Half of Xbox 360’s fail

[0iD]

Half of Xbox 360’s fail

Some worrying statistics to report now as it has been revealed in a recent study that the Xbox 360 console has a hardware failure rate of over 50 percent. It’s been known for years now that the Xbox 360 has been suffering from hardware problems (mainly the RROD), but we never knew it was ‘this’ bad.

The news is according to the Consumerist, who have obtained the stats from a Game Informer analysis. When we say over 50 percent, we actually mean 54.2 percent which is 5 times as much as the Playstation 3 on 10.6 percent, with the Nintendo Wii least likely to break on 6.8 percent.

[beanbandit]

Like with all things like this, to be taken with a pinch of salt. MS will never give out actual figures. But 5000 readers from a games mag isn't exactly a large % considering the console has sold 30million units.

[danroyle]

todays award for story from nothing goes to PR news.
5000 people. surely a proper study would take into account age etc ie 50% die in the first year thats a story.

Incidentally more than 50% of HD tellys die (at some point in there lives)

[Nick]

Well, on a a long enough timescale, the failure rate of people is 100%....

[danroyle]

Well, on a a long enough timescale, the failure rate of people is 100%....

99.99999999% everybody knows elvis is still alive

[Stephen C]

99.99999999% everybody knows elvis is still alive

He was on my friends list playing Viva Las Ve.. I mean Viva Pinata last night.

[Varmint]

I don't believe that...I have encountered the Red Ring of Death, but am the only person who I personally know who has done so.

[Stephen C]

I've never had an RROD either, have had 2 disc drives fail on me though.

[danroyle]

i've had two xboxs neither have had any faults yet.

[JimmyBoy]

im currently on my second. my first console lasted just over two years and was an original. now im currently using a jasper arcade (which im told do fail aswell) i wouldnt be surprised if the failiure rate was higher than 50% almost all of my mates that i know who own the console have been replaced due to rrod. thats around 11 out of about 14.

saying that though ms's support line has always been alright, as ive called them many times for friends aswell.

I also own a ps3 which had a drive that stopped reading discs, when i rung them i was spokent o poorly and was told that i had to try a music cd aswell for it to be a fault.

according to them a ps3 that doesnt play games, blu rays or dvd's but that WILL play music cd's isnt faulty. one year warranty on the ps3 isnt near long enough i had to argue like hell to get it fixed.

[Lambie]

Got one of the E74 errors on our Xbox 360 Premium about 14 months after purchase (aka. 2 months past the warranty for this error).

Decided to count my losses and buy a Jasper Arcade model, and sell the 'broken' one on eBay.

Guess what happened two months later..

"3-year Xbox 360 warranty extended to cover E74 errors"

...with Microsoft ceasing its defection discrimination and revealing via the Xbox Support page that the mysterious E74 error is now covered by the RROD's three-year warranty. Microsoft has determined "that the E74 error message can indicate the general hardware failure that is associated with three flashing red lights error on the console," and will "refund to customers the amount paid for an out of warranty repair due to a general hardware failure associated with the e74 error message.

I was so close to getting it repaired as well, just imagine my reaction!

[JimmyBoy]

Got one of the E74 errors on our Xbox 360 Premium about 14 months after purchase (aka. 2 months past the warranty for this error).

Decided to count my losses and buy a Jasper Arcade model, and sell the 'broken' one on eBay.

Guess what happened two months later..

"3-year Xbox 360 warranty extended to cover E74 errors"


I was so close to getting it repaired as well, just imagine my reaction!

So yes, at the moment I can understand the failure rate, I just hope this Jasper model holds up..

oh how infuriating!! ive had a jasper since christmas, its been really good, saying that though it locked up for the first time on saturday which worried me a bit because not long before my first one died, it used to crash a lot!

its madness that we really cannot put any faith into something that one of the biggest companies ever have created, its just a shame that i enjoy playing it so much or it would be 2 fingers up at xbox lol

[Yosh]

I think they need to be more specific on the breakdown of data i.e.

How many of those consoles were early generation, Xenon's, leading through to Zephyr, Falcon, Jasper.

I think with a breakdown you would obtain a much better overall picture of failure rates and the minority should be in the later generations.

I do wonder as well how many of those people surveyed sent their consoles back more than once and if those multiple returns have been counted multiple times.

[unreal]

My one has FINALLY bit the dust with the E74 error... it's a release version and has lasted so damn long! I bought and installed the X-Clamp kit thing, no fix... apparently there's a highly successful fix for sticking it in the oven (you insulate and cover it, and only expose the GPU & CPU area), but I don't know if I would do that unless it's a last resort.

[Stephen C]

Wedge pennies inbetween the 2 cooler blocks, works wonders.

[beanbandit]

My one has FINALLY bit the dust with the E74 error... it's a release version and has lasted so damn long! I bought and installed the X-Clamp kit thing, no fix... apparently there's a highly successful fix for sticking it in the oven (you insulate and cover it, and only expose the GPU & CPU area), but I don't know if I would do that unless it's a last resort.

That is not a fix. Its called a bodge and will not last. There is only 2 way's to fix it. Have the GPU removed, pcb cleaned up. Then put through specialist solder equipment and hope it works. or throw it in the bin and buy a new Jasper model. Option 2 is the best choice tbh.