My 360 hasn’t exactly been a model of high-tech gadgetry. In fact, it’s almost surprising it worked despite a number of scary ailments:
1) It liked to freeze and make clicking noises. This happened both at certain points (loading Treasury in GRAW) and randomly (about 1/2 the time during a Madden game).
2) The drive tray wouldn’t close by pushing the button - the tray itself needed to be pushed gently, so it began to close, then once it reversed itself and opened again you could push the button to close it.
3) On rare occasions, you might get a black screen and the infamous RRoD (Red Ring of Death), which would be fixed upon rebooting.

Needless to say, it’s days were numbered. Here is the story of the end:

5.29.2008 - My 360 dies.

5.30.2008 - After turning the Xbox on and off several times to no avail, I admit defeat and submit a repair request to Microsoft. Since my system was built before January 1, 2006, they will fix the RRoD error for free. They send a (mostly empty) box to me. It arrives 6.4.2008, which is only three business days later.

Inside it were materials to ship the 360 to the repair center. They even included a shipping label and strip of tape to close the box with!

The pale green styrofoam bits fir over either end of the unit and hold it steady, like so:

The new shipping label goes right over the old one. I put some plain white labels over the marker scrawl UPS added to the box, just to be safe (not pictured). Because I’ll have to pay if I want UPS to pick up the box, I drop it at a UPS Store on 6.5.2008.

6.13.2008 - Microsoft emails me to tell me that my Xbox still hasn’t shown up. Alarmingly, UPS says they delivered it. I decide to delay panicking for 24 hours.

6.14.2008 - Decision to delay panicking proves wise when Microsoft emails me to inform me that my Xbox has arrived at the repair center. They say they will email me when the repair is done. This is a lie, and the last email I will receive from them.

That’s it for today - check back for part two: Resurrection!

Filed under: Toys | Games, Video Games — Max @ 7:47 am