Oh Oh! Turned on XBox 360 this weekend and got the 3 error lights (Hardware Failure). See Wikipedia: XBox Ring of Death
It’s a worry — I’m seeing this report all over the web. XBox 360s failing either just before or just after the 12 month warrantee period.
BTW its my 12yr old son who is the gamer in the family. The rest of the family use it as an Vista Media Center extender. It’s Brilliant!
[...] about problems with the XBox 360 was when my buddy Rob Chandler in Melbourne, Australia, posted this blog entry about the system’s “ring of death”. As Rob wrote: It’s a worry — I’m seeing [...]
Thanks for reminding me Dave. I rang MS support in Australia and they provided free postage and fixed it. Even though I purchased the unit in the USA, and it past the 12 month warrantee period, they fixed it for free. Postage was also free.
Looks like my warrantee period actually started when I registered the unit on the XBox site a few weeks ago. I must say that Microsoft support were fantastic. Very prompt and helpful.
I was one of the first to receive an Xbox 360 back in 2005. My family maybe played with the system about 2 hours a week. The first time we got the “Ring”, MS fixed it and gave me an extension on the warrantee for 3 months. Then not even 6 months later the same ROD came back. I again called support, and they said they already fixed the problem and for $120.00 plus shipping, they will gladly fix the red lights.
For those of you out there that got it fixed once, prey you don’t receive the same error. For those that are thinking of purchasing a 360, go and buy a WII or Playstation!