My hypothesis about the three rings of death

haha i was on live exactly 2 motnhs before you

oct. 23,   06

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My thoughts exactly. I'm thinking that a lot of the people who play it don't give in proper ventilation or play it for long continuous periods of time thus leading to break down.YourLastDay86

ha, I have gone through 3 360s. I take well care of my stuff, I keep my 360 well ventilated in a house with A/C. M$ them selves have gone on record and said the failure rate of 360s is a whole lot higher then within normal %. this is why they extended all warranty for the 360 from 90 days to a full year. the launch 360s where just lemons "not all but a lot where".

ha, I have gone through 3 360s. I take well care of my stuff, I keep my 360 well ventilated in a house with A/C. M$ them selves have gone on record and said the failure rate of 360s is a whole lot higher then within normal %. this is why they extended all warranty for the 360 from 90 days to a full year. the launch 360s where just lemons "not all but a lot where".

gagit811

i got mine on 21/12/2006 and it was manufactured on 23/08/2006 - ya think i'm in any danger of getting the three rings? never has it once froze in the middle of a game

NicAgent

Now remember this is a HYPOTHESIS, not even as sturdy as a theory. Here it is: If you get the three rings of death, then you did not properly take care of your Xbox 360 gaming and entertainment system. The Xbox 360 is not necessarily defective, it's just fragile. Should you transport it, do it real carefully. Should you let it collect dust and store it in a poorly ventilated area, then there's a problem. What I think is that people who get the three rings of death did not store their Xbox 360 in a proper environment. Lastly, frequently tilting your console horizontally and vertically might strain it.NicAgent

While this may account for some people's problems, to say that the 360 isn't necessarily defective makes no sense, given the sheer volume of problems people are having.

I keep my 360 on a seperate stand next to the TV. There is nothing obstructing airflow on any side of it, as it sits on top of that stand. There's nothing behind it, other than the wall. I don't set it vertically, given the DRE problems I experienced with my first-gen PS2. It was never transported anywhere except to the store and eventually my home. I clean and dust in that area at least once per week.  I don't play for hours on end or leave it on all day.  It was purchased shortly before Christmas and i'm already being forced to send it in for repair and replacement.

Furthermore, your hypothesis is bunk because modern PC parts are more resilient than you give them credit for. Excessive (read: over a year) buildup of dust would be a plausible cause of problems, but even a few months worth won't have an impact like that unless you smoke indoors, have cats, and don't clean anything, ever. Even then, it would still likely work. The only thing that would cause such drastic damage is an inherent design flaw, where the components of a system don't mesh with the overall design.  The 360 is a game console, designed to go into a person's living room or bedroom, stored in entertainment centers or other ubobtrusive areas, and used for long periods of time.  If it cannot do what it is supposed to do, and by extention what we have come to expect a game console to do, it has a manufacturing defect.

The problem is that Microsoft designed a system that puts a 90nm, three-core CPU inside of a tiny, plastic box. Then they decided to pop an ATI-based video card inside of it, which adds an equally large amount of heat. There's a reason that the power supply and hard drive aren't inside the unit and it's not because it's more aesthetically pleasing. There's a reason that on the Elite, they're GLUING the heatsinks for the CPU and GPU down to the mainboard. There's a reason that Microsoft is deperately pursuing 65nm CPU's. It's because the system overheats to such an extent that the board warps, causing those coolers to pop off and the system to fail entirely.

That is a manufacturing defect and one that anyone with an ounce of knowledge about computer hardware could detect simply by looking inside the case.

The problem with your hypothesis is that it's entirely based on conjecture, with no sense of knowledge or understanding of the problem behind it. It's like saying that you think Enron screwed with its employees because too many of them were taking paper out of the supply room.

[QUOTE="NicAgent"]Now remember this is a HYPOTHESIS, not even as sturdy as a theory. Here it is: If you get the three rings of death, then you did not properly take care of your Xbox 360 gaming and entertainment system. The Xbox 360 is not necessarily defective, it's just fragile. Should you transport it, do it real carefully. Should you let it collect dust and store it in a poorly ventilated area, then there's a problem. What I think is that people who get the three rings of death did not store their Xbox 360 in a proper environment. Lastly, frequently tilting your console horizontally and vertically might strain it.filterpunk

While this may account for some people's problems, to say that the 360 isn't necessarily defective makes no sense, given the sheer volume of problems people are having.

