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Microsoft Insider Details Xbox 360 Red Ring Problems

Posted by Zonk on from the about-time-some-explained-that dept.

kylemonger writes "A blogger at the Seattle PI has interviewed a Microsoft insider about the Xbox 360 project. The insider purports to have the background story on the 'red ring of death' (RROD) failures and why they are so common. 'RROD is caused by anything that fails in the "digital backbone" on the mother board. Also known as a core digital error. CPU, GPU, memory, etc. Bad parts, incompatible parts (timing problems) bad manufacturing process (like solder joints), misapplied heat sinks or thermal interface material, missing parts, broken parts, parts of the wrong value, missed test coverage. Any one or more, on any chip, or many other discrete components, would cause this. And many of the failures were obviously infant mortality, where they work when they leave the factory and fail early in use. The main design flaw was the excessive heat on the GPU warping the mother board around it. This would stress the solder joints on the GPU and any bad joints would then fail in early life. There are also other significantly high failure rates in other areas, like the DVD.'"

7 of 415 comments (clear)

  1. Calling Shenanigans... by toupsie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even though I just sent in my third XBOX 360 for RROD repair after the great XBOX Live failure of 2007/2008, something about this interview just doesn't seem right. Why would a Microsoft "insider" risk their employment spilling well known issues about the XBOX 360 as "secrets" to a blog very read. That doesn't sound like a good career move.

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
    1. Re:Calling Shenanigans... by rob1980 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In the middle of '03 I tried to convince our director of "innovation" that we needed to do motion control, simple and intuitive controllers, and focus on family oriented and just plain fun content.

      Were employees lined up outside this director's door to extol the virtues of motion-sensitive controllers? If not, a sufficiently-motivated manhunt could probably narrow down who this person is fairly quickly.

  2. Nothing new! by superash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The insider purports to have the background story on the 'red ring of death' (RROD) failures and why they are so common

    What background story? Cheap parts, not enough testing blah blah...Where are the specifics?...and the causes mentioned for RROD were already known ages back.

  3. Re:The Xbox 360 Is Fundamentally Defective by NothingMore · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is common now for people to have gone through five to six Xbox 360s over the past two years. And people who have had to have their console replaced ten or more times is not rare.
    I wouldent call it "common" for people to have gone through 5 or 6 xbox 360's. I dont know a single person who owns a xbox 360 that has had it replaced 5 or 6 times. The RROD is a problem but saying 5-6 replacements is common is a bit of a stretch.
  4. Re:When will people learn by coaxial · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I bought a Zune Well there's your problem right there.

    Honestly. You're ranting about how bad Microsoft is and how stupid anyone is to buy a Microsoft product, but you go on to give an entire litany of all the products you repeatedly purchase and how they repeatedly suck. Apparently, you haven't learned your lesson, and by your own standard, are a fool.

    this computer completely blows it away as far as gaming, it can boot 3 different OS's, it allows me to network myself without paying a forced subscription fee, AND it doesn't get hot enough to warp its own motherboard. Beat that Microsoft. Well given that your machine boots XP, or as I strongly suspect given your apparent propensity to purchase anything Microsoft, Vista, I don't think Microsoft has to beat that. They have your money, and another customer on the upgrade treadmill.
  5. Microsoft inventing their own terminology as usual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Digital backbone" and (my favourite) "core digital error". As usual, Microsoft having to come up with their own terminology for what the rest of the real world would refer to as "hardware flaw" or "engineering mistake".

    We'd better start calling the RROD the "ruddy halo of definitive binary turkey washout".

    Microsoft -- reinventing the wheel... into some kind of odd mix between a rhombus and a Moebius strip.

  6. Re:Put it in a hot box by Alioth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since this is the natural place for living room electronics: neatly installed in some under-TV cabinet, surely it behooves the manufacturer to design their equipment to live where many people are going to instinctively put them?

    --
    Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows