XBOX360 General Questions - Setups/Hrdwr/Accessories/XBOX Live...etc.

Status
Not open for further replies.
[quote name='NamelessMC']What he said. And honestly, never cancel an update because they're "annoying".

Updates make games run better, fix problems, and cancelling them puts you in this position again.[/quote]


Yes of course. I wasn't very clear. The annoying part was the fact that i had cancelled it NOT the update itself. I want the update, i was just busy trying to quit that i only saw it for a second and then realised i'd cancelled it.

I'm all for updates, hence my attempts at resolving my problem.


I only have Bioshock, Ninja Gaiden and now Halo 3 so i'm cool with redownloading updates for them.

Clearing the cache won't delete my savegames or delete my Live Arcade titles will it?
 
Last month, I bought a 360 bundle from Costco. The 360 Premium (non-HDMI, old heatsinks) + extra controller + play and charge kit + arcade unplugged somethingorother for $399. Tonight I saw that they've got the Halo Edition bundle, with the 360 Halo edition, Halo 3 LE, extra (limited ed.) controller and play and charge for $499. Considering the Arcade unplugged is worthless to me and I bought Halo 3 tonight, should I go for the Halo 3 bundle instead?

Does the Halo 360 have the HDMI/optical cable people have been clamoring for? Thanks.
 
Hey, so after months of me thinking I got ripped off on ebay and stuck with an un repairable xbox 360, I called again today and after much talking finally convinced them to repair it. Pretty stoked.

Anyway, I m looking into VGA cables for my 360. The setup in my room is my computer desk, with a computer and a Compaq 19" CRT montior along with upgraded speakers on it. To the right of my desk is my tv (which is a 20" flat screen regular tv), so I could usually just move at an angle and talk on aim, and maybe play a game.

What Im looking to do is to get the best quality video for my 360 and I hear that VGA cables do a great job at improving quality while under a budget. Im down for this, but is there any sort of device I could use to switch the VGA connection from my computer to the 360 and then back? I wouldnt want to constantly unhook the VGA from the back of the computer since it is a long reach etc.

So any suggestions, ideas, or opinions on a VGA solution guys? Any help would be great.


Also, my cable modem is downstairs, and connected to a router. My computers upstairs and has an adapter to get the signal. I heard from a friend that it may be possible to connect the computer to the 360 for an internet connection rather than shelling out for the expensie wireless adapter. Does any such solution exist?

Any help is much appreciated, thanks guys!
 
Hello CAGS

I am getting ready to buy a 360, I think. However, I need to figure this one out before I do. I dont want a 360 unless I can get on Xbox live. I run a wireless networks, here are my average speedtest numbers.


Download: 350 kbps
Upload: 170 kbps
Ping: 390


So, does anyone have any idea? I have to use a wireless network so don't tell me not to use one. Any suggestion for increasing speed? Does a Wireless Ethernet Bridge make it better?

Let me know if you can. Thanks.
 
[quote name='BackInBlack']Thats terribly slow...[/QUOTE]

By that, I think BackInBlack is trying to say that yes you can, but it will hardly be functional to play games. If all you're interested in is system updates and arcade games a slower connection like yours is adequate, but playing online might prove to be more of a headache than a fun evening.

Just my 2 cents...
 
The main question I have is how you're getting on the Internet. You mention wireless cards more than once, though you don't say if you're connecting via DSL, cable modem, satellite, or something else.

If you're using a cellular modem connection to get to the Internet, such as one for Sprint, TMobile, AT&T, Verizon, etc., they normally have terrible latencies that don't work well for gaming.

So, how exactly do you get to the Internet?
 
Yes it does. It has an HDMI port, 20 Gig Hard Drive and from what they said a newer fan or heatsink. I forgot wich one, I saw a picture of somebody that opened it, if you look you should be able to find it.

I just got my 360 today and went with the new HDMI Premium because I didn't feel like spending an extra 50 bucks on a different color system when I could get a point card or game for the money.
 
It has the HDMI port, though doesn't include the HDMI kit, which is a HDMI cable and optical output dongle that plugs into the AV port. If you're going to run audio & video via HDMI, then that doesn't matter.
 
