360 crapped the bed

[jflail2]

last night. Put a disc in and it sounded like it was trying to grind a brick.....so I'm assuming my dvd drive is dead.

I went with the BB extended warranty, so exchanging it shouldn't be a problem (when I find my receipt :/)

So since I already own a few games (mostly just sports), extra controllers, etc for the 360 would you:

1.) Trade it in for another just like it.

2.) Upgrade to the "premium" for ~$80

3.) Get the new one, turn right around and trade it in on a PS3.

4.) Get a new one, turn right around and trade it in on a wii raincheck.


Questions/concerns:

-Surely quality has gotten better now. I would hope new models no longer deal with the red rings of death (or brickgrinding dvd drives)? Is that an accurate guess?

-Is the upgrade to the premium worth it (larger HD, HDMI, cool black finish) if its even available?

-Am I officially going to lose everything on my current HD (Saved seasons, etc) or can I dump those off on an external drive?

All input is appreciated!

[tcrossma]

My 360 is currently in Microsoft's repair center to fix a 'disc read error'. This is the 3rd time that i've had to send my 360 in for repair, with the first two being a red ring of death.

From what i've read the Premium is not worth the extra money unless you really need the hard disk space. For me, I don't even come close to using the 20g I have now, so it's not even something i've considered upgrading to.

If you go through Microsoft for the repair (which is free if it's within the first year) then you can pull the hard drive before shipping it back and then when you get the replacement plug it back in and be right where you left off.

If you bring it back to BB, I don't know how they handle it. I don't know if you'll be able to keep your hard drive or not, but regardless if you subscribe to Live you can re-download any of your purchased arcade games without any additional charges.

I don't know if they've fixed the quality issues yet or not, but even with all the troubles I think think it's a hell of a system and will stick it out as opposed to moving to a PS3. A WII isn't in the same ballpark, in my opinion, and I really don't want to have to work for my gaming. I'd rather sit in a chair and not have to move naught but my thumbs.

tim

[PolkThug]

My 360 is at Microsoft as well... :(

[Silverti]

Get the PS3, especially if you are a AV nut with a lot of digital media. My PS3 rarely gets used for games and is friggen Gods gift to man as far as finally putting my digital media in one friendly easy to use space for my entire HT system.

[jflail2]

To sound silly, my biggest concern was losing my baseball franchise :/

I just got past the all-star game, have played EVERY game, and wanted to finish an entire season just once without simming a game.

Any other inputs? Thx btw Tim!

[cheddar]

Well, if you're expecting some sort of well engineered solution, the new 360s are just as bad as the old ones. Appearantly the only fix they could come up with is to strap on heat sinks as their standard fix for horribly overheated chips. But I've read reports where the heat sinks aren't seated properly and aren't making good heat exchange because of the poor heat paste they use. Same problem it seems for the elite as well. But if you're sticking with the 360, I don't see what other choice you have but to take a chance on another one. Unless you can't do without hdmi, I wouldn't sink more money into it, though.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/06..._for_the_360/1

The ps3 and wii are good if you like what they offer in terms of expanded multimedia capability for the former and simple but cool controller based games for the latter. There are many ports of 360 games for the ps3 with second generation games around the corner, but you have to weigh it against the loss of xbox live if you have it. But if you keep the 360, you should still keep it as well ventilated as possible as it still generates a lot of heat in all versions.

[engtaz]

Stay with the 360 get the premium or get the newer black 360.

[venomclan]

I vote option 3 or 4. If I paid $400 for something with this many problems, I would set it on fire and throw it through Microsoft's front window . If they die this soon, forget about it being reliable 2 years out. Why did they not recall all these yet?
Just my 2 cents.
V

[scottvamp]

I vote option 3 or 4. If I paid $400 for something with this many problems, I would set it on fire and throw it through Microsoft's front window . If they die this soon, forget about it being reliable 2 years out. Why did they not recall all these yet?
Just my 2 cents.
V

I agree 100%. Just from this forum and my friends that own the system. XBox knew it would be tragic if they decided on a recall, though. I would be as hell.

