The Xbox 360 can be subject to a number of possible technical problems, some rendering it unusable. Since the Xbox 360 console was released in 2005, the console's reliability has acquired a bad reputation in the press, through articles portraying its poor reliability and high failure rates, and with the general public.^[1][2][3][4]

In the early months after the console launch Microsoft claimed in the press that failure rate was a consumer electronics industry average 3–5%.^[5][6][7][8] However, the company has not released any official statistics on the failure rate of the console since its launch, and the company's policy is not to do so, instead focusing on a prompt solution of any technical problems arising.^[9]

On July 5, 2007, the Vice-President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division published an open letter recognizing the problem and announcing a 3 years warranty expansion for every Xbox 360 console that experiences the general hardware failure indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. ^[10]

General hardware failure

When a Microsoft Xbox 360 console experiences a "general hardware failure", three flashing red lights appear on the front of the console. This is known by gamers as the 'red ring of death'. It is reported to be caused by multiple systems failing simultaneously.^{[citation needed]}

The Nyko Intercooler has also been reported to have caused a general hardware failure in a number of consoles, as well as scorching of the power AC input.^[11] Microsoft stated that the peripheral drains too much power from the console and can cause the faults to occur, ^[12] and stated that consoles fitted with the peripheral will have their warranty null and void.^[11]

On July 9th, 2007, CRN Australia (Haymarket Group) published an article claiming that Microsoft admitted a design flaw in Xbox 360 which could cause a failure of all Xbox 360 consoles produced so far.^[13] Microsoft claims that the manufacturing problems have been fixed, although they did not elaborate as to what the problems were.^[14] Microsoft executives discussed some of the manufacturing problems with their shareholders in their July 5, 2007 conference call.^[15]

Diagnosing errors and troubleshooting

The Xbox 360 will display a "Screen of Death" if the system experiences a serious error. In such instances the user is prompted to contact Xbox customer support

In the case of certain specific errors, the Xbox 360 system will display a diagnostic pattern of red lighting in place of the standard green "Ring of Light." These patterns indicate the following:

If three red lights are flashing at the same time and the problem persists upon the restarting of the console, a general hardware failure has occurred and the unit needs to be sent to the repair center.^[17]

Overheating

The game console heats up during use, and given enough time and due to insufficient cooling the temperature inside can reach very high levels. Because of the way the Xbox 360 is constructed this may result in stresses building up between the delicate ball grid array solder joints of the CPU and GPU and the mother board, causing them to break. Especially because the lead free solder that is used is more brittle than the older tin/lead solder that was used in the past.^[18]

According to the German computer magazine c't the main reason for the problems is that the wrong type of lead free solder was used, a type that when exposed to elevated temperatures for a long time becomes brittle and can develop hair-line cracks that are almost irreparable. Also, according to the same c't article, Microsoft has reserved enough money, (more than one Billion dollars) for this problem to spend $100 on every existing Xbox 360 to fix them, or enough to replace every third Xbox 360 ever made. They also revealed that representatives of the three largest Xbox 360 resellers in the world, (EB Games, Gamestop and Best Buy) claimed that the failure rate of the Xbox 360 is between 30 and 33%, and that the largest repair shop in Britain, (Micromart) stopped repairing Xbox 360's because they were unable to fully repair the defective systems. Because of the nature of the problem they could only repair them provisionally, resulting in the situation that many of the "repaired" systems failed again after a few weeks. At that time Micromart received 2500 defective consoles per day, from Britain alone. They published these findings in an article with the title "Jede dritte stirbt den Hitzetod" (every third one dies of heat). ^{[19] [20]}

The console's design utilizes heatsinks, vented openings, and fans to aid in dissipation of this heat, but the potential still exists for excessive heat buildup inside the console if these measures become unable to deal with the heat being generated. Users are advised not to obstruct air flow to the enclosure vents or power supply. Problems associated with overheating include reduced system performance and instability that may result in crashing or hardware failure.

According to OXM October 2007 issue there are reports that new Xbox 360 Elites and newer 360 Premiums, as well as repaired units, have larger heatsinks. It has yet to be determined how far this fix has gone in alleviating the issues.

