A report from independent warranty company SquareTrade claims that the failure rate for Xbox 360 currently stands at 16.4 percent.
Reported on 1UP, it follows the company's collation of over 1,000 warranty claims.
In comparison, SquareTrade puts failure rates of PS3 and Wii at around three percent.
The company estimates that the majority, if not all, the failed 360s tracked were based on the original motherboard.
And SquareTrade CEO speculates that the failure rate of Microsoft's console will only increase going forward.
"It is reasonable to believe these failure rates will increase over time, since the Xbox 360 failure issues tend to increase with prolonged use where overheating appears the main culprit," Steve Abernethy said, stating the bleedin' obvious.
What happened to the 30% or 50% quotes people like to throw around? Also, I can't see how they will increase when MS have moved onto the newer components which are smaller and produce less heat? I must admit it is a problem though. Thankfully only one of my two launch consoles has failed me, and that was because I had it sitting on top of my Sky+ box...
All you need to do to avoid this happening is to purchase a 10 quid fan and plug it in the back of your 360. Available at all good game retailers. I have one and can play my 360 for hours on end with absolutely no over-heating problems whatsoever.
i'm on my third 360 and second ps3. why they dont put these things in a bigger box like a vhs recorder i dont know. it's all these poxy shapes and trying to make them as small as possible that give these things overheating problems.
Also, I can't see how they will increase when MS have moved onto the newer components which are smaller and produce less heat?
He's probably referring to the older 360's, in that as the components in them are getting older they will be more susceptible to the heat problem and start to fail.
From what I've heard, the fans don't actually stop the overheating that much anyway. They might put it off for a little while, but plenty of people have said they got the cooling system and it still went.
Touch wood, since I got my 360 "repaired" everything has been great. No problems at all. I'm convinced it came back with a 60nm CPU, because it's not the same components I sent to them.
Mine's just come back from being repaired, diagnosis problem with motherboard. Most of Xbox360 owning friends have suffered the red ring of death, and one of them is currently on their fourt. I'd challenge the 16% failure rate, it must be alot higher than this
16% is a ridiculously high percentage. And thats just the recorded part. I know a number of people who are onto their third machine. Add that to those that are not being used all that much just yet, and its quite disturbing. I can see that figure going up around the same time GTA4 comes out.
If they are quoting failure rates at 16% then that's funny because most people in my 360 clan are at least onto their 2nd console and most people on here are at least had some problems with theirs. I've only had mine since crimbo with no problems so far but then again it's only 2 months old!
The failure rate must be higher than that. Probably around the 30% that's mentioned. Thing is people who own a 360 love it so much that generally they'll put up with this BS from MS! How they've managed to basically put a defective product on the market is beyond me.
And to the guy who said just get an extra fan, no thanks because my 360 already makes enough noise without adding another jet engine to it.
It's not good, I'm just glad mine hasn't broken yet, it's just waiting for Too Human to come along or something. It's a shame there is/was this problem, hopefully MS will learn from their mistakes next time round, cause they've managed to get a lot of quality titles on the system.
Wow you must be very unlucky I had a launch model up until last year when it did break down and MS fixed (replaced?) it for me, I recently exchanged it for an Elite which to me sounds quiter then the original 360s but maybe thats just me.
Touch wood, since I got my 360 "repaired" everything has been great. No problems at all. I'm convinced it came back with a 60nm CPU, because it's not the same components I sent to them.
Cannot be possible as the Falcon/175 Watt/60 nm uses a different power supply which cannot be fitted on the "old" Zephyr version.
Only upgrade which are done is a new modificated motherboard with extra cooling/heatpipe on the GPU and bigger fans and/or new BenQ drive.
16% failure rate if true, is still unaceptible. I'm still on my euro launchday 360 so I'm happy, but if it failed I'd go insane. My cousins on his third ps3, the 60 gig one. That worries me aswell because I have a month old ps3 now.
Thankfully only one of my two launch consoles has failed me
Only one? Oh that's alright then That would be one too many for me. I want the failure rate to be as low as 3-4% before I fork out for a 360. I wouldn't be able to enjoy playing it. I'd always be too busy worrying about it dying on me.
As mentioned, surely the failure rate is decreasing the more consoles are sold. At one point it may have been a third, but with the new models being sold & the 360 user base growing, this figure should theoretically go down.
I bought an elite after resisting a mk1 360 because of the RRoD & no probs at all, reasonably quieter (turn your telly up maybe?). I had a scare when I took it with me on hols & set it up on the carpet which acted as insulation, within 10 mins it had cut out, but luckily it works fine, must be some sort of overheating override (?).
The company next to the building I work in was repairing xboxes during the summer, they employed about 200 staff cause they had a huge backlog of duff xboxes that needed repairing/testing. I hear of reports of between 4 and 10k went through there in 5 months or something.
