1/3 of X360s fail supposedly....

[McLaren]

Yikes.....

According to an article by Smart House.com, nearly a third of 360s are sent back to Microsoft for repairs. The article states: "Retailers are claiming that Microsoft has had to handle a failure rate of over 30% with their Xbox 360 console," and goes on to publish several of the "over 100" emails the company has received complaining about bricked 360s.

Yeah, it's hardly a scientific survey, and, if we judge by internet website reports, it's an improvement: This site proclaims at 61% failure rate for 360s! There is really no way of verifying these reports, as no one is releasing the numbers. We know one thing, though, 100% of our 360s went belly-up the other night in the middle of a rousing game of Uno.

Microsoft denies there is a systemic problem with Xbox 360s.

Had any similar problems, 360 owners? Or are these internet reports a bunch of nonsense?

SmartHouse Article.
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Home/D3Q7G8S2?page=1
The other site.
http://www.360-gamer.com/news.asp?id=964

 

[Joey D]

While I do believe there are a bunch of failures I do not believe they are all Microsoft's fault. I see the way some people treat their gaming systems and frankly I'm amazed they lasted as long as they did. Covered in about a 1/4 of dust, sitting on the carpet with games covering the exhaust ports on top of the console, cats laying on the console itself, etc.

They will fail if you don't take care of them, I'm pretty sure that is why my first PS2 blew up. I've learned to clean out all of my systems, keep them ventilated, and give them breaks to cool off.

 

[CDailey]

I agree with Joey. I've had exactly one problem with my 360, and that was because the VGA cable was not properly connected to the back of the console. Other than that, the system has been completely flawless.

 

[MustangSVT]

I have had some overheating problems with my 360 in the past. It only happened during last summer when I was playing FIFA World Cup '06. I noticed it only happened when I kept the power supply on my carpeted floor, I now have it suspended in the air kind of. Haven't had a overheating problem since then (including playing FIFA world cup '06).

I have had about 4 or 5 other separate incidents where PGR3 or Forza 2 froze on me in the middle of the game. A simple reset of the console fixed it.

 

[Tenacious D]

Well, my 360 Elite is only six weeks old, in a well ventilated place in front of the entertainment system, and yesterday the DVD drive crapped out. It might as well have bricked.

 

[Joey D]

Freezes happen with every system, hell my N64 does that.

 

[Dave A]

I agree with the principal of what Joey is saying, but it's the same population that also owns PS2's, PS3's and Wii's. So unless your about to say XB360 owners treat there consoles worse than any other console, the rate of 360 failures is still higher than any other console I've ever used.

 

[Joey D]

Yes I agree there is a high rate of problems with it, but also I really do think 360 owners treat there systems worse then any other system owners. I don't know why but everyone I've seen with a 360 has beat it to hell while people who own a PS3 do not. I think maybe it comes with the price, granted $400 is a lot of money but $600 is a lot more and people might be treating that with kid gloves.

Also I think there are more 360's out there then PS3's, if thats the case then we can expect more failures.

 

[Dave A]

The fact that theres more 360's out there is a non-issue, we're talking percentages here, ie almost a third of the consoles, the PS3 doesn't have almost a third being returned to be fixed. The PS2 never did either. I treat my XB360 very well, I treated the first one well but I replaced it not too long ago just before the warranty expired because it kept freezing on startup and displaying error messages. No other console I've owned has been that bad. I didn't have any trouble replacing it though, which was good, but guess what, my new one crashes and brings up error messages just as often.

Many of the 360's problems I think are a consequence of it's concave design, it doesn't allow air to flow through it as well as a flat design or a convex design would and I think too much hot air get's stuck inside the system. That's just a general thought of mine though. But from my personal experience, my 360 after 1 year, was already more faulty than my 5 year old PS2.

 

[Joey D]

I don't buy the 33% of Xbox's failed, but I do agree the failure rate is higher then it should be, especially by now. Microsoft should have had all the kinks worked out, I understand systems that people bought day 1 but not now.

And I'm not saying you personally treat yours poorly, I'm saying the people I've seen with 360's treat them poorly which leads me to believe there are quite a few others that do the same thing.

