The Repaired Xbox 360

Recently, I don’t know if it was because I didn’t have air conditioning or a swamp cooler for a week or so in 100 degree+ weather, or if it just broke, but my Xbox 360 started crashing in the middle of video games with 2 red blinking lights. I’ve heard about the 3 red blinking light thing, which evidently is some “unknown error” that Microsoft doesn’t want to explain. 2 red lights supposedly means it’s overheating. So I took advantage of my warranty, and decided since Microsoft had admitted their consoles were broken anyway I would send it in.

When I called to get it fixed they promised me a 4-5 business day turn around time – I thought this was excellent service and had no problem with that. Well, after 2 weeks I decided to call and they said they had changed it to a 3 week turn around time. Then, after not receiving it one week later, I called and they said they had turned it to a 4-5 week turn around time. I wasn’t happy about it (my Xbox is my Media Center, my Tivo, and my all around client for entertainment – expect a future article on this), so I spoke to a supervisor. The supervisor was able to send notice to the repair center to just send out the next fixed console they had available, and within 4-5 days later I had received my fixed console. I guess the new warranty/pseudo recall has them busier than normal, considering they’re losing billions on it.

I have to admit, I’m impressed with the new unit. The decibel level is way lower than before, and actually bearable this time. It doesn’t seem to work as hard to keep cool. I don’t dare open it up and void my warranty (unless someone wants to buy me a new Xbox (wink, wink)), but I hear they add at least 2 new heat sinks to lower heat emissions with their latest fixes. Who knows, but overall I’m satisfied (minus the wait time and false estimate) and very excited to finally finish Halo 2 before Halo 3 comes out.