which chip on the xbox actually fails with a RROD?

[Arkaign]

Well if it were a PC case, no one would buy it.

I don't really care either way. Original fat PS3 was pretty massive as well, but it didn't bother me much. I think the thing is that the XB1 is pretty uninspiring looking. They should have hired Apple to do the casing design for them. The PS4 looks like a piece of artwork by contrast.

But we buy consoles to play games on, not stare at. First thing I'll do if I get an XB1 is hide it out of sight.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/ps4-size-sees-console-dwarfed-by-xbox-one

 

[Sonikku]

The One appears to have far superior air flow to the 4. We'll see in a year if we're still patting Sony on the back for the case size.

 

[smackababy]

Well if it were a PC case, no one would buy it.

You obviously don't pay attention to the best selling PC cases. They are all incredibly ugly. I mean seriously? A giant windtunnel fan on the front with a thousand LEDs? No thanks. Give me a steel box with no windows and an I/O dock.

 

[zephyrprime]

Yep.

Training + paying engineers and technicians to physically repair RROD = LOL.

Microsoft (nor Sony) would never do such a crazy thing. Much faster + lower re-failure rate (due to unseen damages that might take time or be effectively impossible to test for in a time-efficient fashion) + cheaper due to no sophisticated labor process = they just replace the damn thing and call it a day.

I used to work at dell and they had probs with bad caps on their mb's as is well known in the industry. Replacement motherboards were not new - they were refurbs. Do you know how easy it is for a technician to replace some bad caps on a board? I've done it many times and I can assure you it's far cheaper than using a new board. The xbox would need a lot more work of course.

By the way, the re-failure rate with the dell MB's was high. Dell didn't care. It is well known that the re-fail rate for exchanged xboxes is much higher than for new xboxes.

I'm still doubtful that microsoft used new MB's when repairing xboxes. When I had to send in my zephyr xbox to be repaired due to rrod, the cross shipped xbox I got was also a zephyr and it was definitely a used unit on the outside. Also, the zephyr xbox was produced in 2007 and I didn't send mine in until 2011. I doubt that the parts were in production any more and the silicon chips were DEFINITELY not in production any more since they had moved two feature size nodes in that time. Since the xbox had so many returns (100% of the pre slim units are defective and will eventually die), there is no way Microsoft could have provisioned enough spares parts to repair then all without fixing old parts.

Also, keep in mind that there are companies in China who specialize in repairing bad electronics. MS doesn't have to train anybody to repair electronics just like they didn't have to train anybody to build an xbox in the first place because they outsourced all that work. Don't think that shipping costs are prohibitive either. It's cheaper to ship things in bulk to china than it is to ship things in bulk from one side of the country to the other.

 

[smackababy]

I used to work at dell and they had probs with bad caps on their mb's as is well known in the industry. Replacement motherboards were not new - they were refurbs. Do you know how easy it is for a technician to replace some bad caps on a board? I've done it many times and I can assure you it's far cheaper than using a new board. The xbox would need a lot more work of course.

By the way, the re-failure rate with the dell MB's was high. Dell didn't care. It is well known that the re-fail rate for exchanged xboxes is much higher than for new xboxes.

I'm still doubtful that microsoft used new MB's when repairing xboxes. When I had to send in my zephyr xbox to be repaired due to rrod, the cross shipped xbox I got was also a zephyr and it was definitely a used unit on the outside. Also, the zephyr xbox was produced in 2007 and I didn't send mine in until 2011. I doubt that the parts were in production any more and the silicon chips were DEFINITELY not in production any more since they had moved two feature size nodes in that time. Since the xbox had so many returns (100% of the pre slim units are defective and will eventually die), there is no way Microsoft could have provisioned enough spares parts to repair then all without fixing old parts.

Also, keep in mind that there are companies in China who specialize in repairing bad electronics. MS doesn't have to train anybody to repair electronics just like they didn't have to train anybody to build an xbox in the first place because they outsourced all that work. Don't think that shipping costs are prohibitive either. It's cheaper to ship things in bulk to china than it is to ship things in bulk from one side of the country to the other.

MS probably recycled some parts, sure, but the "repair" was essentially you sending in a bad Xbox, and them swapping the HDD into a refurb one (or new depending on when you did it). Refurbs could have come from any issue, not just RRoD.

 

[Topweasel]

When I sent in a RROD, I didn't even get the same console back. The manufactured date was different.

You wouldn't, You might get a "refurbished case" ones that they didn't scrap because they looked pretty fresh, maybe the disc drive and the hard drive's are "refurbished" as well. But that happens afterwards, they receive bad Xbox, run a check of bad components, mark it and bin them and toss an already "refurbished" Xbox into a box and send it back to you. Then they sort the working components out grab new boards from a bin, and screw together a new unit.

