Xbox Hardware Probs?

[Warlock]

http://www.mgon.com/articles.phtml?id=129383&language=en&rel_system=

Apparently there is a group of faulty Xboxes.. of course, this isn't a slam against Xbox owners or the machine, it's a slam against Microsoft. This is the crap they do. They don't test their products enough and they ship with bugs (or in this case hardware problems). Then in order to fix it you have to blow a ton of cash.. that is just gay. Like the guy said, with the faulty PS2s, Sony was fixing them for free! *sigh*

[Menokh]

Hmm....
Why does this not surprise me, especially since I've seen them green screen before in Toys 'R' Us?
Oh well, more proof that all M$ cares about is money.

[Masamune]

well i better go warn my brother!

[VEL]

I've also seen alot of broken XBOXes at stores. I've seen them on a green and black screen saying something about not being able to read the disk, I've seen some frozen up, and I've seen some with "out of order" signs.

[Daarkseid]

Well, if this article is credible, then the intial batches of X-boxes, produced in Hungary, are indeed slightly faulty.

I believe Microsoft, who seems generally concerned with staying in the console market, will fix these problems in upcoming shipments from their manufacturers in Hungary, provided this problem is widespread enough to come to Microsoft's attention.

If it turns out this problem is more isolated than this person is letting on, then its not really too much of an issue(unless your one of those unlucky enough to have a failing unit), and Microsoft will not explicitly account for this problem in future updates to their X-box.

[Warlock]

I'm sure by now they have fixed it, but it's kind of bad that they won't fix the faulty Xboxes for free when it's totally their fault..

[Cloral]

Well, the crap thing is thta they're charging him $130 for the repairs. I had a problem a couple years ago with my Color Game Boy where apparently some wiring had come loose such that there was no longer a complete circuit. This basically meant that the CGB would no longer turn on. The CGB came with a 1 year warrenty (not an extended warrenty, this was the basic warrenty that came with every unit), but the problem occured about 14 months after the purchase. I called the number on the back of the CGB and after talking to the service rep for a while, she told me to send it FedEx at their expence and they would fix it for free, despite the warrenty having expired. I don't have to tell you what kind of impression that left on me. :)

So yeah, I might be a bit Nintendo-biased, but I think I have some reason to be. One of Microsoft's largest problems is they don't seem to give the consumer enough credit, although at their scale I can understand that it would be difficult to do so.

[Warlock]

Yeah, that is one thing about Nintendo, they have excellent technical support. Of course I have never used it as they also tend to make extremely durable products (just go read some of those NP storys about Gameboys and SNESs geting caught in fires and run over by lawnmowers and still working! :D)

[DarkDragoonX]

Way back when, I had one of the origional GameBoys. It got run over by a snowblower. It ran perfectly, as did the cartridge that was in it at the time. The outside was pretyy beat up, of course, but the simple fact that it got dropped in the snow over night, then got runover by a snowblower and still functioned is pretty amazing...

[Menokh]

I've had 3 Nintendo systems die.
-One was my very old gameboy from 1992, it has benn through hell multiple times, it died last year; it;s amazing that it lated that long.
-Another was my first SNES that I got in 1993, it was overused and some graphics chip fried a year and a half ago. Now I got myself one of those mini-SNES's.
-And my first N64. It got fried. It was my fault though. I now know why not to rent Japanese games and play them without a mod chip.... Human Racing(F1 Pole Posistion in the US) is the game that fried my system. Nintendo was very prompt about replacing my system though. It took less than a week,

[Overlord]

Well all I can say is that if your X Box is buggered, then you should have listened to us experts ;) Or some call us "Nintendo biased" there IS a reason we're pro-Nintendo you know.

And I woiuld have been surprised if there WEREN'T any problems somewhere with the machine.. It's only just been released in AUS but I am not impressed with the games they have on debut. a handful in the stores I've seen. None of them particularly gripping.

[MottZilla]

Incase you didn't know, he did mention that he was in the press on gaming things, and he thinks that might have been why they slided him the fixing for free deal.

Anyways, I know someone that ended up setting their house on fire (they aren't smart people) and afterwards his snes was melted and such, but it still worked. Thing is though, I believe the casing is the main reason it lived. Also the components inside were not as sensitive as a PSX or any other CD based system.

[Daarkseid]

Originally posted by Mottzilla
Anyways, I know someone that ended up setting their house on fire (they aren't smart people) and afterwards his snes was melted and such, but it still worked. Thing is though, I believe the casing is the main reason it lived. Also the components inside were not as sensitive as a PSX or any other CD based system.

Still, the Gamecube looks solidly put together and is cleverly designed to be cheaply produced, compared to the expensive custom built PS2 and the modular mammoth, the X-box.

Nintendo's dedication to longevity may wind up being seen in the Gamecube.

Also, has there been any widespread reports of Gamecube failures? If so, I'd like to see them...

[Warlock]

Originally posted by Daarkseid
Also, has there been any widespread reports of Gamecube failures? If so, I'd like to see them...

Not that I've seen.. just a few game problems (ex: lockups in Rogue Leader - I've had this happen a couple times). But that's just software bugs, not hardware..

[Mak-X]

Originally posted by Menokh
-And my first N64. It got fried. It was my fault though. I now know why not to rent Japanese games and play them without a mod chip.... Human Racing(F1 Pole Posistion in the US) is the game that fried my system. Nintendo was very prompt about replacing my system though. It took less than a week,

That's wierd. You don't need a mod chip to play import Japanese games on a U.S. N64. All you need is either a passthrough cartridge converter, or gouge out the physical plastic tabs. I've never heard of modding a SNES or N64 at least not from the good article about importing games from EGM. Must have just been that particular game. I'm not really into the import scene but I wouldn't need to use a mod chip if I imported a game, only for disc based systems.



Originally posted by Daarkseid
Still, the Gamecube looks solidly put together and is cleverly designed to be cheaply produced, compared to the expensive custom built PS2 and the modular mammoth, the X-box.

Also, has there been any widespread reports of Gamecube failures? If so, I'd like to see them...

The Screen Savers opened up a GCN. It's basically a single circuit board on the bottom, while the Xbox has several components.


The B button's spring on the GCN controller kinda dies after a while. This was talked about by IGNcube and it happend to me. The force feed back on my first controller doesn't work right anymore either, only when it feels like it. This is probably just a thing that happend in the early models.

[Daarkseid]

Originally posted by Mak-X


The B button's spring on the GCN controller kinda dies after a while. This was talked about by IGNcube and it happend to me. The force feed back on my first controller doesn't work right anymore either, only when it feels like it. This is probably just a thing that happend in the early models.

Thats just for the controller though, which are cheap to replace compared to the console itself. Its kind of crappy to have paid 200 or 300 dollars for a console, only to have it break down after warranty. Unless you can get a deal with the company that makes the console, you'll have to pay way more than the typical 30 to 40 dollars you pay for a brand new controller.

[zeldafreak]

Realy, I got my X-Box a little later in time. Mine works fine, and the warranty is expired! I dont have the "MADE IN HUNGARY" sign at all, so mine is one of the good batches. I just hope that this does not keep up for X-Box...

Good luck with yours,

ZeldaFreak

[Hermit]

What did I tell ya....

God I hate knowing everything sometimes :laughing: