Total 360 Failure, FTW!

[Rain Dog]

Well, today I turned on my 360 (which I've had for about two months) to find that all the data on my harddrive was gone. I stared in surprise and before I could muster a "WTF?" the console made a loud "ZAP" noise and shut down. It turned itself back on and greeted me with 3 flashing red lights. Anyone know what happened here? Has it happened to anyone else?

 

[GFreeman]

No, you're the only person this has ever happened too. Are you serious?

 

[Rain Dog]

I wasn't referring to the 3 red lights. I realize that that's a common problem. I meant the loss of data before even getting the error message. The Xbox is working fine now, but my data's still gone. Or does the loss of data usually accompany the 3 red lights? If that's the case, then I didn't know.

 

[Joker]

did you have it hooked up to a surge protector? Cause the loud zap makes me think you had a power surge which fried your hard drive, then fried your system.

 

[Rain Dog]

No, it's hooked up to a wall outlet. I called tech support twice (because the first time I got some Indian guy who sounded like he had never heard of an xbox) and they said its a faulty hard drive. I think there's more to it than that though. That "zap" has confounds me.

 

[Joker]

I agree, I hate that MS farmed out there tech support to India. Half the time I cant understand the people over there incredibly thick accents, and the other half they dont seem to understand what I'm talking about.

I dont care if you're forign, but if you're going to work in a field where you have to speak English to English speakers all day long, you should you know, be able to speak clear English.

It's the reason I dont take a job where I have to speak Indian all day, cause I dont f**king know the language.

 

[XtromaniaK]

Tech support shouldn't be outsourced, ever. The manufacturers who are familiar with the tech should be providing the answers, not screwballs from other countries who don't know the back from the front of the machine. It's embarrassing, and hurts our own economy as well.

It's the reason why I hate most large corporations. Greedy bastards.

 

[patrickbateman]

'cry me a river'

 

[GFreeman]

Tech support shouldn't be outsourced, ever. The manufacturers who are familiar with the tech should be providing the answers, not screwballs from other countries who don't know the back from the front of the machine. It's embarrassing, and hurts our own economy as well.

It's the reason why I hate most large corporations. Greedy bastards.

I hate when I have a problem, read the website, am unable to fix it by using the 3-4 standard solutions that they provide on the website, and so I call...and all those dopey idiots do is read the website too me

 

[Rain Dog]

Tech support shouldn't be outsourced, ever. The manufacturers who are familiar with the tech should be providing the answers, not screwballs from other countries who don't know the back from the front of the machine. It's embarrassing, and hurts our own economy as well.

It's the reason why I hate most large corporations. Greedy bastards.

Agreed. The Indian's guy solution to my problem was telling me to turn the xbox on and off, create a new gamertag, and telling me the loss of data was my fault and that I had manually erased it. I wanted to smack him. I remember when my friend had trouble with his and he called about 6 times. By the fourth or fifth time he snapped and lashed out at the guy in frustration.

 

[XtromaniaK]

I hate when I have a problem, read the website, am unable to fix it by using the 3-4 standard solutions that they provide on the website, and so I call...and all those dopey idiots do is read the website too me

Yeah. It's just tiresome to have to deal with people who had absolutely no part in the construction or development of the tech. It doesn't help the consumer at all, and it makes the company that these idiots represent look like *******s. And just to shave a few bucks off the backs of some guys that would otherwise be paid a decent deal of money.

Outsourcing really is just an embarrassment. One of the reasons why I never buy computers from companies like Dell, etc. On top of making sub-par machines, their "tech support" consists of some Indian guy who probably doesn't even know what Dell actually manufactures until he looks at the website to read the steps on the site back to you. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth, for sure.

EDIT: Yeah, raindog, it really is just a frustrating experience for all involved. But those are corporations... they'll treat their customers like **** just to save a few bucks worth of revenue.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Agreed. The Indian's guy solution to my problem was telling me to turn the xbox on and off, create a new gamertag, and telling me the loss of data was my fault and that I had manually erased it. I wanted to smack him. I remember when my friend had trouble with his and he called about 6 times. By the fourth or fifth time he snapped and lashed out at the guy in frustration.

Well, wtf do you expect them to do for you? Tell you the magic 3 button click that will fix all the problems you're having? I'm willing to bet they are only allowed to dish out the suggestions from the website for fear of being sued because of a wrong suggestion. If that stuff doesn't fix it, then you have to send it in.

If my car isn't working, I don't call an auto shop and expect them to give me a magical, over the phone, cure.

 

[XtromaniaK]

Well, wtf do you expect them to do for you? Tell you the magic 3 button click that will fix all the problems you're having? I'm willing to bet they are only allowed to dish out the suggestions from the website for fear of being sued because of a wrong suggestion. If that stuff doesn't fix it, then you have to send it in.

If my car isn't working, I don't call an auto shop and expect them to give me a magical, over the phone, cure.

The problem is that they can't give you an intuitive suggestion that would save you $100-200 to send the product in. Unlike people who are familiar with and make the product auto shops don't make the cars. Microsoft, however, does make the Xbox 360. Unless I'm confused here. We aren't calling "Xbox 360 repair shop", we're calling the goddamned company that made the worthless thing.

