Wal-Mart Experiences Red-Ring-of-Death
December 4, 2007 by Jason Bean
Filed under Computers
I’m walking into Wal-Mart this evening to buy some cat food and my friend Ryan calls me from Cincinnati. Oddly enough, he was in a Wal-Mart shopping and noticed something he thought I’d really appreciate.
The Xbox 360 display was experiencing the red-ring-of-death themselves.
It’s hard to see, but you can just see the red glow around the power circle. My first question was to ask Ryan to make sure it wasn’t all 4 red lights, which from my experience would indicate a problem with the AV signal. He confirmed it was just the three lights.
I’m sure there’s nothing quite as encouraging to prospective buyers in the middle of Wal-Mart during the holiday shopping season than the sight of a crashed Xbox 360.
Is it really death if most people can fix it at home by themselves? I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but I’m starting to think Microsoft designed the machine to shut down on its own before it was really broken due to misuse (like being on 24-7 at a Walmart) so that it could be more easily refurbished when returned to the company.
I still like our 360 though, and feel like we’re getting our money’s worth. I wish we’d gotten more out of the update though, like the ability to assign users their own timer vs. a family timer. (Okay, I may have just stuck my foot in my mouth. Now I can’t remember if that’s possible or not. lol I’ll have to go check it out.)
I’m not aware of anyone that can fix this problem at home by themselves. The “towel trick” is only temporary.
Are you sure? We’ve fixed this problem several times since we’ve had our 360, which we bought at launch. The last time was maybe 6 months ago, and it didn’t take the towel trick to fix it. Usually, all we have to do is turn the system off and turn it on again. Maybe twice, we’ve had to unplug the whole thing, leave it awhile and then plug it in again.
Like I said, I’m naturally suspicious. I could be entirely wrong. It’s just a theory.
My opinion would be that since you’ve “fixed” the problem “several times”, you’ve never actually fixed it. The problem is the unit overheats and unsolders its components. Having to turn it off regularly to let it cool down isn’t a fix. What if you had to do that to your car every 50 miles or your computer every 2 hours?
But the problem isn’t regular, so it doesn’t compare to every 50 miles or 2 hours.
its so evil how do you fix it
I believe the only true way to fix it is by sending it off to the Microsoft mothership.