The worst system I have ever owned has been the PS2, I'm on my third one (I do think one of the failures was my fault). The other major failure with it is the disc drive seized up and broke the GT4 disc. Every other system I've ever owned though has never once had a problem and the only thing that that 360 had ever done is froze up due to a poorly surfaced game I got from Blockbuster.

Personally I think people on the internet just need to complain about something so they blow the reliability of the 360 out of proportion. If it wasn't a Microsoft system I'm sure no one would care. Like I said I do believe the failure rate is higher then it should be, but I don't think it's bad as everyone says it is. A majority of the people I know have 360's and about 90%-95% or so treat theirs pretty poorly and I think one of theirs has failed and thats because he played Halo 2 for days straight without turning off the system and I think it cooked itself.

I also think there is a lot of fanboy-ness on this site towards Sony, which is dumb since both the 360 and PS3 are great systems and I wish I had enough money to afford both. I think a lot of people choose to pick on the 360 for whatever reason and neglect problems people have with other systems. I only know one person with a PS3 and I think he uses it as just a Blu-Ray player, so I'm not even sure about the problems they have. Just a personal observation.

 

[MustangSVT]

I think a 33% failure rate sounds pretty ridiculous, but maybe it's true, who knows? I guess I should consider myself lucky for mine not having major problems so far. I've had it for over a year now.

At least of all the people I've read on several forums that their 360s failed, pretty much all of them as I recall had no problems in getting it replaced with a new one, so that's not too bad.

 

[JCE]

My 360 died--and Microsoft tried telling me that it was MY fault and refused to fix it. So I sold my 360 to some sucker at a loss to me. I treat my consoles like solid gold jewelery. My original PS1--from 1995--still works to this day. As does my PS2. I don't buy Microsoft's bull**** excuses, they produced a horribly built product and didn't bother to fix the problems like they did on the original XBOX. I want another 360--but not if they are still having hardware problems.

i'd put the failure rates at more like 15% and not 30%. 30% is too high, and easily half of the failures are people who mistreat their consoles.

 

[Joey D]

Yes 8%-10% of consoles dying for unexplained reasons sounds a lot closer...still to high though I agree. It should be more like 1%-2% which would be far more acceptable.

 

[Dave A]

Err no, 1-2% would put it down as one of the most reliable consoles in history. I personally think the rate is somewhere in the 25-30% bracket, I know a few people with 360's and only one person I know who's had one hasn't had to replace it. Naturally, as you said, different people will have different experience and different levels of luck with thier purchases, you've had bad luck with your PS2', I haven't. But the sheer number of reported cases where 360's have failed is staggering. As I've said before, form my experience, the 360 is the worst built console, reliability wise, than I've ever owned.

If anytihng, the PS3 failure rates at this point, should be higher, since the PS3 is newer, it's been updated less and as you all know, the first batch should be the least reliable. But despite the PS3 using earlier versions, the the 360 which has been updated both software wise (more than the PS3 has), and had minor tweaks to the system, it's still hard to find people who are having problems with them. There's a huge contrast here, not a small one.

 

[Joey D]

Like I said I'm sure people treat the PS3 much better due to the cost, also you have to think about the people that bought it as a sole Blu-Ray player...I know my parents are thinking about buying one just for that reason.

Also I wonder if the problems are more frequent in Europe due to the PAL, different electrical currents, and whatever else is different from America over there as electronics go. The 220V's might be causing a greater strain on the power brick and making them fail...which would cook the system.

 

[G.T]

Considering I'm getting my 3th replaced X360 now, and that a few friends I know have had problems too, these figures seem quite believable.

Although I do agree with Joey to some extent with the way you treat the consoles, most of this must be hardware-based. I look after my consoles very well - even the store we traded our PS2 into was very surprised at how good condition it was in. Yet, 3 360s so far now have had the same problem - freezing. Once it starts, it doesn't go away. The console pretty much becomes unusable, and that's that. I don't know of any other electrical product, let alone console, that has had so many reported problems.

The PS3, I've not known anyone to have any serious issues that make the console unusable. Considering people do tend to mention the things they own have gone wrong rather than they work, this is quite an achievement. Nothing fanboy-ish here.

