red-ring-of-death

Man Uses Consumerist Tips To Gets Xbox Repaired For Free
Reader Ben was sad. His Xbox was doing the ol' Red Ring of Death. He thought that was quits for his trusted gaming companion but then he started doing some research on Consumerist. Perusing our archives, he realized from some of our old posts that included in the price of the repair to the machine he had done not too long ago was a one-year warranty extension. Huzzah! Here's what he did next: More »

The Red Ring Of Death Affects A Very Occasional Xbox Player
Here's the thing with warranties: they're limited not by how many hours you've used an item, but by how long you've owned it. Usually, this works in our favor as consumers, but not in Nathan's case. He writes that his little-used Xbox 360 has failed after three years, presenting the dreaded Red Ring of Death. He wonders: since this is the same problem that more frequent Xbox users see after less time has elapsed, why can't Microsoft offer him a repair even though his warranty has expired? More »

Some Say Kinect Is Breaking Old Xboxes
Some Xbox 360 owners are complaining that the Kinect is driving their consoles into the grave, inflicting them with the Red Ring of Death. More »

My UPS Driver Feels My Xbox Red Ring Of Death Pain
Oscar says a UPS driver scrawled the pictured note with on the box containing his refurbished Xbox 360. As a middleman between irritated gamers and Microsoft's repair/refurbishing machine, the driver no doubt has much experience in swapping out dead consoles for refurbished units. And as the note reveals, he has his share of hands-on heartbreak with the notorious Red Ring of Death. More »

Microsoft Took Red Ring Out Of Redesigned Xbox To Prevent Red Ring Of Death
There were two ways for Microsoft to scuttle the whole Red Ring of Death thing that plagued previous iterations of its Xbox 360: Either fix the problems that cause the consoles to malfunction at a legendary rate or just take the whole red ring out altogether. Microsoft went with plan B. More »

Send Your Broken 360 To Hell With Class Via This Coffin
Many times when my Xbox 360s have broken I've wanted to send them off with a cremation that follows several steel-toed boot stomps. But if you'd like to make a point of protest to Microsoft while also treating your old buddy with care, you may want to invest in one of these Xbox 360 coffins. More »

Call This Number If Your Xbox Has Broken Multiple Times And You Need Your Replacement Pronto
While submitting his busted Xbox 360 for repair, Ben stumbled upon a valuable piece of info for those whose have suffered multiple system breakdowns: A special phone number that expedites the shipping your refurbished replacement console, provided you have your reference number and the extension of a CSR who helped you with your problem when you called 1-800-4MY-XBOX. We first reported the secret number (1-888-236-0927) two years ago. More »

Fed-Up Xbox Gamer Has Gone Through 6 Broken Consoles
Jay knows his tale of having gone through six Xbox 360s isn't all that unusual, but he rightly expresses that it's pathetic that stories like his are common. The poor guy even bought an Xbox 360 Elite in hopes that the redesign would be more reliable. But alas, his Elite and its replacements now broken as many times as his chain of launch consoles. More »

My Xbox 360 Didn't Break Often Enough
Xbox 360 owners like to compare horror stories about how often their console has broken down, but few can top the tale of Joseph, the man so unlucky that his refurbished Xbox 360 didn't break down once until its three-year red ring of death warranty lapsed. More »

Xbox 360 Failure Rate is 54.2 Percent, Game Informer Finds

—>The Xbox 360 breaks five times as often as its closest failure-prone competitor, the PlayStation 3, a print edition-only Game Informer survey found.  More »

Man vs. Eternally Broken Xbox 360: A Novel

—>Being a jaded Xbox 360 owner who's watched his console give up the ghost five times, it takes a lot for a tale of Microsoft customer service woe to move me. And yet a reader named Gower accomplished just that by sending a novel-length soliloquy about his maddening run through Xbox 360 hell. What follows is the Cliffs Notes version (grab your hankies):  More »

Microsoft Deep-Sixes Red Ring Of Death Coffins, Makes Customers Supply Their Own Boxes

—>Although we received an indication in March that Microsoft was phasing out its Xbox 360 return policy of sending customers padded boxes with prepaid return envelopes, gaming blog Joystiq confirmed that Microsoft quietly made it official in late May.  More »

Microsoft Tells Broken Xbox Owners To Find Their Own Shipping Boxes

—>Reader Zach's Xbox 360 just suffered its second Red Ring of Death. He dutifully called up Microsoft customer support to get a shipping box to mail his Xbox in for repairs, and instead was told he'd need to find his own box and ship it himself.  More »

Microsoft Can't Send You A Shipping Label Because They Already Have Your XBOX?

—>Ryan is probably looking at his XBOX 360 right now, wishing he could play it, but he can't. Why not? Red Ring. And Microsoft can't fix it because they say they already have it.  More »

Microsoft Accuses Gamer Of Tampering With Xbox, Tamper-Proof Sticker Says Otherwise

—>Reader Jeff writes in with yet another tale of Xbox woe: After sending in his third Xbox 360 for a third Red Ring of Death, he was surprised to receive a package from Microsoft only seven days later. "I figured Microsoft was so efficient and concerned about their loyal customers that the quickly delivered me another 360," says Jeff. That's not what happened.  More »

"Red Light Of Death" Xbox Owner Wants Same Extended Warranty As "Red Ring Of Death" Sufferers

—>Though Microsoft bowed to a gamer backlash and gave 3-year warranty protection for the widespread Xbox hardware failure known as "The Red Ring of Death," it seems another debilitating malfunction, "The Red Light of Death," hasn't become enough of a PR fiasco to merit the same treatment. Let's help it along with reader Steve's story...  More »

I bought one of those Mexican Jesus candles and put it on top of you, hoping for a little divine intervention. Nothing. I opened your disc drive and blew into you, just as I did to bring back my old NES from the netherworld. Not working. Xbox 360, I wish I could quit you.  More »

Walmart Sample XBOX 360 Demonstrates The Red Ring Of Death
Reader James says:Just went down to my local Wal-Mart the other day (La Quinta, Ca) and saw a Red Ring Of Death xbox 360 on display... thought it was worth a picture.This isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the product, is it? More »

"Bill Gates, You Suck"
Dan Jouver, a self-identifying southern Floridian, is yet another customer experiencing Xbox's notorious Red Ring of Death product failure, multiple times, but unlike others, he is eventually driven to destroy his Xbox on-camera in a series of exciting scenarios. More »