Can you move your router to another location in your house? When I got my 360, I did that so I could hook directly into a wired connection to the router. No expensive 360 wireless adaptor, and a better connection anyway. My router and cable modem sit behind my TV in the living room now. My PC's all use wireless.
 
IMHO, it's definately worth the extra $100. I got a standard 360 manufactured in June of 2006 and I just got the RRoD for the first time. I'll have my new or repaired 360 in 3-5 weeks. Right when Halo 3 came out. Ugh. The new version of the 360 will have the newer heatsink/revamped innards and will be less likely to crap out on you.
 
I found it to matter. I got an I/O Gear switch-thingie with integrated cables and I had significant image quality issues whenever I used it. So I just swapped out the connections on the monitor between PC and 360.

Then I broke down and got an HDTV. :)
 
I've never had any problems until yesterday. Playing online games in Carcassone I could only connect about 1 in 20 tries and when I would create a game 95% of the time no one would connect to me. I also had the same sort of thing with Puzzle Fighter tonight. Anyone else running into this problem? Any ideas of what could be going wrong?
 
The heatsink alone makes it worth the buy, along with the BenQ drive. Sure your premium is covered under warranty, but that's a whole month you have to go without it when it bricks.

Along with the fact that it comes with everything the Halo Xbox comes with, along with an EXTRA play & charge kit, spartan controller and copy of Halo 3, you'll be all set. You can even have a friend over to play co-op and you won't have to worry about batteries dying.

Totally worth it in my opinion.

And honestly, I'm not a huge Halo buff. In fact I thought the game was good but not CONSOLE making, but even I can admit the Halo Xbox is actually very nice looking. It has a different more modest color to it. Black or white consoles are getting a little over-done nowadays.
 
Back to the issue at hand for my wireless issue...

I live in a dorm. It's T1 connection that is brought into our campus. There are no wires. It's all being broadcast wirelessly, even from building to building. The tech told me that by the time it gets to my computer, it's about the same as a DSL or Cable connection.

This time I got...

Download: 860kbps
Upload: 350kbps
Ping: 250
 
[quote name='SteveDaWonder']Back to the issue at hand for my wireless issue...

I live in a dorm. It's T1 connection that is brought into our campus. There are no wires. It's all being broadcast wirelessly, even from building to building. The tech told me that by the time it gets to my computer, it's about the same as a DSL or Cable connection.

This time I got...

Download: 860kbps
Upload: 350kbps
Ping: 250[/quote]Living in a dorm on-campus may have other issues than just speed.

I'm sure your campus has much bigger pipes than a single T1 going to your entire campus, though they may only have a single T1 going to your dorm buidling. The speeds above would be OK to get on and play on XBL.

The bigger issue is that your campus may not allow for it. They may have the ports XBL uses blocked on their network, so traffic across those ports wouldn't go anywhere. It would depend on the IT staff on your campus allows for XBL or not. I'd suggest checking with them to see if it's allowable or not. My guess is that it's probably not allowed.
 
I kinda like the color of the Halo box. If it had a larger HDD, I'd be all over it. Guess it will be black for me in a couple of months.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Living in a dorm on-campus may have other issues than just speed.

I'm sure your campus has much bigger pipes than a single T1 going to your entire campus, though they may only have a single T1 going to your dorm buidling. The speeds above would be OK to get on and play on XBL.

The bigger issue is that your campus may not allow for it. They may have the ports XBL uses blocked on their network, so traffic across those ports wouldn't go anywhere. It would depend on the IT staff on your campus allows for XBL or not. I'd suggest checking with them to see if it's allowable or not. My guess is that it's probably not allowed.[/quote]

Shrike, thanks for all your help. I know for a fact that the ports for XBL won't be blocked because we're a really small, private Christian school. I'm not too worried about it.
 
I've been waiting for the new chips, but i'm itching to play Halo 3 multi... so i don't know how much longer i can wait. I plan to get the elite.

When I do get the 360, what is the preferred orientation? Horizontal or Vertical?

