No Xbox 360 problems? Then count yourself as one of the fortunate ones. With a failure rating of more then 50%, most consumers have experienced at least one problem with their console.
The problems range from disks being damaged, to “bricking”, or possibly sometimes the “Red Ring of Death”. Some problems like games freezing can be frustrating, but most people often take on them.
Have you been playing your well-liked game on your Xbox, and suddenly it freezes up on you? You reset the console to only notice that it freezes again. Taking out the disk you notice that there are now scratches on it. Sadly, this is typical with this console. As many as 1 in 9 consoles placed flat, and 3 in 9 put on their sides have scratched disks. This is due mostly to two issues, a pad absent near the reader inside the the disk drive, or the drive not locking the disk in place before playing.
Another issue Xbox 360′s have is “bricking”. “Bricking” is a term used within the industry due to the brick form of most electronics. Since a brick is ineffective when it comes to electronics, when items like a game console, DVD player or equivalent quits, it’s now “useless as a brick”. Some dashboard changes have caused “bricking”. The only solution for this is to check with Microsoft to see about an exchange or repair your Xbox 360. If the console is not in the period of warranty, the repair might cost anywhere from $99 and more.
The common problem with Xbox 360′s is the “Red Ring of Death”. This term is derived from the three red lights that are on around the power light in the front side of the console, forming a red ring. This is due to either a general hardware problem or a major digital failure. Either of these problems is not good. Both require your console to be presented to Microsoft for repair or replacement. The average time to receive one after fix is eight weeks. Due to the frequency of this issue, Microsoft elongated the 1-year warranty that these consoles came with to 3 years from date of buying.
Because of the frequency of failures with the Xbox 360, there have been several lawsuits made. The first was right after the release of the console. Another was filed in November of 2006, just about a year after release. This lawsuit was because of the “bricking” that was observed after the November 1, 2006 release of a dashboard patch.
The most recent class action lawsuit filed against Microsoft was in October of 2008 by Californian buyers. The filers claim that Microsoft knowingly made faulty consoles and that they rejected to release the actual failure numbers of the consoles.
Xbox 360′s too often have troubles. In an industry where only 3-5% is an accepted failure rating, a rating of over 50% is outrageous! What happened to the game consoles that prevailed for years and years without any problems what so ever?
