Broken Consoles - Worth the Investment?

[eastshore4]

Just looking for some suggestions on some potential deals I might be able to take advantage of. At my local pawn shop, they have a rack of 4 or 5 "broken" Xbox 360s. One is labeled as "won't read discs", and the others don't have a description, but I'm assuming they have the RROD. Their asking price is $70.00. There is also a first-gen PSP, in box and everything, that apparently has a faulty analog nub for $50.00. Would these be considered worthwhile investments? I'm not quite familiar with the process for fixing RRODS... I bought a used 360 once that suffered from it, and I just sent it in to MS and they fixed it for free, but I hear some folks talking about how MS wanted like $250 to fix their systems. And what of the analog stick on the PSP, is that something potentially fixable on the cheap? Any advice would be appreciated.

[klwillis45]

Are any of the build dates less than 3 years ago and will they let you fire them up to verify RROD?

[eastshore4]

they should let me test one out since I'm a regular, where would I check to see the build date

[Nathan_Sama]

My local pawn tests the systems as soon as you trade them in, and don't take faulty systems.
Well if the manufacture date is within 3 years or less from today, then you could still send it in to M$ to get it fixed if its RROD'd.
Plus anything without a RROD could be "forced" into a RROD and M$ should fix that and the disc read error.

[tgk2044]

they should let me test one out since I'm a regular, where would I check to see the build date

On the back on the console by the serial number. There should be a label there.

[QiG]

Not exactly what you were asking for, but over the summer I bought a broken DS off of eBay fpr $25 figuring it just needed a new battery. As it turned out, the old battery leaked over the circuit board and when I sent it into Nintendo for a $55 repair fee they ended up sending back a brand new one. Not quite the deal I wanted, but a brand new DS for $80 wasn't shabby.

[SaraAB]

It depends on how much you are paying for broken consoles, I paid 4$ for a PS2 over the summer and proceeded to flip it on ebay for a cool 30$, not a bad profit if I do say so myself for what was essentially very little work on my part.

The PSP should be a VERY easy fix, order up an analog nub from ebay and stick it on there. If its just missing the nub cover then its as easy as snapping on a new one. You can also get the whole analog stick as a replacement as well, but you might have to open the system to get that on there. Obviously I am just here to give information, as I cannot determine the condition of the system in the pawn since I have not seen it personally so I cannot guarantee 100% that it will be an easy fix.

[62t]

seeing how you can sell the Xbox 360 for parts and get more than over $70, it is worth

[LilPaintballer]

fixing rrod is simple, just do some research.

[phear3d]

do some research before buying broken systems. its not something thats easy. as for the RROD, i will do some further research first and then i'll decide then if i can buy it and fix it. $70 is steep for a broken unit. at least bring it down to $50.

if you are handy at things doesn't always mean youre handy at everything. im not assuming youre not, but for myself, i found out the hard way for my daughters broken NDS :(

[coolsteel]

do some research before buying broken systems. its not something thats easy. as for the RROD, i will do some further research first and then i'll decide then if i can buy it and fix it. $70 is steep for a broken unit. at least bring it down to $50.

if you are handy at things doesn't always mean youre handy at everything. im not assuming youre not, but for myself, i found out the hard way for my daughters broken NDS :(

Agree with this completely, unless you know 100 percent you can fix it you're just gambling with money. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose

[SaraAB]

do some research before buying broken systems. its not something thats easy. as for the RROD, i will do some further research first and then i'll decide then if i can buy it and fix it. $70 is steep for a broken unit. at least bring it down to $50.

if you are handy at things doesn't always mean youre handy at everything. im not assuming youre not, but for myself, i found out the hard way for my daughters broken NDS :(

Its worth it if you can sell the broken system for more than what you paid for it on ebay or elsewhere, however if you are expecting a fully working system out of it then you are definitely gambling with your money. Now if you find a broken system for $1-5 then you probably should buy it especially if its a newer system. Except for maybe if its an old gameboy with a smashed screen or a system like the genesis or master systems or a PS1 that are worth next to nothing if they are broken.

I would not trust a pawn shop personally, the people that sell to them probably trade in the worst broken stuff that you could possibly get, and you have to assume the person that traded it to them already knew that there was no way it could be fixed, or that the fix was not easy. If the fix was easy the original owner would have preformed it, right?

Also if you are a regular there you should have some type of idea of the video game knowledge of the staff. If they are knowledgeable lets assume they would have preformed the "easy" fixes and got those systems working so they could sell them for a nice profit. They probably have enough downtime where they could work on systems while waiting for customers. So with that being said lets assume they just tossed the broken systems that they knew they couldn't fix on the shelf so that they could potentially sucker someone into buying one thinking that it was an easy fix. Some pawns offer short warranties on stuff, so if you brought it home and found out it could not be fixed, you could bring it back, also look into that.