XBOX 360 Red Ring of Death FAQ: Soon to be known as the Red Dot of Death! :P

[quote name='Nebenator']Ok, now I just have to find out when my warranty ends.[/QUOTE]

From xbox.com

New Post-Service Warranty

If we repair your Xbox 360 within the original warranty period, you will receive either the balance of your original warranty, or 90 days, whichever is longer. In addition, we will pay for the shipping both ways.

If we repair your Xbox 360 after the warranty period has expired, while you will be responsible for the repair costs, you will receive either the balance of your original warranty (if it has not yet expired for all conditions), or one year, whichever is longer.
 
So i'm helping my cousin get his 360 fixed for that e74 error. When I go online it said his warranty expired about 12 days ago but when we filled out all the required info, the payment tab said we owed them 0. So you guys think they'll still do it for free or will they charge him when he gets his fixed 360 back?
 
got the RRD on july 15, on the 16 went online set up a service, didn't get a coffin, got label mailed to me, received it on the 23, sent it out in my own bought coffin on the 23, & still no 360 back..just waiting.. ..

by the way, i've bought 6 360's since launch day, & i've sent back 4 for RRD,
 
My RROD repair timeline, in case anybody's curious on current turnaround time -

7/26/09 - RROD
7/27/09 - Drop off my packaged XB360 with pre-paid printed out label from MS, shipped via UPS Ground to Mesquite, TX
7/30/09 - Arrival at Mesquite facility.
7/31/09 - Three e-mails in very quick (within a couple hours) successions - "received", "repaired", "shipped".
ETA receiving repaired unit back (via 3 day UPS Ground again) 8/5/09.

That is outstanding turnaround to say the least - my unit must have just had the GPU fan repair needed... I noticed that Stuntman Ignition was locking up my unit 5 minutes into the game, then 4, then 3, then 2... on 7/29... then on 7/30, couldn't even boot up. That would be indicative of the fan slowly grinding itself to death, getting weaker and weaker with each boot, and consequentially allowing the GPU to overheat more quickly each time. I just hope that whatever repair they did fixes things for good, but I will say that this has been a good opportunity to check out some PSN titles I hadn't played in a while.
 
I sent in my 360 this week and they've already received it. I'm hoping it goes by quickly. I wasn't able to get a coffin, but I printed the free shipping with UPS label from online. I put my old 360 into an old newegg box with packing peanuts and shipped it off. Just dropped it off at my UPS store. It took me longer to stand in line then it did for them to process my shipment.
 
I would pay these companies a little something just to get the coffin. I mean how the hey would I know how to pack something like this? Nintendo has never sent them, and I never did send in my second Wii.
 
Just got E-74'd. Does it just happen out of nowhere? I mean the system had given me no problem at all. It was perfectly fine last night. Played some games and watched some shows through netflix.

This system lasted close to a year and a half. My first system, so we will see how this goes.
 
[quote name='TheRock88']So i'm helping my cousin get his 360 fixed for that e74 error. When I go online it said his warranty expired about 12 days ago but when we filled out all the required info, the payment tab said we owed them 0. So you guys think they'll still do it for free or will they charge him when he gets his fixed 360 back?[/QUOTE]

Was it the general 1 year warranty they said expired? Because they extended the e74 warranty to 3 years just like the RRoD.
 
[quote name='Needles-Kane']Was it the general 1 year warranty they said expired? Because they extended the e74 warranty to 3 years just like the RRoD.[/QUOTE]

Not sure. He bought it back in 06 and had to send it back to MS at least 3-4 times cause of the RRoD. Last time he had to send it in was Sept 07 I think.
 
Well, got an e-mail that it has been received, fixed and sent, now to wait on getting it back. Not too bad I guess seeing as I sent it Monday late afternoon.
 
[quote name='dcswirl']Just got RROD this morning :([/QUOTE]

Me too. It showed some artifacting on the screen, then after a reboot, I got 1 red light and E74. I have a Falcon system, almost 2 years old and this is the first time that it has happened.