I keep my 360 on a seperate stand next to the TV. There is nothing obstructing airflow on any side of it, as it sits on top of that stand. There's nothing behind it, other than the wall. I don't set it vertically, given the DRE problems I experienced with my first-gen PS2. It was never transported anywhere except to the store and eventually my home. I clean and dust in that area at least once per week. I don't play for hours on end or leave it on all day. It was purchased shortly before Christmas and i'm already being forced to send it in for repair and replacement.

Furthermore, your hypothesis is bunk because modern PC parts are more resilient than you give them credit for. Excessive (read: over a year) buildup of dust would be a plausible cause of problems, but even a few months worth won't have an impact like that unless you smoke indoors, have cats, and don't clean anything, ever. Even then, it would still likely work. The only thing that would cause such drastic damage is an inherent design flaw, where the components of a system don't mesh with the overall design. The 360 is a game console, designed to go into a person's living room or bedroom, stored in entertainment centers or other ubobtrusive areas, and used for long periods of time. If it cannot do what it is supposed to do, and by extention what we have come to expect a game console to do, it has a manufacturing defect.

The problem is that Microsoft designed a system that puts a 90nm, three-core CPU inside of a tiny, plastic box. Then they decided to pop an ATI-based video card inside of it, which adds an equally large amount of heat. There's a reason that the power supply and hard drive aren't inside the unit and it's not because it's more aesthetically pleasing. There's a reason that on the Elite, they're GLUING the heatsinks for the CPU and GPU down to the mainboard. There's a reason that Microsoft is deperately pursuing 65nm CPU's. It's because the system overheats to such an extent that the board warps, causing those coolers to pop off and the system to fail entirely.

That is a manufacturing defect and one that anyone with an ounce of knowledge about computer hardware could detect simply by looking inside the case.

The problem with your hypothesis is that it's entirely based on conjecture, with no sense of knowledge or understanding of the problem behind it. It's like saying that you think Enron screwed with its employees because too many of them were taking paper out of the supply room.

QFT

I had my 360, on a table, next to my tv, horizontally. never moved it (except when I brought it downstairs), and yet, it still managed to crap out on me after a month of having it, which was a replacement, which would probably explain it. I think the majority of the reason are that the repair center is doing a half-assed job, on top of Mircosoft not putting it together well. This is the first time, that I have EVER had any issues with any of my consoles, where I had to replace my console, TWICE, this is going back when I was about 3 years old, and my Atari 2600.

i had a fan blowing air away from my 360, it was kept with a foot or so of ventilation on each side, i didn't play it for more than 4 hours at a time, and i had it on marble tile in vertical to maximize air intake and surface space exposed. it broke. this taking care of thing is baloney, i know for certain that i took much better care of it than the average person, and it still broke. i belive they break from poor manufacturing.paullywog

 omg i think mine its going down, you took better care than me and it broke :/

I had my 360, on a table, next to my tv, horizontally. never moved it (except when I brought it downstairs), and yet, it still managed to crap out on me after a month of having it, which was a replacement, which would probably explain it. I think the majority of the reason are that the repair center is doing a half-assed job, on top of Mircosoft not putting it together well. This is the first time, that I have EVER had any issues with any of my consoles, where I had to replace my console, TWICE, this is going back when I was about 3 years old, and my Atari 2600. jello44

Agreed.  I've already resolved that if the replacement they send craps out in less than a year, i'll probably sell the console off.  I love the games, but ethically, I don't feel that it's right to contribute another dollar to a company so obviously lacking in accountability.  We'll see what happens - i've spent the last 7 days just waiting for the box to show up so I can send it in for repair.

i just hope once i get mine sent out and get it back i will no longer have problems all i want to do is play some games.. and not have to go though like 3 consoles... and when u get ur repaired 360 does it come with a 90 day warr or another year.. and can u purchase extended warranty. I would be great if they would just give me a new one and not give me a crappy ref 360

and by the way i didnt break this console.. i got it this way.. got it for dirt cheap off a friend and lucky he still had a warranty on it. 

