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MS Responds To 360 Glitches
Chris_Yates writes "Microsoft has responded to the complaints of angry gamers popping up on the internet. As expected, they claim it is a very small percentage of Xbox 360 owners that are experiencing a problem. The main question remains, though, what kind of support will those unfortunate few receive? Molly O'Donnell says, 'It's unfortunate and it's important that we get working consoles for those few people who are having problems. We want to get them playing and happy and buying games!' An ABC article states: 'They'll be playing again in three to five days...'"
This is exactly the same type of thing that happened after both the PSP launch and in particular the iPod Nano launch with the faulty screens/susceptible to scratching fiasco. A few months on and it's still a more desirable item than ever.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.
- George Orwell
There was a fellow on the XBox360 forums who posted this link to a Gamespot forum post about a guy fixing his problems by getting his powersupply brick off the ground. Could this problem be due to poor cooling of that brick?
Most people probably heeded Microsoft's advice after people scoffed at the size of the thing - put it back behind your sofa or TV. But it could be that the lack of proper ventilation is causing this problem, which doesn't seem to be as "isolated" as Microsoft is saying. From what I've been reading on various forums around the net it's a higher percentage than one would expect.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
A few were bad. Just like PSPs and PS2's and original Xboxes.
Microsoft will fix them, sucks to be that guy or girl though.
Life goes on, and as much as I don't want an Xbox360, this is hardly news.
We might as well comment on how a huge number of people travel during the holidays.
Whatever the problem is you can be sure that microsoft is going to make it right for those who have expierienced a defect. Dont forget, they lose money on every xbox. They want you to buy the games, and they want you to get your friends to buy xboxes. Allowing defective units to remain in the world is not something microsoft will do. They will either offer a software patch (if it's a software glitch), a replacement part via mailin (if it's the brick) or they will just replace the unit. At the very least i'm sure they're all under warrenty.
Microsoft's objective with this console is to snatch up as much market share as possible from its rivals (one of the reasons it will be priced lower in japan). The console market is like the car market. Getting market share is the most important aspect of the business, and it's also one of the hardest. Sony hasent made it easy for microsoft either, but with the second gen consoles (now that people know the xbox 1 wasnt a flop, like so many other "recent" consoles have been) Microsoft has a real opportunity to sieze an even larger share and you can bet your breakfast that they're doing their best to take advantage of it.
There seems to be varying power supplies, and you can even tell the difference from slight alterations of shape and color. It is shaping up that the 'bad' Xbox units seem to (at least partially) be because of bad PSUs. I know I've had flakey PCs because of rickety PSUs.
There was a posting on xbox-scene from a group who managed to get two of the pre-ordered Xbox units. Getting back home, they hooked up all the cables and power and viola -- bad Xbox 360. So they opened the other box, leaving all the existing plugs and wires into the TV and all in place, put the new XBox unit on the existing wires and viola -- bad Xbox 360. (They admit they were freaked that they may have had *two* broken Xbox 360s out of the gate.) The 'other' PSU made the Xbox work fine, even when tested on both console units. They mention there are slight variations in the two PSU designed.
So, it really appears that one of Microsofts PSU suppliers screwed up. With multiple PSU suppliers, It would also help explain why some people complain their XBox 360 is "loud" or has a lot of "fan noise" and others claim it is pretty quiet. This may not explain away every Xbox360 problem, but it sure seems reasonable.
{ - Generic Guy - }
"It's what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity .... Par for the course."
Can you imagine Panasonic or Toshiba using that excuse regarding a stereo? No. These are consumer-grade electronics, which should Just Work. Bugginess is par for the course in computers because Microsoft has convinced people of that; they are apparently trying to do the same with consumer electronics. If someone's stereo kept rebooting/hanging in the first 2 days that they got it, and they heard about other people having the same problem, widespread or not, they would go get a different brand.
"MS Responds To 360 Glitches" :)
only 360? IE must have at least a few hundred...and let's not forget windows 98...
360 is only the tip of the iceberg.
If my dvd player couldn't sit on top of my reciever and inside my smallish cabinet I would return it. If it made a ton of noise I would return it. Why does is an xbox supposed to get any leeway.
You know my nes, snes, ps1, and ps2 had no trouble with any of the configurations that people mention make the 360 crash. Technology has come a long way, don't tell me that modern equipment should be expected to be worse. That's bullshit, and if it means I don't get a next gen console for a good long time then so be it.
I'm hoping people are more like me and won't put up with substandard shit then like you and take mediocrity as it comes. $400 is too much to spend for bullshit.
It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
I've been reading a lot at the Xbox.com Forums, and people are doing some pretty stupid things. They're placing the console on the carpet, with the power brick right behind it. They're enclosing it in a tiny hutch, again with the power brick. One person had stacked it on top of their reciever, which we all know gets pretty warm.
Do you consider ANY of your listed "stupid" things as being out of the ordinary?
Placing a game console, inside an entertainment unit, wow, totally unexpected. I mean who on earth could have expected a consumer to place an entertainment appliance inside an entertainment unit. Next thing you know, people will put bread in toasters. Stupid people.
Psft, placing your entertainment appliance on a carpet. WTF. I mean WHO has carpet in a living room. We can't plan for everything, were only human. And keeping the power supply, close to the unit it is attached to, again, completely unheard of behaviour. What engineer in his right mind could have ever thought of this ludicrous behaviour.
Who the hell would stack components on top of one another. I have never seen this type of activity outside of any home theater ever..errr wait, aren't most home theatre/stereo/DVD/VCR/TV components stacked? Mine sure are, and I have never had a problem.
Nothing that you mentioned is in any way unusual, or unexpected behaviour. What is going to happen in the summer, where many houses will have an ambient temperature similar to the environment in an entertainment unit? Are you going to suggest that these "stupid" users just hack their freezer to allow cable pass throughs?
I have no problems with faulty components. Bad screens, bad drives, buggy code, these things happen. Cooling problems result from poor design, and even worse testing. There is no excuse for these kinds of problems.
Hey, did anyone go to the launch parties? Did you notice if the venues seemed unusually cold? Maybe the rush to get these out had nothing to do with Xmas, but had everything to do with the average home temps being much lower between November and March (for NA).