Xbox 360

[dazuk1972]

Things have been fine for over a year and suddenly, my XBox 360 keeps freezing. This started on Boxing Day. One moment I was playing GTA 4 and that was when the console froze. Then it did it again today about ten minutes after booting up. I tried a different game controller with a lead encase my wireless one caused it and the same thing happened. My console did have to go in for repairs the other week because I had three flashing red lights and I don't know if they broke something while fixing the red flashing lights. I don't use cheats in my games. I don't understand what caused this. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Many thanks.

[katzdvd]

I would guess that they cleaned it well when it went in for repairs; I notice that ours seems to run pretty warm. I make sure that all the vents are clean, free of dust, etc., & that it gets plenty of fresh air.

Freezing can be a sign if overheating electronics, as well as a host of other issues. But, since I know that the xbox has heat issues, I would start there...

Good Luck!

[admin]

I'm thinking that the red rings or death problem you had earlier (3 flashing lights) wasn't fixed properly, and it may be happening again. My RRoD occurred after a series of game freezes as well. Luckily, my fixed one is still working a year later, but many people report that the same thing can happen again straight after a repair depending on what was replaced (and what wasn't).

[katzdvd]

The guys at my local "Game Stop" tell me that the RROD was a prob. w/ the first gen models; They say that the second gen units have a different chip in them so that the Red ring isn't an issue anymore.

They tell me that the ones that are sent back for repair are upgraded to the new chip. I don't know if that is the truth or not, have no way to confirm it, but just thought I would throw it out there...

I have also seen on xbox forums that units which have been sent back for repair haven't been fixed properly, as admin mentioned. He is probably right. Are you getting any more lights?

FYI - they do make aftermarket coolers that you can put on your xbox console for additional airflow. We haven't purchased one yet, but I am leaning in that direction. Every little bit helps.

[admin]

As far as I know, all generations of Xbox 360's suffer from RRoD, but the newer generation models are less susceptible than the older ones because they generate less heat. The in game freezing problem is one of the early signs of RRoD, I had it happen to me 4 or 5 times before I ever saw the red lights.

I don't know how Microsoft repairs them, but every place seems to do something different, as some like me has only had a single repair that still works (knocks on wood), while others have had theirs repaired tons of times and still no go.

I'm tempted to sell mine while it still works and get a new one with a new warranty and HDMI.

[drfsupercenter]

Didn't Microsoft extend the warranty to 3 years for RRoD problems?

I have a friend with an older Xbox 360 (as in, the kind without an HDMI port) and his currently has a RRoD and won't turn on. I told him to call Microsoft and send it in... but to request a new one with HDMI. Is that a good idea? Or do you think they won't replace it with a new one?

What "generation" is the holiday bundle 2008? That's the kind I have. (with the HDMI)

[doctorhardware]

It all depends on how generous Microsoft is feeling at the time. They will look at if it cheaper to just replace the system board with a new one that has HDMI video connector.

[katzdvd]

Didn't Microsoft extend the warranty to 3 years for RRoD problems?

You are correct, drf; Our "new this Christmas" xbox 360 has a 3 year warranty.

[dazuk1972]

Many thanks everyone for the info. My Xbox 360 has an extended warranty anyway. I took that out before the free three one was announced. It doesn't matter if I get the free one or not when I'm already covered. It's too late for me to claim the free one. I don't want to look into claiming it anyway to put my extended one on hold for three years encase it causes problems with my extended one that I'm paying for where I my lose out on what I paid for. When the extended one expires I'll cancel it because the XBox 360 is a lot cheaper to buy these days anyway.

By the way, I'm not aware of what the RRod is. What is it? Somebody else elsewhere told me his XBox 360 kept freezing and then it was followed by the RRod. It's annoying when I have to get my console fixed again as son as I got it back.

I did wonder at first if my copy of GTA 4 was the cause because some people told me they had trouble with their copy such as it failing to load and I thought maybe my copy was failing to be read in places and that is why the console was freezing. I bought a brand-new copy of the game again to see what happens to help narrow things down (that was before I asked my question here) and that was when the console froze again. Not only that, one time when I ejected the DVD-ROM, the disc was still spinning in the tray as it ejected and because of the disc spinning on the tray like that the plastic undernealth that is clean marked the disc. Now a brand-new copy that was four hours old to me at the time now looks like a rental copy that was used since April 29th. The cosole is damaging discs as well. £24.99 wasted. I'm going to try and charge the idots that fixed my console before because they have caused damage in two ways while fixing the three red flashing lights. I'm not being funny, have any of you had to send your XBox 360 consoles away that ended-up being repaired in Germany? That is where mine went and I wonder if that company are not all there. It was delievered there and back by UPS. Somebody else told me when his XBox 360 went in for repairs, it kept coming back broken and he spent months getting it back and working 100%.

Many thanks.

[admin]

RRoD - Red Rings of Death. Basically it's the 3 flashing red lights, which indicates a particular type of hardware fault usually associated with the Xbox 360 overheating. The heat may cause the motherboard to bend, which causes chips on it to lose contact, or something like that.

I did have another problem with GTA IV and other games, is that I get a "disc not found" error during extended play. That's another known problem with the 360, in that the drive overheats and it's unable to read the disc. The new "copy to HDD" feature is great for preventing this, unfortunately the HDD is so small on the original Xbox 360, you can only fit a single game on it. Another reason to get a new Xbox 360 with 60 GB of HDD.

[dazuk1972]

RRoD - Red Rings of Death. Basically it's the 3 flashing red lights, which indicates a particular type of hardware fault usually associated with the Xbox 360 overheating. The heat may cause the motherboard to bend, which causes chips on it to lose contact, or something like that.

I did have another problem with GTA IV and other games, is that I get a "disc not found" error during extended play. That's another known problem with the 360, in that the drive overheats and it's unable to read the disc. The new "copy to HDD" feature is great for preventing this, unfortunately the HDD is so small on the original Xbox 360, you can only fit a single game on it. Another reason to get a new Xbox 360 with 60 GB of HDD.

I already had the RRoD a few weeks ago. That was when my XBox 360 went in for repairs. I have no idea why that started because I use an Intercooler and the air is always cool out of the back of the console so I don't understand how it overheated.

One time I moved my XBox 360 into another room and when I wanted to load GTA 4, there were times when it failed to load. I got a loading error message in about five different languages and not one was English. It's so odd why English wasn't there and English is the most popular language. That stopped for a bit and now I have the freezing all the time. I can't use my XBox 360 longer than ten minutes because of the freezing. Sometimes it hapens three minutes after the start of use.

Is there a way to back-up the game plays and achivements from the hard drive to a PC and can the XBox 360 hard drive be formatted encase the hard drive is corrupted? Alos, if those can be done, can the data be copied back into the XBox 360 hard drive?

When you said about buying a new XBox 360 with a 60-GB hard drive, I thought you can buy a 60-GB hard drive and plug it into an old XBox 360 that came with a 20-GB hard drive. I thought we can buy a 60-GB hard drive as an upgrade.

By the way, when my XBox 360 went in for repairs, I took my hard drive off and tapped some cardboard over the left-hand side of the XBox 360. Of course, the taped cardboard was to protect the left-hand side of the console. I took the hard drive off encase my console was written off and they gave me a new one with a new hard drive or if they lost my hard drive. I didn't want to take the risk of losing my XBox 360 data. Of course the taped carboard on the left-hand side was to protect the console. However, can the console without a hard drive plugged in so long cause problems either for the console or the hard drive? I wonder if the disconnected hard drive for over a week and-a-half might have caused the freezing.

Many thanks.