Xbox 360 Troubles

Alex C

Senior member
Jul 7, 2008
355
0
76
My little brother's got an Xbox 360 that already had to be sent in due to the red ring of death, and now the new one is scratching up his games. The one year warranty is up (I guess it's only a year from the first one and didn't get renewed when they gave us another), and we're not paying them to fix a problem that shouldn't be happening in the first place. I've called their support line and they won't replace any of the damaged games (there's quite a few, and some are completely unplayable). I can fix the disk drive so it won't scratch up anything else, but it'll void the remaining warranty and we'll be SOL if we get red ringed again. So my options are to fix it and hope we don't get the red ring again (I'm not optimistic) and hope I can fix that too, or wait until it red rings on us and send it in and hope they fix the disk drive too, but in the meantime more games are going to get wrecked. Is there a way to induce the red ring of death without voiding the warranty? Normally I wouldn't try to get repair services for things after the warranty is up, but this is clearly a design flaw on their part and it's completely unacceptable that their system damages the games it's designed to play.

What should I do? Any advice would be appreciated.

-Alex
 

nismotigerwvu

Golden Member
May 13, 2004
1,568
33
91
Just be a bastard, wrap it in a towel and leave it on till it burns up.
Not that I would be doing this though.
Have you tried playing it on its side versus standing up (and vice versa) to see if it doesn't eat up discs that way.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
Why do you think they'd fix the disc drive if you get the RRoD? :confused: They almost always give you back the same system you sent in, and there's no reason for them to replace the drive.

It is pretty lame that they won't replace the games. They cost pennies to make, but to get a replacement disc for a game will cost you a lot because companies apparently have to pay licensing fees for every disc, even if they're replacements for damaged discs. I looked up the replacement cost for one company and it was $25-30 for Xbox 360 and PS3 games.
 

Alex C

Senior member
Jul 7, 2008
355
0
76
I've tried it horizontal and vertical, it scratches them either way. When we sent in the last one, we got a new one back so I thought that was what usually happens.

This is the link I found on how to fix it:
http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/...Xbox-360-DVD-Drive.htm

It looks like you just stick foam pads to the top of the drive to take out the wiggle room so the disc can't hit the side. Would I be able to just stick a thin pad to the top of the games instead of opening up the system and voiding the warranty? Or would the weight of foam affect the disks' ability to spin?
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
Just lie about it and say it has RROD i can almost guarantee you they wont check it and will send you a new system anyway, tack a note onto it saying "random RROD sometimes works somtimes dosent" just in case they do check it. You may get sent back an older one refurbushed or maybe a brand new jasper/falcon but at least it will work.
 

SneakyStuff

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2004
4,294
0
76
IF they won't take it back and you want to DIY... You said you can fix the drive, that's a first, and since you'll be voiding the warranty anyway take the time to apply an Arctic Silver compound to the CPU/GPU and put a piece of cardboard over the GPU like so EXAMPLE. You can also add RAMsinks to the 2 exposed chips behind the GPU. Another thing to do would be to add some sort of riser to the 4 rubber legs at the base of the xbox to elevate it off the ground and allow for more airflow. This would be to reduce the chances of RRoD but if I were you I'd do what max said and just send it back and claim RRoD.