Some third party manufacturers have also introduced external cooling devices that attach to the console and claim to help prevent the console from overheating.^[21] However, reports indicate that such devices are doing exactly the opposite, including the attachment melting on the console itself, possibly damaging the internal microprocessors, and voiding the product warranty.^[22] Additionally, some (more technical) owners have been able to fix the overheating issue themselves, but at the expense of voiding the unit's warranty.^{[citation needed]}

Scratched discs

Almost at the same time the Xbox 360 was released in November-December 2005, consumers began complaining about rounded scratches in discs played in their Xbox 360. Almost two years later, in February 2007, a.o. Llamma.com^[23] investigated the matter and concluded that some Xbox 360 drives lack a mechanism to secure the disc solidly in place. When in operation, with these drives, tilting or moving the console when operating with disc spinning inside can potentially cause damage to the disc, in some occasions rendering the disc unusable.^[24] Although this problem is not covered by the warranty,^[25] Microsoft Publishing will replace any scratched discs that are published by Microsoft^[26] on receiving $20.^[27] Other publishers can be contacted directly for a disc-exchange, but it is unclear whether they will replace discs at no cost.

December 2005

The Xbox 360 was released in the United States and Canada on November 22 2005 and in early December 2005 in Europe and Japan. At the same time in December 2005, reports of disc scratching from the Xbox 360 were appearing on Internet message boards.^[28] The scratched disc problem was traced to the console laser housing design and could be avoided by horizontally orientating the Xbox 360 and keeping the Xbox 360 free from being bumped while playing games or DVDs.^[29] In response to the problem, Microsoft offered in December 2005 to replace only the Perfect Dark Zero video game "even if it was not the game that was scratched."^[29] The scratched disc problem reportedly affected only a small percentage of Xbox 360s,^[29] but at least one company, Digital Innovations, immediately recognized that same month that the December 2005 message board reports were appearing in a sufficient quantity to present a business opportunity to fix digital media damaged by the Xbox 360.^[30]

Kassa’s February 2007 investigation

The Xbox 360 scratched disc problem received little media coverage in 2006.^[31] However, in February 2007, the Dutch television program Kassa investigated several complaints from Dutch customers about circular scratches made in their Xbox 360 discs.^[32] Some of these customers also claimed that their discs became unreadable.^[32] Kassa investigation traced the problem to a design defect in which the Xbox 360 optical lens was not restrained sufficiently.^[32][33] In asserting that Microsoft or at least its chain of suppliers were aware of this problem, Kassa noted that Microsoft's "TSST"^[34] versions of the Samsung DVD-drive lacks rubber cushions around the optical lens while identical Samsung drives sold for PCs did have these rubber cushions.^[32][33] Kassa also noted that the affected Xbox 360s all seem to have been produced towards the end of 2006. ^[32][33] In response to Kassa's February 2007 investigation, Microsoft denied the problem and refused to replace affected Xboxes.

Kassa’s April 2007 investigation

During the February 2007 investigation report, Kassa stated that either not all Xbox 360s without protective pads would spontaneously scratch discs, or that the complaints were from Xbox 360 users who had moved their Xbox during use, or who used an unstable setup.^[32] Here, Kassa's February 2007 investigation left open the question of whether consumers contributed to the rounded scratch problem by moving their Xbox 360 (TSST version) during the playing of a disc.^[35] This resulted in Kassa receiving an additional 1,000 complaints over the subsequent two months, with many customers denying the Xbox had moved when the scratching occurred, or that it had been placed in an unstable position.^[36]

Prompted by consumer reaction to their February 2007 report, Kassa performed several tests with Xbox 360s from customers who claimed their Xbox had the problem. Kassa stabilized these Xboxs and positioned them at a location remote from contact by anyone. The results of the laboratory conditions test revealed that one of the nine tested Xbox 360s had spontaneously scratched a disc after five hours of gaming. The Xbox also were tested standing upright, and the test revealed that three of the nine tested Xbox 360s had significantly scratched their games disc. The complete investigation, with all the relevant details of the tests, was made ready to be aired in April 14 2007. But weeks before it aired Kassa solicited input from Microsoft Netherlands. The videos (also with English subtitles) can be found here: ^[37]

One day before the airing of the April 14, 2007 show, Kassa received a response from Microsoft Netherlands stating that "as a result of regular use it is possible that scratches on discs can arise",^[38][39][40] and that Microsoft Netherlands "would seek a solution for the Dutch customers with this problem".^[41][42] Additionally, Microsoft released the following statement ten days after the show, on April 24, 2007:

"Due to the fact that we did not participate in the experiment done by Kassa and have little insight into the methodology that was used, we cannot comment specifically on the outcome. While we are aware that discs can potentially be scratched through normal wear and tear, we have not received any widespread reports of the issue highlighted here. That said, it is important to us that all of our customers have the best gaming experiences possible, and these claims are obviously very concerning to us. We encourage any Xbox customer who believes that their discs have been scratched in the same manner as identified by Kassa, to contact us. We will examine the console and make appropriate repairs if necessary in order to restore the console to full working order, as well as provide customers with information on how to obtain replacement discs should they need them." ^[43]