I was planning on having it horizontal and laying on top of an Antec Notebook Cooler. The cooler would be powered by a PC and not by the Xbox itself.

Would that be a decent setup?
 
Anyone know if faulty headsets are a widespread problem? I just had my second ones mic go out on me last night. I could hear everyone fine but no one could hear me
 
I searched through this thread and couldn't find the answer I'm looking for, so I guess I'll just post my question in hopes of an answer..

Yesterday, I picked up one of those Halo 3 Wireless Headsets for the 360 because I needed a headset to play some Co-op Halo with my pal.. It really works fantastic, but the $60 pricetag is WAYY unreasonable for something that can only be used with Xbox Live.

Personally, I dont' really play many 360 games, and I play even less online games.. SO, I was hoping if I could get more bang for my buck.

Question: Is there anyway at all to use this 360 Wireless headset with Windows? Like, Is there some USB dongle that it can interface with and act appropriately?

Or am I simply stuck with a proprietary piece of hardware I won't use after I get bored of Halo.

Update: Nevermind.. I don't know why I didn't think to Google this question first before asking..
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360wirelessgamingreceiver/
 
okay this is probably the dumbest question in this entire thread but...

how do you get the free 1 month xbox live that originally came with the system? was there supposed to be a card that came in the package? cuz i looked and i didn't have one.

like i said, winner of hte dumbest question in the thread :) probably one of those "where's my pencil?" "you're holding it" moments.
 
[quote name='SteveDaWonder']Shrike, thanks for all your help. I know for a fact that the ports for XBL won't be blocked because we're a really small, private Christian school. I'm not too worried about it.[/QUOTE]

i had similar problem getting signal on my porch with my laptop. solution is a cantenna i half assed mine but great signal.
how to
find a can, i used an olive can
take 360 wireless thing and find a drill bit a little bigger drill it out and stuck the antenna through the hole so the antenna is inside the can
 
[quote name='vietgurl']okay this is probably the dumbest question in this entire thread but...

how do you get the free 1 month xbox live that originally came with the system? was there supposed to be a card that came in the package? cuz i looked and i didn't have one.

like i said, winner of hte dumbest question in the thread :) probably one of those "where's my pencil?" "you're holding it" moments.[/QUOTE]
Don't feel dumb on launch day I spent 20 minutes looking and reading how to get the free month of Live.

When you make a gamertag it will automatically give you the free month of Live.
 
My 360 was sent in on 9/8/07. Less than three weeks later, I got a new 360 today (9/27/07).

What I hear from people is that they take my sent-in 360 and repair it. The one that I just received is someone else's 360, all fixed up and ready to go. My broken 360 will be fixed and sent to someone else. That's what people tell me.


So, I look at my new 360's manufacturer's date:
MFR Date: 9-15-2007

Built just 10 days ago on 9/15/07?!

It's just made 10 days ago? I just got a brand-new system? I check the machine--looks brand new. No marks of any kind. Not even a finger print! Not even a tiny smudge on the silver disc drive cover (the most visibly dirty area of most 360s)!



My question to you:

Does MS manually change the MFR date on the machine to make it appear brand new? Or did I really get a new 360?
 
Yeah, you just got a new one. They don't always send the same one back repaired. Sometimes it's a new one or another refurb.
 
Since I just sent mine in for repair today I've got a question for you guys:

Does anyone ever get an HDMI unit back when a non-HDMI was sent in? I'm looking for a silver lining since my 360 died RIGHT when Halo 3 came out.
 
[quote name='Cursor']Since I just sent mine in for repair today I've got a question for you guys:

Does anyone ever get an HDMI unit back when a non-HDMI was sent in? I'm looking for a silver lining since my 360 died RIGHT when Halo 3 came out.[/quote]

nope, or at least i have never heard of it
 
[quote name='Perfect*Ending']Does MS manually change the MFR date on the machine to make it appear brand new? Or did I really get a new 360?[/QUOTE]
You possibly got a brand new one, but in any case it was certainly manufactured when they said. They either didn't have any refurbs ready to go or more likely I think yours is one that failed a QA check on the assembly line and was quick fixed in 2nd tier testing.
 