:cry:
 
I am not sure what all this is about Microsoft not sending out coffins. I got the RROD a couple days ago, and I simply went to their support site and selected it as an option. I certainly would not want to go to the trouble of finding a box, figuring out the best way to secure it, etc. This is much easier for a problem that never should have been mind.

By the way, this is the second console I am sending in. The first one's disc tray broke (they sent me a new one, just for that, not sure why), and this last one, as I stated, got the dreaded RROD.

Hopefully I can be back up and gaming soon!
 
[quote name='Quintessence']I am not sure what all this is about Microsoft not sending out coffins. I got the RROD a couple days ago, and I simply went to their support site and selected it as an option. I certainly would not want to go to the trouble of finding a box, figuring out the best way to secure it, etc. This is much easier for a problem that never should have been mind.

By the way, this is the second console I am sending in. The first one's disc tray broke (they sent me a new one, just for that, not sure why), and this last one, as I stated, got the dreaded RROD.

Hopefully I can be back up and gaming soon![/QUOTE]

When I went to the site, I had the option of printing my own label and having a label shipped to me. The description under printing your own label says that you need to have your own box. Having a label shipped to you doesn't mention anything about the box being needed. I selected having the label shipped to me and moved to the next step. That is when it told me that I need my own box for that as well. We'll see if I actually get a box or not.
 
1st RROD happened just a little over a year after getting my 360....I was crusing along playing it fri..roughly a yr an a half from getting my 1st replacement and it crashed again..


*high five*
 
[quote name='Lokki']When I went to the site, I had the option of printing my own label and having a label shipped to me. The description under printing your own label says that you need to have your own box. Having a label shipped to you doesn't mention anything about the box being needed. I selected having the label shipped to me and moved to the next step. That is when it told me that I need my own box for that as well. We'll see if I actually get a box or not.[/QUOTE]

Unless I am crazy, I got the option for the coffin.

Under next step for me it says, "We will mail you a shipping box with prepaid UPS shipping label. Please print the Xbox shipping instructions and refer to them when you pack your console." And my repair status says, "Shipping Box Sent."

The site better not be lying to me, lol!
 
I just did mine and it doesn't say anything about a box. Also, I am out of warranty but it still said it was free. Is this true or are they going to send me a bill with the console?
 
[quote name='Quintessence']Unless I am crazy, I got the option for the coffin.

Under next step for me it says, "We will mail you a shipping box with prepaid UPS shipping label. Please print the Xbox shipping instructions and refer to them when you pack your console." And my repair status says, "Shipping Box Sent."

The site better not be lying to me, lol![/QUOTE]

I saw the option of being shipped a coffin with label too. Weird how it shows up for some people and not for others.
 
I'm not really sure what I should do. My system freezes up every time I turn it on (either as soon as I load a game up or after sitting on the dashboard for a few minutes). It either just freezes , or gives me a checkerboard image , or the screen just goes black. Unfortunately I'm not getting any red lights or error messages. The system isn't under warranty anymore , and since the problem doesn't appear to be directly related to any red ring problems I'm not sure if they will cover repair costs or not.

Is there any way to send the thing into them to check the problem and if its not covered I can just not pay the repair cost (just have them send me back the system)? Or should I just plan on buying a new system/paying the repair cost? Any thoughts or suggestions for my situation?
 
Dang :( I bet they won't cover it, even though it's clearly a defect. I guess if it were me I'd call and describe it, but personally I wouldn't pay to repair it.
 
well mines busted... again.. on my 4th xbox now since launch date. Im tempted just to go out and buy the elite system and then trade in my original when i get it back
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']Dang :( I bet they won't cover it, even though it's clearly a defect. I guess if it were me I'd call and describe it, but personally I wouldn't pay to repair it.[/QUOTE]

That's what I'm afraid of. Based off what I've read of the problem , as well as the E73/1 Red ring error , they sound very similar. I was "hoping" that maybe if I just continued messing around with it (turning it on and off , trying to play games , ect.) that maybe it'll eventually turn into the 1 red ring , but so far no dice. The system just turned about 2 years old , which is twice as long as my first system lasted.