 

[Hugo Boss]

These percentages could well be true. The "Ring of Death" is a serious problem now, just as the scratches on the disks right in the beginning. People might also send their consoles back because of the unbeaten crash rate of the system. Here in The Netherlands the 360's lack of reliability already made it to tv, unique for a console from my experience. That's not good...

It sure helps if you take care well of your system, but MS just was too hasty with releasing the 360 imo.

 

[Dave A]

Like I said I'm sure people treat the PS3 much better due to the cost, also you have to think about the people that bought it as a sole Blu-Ray player...I know my parents are thinking about buying one just for that reason.

Also I wonder if the problems are more frequent in Europe due to the PAL, different electrical currents, and whatever else is different from America over there as electronics go. The 220V's might be causing a greater strain on the power brick and making them fail...which would cook the system.

No, it's not a Europe only thing, the 360 is quite unreliable in the US as well. You can talk about people treating other consoles better all you want, but the figures and personal experiences of many owners state quite clearly that the 360 is unreliable. The figures simply expand on that to them being more unreliable than any other consoles.

You point about people using the PS3 as a Blue-Ray player isn't truely valid either, I use my 360 primarily as a DVD player, and it still has problems when starting up. The console itself is just crap, there are some great games on it, but the hardware is simply unreliable.

The bottom line is that according to thoes articles, retailers are now making this claim as well as people you might otherwise label as Microsoft haters. You just seem far too eager to brush these reports and experiences aside to find a way around them, regardless of how much you like the 360, you can't deny the number of bad reports it's had for reliability is shocking. Hell I like my 360, I'm glad I bought it because I've enjoyed games like PGR3, Rockstar Table Tennis and I'm currently enjoying Forza 2, but that doesn't mean I should just take the problems the console has and smile through them pretending they don't exist.

 

[Joey D]

It sure helps if you take care well of your system, but MS just was too hasty with releasing the 360 imo.

This is true, I'm sure they could have waited 6 months to work out the kinks. I think the only reason they rushed it was to get it out for Xmas.

No, it's not a Europe only thing, the 360 is quite unreliable in the US as well. You can talk about people treating other consoles better all you want, but the figures and personal experiences of many owners state quite clearly that the 360 is unreliable. The figures simply expand on that to them being more unreliable than any other consoles.

I've heard of more European problems then US problems. Even on Xbox.com there are more people from Europe that are having hardware issues then the US, which seems not to be hardware but software. I really do think it has something to do with Microsoft not accounting correctly for the current change.

And personal experiences mean nothing or as I've been told by everyone on the site when it comes to video game systems. I've never once said the 360 is a perfectly reliable console, I just think people are making it into a bigger deal then it really is. 33% is a stupidly high figure and I think if it was that high Microsoft would be saying something about it so they didn't lose market share.

You point about people using the PS3 as a Blue-Ray player isn't truely valid either, I use my 360 primarily as a DVD player, and it still has problems when starting up. The console itself is just crap, there are some great games on it, but the hardware is simply unreliable.

I don't know the guys here at Best Buy tell me they have sold more PS3's to older couples with no kids because they wanted a cheaper Blu-Ray player. These people will watch a 2 hour movie a couple times a week and that will be it. Gamers tend to play 20 hours a week which is a lot more of a strain on the system. I never watch DVD's on my 360 because my TV's so small it's pointless to watch movies on it, so I can't say how that works.

The bottom line is that according to thoes articles, retailers are now making this claim as well as people you might otherwise label as Microsoft haters. You just seem far too eager to brush these reports and experiences aside to find a way around them, regardless of how much you like the 360, you can't deny the number of bad reports it's had for reliability is shocking. Hell I like my 360, I'm glad I bought it because I've enjoyed games like PGR3, Rockstar Table Tennis and I'm currently enjoying Forza 2, but that doesn't mean I should just take the problems the console has and smile through them pretending they don't exist.

