Next Gen Console Hardware: "Failed"

Like I was starting to say before Brian T. swooped in and exploited my sexuality; you would think that with the advancement of technology today we would not be seeing the failure of next gen consoles like we do. For instance my Sega Genesis worked flawlessly up until I sold it, and I am pretty sure that it is still working today if it was taken care of. I never had a problem with my NES except for the pins wearing out from heavy usage. That is to be expected though and it is not a direct result of hardware failure, but with newer consoles though it is the complete opposite. Recently I read that 60% of UK Xbox 360 owners surveyed have experienced some sort of hardware failure. That is a staggering number, which to me is unacceptable. I myself have experience hardware failure, 2 times with 360’s and twice with Nintendo DS lites.

First let me start by saying what happened with my 360’s because these were the ones that are really comical and painful at the same time. FYI, I am on my 3rd 360 now. So I got my first 360 in the Summer of 2006. From the first minute it always seemed load, but everything I read and everyone I talked to said it was normal. Eventually after about a year and a half it got to the point that it was loud enough to hear it upstairs in the bedrooms. So after about a year and a couple of E74 errors I decided to call Microsoft. The conversation got to the point that I asked the technician if he wanted to hear the sound my system was making and he said sure. After turning it on and him hearing it I was quickly asked if there were any smoke or flames emitting from the unit. All I could do was laugh, and was told since it was two weeks out of its original 1 year manufacturer’s warranty I would have to pay $100 to have it fixed. That’s bullshit if you ask me so I put it up on eBay.

My second 360 was yet another console sporting the Zephyr chipset. I got a good run out of it, until it finally red ringed on me on November 9th, 2009. And if anyone recognizes that date it is the day before Modern Warfare 2 launched. So of course I instantly went in to panic mode. And in case if you don’t know there are 2 ways that a 360 can red ring. One is a prolonged period of different sorts of malfunctions, and the other is just a sudden 3 red rings with no warning what so ever. Mine was the latter of the 2. And if you go to Wikipedia here it will show you a list of all of the different sorts of failures that can be experienced with the red rings. I experienced them all. Since my 360 still would kind of work I decided to trade it in to Gamestop and upgrade to an Elite. Long story short, I take it to Gamestop, he turns it on, goes to play a game and it freezes. Then he turns it off and turns it back on and sure enough it red ringed right in front of him. So I got screwed on the trade in price but ended up with a new Elite that is quieter and cooler than any 360 I have owned.

Finally we move on to Nintendo DS Lite. I have had two that have failed on me. The first one the display went bad and by bad I mean that the picture was pixilated. The second would only charge if the unit was on. As soon as I would turn it off it would stop charging. Both times I was able to warranty it out and have it replaced with a “new” refurbished unit.

So I guess the gist of this blog is to hear if anyone else has had any of their own misfortunes with any of their consoles. It seems that these failures are becoming more and more common. I am also curious to know if you have, how was your experience with their customer service? For me Nintendo hands down had the best service. They sent me a new unit before I had to send in the broken one, which is better because that way I do not have to wait for them to get the unit, check it out, make a decision to repair it or replace it, and then send it out. Microsoft should consider taking this approach because with the sheer number of 360’s that fail, it would only be fair to us the consumers.

-Brian R.