OT- Xbox 360 frustration

[wrxgirl]

Any of you get the xbox 360 for your kids or husband, yourself? Well, I got one for my boyfriend and I. At first, it was working perfectly, until I stood it on its side to conserve space. The games and everything are supposed to work with the console standing or laying flat. Well, I was having a hard time with the games off and on.. I would put the discs in and they would not boot up. I would try many different games and nothing.... so I thought maybe it couldnt stand up and had to lay flat. Well today we got Amped 3 snowboarding game in the mail and were trying it out. The game started right away then froze up.... tried rebooting it again several times and it wouldnt do anything even with a different game in.... tried a movie and it booted fine, put the game back in and now it works! We are so frustrated and dont know whether to take it back or not. A $400 game system should not be acting up! We got it online at best buy and it states that their return policy goes through the 28th of this month due to the holidays, however they are still sold out everywhere and probably wont get any more in until march! What would you do?
Sigh.......

[Skittl1321]

I understand your need to vent, but can't tell you anything to do except contact MIcrosoft. When the X-box was first released it had problems with scratching dvds that people played in it.

Most people who are gamers recognize that first runs always have problems. My husband and his friends tease the guy who does have one (they're jealous) that he paid $400 to beta-test the product.

Edit: Because I typed Sony instead of Microsoft. Thanks beccachris for catching my typo. I left the other part she corrected, because while the playstation might have done that too, we had to have an x-box replaced because it was messing up our dvds.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ January 10, 2006 08:03 AM: Message edited by: Skittl1321 ]</font>

[FelinaDoon]

I would call Best Buy and return it. There are already re-calls on the XB for the power strip - I think they rushed the product and now are paying for it with an inferior item.

[beccachris]

Jamie,

We have one - my DH is an XBOX nut! [img]smile.gif[/img] He said he'd do some research on this and try to find some links and I'll post what he can find about this.

[beccachris]

My wife, BeccaChris, saw this post and asked me (her husband) what I thought. I have a Xbox 360 and have had a great time with it so far. There are some issues as I'll discuss toward the end of this post. First let me address something:

To Skittl1321-Sony doesn't make the Xbox 360, Microsoft does. Sony makes the PS2 which did have the scratching disc problem you talked about when new. The original Xbox did not.

To FelinaDoon-The recall on the power strip is for the original Xbox-not the 360. There are no recalls on the Xbox 360.

Now for some answers. There are some issues I would consider minor. There is a scratching disc problem when the Xbox 360 is upright. I would recommend leaving it lay flat. Here's a link describing the problem:
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/news/X...-Scratched.htm

Next issue would be heat problems. The power supply needs air. It has a fan unit and needs to be placed properly on it's feet with plenty of room to breath. Also what is your Xbox 360 sitting on? If it's on top of another component that generates heat move it. Keep in mind this is a machine with more processing capability than any mainstream consumer PC on the market. It gets hot.

There is nothing else I'm aware of. If it were mine and these steps didn't resolve the problem I'd call Microsoft. I think getting it repaired or exchanged through MS would be better than getting another one in the store.

If you have any other questions I'll be glad to answer them. For more info I'd check out this site http://www.xbox-scene.com/

[American_Mommy]

We put ours horizontally on a bakers rack to keep it nice and cool. We also made sure the power supply was sitting out, away from any thing else in an open area. It works like a dream. Give it a try.

[wrxgirl]

Thanks so much! Well we are going to experiment and lay it flat, instead of vertically and see if that helps things... it was just weird how it wouldnt read games after that problem, until we put in a dvd and then took it back out... then it worked fine again! It is in the entertainment center, which has plenty of ventilation and is by itself. The power cord is sitting across the top of an open box, so it can get plenty of ventilation! I emailed microsoft today to see what they have to say about the problem, but I still dont think a brand new $400 system should be having these or any problems for that matter! I am kind of disappointed! Thanks for your advice! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer questions! [img]smile.gif[/img] I will keep you all posted! -Jamie

[caroloto]

MS has had a few problems with some of the first units of Xbox360 freezing, red light, dieing and over heating but this one is mostly the users fault.

Now this is what I would do if I was you. Call MS Xbox360 CS, tell them you are having problems with the unit...have them send you a return label to send the unit back to them and most of the time there are sending out new units back. Turn around time is about 4 days.

If you take it back to Best Buy the will send you a refurbished one most likely. So call MS Xbox360 CS the toll free #.

[sailorangel59]

Originally posted by FelinaDoon:
I would call Best Buy and return it. There are already re-calls on the XB for the power strip - I think they rushed the product and now are paying for it with an inferior item.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is a rumor actually, only 3% are having problems and the only real problem is if you go to return it you can't get another. But if you call MICROSOFT then they will send you a new one next day deliever in exchange for the one with the problem.

[beccachris]

I haven't read anything regarding the HD swap but I'd try it. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.