I really don't have that much of a problem buying a new 360 , I just really didn't want to have to. Especially since I was considering getting a PS3 soon if the price drop rumors turn out to be true.
 
Well, I was about to repair mine (using Xecuter's RROD repair kit) before someone mentioned to me that my 360 is probably still under warranty due to the 3 year extension. I checked MS's repair site and sure enough it let me open a repair ticket and print a shipping label for free. I mailed it off today. Here's keeping my fingers crossed that it gets back safely and soon.
 
[quote name='TheRock88']I saw the option of being shipped a coffin with label too. Weird how it shows up for some people and not for others.[/QUOTE]

That is interesting. Maybe it has something to do with a time range.

And to answer my previous musing, no, I am not crazy. I got my coffin today. I will send it out tomorrow.
 
I didn't get the coffin option. I wondered if people who still have the full warranty get the coffin option, and people who are just under the 3 year extended RROD only get the label option.
 
How should I go about returning it? See, the problem is that I don't want to lose all the data on my hard drive. Would they take it without the hard drive? Do they check? What about the controller, I assume I bring that in as well right?

Anyone have any experience with this that could help me out?
 
Best Buy is going to want everything that came in the box back. If you're making an exchange, you have to include everything that came with it when you first bought it. Its not a situation where you can pick and choose what to exchange.

The only suggestion as to saving your data is to see if you can access a friends 360 for a bit, put your HDD on it and transfer your saves to a memory card. You'll have to redownload your arcade stuff when you recover your GT on a new hard drive, but at least you'd have your saves.

Otherwise, the loss of data is the biggest loss when dealing with retail stores like Best Buy.

You could always try to keep the hard drive and see if you get an idiot, and just act like you forgot to put it back on when you were troubleshooting the problem if they notice and go back a little while later with it included. Obviously, its a form of fraud, but you could rectify it by keeping the old drive and return the new one a few hours later saying that you forgot to include it.
 
Well fuck. Maybe I'll have to buy a memory card then. I might just try and bring it in without the hard drive and see what happens. I mean, worst case they'll just tell me I need to bring it in with the Xbox.

EDIT: With the warranty, do you have to bring it back to the same Best Buy you bought it at? I'm wondering because of the rumored August 30th Elite price drop. But by the 30th I'll have moved into my dorm in a different state so if I waited until then to try and upgrade my Xbox I would have to bring it in at another Best Buy. Would this work?
 
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You should take everything that initially came in the box. From what I've read in previous posts from the site, they will let you keep your old hard drive and open up the new system and take that hd from it, giving you the new system. If that is how BB replacement system still works.
 
A friend of mine with a BB warranty had his 360 RROD a few months ago.

Here are some notes from his tales:

1. Yes, they will want everything back.

2. Concerning data transfer, he spoke to their customer service department (in person) -- they, of course, would gladly have their Geek Squad xfer the data for you, but they wanted to charge something like $60+ for the job. My friend said that BB did allow him, however, to buy a transfer cable kit at the store, take it home, open it and use it, then return it. Might be a bit more running than you want, but it's an option (YMMV). Alternatively, I've heard reports of people just calling XBOX and asking for a transfer kit (Again, YMMV, but it might work better if you pitch the idea that you're upgrading units and you don't have the new one's S/N yet because it's en route). Anyway, if you're patient and persistent, you can probably transfer data without a problem. The actual data transfer was not as quick as one might think. I think he said it took something like a good hour or so to transfer the data.

3. This is the most important part my friend found. READ THE WARRANTY. The warranty states that it covers the _PRICE_ of the unit, not the unit (model) itself. So, my friend, who wound up originally buying a Pro back in the day was able to upgrade to an Elite thanks to the 360 price drops over the years. You may need to speak with a manager to plead your case, but it's right there in black-and-white . (Of course, if you recently bought your 360, you may not benefit from said price drops.)

Side Note: Given that his Elite came with a (much) bigger hard drive than his original Pro's, he was definitely interested in transferring his data to the newer, bigger drive. If you're just swapping models with same size drives, you may just as well keep your old one and save yourself the headache.