Refurbished means using good part to fix a working unit. What it doesn't mean is fixing broken parts. A hard drive doesn't get repaired, a disc drive doesn't get repaired,a mobo doesn't get repaired. I would also suggest that a very large portion, again more then people think, of working components get disposed of as well due to dust collection, marring, smoke bonding, anything that the customer might touch that doesn't look like 90% new will be tossed as well. Not fair to one customer to turn in a completely clean and well maintain Xbox, and get back one where it looks like a dog drug it across the floor.

 

[smackababy]

I got a console with a manufacture date of like a week before I received it. I sent in mine the day after Thanksgiving 2006 (I called an got the number on Thanksgiving) and received a unit with a manufactured date of Jan-12-2007.

I highly doubt it was a refurbished unit.

 

[Topweasel]

I used to work at dell and they had probs with bad caps on their mb's as is well known in the industry. Replacement motherboards were not new - they were refurbs. Do you know how easy it is for a technician to replace some bad caps on a board? I've done it many times and I can assure you it's far cheaper than using a new board. The xbox would need a lot more work of course.

By the way, the re-failure rate with the dell MB's was high. Dell didn't care. It is well known that the re-fail rate for exchanged xboxes is much higher than for new xboxes.

I have seen tons of Dell refurb board and they ain't refurbs. It's just not cost effective that way. Dell pays about a quarter what we would for their purpose built boards. It isn't worth it even in bulk to send the boards back to Foxconn or Asus and have them re-solder and replace chips by hand, when even for their inexpensive labor it's easier to just grab a new board off the line. They are labeled refurbs because Dell doesn't stop production and take a production board off the line to send out for repair. They make an order for replacement to hold in stock for repairs. Like when BMW killed the Z8 and said that they had enough parts for repairs to last 50 years.

Like the Xbox example it probably was a stock item that they had not a board that had been in use for 4-5 years. That would be stupid, even without the worries of rrod, the controller chips with that much wear and tear on them wouldn't live long and purposely giving people boards near eol after already having as much trouble as they have had would be suicide.

An the original Xbox wasn't anywhere near 100% failure rate. In fact it can't be I had a week 1 premium that I gave to a coworker when I got slim that is still seeing decent usage that has never had a hiccup. My BiL has a late 06 Premium, that again is running strong. My brother had 2 premiums, 1 that had rrod. I also know of at least 3 people that purposely got the xbox's to rrod just so they could get their boxes swapped while they had the opportunity. We may never know the number but I know its not 1% and I know it's not 100% and where ever you think it is in between those numbers is merely a guess. My guess is that their at about 50% over the 7.5 years.

 

[smackababy]

50% is extremely high. I would think it is closer to something around 20-25%. I know quite a few people that thought they might get issues, so the used the towel method to get it to RRoD and get a new one.

 

[Topweasel]

50% is extremely high. I would think it is closer to something around 20-25%. I know quite a few people that thought they might get issues, so the used the towel method to get it to RRoD and get a new one.

Well I am saying over 7 years which is 2/3rds of most electronics expected lives. It was about 30% rumored during the first 3-4 years, I figure another 20% between natural deaths and further rrod related deaths. But its stupid to say that 100% will die. Well that is a given any electronic device will eventually die, but the rest is just troll bait and hyperbole to build on what is already understood to be an issue.

 

[mmntech]

The One appears to have far superior air flow to the 4. We'll see in a year if we're still patting Sony on the back for the case size.

I doubt these chips have a high TDP. At least no more than the current gen systems.

 

[Arkaign]

I doubt these chips have a high TDP. At least no more than the current gen systems.

Yeap. 1.6Ghz wide netbook-class CPU + ~800Mhz GCN = ice cold. It's the kind of thing you could actually cool with no direct CPU/GPU fans at all, just well designed heatsink + good case airflow. This is nothing in the same universe of PS3/360 launch where they used very high TDP components.

 

[clok1966]

Well I am saying over 7 years which is 2/3rds of most electronics expected lives. It was about 30% rumored during the first 3-4 years, I figure another 20% between natural deaths and further rrod related deaths. But its stupid to say that 100% will die. Well that is a given any electronic device will eventually die, but the rest is just troll bait and hyperbole to build on what is already understood to be an issue.

gamestop had higher then 30%.. memo was "leaked" and then removed. We have had some equipment manufactured and most places normally talk 2-3% fail (depending on the equipment). Most electronics that fail do so in the first 30 days. that is why you see so many of those "warrentys" from major chains and SQUARE TRADE. they cover after the Original warranty, safe bet for them. From what gamestop has said, last gen.. wii, ps3 then 360.. but that is supposedly the whole generation. Local repair shop here (that does video games) still says he does more 360's.. but in the US.. there are more of them.. not sure you wear a PS3 out playing blue ray movies... or watching Netflix.