Welcome to my RRoD Diary. I decided to make a diary to record the events and how long it takes during the process. This is the second time i had to send in my xbox 360. This time for a different reason. The first time was because my 360 wouldnt read any games or dvds. Now its on to the next chapter.
February 29, 2008
I was pwning some noobians in Halo 3 team slayer, had 8 kills, 4 assists, and 10 deaths in that match. About halfway through, my screen went crazy with little squares all around. I couldnt see shit, probably how i got those 10 deaths... or at least thats the excuse im sticking with. I thought at first my HDTV was the problem,
! Then i thought, you know its probably Microsoft's shitty game console. So i decided to keep playing and finish the game despite my disadvantage. We lost the game 50 to 47. I go back into the halo 3 main menu and dont see the distortion as much. So i start a single player campaign and right away its distorted again.
First Signs of death
Later that day i decided to try some other games. Crackdown and Gears of War all had the same issues. I checked my Nintendo Wii just to make sure that it wasnt the tv, but that looked fine. My last effort was to switch the VGA cord i use with the component cord that the 360 came with to see if that was the problem. After i was done hooking it up, i fired up the console and still was in trouble. Damn! Time to call Microsoft.
March 3, 2008
After leaving my system go a few days, i fired it back up just to see if it was still doing the same things. I read on the net how some people had this happen, and soon after they got the red rings of death. In my situation, i didnt have them yet. So i turned on the console and put in Bioshock, i thought that would be a cool game to have in my gamertag background while i wait for my system to be fixed. Same old shit, this time big red vertical lines went down my screen, i could hardly see the beautiful world of rapture. I was going to call Microsoft, but let it go another day.
City of Rapture ruined.
March 4, 2008
Today was the big day, the day i call Microsoft and tell them that my system was broke. I turned on my tv and console just to see if it was still doing it, but this time i didnt even get to the blades screen. I got an error screen that gave me the code E74. Finally i got RRoD like the rest talked about after having my problems in game. My xbox 360 only flashed 1 red light, not 3, but i think that still counts as the RRoD right? I call the number, get lost in the voice activated menu's, but finally go to repairs > new repair. After i told the guy my situation he told me to try to start it up without the hard drive and see if i still get the error screen. So i did and ended up at the same place, E74 error screen. He quickly told me that my system would have to be sent in for repairs. I thought damn, that was fast. I thought i would have to test a few things out before he would come to that conclusion, but i didnt.
After he got all my info and told me the box would be shipped, he told me how my warranty was up on April 4th. Wow that was pretty shocking to hear. I had thought all xbox 360 systems had a three year warranty, but i guess that is not the case. He told me how i could extend the warranty for one year for a little less than 30 dollars. I could even upgrade to a two year warranty but he didnt tell me how much that would cost.
Right now i would suggest all 360 owners to call 1-800-4MY-XBOX and find out when your warranty expires. Yeah its shitty, but 30 bucks for an additional year could save you some serious cash, and probably will. I am actually happy my 360 broke now so i didnt have to pay out of my pocket for repair if it broke after April, which isnt that far away.
So after that shocking announcement, he told me that i would receive one month free of xbox live gold, 90 days added to my warranty once i get it back, and it would take two to three weeks for it to be fixed...a month at most. So now i just have to sit and wait for the box to come. I plan to call Microsoft up once i get my system back and add one year warranty to my system. It would probably be cheaper than selling the one i have and buying a new one.
E74 Screen does not look next gen.
March 5, 2008
As i was checking my email today i noticed a couple letters from Microsoft. They were both from yesterday, the newest one says that they shipped me a box. Gave me a tracking number, which i checked and it says that the billing information has been sent to UPS.
March 7, 2008
Today i got the box from Microsoft. Inside was instructions, a plastic bag to put the 360 inside, two styrofoamish padding to put on the ends of the 360, a long piece of tape, and an address sticker to send it to the repair center. Now if you never done this before, make sure you dont damage the box. You use the same box that holds the items i described above to put your 360 in and send it back in. Also you dont want to send any cables, games, or the hard drive with it. Just send the console.
Packed in a ready to go!
March 8, 2008
Really quick update for today. I havent sent my 360 off yet due to me coming down with the flu. I probably wont be able to send my 360 off until Monday. Ill keep updating after that.
March 10, 2008
Finally i was feeling well enough to go to the UPS store and send it out. So thats what i did today. It says on the slip that they will pick it up today too, so that is good news. On a funny note, when i was walking out of the store some guy was about to walk in. So he held the door for me and i said "thanks" and in reply he said something that i just thought was pretty funny. He said "no problem bro" back at me. I dont know why, maybe i just thought of "dont taze me bro"? Whatever, i got a good laugh. But now all i can do is wait for my xbox 360 to get to texas.
March 13, 2008
Well it looks like it finally has arrived to Texas, or so i think. They still didnt deliver the package. On the online tracking information page it says "
THE RECEIVER REQUESTED A HOLD FOR A FUTURE DELIVERY DATE. UPS WILL ATTEMPT DELIVERY ON DATE REQUESTED". I can only assume that UPS is holding the package until a certain date that was given by where it needs to go. I dont really know.
March 14, 2008
The package has been delivered today. For those keeping track of how long it takes. It took 3 days from the day i called to the day i got the box. Add another 4 days from the day i gave the box to UPS to the day they delivered it. Not that bad, even though last time i think it took only 3 days to deliver it. Im not really complaining about it though. So thats about a week so far if you look past the few days i wasnt able to send it out because i was sick. Now i have to wait to see how long it takes for them to fix my 360 and send it back out to me.
March 21, 2008
Today the door bell rang and i didnt get the door because i figured it was someone who wanted to shovel our walk, since its been snowing. Then later i saw that it was UPS who tried to deliver my Xbox 360, they left a sticker on the door that says they tried to deliver it. Which is odd, because i never thought it would be this fast, and i never got an email saying they were sending my system back. So i wasnt even expecting it to be shipped to me. Last time i sent it in i got an email saying they were shipping it back to me. Oh well. Next time they will try to deliver is on Monday. So i guess ill have to wait for that.
So if you are keeping track, it took them 11 days from the day i sent it for repair to the day i got it back....or was supposed to get it back if i answered the door. 14 days if you add in the 3 days it took to get the box. Last time it took me 9 days i believe from the day i sent it out, to the day i got it back.
March 24th, 2008
Finally got my Xbox 360 back. The UPS slip said it would come between 10:30am and 2:00pm, ended up coming around 2:30pm. Oh well that doesnt really matter. So i opened the box and saw the 1 month free of Xbox live gold on top of the Xbox 360. I took it out and unwrapped it. First thing i noticed was some tape by the faceplate, and some black marks on the bottom of the xbox 360 case. So i checked the Serial Number and it was the same. But then i looked at the Product ID and the first three numbers were different. So i got a different console back. I plugged it in and it worked fine. The cd tray did sound a little strange while playing crackdown, like it was scratching my disc, but i checked and it was fine. Maybe im just not used to what the 360 sounds like since ive been playing my Wii. I fired up Double Dragon to check if my XBLA games would work and at first it said play trial version or download full version after i had already paid for the full version. But i downloaded it again for free and it was fine after that.
I dont know, but personally at the moment i feel like switching over to the PS3. I dont know how much more i can take from a system that is constantly going to break. Maybe its the fact that i personally dont like getting back someone elses system. I dont know how they treated the system. Unless im wrong about the Product ID, but i think im correct about the change in numbers. Whatever. The issue is over and this diary is done. So until next time my xbox breaks, which hopefully isnt soon.
It's Baaaaaaack!
(
