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Exploring The 360's Crashing and Heat
GameDailyBiz has a piece up looking into the crashing and overheating problems that have plagued the Xbox 360 since the system launched. A new crashing problem seems to be associated with the most recent update to the Xbox Live software, while german forum-goers think they may have identified the overheating issue. From the article: "The way it's installed now by MS the GPU chip makes contact with the protection foil instead of the heat transfer pad. This can of course cause cooling issues for the graphics chip as for optimal cooling performance there should just be a thin layer of thermal pad between the GPU chip and heatsink."
I saw some people bragging yesterday about their 360s and how it was working 'perfectly' for them.
Where 'perfectly' meant only crashing X number of times over the past couple of months, or only crashes when I do X, or has only scratched such and such game disc.
I remember someone joking about the 360 about six months ago with the slogan:
"Xbox 360 - Keep Lowering You Expectations..."
I hear Microsoft plans to have yet another 'Relaunch' in April. Yeah, that will help...
It's a feature. It stops you from playing for so long at a stretch that you risk developing carpel tunnel, thereby preventing you from suing Microsoft over health problems.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
I got the impression that whatever the cause of the overheating was, it had been corrected already. Are the GPUs still being installed wrong or is this a problem exclusive to early production runs?
Having said that, it's really disheartening to hear that Microsoft has over-looked the key advantage of consoles and screwed it up. I certainly hope that the xbox360 sales stay low, if for no other reason than to send a message to prospective console entrepreneurs: don't screw your consumer base by releasing expensive, under-tested products!
oh wait, MSFT says it's a feature.
... that or a mortuary chain doing business in areas with xBox360 high sales.
never mind.
Sigh.
Note: please do not immerse your xBox360 in water. While it will cool it down, it will also result in you either:
a. dying;
b. getting a really big shock and wish you had died; or
c. having a totally useless xBox360 better used as a paperweight.
Hmmm. Maybe I should invest in a large ungainly paperweight company
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The foil IS PART OF the heat transfer material. Intel uses it on the pentium 4s, I've seen it on Dell servers as well.
Just another case of idiots on the internet pulling out the "jump to conclusions" mat.
Its sort of hard to believe that even Microsoft would launch something this obviously flawed. I know that microsoft is primarily a software company and that they don't have much experience with hardware, but any moron thats ever built a computer at all knows that modern CPU's and GPU's need big fat heatsinks...with thermal compound in between.
:)
Like the article says, they believe the silver foil stuff is supposed to replace the compound...but if it doesn't work well enough...wow.
I think there must be more to the overheating problem. Nobody could possibly be stupid enough to allow something that simple to overheat the unit. Quality control issues are a likely culprit, but not something as glaringly obvious as a poorly designed crackpot idea of bare metal on that overpriced and fairly important little wafer of sand.
I don't think the answer is this easy. Perhaps this is something that adds to the overheating problem, but I don't think its the root cause.
Software updates...how about an Xbox Live software update that underclocks the GPU for them...so that it doesn't overheat and you can play games in beautiful 20fps glory.
Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him? Surely this computer must submit also!
consoles have been such a stable platform. A consistent target for developers with usually not many surprises.
:)
Thanks Microsoft! For bringing in the troubles of the Wintel world into the console world! Updates to fix a system that clearly wasn't ready. That's what I want from a console, incomplete, work in progress! w00T!
AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
The controller is genius. It feels solid and comfortable, the radio works well.
Graphics have been a letdown compared to my PC.
The software is amazingly half-baked considering they've had 4 months after the release date to fix it.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
Several people I know have gotten their 360s that I know. The major issue that I have seen is the insuffecient grey matter heap size issue. You know, PEBKAC.
Three friends and a brother all have had the heat issue. They kept their consoles in nice av cabinets, one with a glass front. No air flow. A-B user interaction error. We had this problem with high performance gaming PCs and enclosed areas. Local user issue.
In God we trust, all others require data.
Microsoft Employee: Ok kid, that'll be $99 for the replacement heat-sync.
Billy: But you said this was covered under warrenty!
Microsoft Employee: No, your warrenty was void when I found that piece of foil on the thermal gel...
Ok everyone, say this with me... "Lawsuit!"
I guess I'm getting old. When I saw the title, I immediately thought, "Who is still using IBM 360s?"
What thermal pad are they talking about? Those pads are for Electrical Insulation! They also are more resistant to heat transfer making them bad. You only use them when you need to electrically isolate the component from the heatsink. IE multiple transistors with active tabs on a shared heatsink. For a processor like that you want the chip as close to the heatsink as possible for best heat conductivity. Heatsink grease is only used to fill in any air spaces (nothing is completly flat) between the chip and the heatsink. The grease conducts heat much better than air but not as well as direct contact.
Has anyone I mean ANYONE anywhere. Got _actual_ figures of how many X-Box360's have gone wrong. Anyone, anyone at all?
/. and these quite frankly biassed and rubbish articles that make it seem like every other 360 is blowing up. My friends have about 5 between them non has ever crashed or had any problems at all so this doesnt seem to believable either.
Doesnt seem like it.
Last MS said no more are going wrong than any other launch. I dont really believe them but the alternative is
Everyone who hasnt seems to think they are all dying. Everyone in the media are pleased to report on an endless catastrophe. Yet everyone who has one seems to be fairly pleased with them? That doesnt add up.
Until someone has some hard figures on the rate of 360's that are going wrong this remains just one big, annoying, fanboys of other hardware, rumour.
(Note although I doubt it will get anywhere this is a serious question. Can someone please for the love of God find some actual figures on this issue because all my efforts have been futile.)
What do you mean by "new user issues"? You mean "things people will eventually learn to work around"? Come on, most of these are just usability issues, they could be fixed in software, and they should have been caught in a rew usability testing iterations.
Your parent poster obviously didn't figure out what was going on with respect to, say, auto-log-off. That's not his problem, it's Microsoft's problem for not making it clear.
Sure, eventually he'll learn, but why should he have to?
I have had no problems with crashing scratching of discs etc. I have had mine since December 2005 and no crashes It is in a relitivly warm room sitting verticly.My friend who also has one has had no crashes either.