Closer Look: Xbox 360’s RRoD

 

What do you get when you sell 8-9 million systems worldwide with a 1 in 40 odds of having an issue that can happen at any given moment? You get a reputation of being the worst game system on the market that’s what. The Xbox 360 system was having an issue that could only be indicated with 3 blinking red lights on the front of your Xbox 360 around your power button quickly dubbed the red ring of death (rrod) because, without servicing the machine through Microsoft, the system wouldn’t turn on. This issue has had a dramatic negative effect on the Xbox 360’s sales despite the recent price drop and extending the system’s warranty to 3 years. Customers have been very reluctant to buy a machine because they don’t want it to happen to them and they would be without a system for the one week it takes to service the machine.

Whether you yourself have had the red ring of death happen to you or you only read about it, read the rest of the article after the break to see what we have to say about the rrod, Xbox 360, and how to make sure you get good customer service.

What Causes The Red Ring of Death?

The rrod happens to an Xbox 360 system when one or more system components permanently fail. A lot of people, especially those not computer savvy, have jumped to conclusions that the reason for the rrod is overheating but that is not the case with the rrod because if it were overheating, letting it cool off would be good enough until it overheated again (not to mention the Xbox 360 has a seperate indication for overheating which would be 2 blinking red lights in the 1 and 3 quadrants rather than three lights in the 1, 2, and 3 quadrants).

The real reason for the 3 red lights of failure is a result of long term heat of the CPU and the GPU against the motherboard that caused it to “bow” or “warp”. This warping issue causes the lead-free solders that were used to mount the motherboard to have lots of tension on them. After it too having long exposure to elevated temperatures, the solders become brittle and develop hair-line cracks that are almost irreparable. It isn’t until the hair-line cracks form that you get the red ring of death. So is the system having heat issues where the parts are failing due to heat? No. The system is actually failing because of irregular behavior in the motherboard that was mounted. If you want to see what we’re talking about with the warping of the motherboard, check out this youtube video.

What Microsoft Has Done To Help

As we’ve previously mentioned, Microsoft has announced that anyone who had to pay to get their system fixed that had the rrod is getting a refund as well as that all systems have a 3 year “enhanced” warranty that covers 3 years from the manufactured date (which means it covers used systems too). So some could say that Microsoft covered their butt to make sure no more lawsuits would continue but we think it’s more about admitting they made a hardware mistake that they thought was fine and showing that they will pay the price (and shipping) to get it fixed in a timely manner.

The basic process of getting the system repaired is:

1. Call Microsoft’s Xbox Trouble line (toll free at 800 4my xbox)
2. Inform them you have “three flashing lights in the 1, 2, and 3 quadrants” and it doesn’t turn on
3. Get the tracking number for your box
4. Receive from UPS the box they want you to ship it in the next day
5. Before you ship it, write down your serial number then remove hard drive and/or memory card and keep them
6. Ship it back via prepaid UPS (free for you) and go to www.xbox.com to track your system’s progress
7. After 1 week you’ll get a 360 back in working condition
8. Do a happy dance that you didn’t pay a thing for your system to be fixed except patience

How Customers Have Responded To The RRoD

Well, what customers are under the assumption that Microsoft should have had a recall on the machine. If customers were offered a recall on the Xbox 360 system and offered a replacement system in exchange this would have been better for most but we believe the reason a recall was not made is because 39 out of 40 systems were perfectly fine and they’d be replacing systems that did not need it done. Not to mention that a lot of people would expect getting an Elite Xbox back in return rather than the model they sent out. So the way Microsoft is handling it is probably the best way, after all, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right?

Microsoft Corrects The Mistakes They Make

Microsoft did re-manufactured the motherboard so it wouldn’t warp under prolonged heat and also fixed the solders to make sure that they didn’t cause the hair-line fracture. They also improved the “heat sink” of the 360 to make sure the GPU and the CPU both had more attention paid on them to keep them cool. These “revamped” systems can be identified simply by looking for the HDMI port located underneath the standard AV output jack on the back of the system. You can also look on the box to see if it says Zephyr on it which is the code name they used when re-manufacturing the motherboard.

How Microsoft Will Win Over The Anti-Microsoft

With bogus news articles like this one reporting that systems are being sold without the Zephyr motherboards is ridiculous and will assassinate Microsoft’s future in this race, even the news editor has updated the article saying that it has been 99.9% confirmed as bogus. The real problem at hand is offering money or free repairs to these anti-Microsoft consumers isn’t going to stop them from reporting more and more negativity “claiming” the rrod is still happening…

What needs to happen is Microsoft’s new spokesman Don Mattrick, that took Peter Moore’s spot, should do a news briefing about the issue and verify to everyone that the issue has been resolved and that any remaining non-Zephyr systems will be recalled to guarantee that the system you get is a Zephyr. By doing this, the fear of buying a Xbox 360 will be removed and the anti-Microsoft or Sony/Nintendo fans will have nothing to base their fears on. As far as cost to Microsoft, the non-Zephyr boards are far and few between at this point and could easily be removed from retail outlets without issues.

How To Use The Red Ring Extended Warranty To Your Benefit

Now this is indeed sneaky but we here at SOGamer understand that we don’t have Microsoft reading our blog, instead we have you, the consumer so here’s a helpful tip. If you at first call Microsoft about an issue not rrod related like the disc not being read and they say it’s “out of warranty”, wait two days and call them again only this time say that you have the red ring of death or “three flashing red lights and the system doesn’t turn on”. Since Microsoft is being extra generous to people who have a rrod system, it only makes sense that if you’re have any of the following issues with your machine and can’t get it replaced under the normal 1 year warranty, that you also try getting it under the 3 year extended warranty.

Issues Microsoft Can Fix Under This Sneakiness Are:

• System is scratching games
• System is not reading discs at all
• System thinks Xbox 360 game disc is really a DVD
• System thinks Xbox 360 game disc is not put into a Xbox 360 system
• System freezes or locks up

Sure what we’re suggesting isn’t honest, but the minute you put your system in a UPS box delivered to you by Microsoft and send it away is the minute that you’ll feel better that your Zephyr system is on it’s way and that you’d be calling about the rrod soon enough anyways so it’s only a preemptive call rather than a white lie. What we mean by that is if any of those symptoms are happening, it’s a sign that the system is already having issues with the warping so you’re only turning it in early before the actual rrod happens.

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