How common is the "Red Ring of Death"

[dunedain]

I've had the RROD 3 times now, but always got great support from MS and my Xbox 360 has never been away longer then a week.
I bought mine about 6 months after the launch, and I play on it almost every evening.

 

[Matt S]

Ive owned two 360 systems since they came out - the white one and Elite. Personally, I play them semi regularly and have never had an issue.

 

[darthviper107]

I heard something about some xboxes now scratch discs.

1% of people have that problem and it seems it only happens if you try and change the orientation of the console while the game disc is still in the drive. I don't know anyone who's had the problem.

 

[The Mike]

I got mine in March and its been fine and we play almost every day. Although a friend of mine who has had hers since August got the RROD last week.....she had to go through Microsoft to get a replacement....still in the process.

 

[Chimera 1]

I got RROD once about 7 months after I got mine and they replaced it in about 2 weeks. This was a little over a year ago. No major problems since. i just got another for my son last month so "Knock on wood" that with the new chipsset and update to install games on the harddrive that there won't be anymore problems.

 

[Darth_Fatso]

What is the major difference between the Elite and arcade 360's other the color and the Elite having 120gb's? Is it less likely to get the RROD than the arcade? Also I was talking to a friend and he said he said I should get a cooler to help prevent over heating. Are coolers really nessissary?

 

[glyoung99]

I have had a 360 since launch. I also have a PS3 and a Wii. My 360 gets the most use for video games, I mostly watch movies on the PS3 and the Wii does nothing but sit there with it's red light on.

With that being said, my launch 360 broke about a year later and the replacement broke in less time than that. But as long as MS keeps replacing them then I'm down. You just can't beat Live.

 

[darthviper107]

What is the major difference between the Elite and arcade 360's other the color and the Elite having 120gb's? Is it less likely to get the RROD than the arcade? Also I was talking to a friend and he said he said I should get a cooler to help prevent over heating. Are coolers really nessissary?

The Elite also comes with an optical audio adapter (if you really need it) other than that, those other things you mentioned are the only differences. The large hard drive does help though, game demos, and if you copy any games to the hard drive (around 7GB) it can fill up.

I heard the coolers actually make it worse, so that will not help. The risk for RROD is tied to the manufacture date and when they changed out components for ones that run better (they do this all the time), for the RROD issue it's with the processors that just run too hot and don't have enough cooling. They just changed the chipset to a newer one that runs better (named Jasper) If they have a manufacture date after 10/14/08 and use a 150w power supply then it's Jasper. You can tell the manufacture date on the sticker with the serial number on the back of the console, The box has a flap that lifts up so you can look at the serial and you can check the manufacture date that way. Mine current one is from February and it's got the chipset right before Jasper so it should be fine (I hope). If you get a new one it should be fine.

 

[Fives]

do the new 360's with the 60 gig hd have the new jasper chipset?

 

[darthviper107]

Same deal I would think, I believe those started being made before they started using the Jasper chipset so some of them would and some of them wouldn't depending on when they were made. The most recent ones will be the Arcade consoles that have the onboard 256MB instead of the current ones that have the memory card.

 

[McHavyck]

i have 3 systems and only the first one I had from not long after launched RROD'd.

that's okay...my PS3 I got for Xmas last year (and has mainly only been used as a BR player) just crapped out last night in the middle of Prince Caspian.

 

[tomandshell]

I had a 360 early on and never had problems. Updated to an Elite when they came out, and still have had no problems.

I did, on the other hand, have to replace the hard drive on my PS3.

 

[Ben]

im on my second xbox, first one died at the end of the year. but my second one is healthy

 

[Chimera 1]

i have 3 systems and only the first one I had from not long after launched RROD'd.

that's okay...my PS3 I got for Xmas last year (and has mainly only been used as a BR player) just crapped out last night in the middle of Prince Caspian.

What happened to your PS3? i don't know of any issues with them. I thought they were solid hardware.

 

[DPrime]

It happened to me, but Microsoft is pretty good about the whole business, and got me a new one in no time flat.

 

[McHavyck]

What happened to your PS3? i don't know of any issues with them. I thought they were solid hardware.

the drive just kind of crapped out. we were in the middle of the movie and it just froze up. took the disc out, made sure it was clean and put it back in. no dice...it no longer recognizes when there is a disc in the drive.

of course it happened a week after the waranty was up.

 

[Darth_Fatso]

The Elite also comes with an optical audio adapter (if you really need it) other than that, those other things you mentioned are the only differences. The large hard drive does help though, game demos, and if you copy any games to the hard drive (around 7GB) it can fill up.

I heard the coolers actually make it worse, so that will not help. The risk for RROD is tied to the manufacture date and when they changed out components for ones that run better (they do this all the time), for the RROD issue it's with the processors that just run too hot and don't have enough cooling. They just changed the chipset to a newer one that runs better (named Jasper) If they have a manufacture date after 10/14/08 and use a 150w power supply then it's Jasper. You can tell the manufacture date on the sticker with the serial number on the back of the console, The box has a flap that lifts up so you can look at the serial and you can check the manufacture date that way. Mine current one is from February and it's got the chipset right before Jasper so it should be fine (I hope). If you get a new one it should be fine.

Ok so my father actually got me a 360 for Xmas (thanks dad!!!) and the date on it is 2008-24-10. So does that mean mine has a jasper chipset?

 

[darthviper107]

I would think so, that's October 24th so that is very recent. You can also check the sticker on the power block and see if it's 150 watts, since the Jasper chipset uses less power than the other ones.

 

[Nuka Cola Kidd]

Well up until last week, i only had one xbox (had it since 06) that had been repaired once from the 3 red lights..but then...I got the 1 light of death or Error 74 as my xbox politely told me (haha) so yeah i bought another one. So now i have two xbox's.

The lesson to be learned here is: Your xbox can crap out on you with different sets of red lights, not just 3. haha

 

[Darth_Fatso]

I would think so, that's October 24th so that is very recent. You can also check the sticker on the power block and see if it's 150 watts, since the Jasper chipset uses less power than the other ones.

It says one the power block "Output DC: 150w".