Agreed. I've already resolved that if the replacement they send craps out in less than a year, i'll probably sell the console off. I love the games, but ethically, I don't feel that it's right to contribute another dollar to a company so obviously lacking in accountability. We'll see what happens - i've spent the last 7 days just waiting for the box to show up so I can send it in for repair.

filterpunk

Ouch i better not wait 7 days for my box to come...dam.. they said 3-5 days.. ups idk who ur going through. 

[QUOTE="YourLastDay86"]My thoughts exactly. I'm thinking that a lot of the people who play it don't give in proper ventilation or play it for long continuous periods of time thus leading to break down.NicAgent

I got mine around the release of dead rising(dont know when that was) and i keep it in my entertainment unit, horizontally with a wall on each side of it and on top and behind it with the power supply about 2 inches behind it and the wall is about 2 inches behind the power supply.

I have not had a single issue, no freezing, rings of death(which by the way is a bit of a dramatic name) it is actually pretty sturdy, i take it upstairs and downstairs frequently and to my cabin on occasion. The longest i have played it is probably 4 hours at a time.(and that was once)

am i just lucky?

my "hypothesis" is that people play it for 5+ hours without stopping and the 360 gets extremely hot melting this soldering and it just falls apart from within. So according to my hypothesis having a life is the way to keep a 360 going.

My theory (which is a bit more technical) is that most red rings of death happen on 360s with vertical stances. The circuit boards are pretty crappy in the 360. And when it heats up a just a bit, the solter iron disconnects from the circuit board. When you have it on horizontal, gravity keeps the solter iron on the circuit board.

There is a fix to the red ring of death though. All you have to do is heat up your 360 so that you re smelt the solter iron onto the circuit board. There's many videos on youtube showing how you could do this in different methods. (some involve taking out the actual circuit board and heating it up with a heat gun, and some are simpler like wrapping your 360 in lots of cloth and towels).

My theory (which is a bit more technical) is that most red rings of death happen on 360s with vertical stances. The circuit boards are pretty crappy in the 360. And when it heats up a just a bit, the solter iron disconnects from the circuit board. When you have it on horizontal, gravity keeps the solter iron on the circuit board.

There is a fix to the red ring of death though. All you have to do is heat up your 360 so that you re smelt the solter iron onto the circuit board. There's many videos on youtube showing how you could do this in different methods. (some involve taking out the actual circuit board and heating it up with a heat gun, and some are simpler like wrapping your 360 in lots of cloth and towels).MADVLAD123

A 360 being stood up vertically would only be an issue for the disc drive, not any internal components. It's not that the circuit boards are crappy (though the layout of capacitors and the like is), but that it's the first thing to become damaged due to overheating. The system starts to overheat, the motherboard starts to warp, and the heatsinks pop off their mount points.

There is, FYI, no soldering involved in the placement of heatsinks, coolers, etc. Small components are soldered to the motherboard and video card, but again, this wouldn't be affected by how the 360 is standing.

Wrapping towels around the system, using heat guns and the like - this stuff isn't a "fix" for anything. While it may work in the short term, it is only temporary and contributes to further damage of the system. This sort of thing is not a legitimate solution, even in the loosest sense.

None of this addresses the simple fact that the system is prone to overheating. 

I think that a fair few cases could be the simple fact that it hasn't been plugged in properly.

if you don't connect the power cable correctly, you get the three lights of death. Most people probably just think "oh well.. thats that better send it off and not bother trying anything to make it work.."

This may also apply with any other problem, they may not try seeing if it will work later on and just send it off straight away.

I think that a fair few cases could be the simple fact that it hasn't been plugged in properly.

if you don't connect the power cable correctly, you get the three lights of death. Most people probably just think "oh well.. thats that better send it off and not bother trying anything to make it work.."

This may also apply with any other problem, they may not try seeing if it will work later on and just send it off straight away.

NgineX2

My thoughts exactly. I'm thinking that a lot of the people who play it don't give in proper ventilation or play it for long continuous periods of time thus leading to break down.YourLastDay86

That might be true for some people but One time i turned my 360 on (well ventalated, never moved, etc.. I took care of it) and within 5 minutes it froze I tried to restart it and it never worked again, and I didn't play it for long periods of time. (It still brings a tear to my eye today :cry: lol)