the RROD that same night I applied the update.  Did the 1 month dance of repair with MS.  They sent me a refurb.  Tonight, I applied the Fall update.  Go to play HL2, and there are wierd vertical lines all over, then an error screen pops up along with 1 red quadrant.  Fuggin great!!  According to their database, it's "a hardware failure"  No shit!  Anyway, I follow the steps, and sure enough it's no help.  Then I go to the MS tech support forums, and apparently a lot of other people had the exact same scenario - applied update, got vertical artifacts, then the error message and 1 red quadrant (not covered by the warranty BTW!)  WTF kinda quality control do they have for these updates?  After my first 360 died within minutes of applying the spring update, I thought it was coincidence.  But having it happen again tonight within minutes up doing the fall update?  Hmm...

So now I get to call MS again, send them another $100 to fix their own faulty product (I take pristine care of this thing - fat lotta good it does me) and I find myself seriously considering just giving up on MS altogether.  Without a doubt this is the worst piece of electronics equipment I've owned.

Edit:  Ok, well at least they are NOT going to charge me for this repair.  Even though it's not a RROD, just one quadrant.  So I'm not as pissed now.

[CeeKay]

yeah, I'll be waiting until I finish Mass Effect before I update my 360 for the Fall Bricking.

[Turtle]

At this point, MS is in no position to ignore any hardware problems.  The warranty may only cover the 3 red rings, but they're taking in a lot of things simply because the hardware issue is so bad, if they start refusing service the media attention will then attract more people to join class action lawsuits.

[Purge]

Destructor, you don't need to be signed into Live, just logged into the console with the account that "bought" it.

It's licensing; they just don't let you move the license from the original source without being logged into the entitled account. I can access my content without internet connectivity; I just can't access it when "Purge" isn't signed into the console.

It's too bad you can't assign a primary console to the license... so if you get a replacement you can still play the content "natively".

[Kevin Grey]

I called to check status on my repair.  Max could only tell me now that I had a ticket and guessed 10-15 business days.  When I talked to a CSR, she at first thought that my box had just sent out, but when I pointed out that the repair center had received my box (from my tracking number), she was able to confirm that and told me to expect a wait of 3-4 weeks.  Unfortunately, both those estimates put me right at Christmas.

My replacement tried* to show up yesterday.  So that makes it almost exactly three weeks to the day from when it broke. 

* Evidently MS mandates signature required for delivery.  I didn't know that was the case or I would have had it shipped to my office.  As it is I'll either have to go and pick up it at the distro center or need to see if UPS will let me change the delivery address since it's i nthe same city. 

[olaf]

Ok so what is the deal now on the warranty?

I just got one, I want to say it says 3 month warranty?

[Hrothgar]

Well, despite my fears and the official estimates my repaired 360 returned yesterday.  So that was only eight business days from my initial call and four business days after they received it at the repair center.  Busy day yesterday and I only got it hooked up and verified it worked and didn't crash immediately on booting Mass Effect.  I got a chance to test it today and so far so good.  The unit has the same serial number and born on date.  I did have to resync controllers and redo the network config and media center setup.

I think I mentioned that I did send in my power supply.  They sent back a new power supply.  It appears to be a different model.  It doesn't have a three prong connector, just two.  Otherwise it looks like the old power brick.

Hopefully my service wasn't a fluke or the result of my checking up on it.  Hopefully they've got the process down now.

[Destructor]

I think I mentioned that I did send in my power supply.  They sent back a new power supply.  It appears to be a different model.  It doesn't have a three prong connector, just two.  Otherwise it looks like the old power brick.

They sent a non-grounded power supply? Why the hell would they do that?

Destructor, you don't need to be signed into Live, just logged into the console with the account that "bought" it.

On my 360, I have to be signed into Live to use my purchased stuff. How do I know this? I own the Oblivion wallpaper (which I paid for) and it will not show up as my background until I sign into Live (which I always had to do manually for whatever reason, despite the option selected to sign into Live automatically).

[CeeKay]

I think I mentioned that I did send in my power supply.  They sent back a new power supply.  It appears to be a different model.  It doesn't have a three prong connector, just two.  Otherwise it looks like the old power brick.

They sent a non-grounded power supply? Why the hell would they do that?

yeah, that was the first thing that popped into my mind too.  It's been awhile since I checked, but isn't it a 3 prong plug that goes into the outlet and another 3 prongs that goes into the back of the 360?

[JCC]

I am pretty sure my month-ish old 360 doesn't have a ground plug either.

[gellar]

Just checked online and I have a new serial # and a notice that it's been shipped.  Reasonably fast turnaround time too.