Thats a pretty large drop from the 33% the fanboys were throwing around. The newer consoles are more reliable and i can only see the figure getting smaller. Sonys machine doesnt exactly strike me as safe when i consider how poor their previous stuff has been. I had 5 ps2's break in 5 years and the sony phones are awful as well.
thank god everyone I know seems to be in that 84%, these failure rates are exaggerated, soembodies disk tray comes out wonky and its counted as a failure rate! I know nobody thats had RROD
dont care what the failure rate is, as long as it is fixed for free who cares???
It depends strongly on the timing of the breakdown. If you buy a new game you've been looking forward to for months, get into it and are really enjoying it. All of a sudden your 360 just goes are you seriously saying you wouldn't be even slightly upset?
Mine went at a good time, I didn't have anything that I was living on at the time and was just getting into Mario Galaxy on the Wii.
My Xbox1 on the other hand... came back 3 times from MS, the first 2 times all my save data was gone from the HD. Had to get a mem card for a machine that technically wasn't supposed to require one!
Thats a pretty large drop from the 33% the fanboys were throwing around. The newer consoles are more reliable and i can only see the figure getting smaller. Sonys machine doesnt exactly strike me as safe when i consider how poor their previous stuff has been. I had 5 ps2's break in 5 years and the sony phones are awful as well.
Well I agree with the PS2 comment, I had tonnes of mates on second or third PS2s (though one had a temper problem and threw his out of a window, so that's probably his own fault).
But can't agree, in my experience with Sony phones - far superior (camera wise) to anything else on the market and have been ever since they hit 1.3mp. I've had W800 and K800 and they do have a few niggles (sticky joystick NPI etc..), but thankfully always in the last month of the contract.
On an N95 now and the 5mp cam is a joke, had it 7 months and the speaker is already nacked.
I think it all depends how you store your console.
I've had mine for a year and a half and not had any problems until recently (and that problem is with the lens not overheating). I keep mine off of anything that gives off too much heat.
I dont know of anyone else who's had problems either.
My 360 has been sent off to get repaired at the moment,its the second time i've had the ring of death.I bought my first 360 in its release week in 2005.each 1 has lasted a year.when i phoned microsoft last week,i mentioned i had a fan,and they told me not to use it because all it does is blow hot air back in to the 360.Dunno how true that is,just thought i'd mention it.
I bought my 360 Feb 2006. RROD'd within a year. Received newer console (mfr Dt of 2007), but it still has the original motherboard. This one just RROD'd Jan 20, 2008. It was Repaired and returned ---- w/screw loose on inside. Just dropped it off AGAIN at ups last night to get the stupid screw tightened.
UPS told me that they see at least 6 a day going back to texas for repair - and thats just from that one little location here in Indianapolis.
Go around to your neighborhood UPS and ask how many they send back. Post here what you find out. UPS guy told me last night that they're making big bucks from Microsoft on the shipping....said they're a great customer for them.
I think the failure rate is MUCH higher - more like 33% minimum.
THEY DON'T GIVE YOU A NEW MACHINE ANYMORE. YOU GET YOURs REPAIRED or a REMANUFACTURED ONE FROM LAUNCH.
dont care what the failure rate is, as long as it is fixed for free who cares???
I'd care, you don't buy something to have it constantly repaired do you? I'd seriously doubt you'd buy a car or anything else for that matter knowing that for about 3-4 weeks of the year you'd have to get it repaired! While the reliability issue on the 360 is hit and miss with some people having no problems at all, they are just the lucky ones. The longer anyone has one the more likely it is to fail the article says so.
who woulda thought that microsoft would end up with the most bugged machine haha. sucks.
Haha. Yes. Massive suprise isn't. Just look at thier Operating Systems and programs, they work like a dream don't they? ...ermm...yeah, maybe it isn't such a big suprise then
This is a load of f*cking s**t. Imagine Boeing released a plane with a 33% failure rate!?!
Or the US military designing a nuclear bomb with a 50% failure rate?!?
I MEAN THEY WOULDN'T GET AWAY WITH IT WOULD THEY
I mean in principle it is exactly the same thing except for the small fact on-ones lives are at risk. ahem, unless you're an Xbot who likes to put his stinking pink rod in an electrical orifice on yer 360.
I'm so annoyed I'm gonna smash someone in now I hope you're all happy about what you have done
This is a load of f*cking s**t. Imagine Boeing released a plane with a 33% failure rate!?!
Or the US military designing a nuclear bomb with a 50% failure rate?!?
I MEAN THEY WOULDN'T GET AWAY WITH IT WOULD THEY
I mean in principle it is exactly the same thing except for the small fact on-ones lives are at risk. ahem, unless you're an Xbot who likes to put his stinking pink rod in an electrical orifice on yer 360.
