360 RROD error warranty extended to 3 years

[Aramis]

I'm betting that most of you have already seen this, but since I didn't see a post up by anyone and I know a few of you haven't fired up your 360's in awhile, I thought I'd post it.

Microsoft has extended the warranty for the 360 to 3 years for all Red Ring of Death hardware errors. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/resources/warrantyfaq.htm

They are also putting new heatsinks on the failed consoles that are coming back to them- this has been reported for awhile now (http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/13/microsoft-beefs-up-xbox-360-cooling-freaking-finally/)  but it looks like they feel this corrects the issue enough for them to extend the warranty, catch all the problem 360's, and get some good PR in all in the same motion.

I think it's a good move- it's a positive PR move as well as allowing them to catch the problems as they come up.

[MindlessOath]

ya the BGA chips are having a cold solder effect and they need to be reflowed, and then need to add extra cooling so that it wont happen again.

what pisses me off is no one thinks of these things when making there board designs and then leaves it up to the warrantee to repair the issues.  its a mess with laptops i see so many terrible design where the motherboard flexes so much it causes issues to these BGA chips and various amounts of laptops come in without effective cooling.

remind you to stay away from "Sager" brand laptops, they dont know how to make a good design in any respect.

but the story goes, make a good design and make sure its good before it goes out.  the xbox360 had a failure rate of 33% i belive, and thats massive in those terms. i think the ps3 was at 1 or 3% i dont remember what i heard the report about last week.

anyways anyone with access to a hot air rework station (here is an example of one http://www.tequipment.net/HakkoFR1418-02.html ) can repair these and then put some added cooling on the chip when done (like its that easy, lol).

[MaddGIJoe]

Fucking 3 years?!

FUCK YEAH!!!! I was getting worried since I was over 1 year now

Sorry, just a little excited

[MindlessOath]

this is funny...
http://www.destructoid.com/could-surge-protectors-be-the-cause-of-red-rings-on-your-xbox-360--34605.phtml

nothing was proven so its interesting.  i dont see how this could effect the xbox in this sort of way, but i have seen weird stuff before.

[MONOLITH]

I'd like to see anything from a legitmate {electrical sciences type} source that verifies strip surge arrestors can cause voltage reductions.

I don't believe they can.

There's a mechanism in the strip that will "open" and prevent the flow of power if the voltage exceeds a certain % abocve 120 volts. I do not believe there is anything inside the strip that could cause voltage to fall.

 Not only that, but because voltage levels do fluctuate across the country, and from time to time for various source reasons, almost every appliance, especially electronics (like a 360) have built in tolerances to voltage levels, like "it operates at 120 volts, plus or minus 10%".

That would basically mean the unit could operate fine anywhere from 108 volts to 132 before it experienced a problem.

But again, I'd like to see something concrete that says surge strips can restrict voltage to below the norms.

[Dr.Jeckyl]

i'm kinda weary of surge protectors being the problem also. if it is the problem wouldn't our computers, tvs, dvd players, etc be crapping out on us too?

[MaddGIJoe]

I've been using a surge protector on my 360 since at lease February, that includes the marathon gaming that I have been doing recently, and I have yet to receive the dreaded 3 red lights on the ring.

[MindlessOath]

yes, its BS. i know for a fact that its all BGA related. ie the bga heats up... the board warps and cold solder happens and or dissconnects from the pads.

keep that sob cool!

[MindlessOath]

wow... i just heard this..
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40875

it seems Microsoft tech support is so stupid it thinks its power surges.  its a nice blame game now because they dont want to take responsibility or tell the truth of the matter.

[MindlessOath]

would like it if some people could digg this...
http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.tacticalcenter.net/viewtopic.php?id=14&title=The+real+story+about+the+xbox360+ring+of+death

link to article http://www.tacticalcenter.net/viewtopic.php?id=14

anyways, the update is that microsoft admits that all the units are faulty.
http://www.crn.com.au/story.aspx?CIID=85600&src=site-marq
its just a matter of time before it happens to you.

[Aramis]

Their wording on the article was a lot stronger than others. MS never admitted that all the consoles were faulty. They admitted there is a problem and have extended the warranty to fix it. I'm surprised they haven't requested CNN retract that statement.

[MindlessOath]

Though Microsoft's own Robert Bach declined to elaborate, he is the one who said this, and said it clearly. The problem stems from poor thermal management of the Xenos CPU, causing it's BGA solder joints to fail from excess heat.