I brush most of it aside because a lot of it is complete BS, 33% is way to high and is unbelievable. If they would have said 15% I would say ok they might be on to something. But 33% means 1 in 3 consoles break which I can't believe, like I said Microsoft would say something about that. Believe it or not people hate Microsoft for whatever reason, and I think there are a lot of them on this site. This is why I brush most of these reports away. I mean come on this site: http://www.360-gamer.com/news.asp?id=964 says 61% failure rate. If that's not a load of bull I don't know what is.

Also I do not deny the 360 has issues, I'm well aware it does but as I've said a thousand times it's not as bad as people make it out to be. And this isn't Microsoft love either, yes I like my 360 and if I had a PS3 I'm sure I would like it just as much.

 

[forza2.0]

I dont buy it. The PS2 was a more reliable machine than the 360. I build this analysis on the basis of comparison by my friends who have got ps2's and 360's.

Out of all my friends none of our PS2's failed, 3 of us have so far had some issues with the 360!

 

[Dave A]

And becuse the PS3 was initially supposed to launch the summer after.

Also, in a wonderfully unexpected turn of events, my 360 has just crashed. And I'm not making that up to back up my side of the argument.

 

[Joey D]

I dont buy it. The PS2 was a more reliable machine than the 360. I build this analysis on the basis of comparison by my friends who have got ps2's and 360's.

Out of all my friends none of our PS2's failed, 3 of us have so far had some issues with the 360!

You don't buy what?

 

[Dave A]

This is true, I'm sure they could have waited 6 months to work out the kinks. I think the only reason they rushed it was to get it out for Xmas.

Answered above.

I've heard of more European problems then US problems. Even on Xbox.com there are more people from Europe that are having hardware issues then the US, which seems not to be hardware but software. I really do think it has something to do with Microsoft not accounting correctly for the current change.

I've heared a lot of both, maybe there have been more problems voiced from Europe, but I've still heared a lot of both.

And personal experiences mean nothing or as I've been told by everyone on the site when it comes to video game systems. I've never once said the 360 is a perfectly reliable console, I just think people are making it into a bigger deal then it really is. 33% is a stupidly high figure and I think if it was that high Microsoft would be saying something about it so they didn't lose market share.

Individual experiences mean nothing overall, ad I said before "different people will have different experience and different levels of luck with thier purchases". However, when so many experiences all point to the same thing, they start ot mean sometihng. If you get product A and 10 people buy it, you might get 1 that likes it more than most and 1 that hates it more than most, thoes views don't hold any weight. However if 10 people bought it and 9 thought it was crap but 1 loved it, then what are the chances that it's actually crap. Pretty high. You can turn that around to if 9 love it and 1 hates it, but thepoint s the same.

I don't know the guys here at Best Buy tell me they have sold more PS3's to older couples with no kids because they wanted a cheaper Blu-Ray player. These people will watch a 2 hour movie a couple times a week and that will be it. Gamers tend to play 20 hours a week which is a lot more of a strain on the system. I never watch DVD's on my 360 because my TV's so small it's pointless to watch movies on it, so I can't say how that works.

Specualting as to how people use thier consoles is not wise in a debate of this nature. Ofcourse, some people will buy PS3's primarily or solely for the Blue Ray, but people may well buy a 360 for the HD-DVD. I also spend far more time watching movies in general than playing games. I don't think many people I know approach 20 hours a week of gaming, even if we wanted to, we wouldn't have the time. I have dug up a report here...
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7042
Which states almost 2 hours a day are spent gaming, that's less than 14 hours a week per gamer in the US on average. So that's not far off how much I watch movies.

I brush most of it aside because a lot of it is complete BS, 33% is way to high and is unbelievable. If they would have said 15% I would say ok they might be on to something. But 33% means 1 in 3 consoles break which I can't believe, like I said Microsoft would say something about that. Believe it or not people hate Microsoft for whatever reason, and I think there are a lot of them on this site. This is why I brush most of these reports away. I mean come on this site: http://www.360-gamer.com/news.asp?id=964 says 61% failure rate. If that's not a load of bull I don't know what is.

Do you really think, at sucha crucial moment in the console war with the PS3 soeone at Microsoft is going to be permitted to come out and say, "oh btw, despite us claiming we have a great faileure rate but not rtalking about it beyond that in the past, it's actually crap". They might as well say "we're rubbish, congratulationsSony, you've won again".