I hope this new one doesn't suck.

gellar

[Kevin Grey]

Just checked online and I have a new serial # and a notice that it's been shipped.  Reasonably fast turnaround time too.

I hope this new one doesn't suck.

gellar

Just received mine and it looks like I received the exact same machine back (with a build date of 11-3-2005).  That, uh, doesn't fill me with warm fuzzies. Might consider selling this one in the near future and buying a new model from Costco. 

Do I get a new three year warranty now or do I have just one more year? 

On the bright side they included one free month of Live with it.  Guess I can use it if I ever want to download some demos

[Scraper]

Just checked online and I have a new serial # and a notice that it's been shipped.  Reasonably fast turnaround time too.

I hope this new one doesn't suck.

gellar

Just received mine and it looks like I received the exact same machine back (with a build date of 11-3-2005).  That, uh, doesn't fill me with warm fuzzies. Might consider selling this one in the near future and buying a new model from Costco. 

Do I get a new three year warranty now or do I have just one more year? 

On the bright side they included one free month of Live with it.  Guess I can use it if I ever want to download some demos

I'll take it off your hands for $100 plus shipping.

[Kevin Grey]

I'll take it off your hands for $100 plus shipping.

Heh, I"m not quite that desperate

[gellar]

Just checked online and I have a new serial # and a notice that it's been shipped.  Reasonably fast turnaround time too.

I hope this new one doesn't suck.

gellar

Just received mine and it looks like I received the exact same machine back (with a build date of 11-3-2005).  That, uh, doesn't fill me with warm fuzzies. Might consider selling this one in the near future and buying a new model from Costco. 

Do I get a new three year warranty now or do I have just one more year? 

On the bright side they included one free month of Live with it.  Guess I can use it if I ever want to download some demos

I believe the warranty is 3 years from the original purchase date, period for RRoD.  Your refurb has like a 90 day warranty for all issuess.

I now have (or rather, will have) 4 free month of Live cards.

gellar

[Kevin Grey]

Hm, then I think I will almost certainty selling this one before next November rolls around.  I flat out don't trust the original hardware to have any sort of longevity at all. 

[gellar]

Hm, then I think I will almost certainty selling this one before next November rolls around.  I flat out don't trust the original hardware to have any sort of longevity at all. 

Yeah I've already decided that once MS decides to stop replacing their broken hardware, I decide to be a Sony only customer.

gellar

[rickfc]

Yeah I've already decided that once MS decides to stop replacing their broken hardware, I decide to be a Sony only customer.

gellar

That would be a terrible PR move by MS if they ever decided to stop replacing their faulty hardware, especially now that they have a much larger share of the market.

[Kevin Grey]

Hm, then I think I will almost certainty selling this one before next November rolls around.  I flat out don't trust the original hardware to have any sort of longevity at all. 

Yeah I've already decided that once MS decides to stop replacing their broken hardware, I decide to be a Sony only customer.

gellar

Well, barring Hank Raptor-esque faiures in the meantime, I'll buy another 360 to replace it.  I'll just make sure I get it from Costco so I can replace it without issue in the future. 

[Calvin]

Hm, then I think I will almost certainty selling this one before next November rolls around.  I flat out don't trust the original hardware to have any sort of longevity at all. 

Yeah I've already decided that once MS decides to stop replacing their broken hardware, I decide to be a Sony only customer.

gellar

Well, barring Hank Raptor-esque faiures in the meantime, I'll buy another 360 to replace it.  I'll just make sure I get it from Costco so I can replace it without issue in the future. 

Man sorry to hear about all that Kevin, pretty remarkable they just turned around and possibly shipped the same box back to you-just nutty (presumably fixed).

[Kevin Grey]

Man sorry to hear about all that Kevin, pretty remarkable they just turned around and possibly shipped the same box back to you-just nutty (presumably fixed).

Yeah, I'm hoping that they at least slapped on a new heatsink or something but there is a part of me that fears that they plugged it in, it happened to boot, they shrugged their shoulders, and put it right back in the box and shipped it back to me. 

[gellar]

Hm, then I think I will almost certainty selling this one before next November rolls around.  I flat out don't trust the original hardware to have any sort of longevity at all. 

Yeah I've already decided that once MS decides to stop replacing their broken hardware, I decide to be a Sony only customer.

gellar

Well, barring Hank Raptor-esque faiures in the meantime, I'll buy another 360 to replace it.  I'll just make sure I get it from Costco so I can replace it without issue in the future. 