FWIW
 
[quote name='mr_btw']3. This is the most important part my friend found. READ THE WARRANTY. The warranty states that it covers the _PRICE_ of the unit, not the unit (model) itself. So, my friend, who wound up originally buying a Pro back in the day was able to upgrade to an Elite thanks to the 360 price drops over the years. You may need to speak with a manager to plead your case, but it's right there in black-and-white . (Of course, if you recently bought your 360, you may not benefit from said price drops.)[/QUOTE]


hmm..if he had the pro unit for $400 I wonder how it works if you want the new Elite which is $300 or just 2 Arcade units for $200 each!?!?
 
[quote name='mr_btw']A friend of mine with a BB warranty had his 360 RROD a few months ago.

Here are some notes from his tales:

1. Yes, they will want everything back.

2. Concerning data transfer, he spoke to their customer service department (in person) -- they, of course, would gladly have their Geek Squad xfer the data for you, but they wanted to charge something like $60+ for the job. My friend said that BB did allow him, however, to buy a transfer cable kit at the store, take it home, open it and use it, then return it. Might be a bit more running than you want, but it's an option (YMMV). Alternatively, I've heard reports of people just calling XBOX and asking for a transfer kit (Again, YMMV, but it might work better if you pitch the idea that you're upgrading units and you don't have the new one's S/N yet because it's en route). Anyway, if you're patient and persistent, you can probably transfer data without a problem. The actual data transfer was not as quick as one might think. I think he said it took something like a good hour or so to transfer the data.

3. This is the most important part my friend found. READ THE WARRANTY. The warranty states that it covers the _PRICE_ of the unit, not the unit (model) itself. So, my friend, who wound up originally buying a Pro back in the day was able to upgrade to an Elite thanks to the 360 price drops over the years. You may need to speak with a manager to plead your case, but it's right there in black-and-white . (Of course, if you recently bought your 360, you may not benefit from said price drops.)

Side Note: Given that his Elite came with a (much) bigger hard drive than his original Pro's, he was definitely interested in transferring his data to the newer, bigger drive. If you're just swapping models with same size drives, you may just as well keep your old one and save yourself the headache.

FWIW[/QUOTE]

That's exactly the opposite of what happened to me...

I've returned two RROD 360's to best buy, both time I walked in with the system outside of the box, with all my controllers and wires left at home.

They took a new 360 out of a box, switched the Hard Drives for me, and I went on my way. Cables and geek squad transfers?.. why would I even buy the Best Buy warranty then?

They never asked for everything back... you can get everything switched if you want though, and they should let you change your hard drive. at least in my experience.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']hmm..if he had the pro unit for $400 I wonder how it works if you want the new Elite which is $300 or just 2 Arcade units for $200 each!?!?[/QUOTE]

Hmmm, maybe I over-simplified the case in my attempt to make the distinction between the warranty addressing the PRICE of the unit rather than the MODEL of the unit.

I sincerely doubt that it reads to the effect of "$X worth of merchandise." It's probably more along the lines of "a replacement unit of equal or lesser value." I'll throw out the disclaimer now that I don't have a copy of a (current or old) Product Replacement Plan (PRP) on me, so I really don't have two feet to stand on. But, I'm sure they've covered your scenario so that people aren't walking out with two, lesser-valued (i.e, Arcade) units. And I really do't think they're going to give you a $300 Elite and a $100 Gift Card. I could believe either way that higher-priced units might be price-adjusted for the difference of the original purchase, though.

The point is, read your warranty and don't assume that you're only entitled to a lesser-priced replacement of the same model.

Also, after some quick Googling, it looks like Best Buy has changed their warranty terms over the years (esp. with respect to 360 coverage).

Another scenario would be repeated defects. Do they replace a replacement unit? And, if my original unit was a $400 Pro, my original replacement was a $300 Elite, what would they replace the broken Elite with if a new $400 unit became available? Again, I don't know. Read your warranty and make sure you understand what you're entitled to.

[quote name='DestroVega']That's exactly the opposite of what happened to me...