[Deadof_knight]

has microsoft recalled anything , why would they we didnt make them eat windows in any versions buggy software.... who are we kidding they just keep selling them.

Are the problems related to heat ?

[jflail2]

My problem was related to the disc drive, at least the grinding sound would have me believe so.

Took it back to bestbuy, new unit no questions asked, and they applied the remaining year of my replacement warranty to the new 360, so I didn't do that bad.

I was going to go PS3, but then 200$ more + a few games+ an extra wireless controller+ whatever other nonsense I ended up buying wouldve probably been closer to $500. I'm happy with the 0$ I spent I guess....

I can see adding a wii evnetually as well, since that's what the girl would probably play.

[krabby5]

My 360 is currently in Microsoft's repair center to fix a 'disc read error'. This is the 3rd time that i've had to send my 360 in for repair, with the first two being a red ring of death.

From what i've read the Premium is not worth the extra money unless you really need the hard disk space. For me, I don't even come close to using the 20g I have now, so it's not even something i've considered upgrading to.

If you go through Microsoft for the repair (which is free if it's within the first year) then you can pull the hard drive before shipping it back and then when you get the replacement plug it back in and be right where you left off.

If you bring it back to BB, I don't know how they handle it. I don't know if you'll be able to keep your hard drive or not, but regardless if you subscribe to Live you can re-download any of your purchased arcade games without any additional charges.

I don't know if they've fixed the quality issues yet or not, but even with all the troubles I think think it's a hell of a system and will stick it out as opposed to moving to a PS3. A WII isn't in the same ballpark, in my opinion, and I really don't want to have to work for my gaming. I'd rather sit in a chair and not have to move naught but my thumbs.

tim

The Premium has the 20gb hard drive....The Elite has the HDMI and the 120(?) gb hard drive..

I believe the OP had the premium and meant to ask if the Elite is worth it?

[jflail2]

Correct Krabby. If this one craps out, I'll give up on 360's and go ps3....

[Shannon W.]

Go with the PS3!
Microsoft is turning out nothing but JUNK these days! Plus with Sony you don't have to pay to play online! I've been play'n Resistance online now for a while with no problems and its FREE.

Shannon

[disneyjoe7]

360 crapped the bed, well you're going to set it on FIRE?

That is the Question of the day!

[jflail2]

360 crapped the bed, well you're going to set it on FIRE?

That is the Question of the day!

Hah, I thought about it, but decided the better half would break my neck if I set $400 on fire....

I was going to set up a trebuchet on the roof of my apt building, but I'm downtown so I don't think that would've went over well either.

I guess I'll ride this one out, and if it dies, then you'll see some destruction.

edit: And if you mean the bed, nah, I crap it all the time :/

[tcrossma]

The Premium has the 20gb hard drive....The Elite has the HDMI and the 120(?) gb hard drive..

I believe the OP had the premium and meant to ask if the Elite is worth it?

Yes, thank you, I meant to say the *Elite* has the bigger hard drive, I did not mean to type Premium. But my point remains the same that unless you need more space I wouldn't recommend upgrading to the Elite.

[krabby5]

I just realized I've never had more than one current gen console at the same time...I had the Atari 2600, Nintendo NES (not sure if there was competition), Sega Genesis, Playstation 1 & 2 and Xbox 360...

And not one of those have ever crapped out.......yet..although I'm not worried about the 360, because I have a warranty...but it still sucks that you basically have to consider that into the price though...I would NEVER buy a 360 without a warranty..

[disneyjoe7]

I just realized I've never had more than one current gen console at the same time...I had the Atari 2600, Nintendo NES (not sure if there was competition), Sega Genesis, Playstation 1 & 2 and Xbox 360...

And not one of those have ever crapped out.......yet..although I'm not worried about the 360, because I have a warranty...but it still sucks that you basically have to consider that into the price though...I would NEVER buy a 360 without a warranty..

And one of those the only one which has a Hard Drive is the 360... So IMHO I don't like to run any HD device with out an UPS. Running a HD with one and you can see the benifit, greater up time.