My RRoD warranty runs until Dec 2008, according to the MS website.  If mine fails post then... unless somehow MS has really managed to grab a large amount of system exclusives, there's just not any reason for me to replacement out of my own pocket.

gellar

[Hrothgar]

I think I mentioned that I did send in my power supply.  They sent back a new power supply.  It appears to be a different model.  It doesn't have a three prong connector, just two.  Otherwise it looks like the old power brick.

They sent a non-grounded power supply? Why the hell would they do that?

yeah, that was the first thing that popped into my mind too.  It's been awhile since I checked, but isn't it a 3 prong plug that goes into the outlet and another 3 prongs that goes into the back of the 360?

The old one was three prongs into the outlet and three leads into the brick.  The brick has some pin grid coming out of it into the 360.   The new one has two prongs to the outlet and into the brick:


Here's the label on the brick with the model number:


As to why, I would guess they were having grounding shorts that were causing some of the hardware failures.  If not, perhaps it's just a function of the new motherboard.  The brick is just a transformer right?  Perhaps one of the EE's around here can tell us the difference between a grounded and ungrounded transformer.

[IkeVandergraaf]

Heh, you said prong.

[gellar]

2.5 weeks later, the replacement is here.  It looks new, has a manufacture date of 11/22/07, but has no HDMI.

I hope it doesn't suck.

gellar

[Bullwinkle]

I also got the two pronged plug (I think the grid thing is a vent).

I kind of got the impression that they did very little to the unit itself and just replaced the plug.

BTW, I'm taking the HDMI box back to Costco.  I'm too worried about serial numbers and such. 

[Ridah]

2.5 weeks later, the replacement is here.  It looks new, has a manufacture date of 11/22/07, but has no HDMI.

I hope it doesn't suck.

gellar

How in the world could it have been so recently manufactured (not even a month ago!) and not have HDMI? Are they putting new manufacture date stickers on old models?

[gellar]

2.5 weeks later, the replacement is here.  It looks new, has a manufacture date of 11/22/07, but has no HDMI.

I hope it doesn't suck.

gellar

How in the world could it have been so recently manufactured (not even a month ago!) and not have HDMI? Are they putting new manufacture date stickers on old models?

Like I can make sense of anything they do.

gellar

[wonderpug]

I'm pretty sure that's the date the sticker was manufactured.

[semiconscious]

2.5 weeks later, the replacement is here.  It looks new, has a manufacture date of 11/22/07, but has no HDMI.

I hope it doesn't suck.

gellar

How in the world could it have been so recently manufactured (not even a month ago!) and not have HDMI? Are they putting new manufacture date stickers on old models?

Like I can make sense of anything they do.

gellar

like anyone can? - hell, brendan's even gotten tired of stopping by to say he's sorry...

[Bullwinkle]

I'm pretty sure that's the date the sticker was manufactured.

LOL

[Brendan]

2.5 weeks later, the replacement is here.  It looks new, has a manufacture date of 11/22/07, but has no HDMI.

I hope it doesn't suck.

gellar

How in the world could it have been so recently manufactured (not even a month ago!) and not have HDMI? Are they putting new manufacture date stickers on old models?

Like I can make sense of anything they do.

gellar

like anyone can? - hell, brendan's even gotten tired of stopping by to say he's sorry...

Also, I'm shipping product!

But I am still sorry.  I'm not sure if I was already sorry in this thread - tl;dr.

[Hrothgar]

I also got the two pronged plug (I think the grid thing is a vent).

Erm, yes.  The grid I was actually referring to is the opposite end of the power supply.  You know, the part that plugs into the 360.

[Interloper]

I finally got my coffin and so I was able to drop it off at my local ups store.  As I walked in the clerk said "Xbox, right?". 

So I replied "Yeah - let me guess - you've seen a few of these."

His reply: "Well, you're number 5 today alone.  So yeah, I'v seen a few of those."

 

Fantastic product MS. 

[gellar]

Oh regarding the power brick... my replacement 360 has the old style power brick.

Oddly enough, the Costco 360 I need to return has the new style power brick.

I have no idea what any of this means.

gellar

[CeeKay]

Oh regarding the power brick... my replacement 360 has the old style power brick.

Oddly enough, the Costco 360 I need to return has the new style power brick.

I have no idea what any of this means.

gellar

that there are 2 different styles of power bricks out there?



 

[Bullwinkle]

Oh regarding the power brick... my replacement 360 has the old style power brick.

Oddly enough, the Costco 360 I need to return has the new style power brick.

I have no idea what any of this means.

gellar

The Costco unit I'm returning (with HDMI) has the old power brick, while my old replacement unit has the new power brick.