I'm so annoyed I'm gonna smash someone in now I hope you're all happy about what you have done
lol hes right though
I think the 16% was probably reasonable compared to the 30-50% people were speculating last year. I would be interested in a refined figure on this one. How about releasing some information on the amount of newly released/repaired consoles with the new cooling or the new chipset in the Arcade consoles for example, what are those failure rates on those. I bet its a lot less than 16%.
Go around to your neighborhood UPS and ask how many they send back. Post here what you find out. UPS guy told me last night that they're making big bucks from Microsoft on the shipping....said they're a great customer for them.
I think the failure rate is MUCH higher - more like 33% minimum.
THEY DON'T GIVE YOU A NEW MACHINE ANYMORE. YOU GET YOURs REPAIRED or a REMANUFACTURED ONE FROM LAUNCH.
I was chatting to the UPS guy that picked up my Xbox and he said it was his full time job to drive round Northern Ireland picking up and returning Xbox360s. He had 3 Xbox360s for repair in his van and 6 to be returned. Trading standards should prosecute Microsoft for selling defective hardware.
Thankfully only one of my two launch consoles has failed me
Only one? Oh that's alright then That would be one too many for me. I want the failure rate to be as low as 3-4% before I fork out for a 360. I wouldn't be able to enjoy playing it. I'd always be too busy worrying about it dying on me.
Like I said, it didn't help that it was sitting on top of my Sky+ box, which gives out alot of heat itself. Thankfully I've learnt from my mistake and have both 360's out in the open. From what I've read from people's experiences, the one's that keep having 360's fail on them are the one's that throw them under their TV along with Sky boxes, DVD player, ie in an enclosed environment. Keep them out in the open like I do and you'll have no problems hopefully. Also, I wouldn't let this issue put you off getting a 360 as you are denying yourself from owning possibily the best console in terms of software and online service. You also get a 3 year warrenty. Like someone said though, hopefully next gen MS will have hardware quality that will rival it's software quality from this gen.
dont care what the failure rate is, as long as it is fixed for free who cares???
I'd care, you don't buy something to have it constantly repaired do you? I'd seriously doubt you'd buy a car or anything else for that matter knowing that for about 3-4 weeks of the year you'd have to get it repaired! While the reliability issue on the 360 is hit and miss with some people having no problems at all, they are just the lucky ones. The longer anyone has one the more likely it is to fail the article says so.
ok, ill go along with the car thing... ferraris break down all the time, but you still like owning it dont you and are prepared to put up with the inconvenience of it breaking down, while its away being repaired i drive my porsche (ps3) around more until the ferrari is back from the garage.... just for the record i own a ps3 and like it...
If overheating is the main problem, wouldn't it be cheaper for M$ to distribute free cooling fans rather than having to fix 360s?
The cooling fans draw more power and cause the 360 to run hotter. Ironic isnt it?
This is true, you only need to stop & think about the setup. An extractor fan is exaclty what it says on the tin. It will take the ambient hot air out of the xbox but thats all. The components are still happily cooking away to their inevitable doom. Heat a pan on a cooker & then turn on the fan, the pan will still be hot.
Iv read that there are a number of ways they could improve with a Mk II or something such as installing a more efficient cooling fan within the xbox or a liquid cooling system. Im not an expert but i own a 360 & i feel that it is a born flaw that MS are brushing under the rug.
Go around to your neighborhood UPS and ask how many they send back. Post here what you find out. UPS guy told me last night that they're making big bucks from Microsoft on the shipping....said they're a great customer for them.
I think the failure rate is MUCH higher - more like 33% minimum.
THEY DON'T GIVE YOU A NEW MACHINE ANYMORE. YOU GET YOURs REPAIRED or a REMANUFACTURED ONE FROM LAUNCH.
I was chatting to the UPS guy that picked up my Xbox and he said it was his full time job to drive round Northern Ireland picking up and returning Xbox360s. He had 3 Xbox360s for repair in his van and 6 to be returned. Trading standards should prosecute Microsoft for selling defective hardware.
Trading Standards would do nothing because its not false advertising, MS doesn't say these 360s will last forever or a certain period and if Trading Standards did do anything they would just make MS repair all faulty 360s free of charge and since they do that already (and increased the warranty to 3 years)then that would be a waste of time. Another thing, how can you compare a games machine with a car or a plane or nuclear missile for f**ks sake?! Compare it with a dvd player, tv, stereo or satellite reciever box they all come under the same bracket. I've had stereos, dvd players and tvs all break down on me, it happens get over it. while I accept its not ideal at least you get a 3 year warranty I mean who else gives you a 3 year warranty? No one thats who.
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