 

[StrainedEyes]

The problem is that they can't give you an intuitive suggestion that would save you $100-200 to send the product in. Unlike people who are familiar with and make the product auto shops don't make the cars. Microsoft, however, does make the Xbox 360. Unless I'm confused here. We aren't calling "Xbox 360 repair shop", we're calling the goddamned company that made the worthless thing.

Well as far as I know from all my experience calling customer service, no matter what company, they rarely tell you anything beyond turning the system on an off and updating it.

If something malfunctions to the point that it erases data, nothing anyone can say over a phone will solve the problem. Apart from doing what the websites or instruction manual tells you when there's a problem, there isn't any magic fix.

And anyway he said he got the red lights, which is free to fix.

 

[XtromaniaK]

Well as far as I know from all my experience calling customer service, no matter what company, they rarely tell you anything beyond turning the system on an off and updating it.

If something malfunctions to the point that it erases data, nothing anyone can say over a phone will solve the problem. Apart from doing what the websites or instruction manual tells you when there's a problem, there isn't any magic fix.

And anyway he said he got the red lights, which is free to fix.

It's just nice, you know, when a "tech support" employee is able to give an answer that isn't carbon-copy of what's on the website. Maybe provide something that signals that they actually know something about the product that they're representing.

 

[StrainedEyes]

It's just nice, you know, when an "tech support" employee is able to give an answer that isn't carbon-copy of what's on the website. Maybe provide something that signals that they actually know something about the product that they're representing.

I know, but really, what can they suggest? Anything beyond turning it off and on requires some knowledge of how the system is built. And even if the person at tech support knows, the person calling sure as hell doesn't and would be helpless. They'd also end up voiding the warranty.

Besides, I bet they deal with like 15 completely idiotic people for every one of us calling about something serious.

I understand you want them to know what they are talking about.. But honestly what could they really do to help aside from sending you a box to ship it in?

 

[XtromaniaK]

I know, but really, what can they suggest? Anything beyond turning it off and on requires some knowledge of how the system is built. And even if the person at tech support knows, the person calling sure as hell doesn't and would be helpless. They'd also end up voiding the warranty.

Besides, I bet they deal with like 15 completely idiotic people for every one of us calling about something serious.

I understand you want them to know what they are talking about.. But honestly what could they really do to help aside from sending you a box to ship it in?

Give an explanation of what might have happened, something someone actually knowledgeable of the technology would be able to give. It's much more comforting when you talk to someone who can say, "Oh, I believe your problem might be _____ and it will require _____ to deal with it."

Instead of reading off recommendations off a website and then giving up (or, even more annoying... REPEATING the same damned instructions) without providing any possible causation.

 

[Rain Dog]

Give an explanation of what might have happened, something someone actually knowledgeable of the technology would be able to give. It's much more comforting when you talk to someone who can say, "Oh, I believe your problem might be _____ and it will require _____ to deal with it."

Exactly! The guy I got the second time I called did just this. I don't think the first guy even knew what my problem was . He was just like, "turn it off and on...nothing? Oh. It's your fault, then."

 

[The Watchman]

I didn't get the three rings of death, but today my system made a horrible sounds (like it was scratching the **** out of my disc) when I ejected, and tried to close it - it closed, but then opened right back up, wouldn't even begin to read the discs, and I had to turn it off and manually shut the tray. Had it for a year, and I doubt I still have the box or receipt etc. This is going to be a pain in the ass.

 

[Joker]

mine is acting weird lately too, freezing at random times on multiple games, etc. I tried clearing the cache, and if that doesnt work I'm gonna give them a call and see if I can get it sent in. Not a big deal, as I have a few Wii games I can pass the time with till it gets back. And I've been meaning to replay through Duke Nukem 3D on PC too...

 

[The Watchman]

I may just buy a new system to save myself the hassle - are the new versions less prone to these...failures?

 

[Rain Dog]

The new systems with the falcon chip are supposed to be less prone to overheating.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

No, it's hooked up to a wall outlet. I called tech support twice (because the first time I got some Indian guy who sounded like he had never heard of an xbox) and they said its a faulty hard drive. I think there's more to it than that though. That "zap" has confounds me.

It agree with Joker. It sounds like you had a power surge. Why oh why would you have something like your 360 plugged directly into the wall with no surge protector?

 

[El Santo]

If I do get the RROD, I won't send it to MSN.
There's lots of people who fix that here, with the XClamp fix or they add the Talismoon fans...

...for like 50 bucks (better fans, quieter too).

You void the warranty, but these people also give you a warranty that your machine will not get the RROD anymore, and if you do, they'll take care of it for free.

I'd rather just take my 360 to these guys and have it ready (and working better and permanently) in 2 days, than send it to Microsoft, wait up to 2 months or whatever and risk another RROD.

 

[MaximumSpider]

Anybody's 360 ever rrod and then un rrod. I turned my 360 on yesterday and hit the controller snyc button because my controler wasn't connected. I then hit the sync button on the controller and it didn't sync. I glanced at the 360 (which is a elite falcon chip model, which survived hours playing mass effect and stayed cool as a cucumber) and it was rrod The three quad rrod as a matter of fact. I screamed sat there for a moment. I turned it off and back on and it was fine. i played CoD4 for about 45 minutes no problem.