I really need an answer to this. It's pretty urgent I guess. I just upgraded my silver account to gold via microsoft's site. There it shows that I'm gold, and to my friends its' gold, and I got a confirmation e-mail that I'm gold. But, on my console, it says I'm silver, and I cannot get online to play multiplayer. Keep in mind I'm on my 2nd console right now, and I registered my tag under a different console.

Am I missing something here? Do I have to wait x amount of hours/days for this thing to show up?
 
I just got my new HDMI version of the 360 yesterday and I've discovered one technicla issue. On certain video trailers, I have mo sound. A perfect example is Army of Two. The original Trailer has sound but the Gameplay trailer has no sound.

The trailers for Justice league also have no sound.

I played the Blue Dragon Demo yesterday and that had no problems. (thought I wish for some o the fight sequences it had no sound. Yeesh, what bad music.)

It's not just with these, but some other game and videos had no sound while others did. Has anyone experienced this issue before/ Is it a sound setting on my 360? I'm guessing it's trying to output dts with the videos I cna't hear, but my Tv can't decode that. However, there appears to be no DTS option in the audio setup. Just stereo vs 5.1.

Anyone else have sound problems with downloaded trailers on the 360 via HDMI?

Edit: Nevermin, converting to stereo fixed the problems. It seems when you output 5.1 My TV can play some audio clips and not others. I think that's because sometimes it tries to output Dolby and others DTS. I dunno. But audio at Sterio has no problems so I'm set.
 
My grandmother got me 2 of the 4000 pt cards at Wal-mart, and I dont think dude at the register activated them? I've never bought points cards before so I don't know all about them, but since they aren't working I was thinking about calling Microsoft up. What do you think they will do if anything?

Tryed taking back to Wal-Mart but they return them, because there like the iTunes cards. Effin A
 
[quote name='SteveDaWonder']Back to the issue at hand for my wireless issue...

I live in a dorm. It's T1 connection that is brought into our campus. There are no wires. It's all being broadcast wirelessly, even from building to building. The tech told me that by the time it gets to my computer, it's about the same as a DSL or Cable connection.

This time I got...

Download: 860kbps
Upload: 350kbps
Ping: 250[/quote]

The bad thing about a dorm connection is that it's a network-ish server and sometimes its hard to connect to Xbox Live. I know on my campus in some rooms there are issues, because of the way it connects and the ways it goes to connect.
 
Yeah, mine is brand-new.

I think they rushed it to get to me, as it died 3 weeks before Halo 3's launch. They probably wanted me to play Halo 3 on time.

Brand new machine (even had to remove a factory seal on the wireless sensor), pretty quiet (about 50% less noise), no problems so far. All is well. Let's hope it stays well.
 
Is there anything I can do? I purchased this off the Buy.com sale on 8/20, go to use it tonight, and it gives me crap about already using the code.

Any advice? Similar stories?
 
[quote name='whoknows']Contact either Buy.com or Microsoft or both. Those are your best options I'm guessing.[/QUOTE]

Very true.
Contact Buy.com FIRST. See what they can do for you..such as replace it or at most issue a refund. If they can't do anything about this, then go to Microsoft and explain the situation AND letting them know you bought it from Buy.com and they were no help to you at all.

Hope everything works out. Keep us posted!
 
My friend used a transfer kit and decided to give it to me in case I ever upgraded. Well I got a 120 GB for 50 bucks (traded my 20+ 50 bucks to a guy from Craigslist) so I'm wondering if MS is lying about whether or not these kits can be used multiple times. I ask because I'd love to sell this on Ebay (apparently they get 30-50 dollars for whatever reason)
 
i made an account on xboxlive.com so i have a gamertag and i want to add prepaid card to it such as the 48-hour trail or whatever, for some reason it wont let me, do i have to make a new gamertag to use my 48-hour and month trails then buy 1month or 12 sub cards?
 
Well, if you're asking this question, then I better mention that you'll also need your old harddrive (which you mentioned trading) in order to transfer the data to the new one. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
bread's done
Back
Top