Microsoft Netherlands now accepts these complaints from users (when within the guarantee period), and offers to replace the Xbox 360 free of charge. Whether Microsoft Netherlands will also replace scratched discs is still unclear. After the official broadcast, (in a continuation of the show which can be viewed on-line, ca 28 minutes into the show) [2] Template:Nl icon you can see a customer calling the Microsoft help-desk, who was told Microsoft would replace his Xbox 360, but could not promise him they would replace his games, but there are reports from some other regions where Microsoft will replace scratched discs when published by Microsoft.^[44]

The European Commission’s June 2007 investigation of disc scratches

In June 1 2007 European Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva, after talking with the makers of "kassa" and other Dutch consumer organizations,^[45] announced that the European Commission would investigate the Xbox scratching problems, and would ask Microsoft for an Xbox replacement program for the whole of Europe. She expects Microsoft’s answer within a week.^[46] Informal sources now say that Microsoft’s response was to deny the problem exists, and that "The users are to blame".^[47] But as of June 13, 2007 The EC’s (Meglena Kuneva’s) news site [3] was still silent about Microsoft’s response.

Lawsuit claims Xbox 360 system scratches discs

A man who claims Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 scratches game discs has sued the company, saying the consoles are "negligently designed and manufactured." In the lawsuit filed on July 9 2007 in a Florida federal court, Jorge Brouwer says Microsoft has received thousands of complaints but has not replaced all scratched discs. The lawsuit seeks class-action status.^[48]

The Law Firms of Wasserman, Comden, and Casselman, LLP of Los Angeles, California and Stritmatter, Kessler, Whelan, Coluccio of Seattle, Washington are investigating consumer complaints regarding the Microsoft X-Box 360 Video Game Console.

Many consumers have complained the Xbox 360 Console scratches game discs while they are being played. The scratches leave the disc ruined and unplayable.

WCC and SKWC have filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court Western District of Washington at Seattle on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers who have suffered scratched game discs while using their Xbox 360 Console. The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for consumers for the cost of games damaged by the Console, reimbursement for consumers who have paid a $20 fee to Microsoft Corporation under a limited disc replacement program offered on ten Microsoft games, repair the Consoles free of charge to prevent discs from being scratched, and/or reimburse consumers who have paid for an aftermarket repair solution. ^[49]

Autumn 2006 update technical issues

The first Fall of 2006 update patch released on November 1 2006 is known to brick consoles, rendering them useless.^[50][51] The most obvious issue occurs after the installation of the patch, the console immediately reboots and shows an error message. Usually, the error code, E71, is shown during or directly after the booting animation.

In response to the Fall Update error that "bricked" (rendered useless) his console, Mr. Kevin Ray of California has filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft in Washington federal court in early December of 2006.^[52] The lawsuit seeks $5 million dollars in damages and the free repair of any console bricked by the Fall Update. This will be the second such lawsuit filed against Microsoft, the first having been filed in December of 2005, shortly after the 360's launch.

Many believe it was the HD Resolution update that may have caused the console to become 'bricked', as the firmware needed to access the graphics card to allow the Xbox 360 to produce images at 1080p, when it was previously only capable of producing 1080i images.

Warranty

Template:Wikinewspar2 Initially, Microsoft repaired consoles under the 90 day warranty for free, and charged $140 to repair out-of-warranty consoles. In December, 2006, Microsoft extended the warranty of all Xbox 360 consoles to 1 year,^[53] and in July, 2007, as a result of "an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles," extended it to 3 years for consoles experiencing general hardware failures, a warranty length covering all Xbox 360s sold.^[54] Additionally, customers who paid to have their out-of-warranty consoles repaired would be reimbursed. Microsoft stated that they reserved US$ 1.15 Billion for fixing malfunctioning consoles, enough money to fix 2.5 million consoles.^[55][56]

Coverage is offered for those who bought and live in countries where the Xbox 360 was officially released; depending on the country, the customers will either have their consoles repaired or replaced. This policy will be transferred to a new console if one is exchanged through the Microsoft Service Center. All repairs come with a 90 day warranty starting at the date the repair is finished, or the original warranty, whichever is longer. Once past this date, the customers can pay around $140 (£80) to receive a repair or replacement. This charge covers shipping and handling, as well as a one year warranty on the repaired or refurbished console. There is also a service contract available through Microsoft (in select countries) to extend this warranty by up to 2 years at a time. The cost is $29.95 US per year and can be expanded by up to two additional years.

References

External links

• Xbox.com thread talking about the issue with DRM restrictions on replacement consoles
• Xbox360 Ring of Light error codes explained (unofficial)