I've returned two RROD 360's to best buy, both time I walked in with the system outside of the box, with all my controllers and wires left at home.

They took a new 360 out of a box, switched the Hard Drives for me, and I went on my way. Cables and geek squad transfers?.. why would I even buy the Best Buy warranty then?

They never asked for everything back... you can get everything switched if you want though, and they should let you change your hard drive. at least in my experience.[/QUOTE]

Maybe I also over-simplified here when I said "everything back." No, BB doesn't care whether you keep your old hard drive or take theirs. They just need to have a "complete, broken set" to send back to the manufacturer. In other words, you cannot bring back just your broken console unit and expect to walk out with a new, sealed box (thereby getting free hard drive, headset, cables, etc. out of it). BB doesn't want/need your used, working accessories -- why would they when the new ones can simply be repackaged?

So yes, if you aren't getting the added benefit of a larger hard drive, then I agree that it's not worth the cost/hassle of going through the data migration (unless a NEWER drive is something you REALLY care about). My friend didn't NEED to migrate his data, he WANTED to because, in doing so, he got the larger hard drive (20GB Pro vs 120GB Elite). BB would have been just as happy giving him the Elite (minus the 120GB hard drive) and letting him keep his old 20GB drive.
 
Got my 360 back today. So took me 10 days total turn around. Not too bad. Also, I tried another gamertag and seems that the license is still attached to this console as I could play my downloaded games without having to be on Live. So guess still is my own system.
 
Just happened to me...:cry:

Was playing some COD 4 on overgrown and the thing just froze...could do anything except reboot from the console. Turn it on, nothing happens then about 10 seconds later I see em flashing. System lasted 1.5 years with no issues at all. This is my first rrod, hopefully my last.

Gotta go check and see if the Kmart extended warranty is still good, otherwise looks like I'll be asking for a coffin.
 
My Falcon just RROD.

I think this is my 4 rrod since the 360 came out and I've sold and rebought a few times.

Love the 360, hate MS.
 
So are you guys positive that his price change is going to happen? When is it supposed to take place? As of now, the Pro is still on the Best Buy website at $300. I checked my receipt and at the time I bought my Pro it was $350, so if the price change is to happen soon, I'd definitely want to take advantage of upgrading my system.

By the way, is the bigger hard drive the only difference between the Pro and Elite?
 
[quote name='MetalBuu']So are you guys positive that his price change is going to happen? When is it supposed to take place? As of now, the Pro is still on the Best Buy website at $300. I checked my receipt and at the time I bought my Pro it was $350, so if the price change is to happen soon, I'd definitely want to take advantage of upgrading my system.

By the way, is the bigger hard drive the only difference between the Pro and Elite?[/QUOTE]

I think the Elite was the only 360 with HDMI when it came out, but that might have changed.
 
[quote name='Quintessence']I think the Elite was the only 360 with HDMI when it came out, but that might have changed.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, all 360s have had HDMI since 2007. There was only a brief period when the Elite was the only model with it, only because they introduced that revision motherboard first.
 
It's been a week and I still haven't received my shipping label from them. My printer was out of toner, so I didn't print my own. I didn't think that it would take it over a week for me to get the label though.
 
Well, my 3rd 360 RRoD'd the other night. Falcon model, not even a year old, minimal use. This is just pathetic. Funny thing is, I've had no problems whatsoever until I installed the recent dashboard update. Now it locks up after a few minutes of use, then gives the RRoD after restarting. In all my years as a gamer I've only had one other console crap out on me, a launch PS1 (CD drive failed after 5 years). Hell, I still have a NES and Master System running strong. What is it going to take for M$ to finally fix the problem?

)-(
 
Well... mine's on it's way back from the repair center now. It only took a few days. I was expecting it to take a few weeks (last time it took about a month).
 
Ugh. My second 360 just got its TRL randomly. Now I gotta send it in for console number 3... It'd be nice if I could just upgrade the damn thing to an Elite, I could use the extra HDD space.

Anyways hopefully they email me the label my tomorrow so I can ship it off...
 
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