My xbox 360 died over the Christmas break. It had worked flawlessly for about 6 months. I turned it off before we went to visit my parents for a few days. When we came back I got the three flashing red lights of death. I did the reset and tried all the suggestions on the support website. It kind of hobbled along for a few days and then it failed to even boot. So I call support. Some guy in India tells me that they will fix it. Good deal. They have to send me a box that takes a week. I have to send it back. That takes two weeks. I am without the xbox for almost a month.
I am not a big xbox gamer. We use the xbox mainly as an extender for media center. It has done a great job at that. I can deal with the xbox being gone for a while.
So finally I get a new one. That is good. They replace it. I look at the date. The ‘new’ xbox is actually older than the one I sent in. I decide that is not a big deal. How different can they be?
A lot.
The first thing I notice is that the power button doesn’t actually click in. It still works, but I am annoyed because the one on my old one did work. The next thing I notice is that the fans never turn off. I keep my xbox on top the of the entertainment center. It has more ventilation than anything in the house including my computers. There are no obstructions to block airflow.
They sent me a broken xbox to replace my broken xbox.
It gets better. After one week. The new xbox locks up while I am playing. This is only the second time I have played a game on it. I reboot and guess what – three flashing red lights. It is dead.
So I call again. Once again I get to wait. The box to ship it back in hasn’t come yet so I call and wade through their annoying phone system again. They give me a tracking number. It looks like it will take another 3 or 4 days just to get a box. That means I will wait a week and a half just to get a box to send the stupid thing back in.
My suggestion to you? Buy a wii.