Nathan Pitmanhello, my name is
nathan pitman.

Red Ring of Death! May 23. 0816

Just over 2 years after I first got my Xbox 360 and I have been graced with the 3 flashing red lights or “Red Ring of Death’ as it is affectionatley known.

I’m particuarly narked as I just bought GTA IV a few weeks back and hadn’t had a good chance to play it until tonight!

So, I called Xbox support here in the UK (though I think I was re-routed to India along the way) and my fears were confirmed. My Xbox is dead. They are sending me a returns lable via email and have asked that I wrap the Xbox in bubble wrap and place it in a plain cardboard box. When I asked if I could return it in the original box they stated that under no circumstances should I return it in a box with any Microsoft or Xbox insignia. How strange… perhaps they are trying to hide the number or returns from UPS staff here in the UK.

I gave the nice lady a bit of grief about the fact that I had to provide my own coffin for faulty hardware that they had produced but to their credit they confirmed that the returned Xbox would be subject to a further 3 year warranty and that they would provide me with a months free Xbox Live Gold membership. Not bad.

Apparently it should take 3 weeks for my Xbox to be returned minus the three red rings. I’ll keep you updated…

Update: My Xbox 360 arrived back home today, just 1 week to the day after it left, it’s been to Germany, had the mortherboard replaced and a new faceplate (Thanks Microsoft!), the old faceplate had been vandalised by my son. I also got a months free Xbox Live Gold Membership.

Add to this the fact that it’s significantly quiter when idle than it was before, I’m well impressed. Good job. :)

Tagged: Consoles, Personal

Sorry to hear about this Nathan – what a nuisance! Hopefully, the replacement will get to you soon :)

Posted by Matt Robin on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

Mine crapped out 2 weeks ago to this day. Does anyone know if they are just sending refurbs or truly repairing the problem now that it has been identified?

Posted by ERROL on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

If you played more than once every3 weeks, you’d be one of the millions of others who have had 4-5 consoles replaced and I bet you wouldn’t be so impressed.  I’m not impressed because I am on #3 and I am watching the garbage red ring on me right now, that’s 4 consoles in under 2 years.  The only person I know who hasn’t had his garbage 360 crap out plays once every 2 months or so.  TRUTH!!!!!  RECALLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by William on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

@Hugh: I just looked up the number on Xbox.com… it was a Longdon number but the call center is based in India. The lady I spoke to was very helpful, albeit very obviously reading from a script. :)

Posted by Nathan Pitman on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

I just sent my xbox out for the second time!!!! I had my first xbox for about six months got the ring of death, sent it out….... Got a refurbished unit back… It lasted about six months….. We’ll see how long this unit I get back lasts…. I can’t complain I guess… I got a free game out of them this time, even though it was Viva Pinata….. I asked for a brand new unit, we’ll see what they send me…

Posted by Link on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

Hi Nathan

I read your ‘Ring of Death’ story with great interest – as that is EXACTLY what happened to me on Sunday.  My 360 is over 2 years old – but has been used sparingly over that time.  Can you give me the Microsoft UK contact details which got you a result?  Do you think I can achieve the same?

Many Thanks

Hugh

Posted by Hugh McCulloch on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

HELP I HAVE THE THREE RINGS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

HELP HELP HELP

HELP

Posted by GAZ THE GAMER on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

I got an email from Microsoft yesterday to tell me that my console is on it’s way back already! Sounds promising! :)

Posted by Nathan Pitman on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

I too have had my 360 replaced recently, and must say I was pretty impressed with the service offered. It was away for a week in total, and appears to have had some kind of hardware overhaul. When it arrived back, although the case and serial number were the same, it was sporting the ‘as-new’ protective stickers on the disc tray and IR port. It also sounds a lot quiter than before, so I presume it now has a new Falcon motherboard.

I’m not sure how the returns policy works, but some of my friends have had ‘coffins’ posted out to them wheras I had to fork out for a box and bubble wrap and post it myself. Anyone have any ideas as to why this is?!

Hope your repair is as swift as mine…

Posted by Joe Blackwell on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

@kayel091: So far as I’m aware refurbished units have a different heatsink configuration and in some cases users are receiving new units with the Falcon motherboard using the 65nm CPU. In any case both scenarios drastically reduce the chances of RROD but yes, it ‘could’ happen again! I will just have to wait and see. :)

Posted by Nathan Pitman on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

You, shouldn’t av got a new one… its a desighn fault were when the xbox gets too hot the chip board gets warped… if u get another one its jus gonna happen to that one too… you can get clamps installed too hold the board in place an solve the problem… it’s probably gonna happen to u again within the year… sorry! :

Posted by kayel091 on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

This happened to me very recently. I sent out my xbox 360 to them friday and got a new one the following monday because they shipped everything overnight (there was a delay in sending me the empty box so I am not sure if expedited my stuff to make up for it)

Posted by akeem on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

I did actually state to the lady on the support line that I didnt want to be held responsible for the state of the Xbox upon return if I’m providing the packaging myself, she said not to worry as it will just be ‘disposed’ of upon arrival! Oh dear!

Posted by Nathan Pitman on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

Perhaps the blank-box policy is to reduce the chance of it getting pilfered in transit. You know how people just love to steal broken xboxen!

Posted by Drew McLellan on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

I had the exact same thing happen about a month ago. Microsoft sent me an empty box to send mine back in though. In just about two weeks I got mine back working fine. I am usually one to complain about microsoft, but the process for me was painless And, since mine was well out of warranty, I was pretty happy with them fixing it for free.

Posted by rob mckeown on 23/05/2008 at 08:03 PM

I remember when this happened to my husband. He was so discouraged that he went out and bought a Wii. We eventually sent it back in and got it replaced, but it definitely was discouraging.

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