Also I do not deny the 360 has issues, I'm well aware it does but as I've said a thousand times it's not as bad as people make it out to be. And this isn't Microsoft love either, yes I like my 360 and if I had a PS3 I'm sure I would like it just as much.

I tihnk you are brushing the issue to the side far too much. It's not 360 hate that's bringing all this about either, it didn't happen with the first XBox, because that wasn't that unreliable, the only reason these lines of thinking keep coming back to is that the 360 much be worse than the other consoles. As I said, 25-30% would not suprise me, though I wouldn't be suprised if it turned out to be 20-25% either. I'm pretty confident that it's up in that region though.

 

[forza2.0]

You don't buy what?

That the 360 is not more prone to failure or unreliabilty as any other console, especially on the basis of how its treated.

edited

Joey asks what I dont buy, I say I dont buy that the 360 is just as reliable as any other console, and that when it breaks its because of how people have treated it!

 

[Dave A]

Are you sure, you post is confusing and that last comment contradicts the implication in this one massivley. So your saying that you think the 360 is just as reliable as other consoles now.

I dont buy it. The PS2 was a more reliable machine than the 360. I build this analysis on the basis of comparison by my friends who have got ps2's and 360's.

Out of all my friends none of our PS2's failed, 3 of us have so far had some issues with the 360!

Yet here you imply that the 360 is a lot worse than the PS2 for reliability .

 

[Joey D]

Do you really think, at such a crucial moment in the console war with the PS3 soeone at Microsoft is going to be permitted to come out and say, "oh btw, despite us claiming we have a great faileure rate but not rtalking about it beyond that in the past, it's actually crap". They might as well say "we're rubbish, congratulationsSony, you've won again".

I think they would pull a Kia, extend warranties and whatnot to win people back. But I think is 2 out of 3 consoles failed MS would do something about it.

I tihnk you are brushing the issue to the side far too much. It's not 360 hate that's bringing all this about either, it didn't happen with the first XBox, because that wasn't that unreliable, the only reason these lines of thinking keep coming back to is that the 360 much be worse than the other consoles. As I said, 25-30% would not suprise me, though I wouldn't be suprised if it turned out to be 20-25% either. I'm pretty confident that it's up in that region though.

If it was on any other forum then one dedicated to a Playstation only game I might feel different, but my experiences at GTP show that many people here are grossly over zealous Sony fanboys that think Gates is Satan or something. I would like to see a Consumer Report or something along those lines actually look into this and do a more scientific study...if it was done like that I would believe it more so then a tech blog saying something.

 

[Dave A]

It's not only on here though is it, obviousely since the various reports have never been done here. It's funny how comments on the 360 Gamer site reflect thoes on here, and that MS are themselves glossing over the issue, especially after that interview with whats-his-face who just wouldn't answer any questions regarding the 360's reliability directly nor would her, or anyone from Microsoft for that matter, give any figures for the actual number of faulty systems. If the figures were good, they'd be released already. They arn't, the answerrs are all blatantly obviouse imo. As I've already said, I don't think it's 33%, then again no one said it was, they said almost. I think in the 20's is probably close to the truth.

 

[McLaren]

33% is actually a very good estimate. Just by looking at the XboxForums' 3 red light club (87 pages) could be enough. People constantly talking about their X360s dieing, many ticked off because they're on their 3rd or 4th replacement in less than 1 year. You want to talk about bad MS Comments, that thread, on a XBOX FORUM, are constantly throwing crap toward MS, wanting law suits for such poor reliability. There's also a 66 page X360 Freezing Club.

So, I do very well believe the number could be true.

As for Xbox 360 owners not treating their's right, that's a bit of bull. Sure, some don't, but I'm pretty sure people would trying to take the best care of their X360s after 1 or 2 replacements.

 

[Joey D]

I guess the thing to ask would be how many people clean there 360's, how many have them plugged into a surge protector, etc.

 

[Eric.]

I'm getting my fourth 360 in the middle of this week. Yay for MS engineering. Good thing they don't make computer components.