The General 360 Owners/Buyers FAQ Thread (Updated 1/15/10)

How do you have it hooked up? The only other thing I can think is if it's the connection, or like if your TV's HDMI is screwed up or something...and I guess try a different connection if possible, and disconnecting and reconnecting the Xbox's cables.

But...you've got ANOTHER weird problem I haven't heard of! Maybe Microsoft introduced some new errors into Jasper for variety's sake ;) "These eXX and RRoD errors are getting predictable. Our customers demand only the most exciting failures!"
-Xbox project lead :whistle2:D
 
I thought it might be the HDMI too, or even the Turtle Beach receiver or headset. I should do more testing but I think its the 360 sound card going bad. I might try and switch up the HDMI cable though and see if I continue to run into the problem.
 
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know it doesn't have any sound hardware (other than a digital to analog converter that wouldn't be getting used through HDMI)-it's all run as software on the CPUs (kind of a preview of Microsoft dropping hardware sound support on Vista, I guess!) But if you're running it through a receiver, maybe try plugging it in directly to the TV?
 
[quote name='freshzen']I thought it might be the HDMI too, or even the Turtle Beach receiver or headset. I should do more testing but I think its the 360 sound card going bad. I might try and switch up the HDMI cable though and see if I continue to run into the problem.[/QUOTE]I'd do the following:

1) Try swapping the HDMI cable with a known working cable and see if the problem disappears. If it does, it's the cable, and a cheap fix.
2) Try connecting your 360 directly to the TV and see if the issue happens. If it goes away, then your receiver might be the issue.
3) If the receiver appears to be the issue, try plugging it into a different HDMI port and see if that fixes the problem.
4) If the receiver or the cable aren't the issue, try going with connecting it via component + optical and see if the problem disappears. If it does, it might be the HDMI port on the 360.

I'd say if you try multiple different combinations between the HDMI cable, the receiver and the TV without any success, then I think the 360 might need to be repaired/replaced.
 
Does the regular 360 warranty get "reset" in any way if you get it repaired? I thought I read that somewhere, but I may have been mistaken. My 360 is a couple months out of the 3-year warranty now, but Microsoft repaired it (RROD) back in early '08. Now it's red-ringing for the second time and I'm wondering if I have any options here. 200% failure rate, woohoo!
 
01/15/10:

 Major OP Update complete!

If you're a regular in this thread (or at least have it subscribed) you may have noticed for a long-ass time that I've had "soon to be updated" pinned to the end of the thread title. Well, soon to be updated has now turned into finished :cool:. If I messed something up, or if you felt that I left out something from the OP then let me know either in this thread or by PM. The only section I won't add in quite yet is a Natal section until we get more information about it, which should come later in the year. Aside from that, this thread should be much more up to date than the previous version.

Questions, comments, suggestions are welcome. Thanks for keeping this thread going for as long as it has. 250,000+ views and 7,000+ responses is very impressive, and those numbers will only grow with time!
 
[quote name='BustaUppa']Does the regular 360 warranty get "reset" in any way if you get it repaired? I thought I read that somewhere, but I may have been mistaken. My 360 is a couple months out of the 3-year warranty now, but Microsoft repaired it (RROD) back in early '08. Now it's red-ringing for the second time and I'm wondering if I have any options here. 200% failure rate, woohoo![/QUOTE]

Here's what it says on Xbox.com:

If we repair your Xbox 360 within the original warranty period, you will receive either the balance of your original warranty, or 90 days, whichever is longer. In addition, we will pay for the shipping both ways.

If we repair your Xbox 360 after the warranty period has expired, while you will be responsible for the repair costs, you will receive either the balance of your original warranty (if it has not yet expired for all conditions), or one year, whichever is longer.
Click to expand...
On the subject of repairs, I posted something in the RRoD thread. Me and another guy both printed labels up directly from Xbox.com and shipped our systems out with our own materials. Then, sometime later, we got an e-mail from UPS with a different shipping label. Now, the boxes are in transit (in the other guy's case, it already made it to Texas), but Xbox.com has yet to be updated. This happen to anyone else? Did everything go smoothly? Both labels have the same service number attached, so I would assume it doesn't really matter, as long as it makes it to their repair center.
 
[quote name='Bloodbooger']Wow, I accidently deleted my profile and I think I lost all of my game saves with it.

Someone, say it ain't so :([/QUOTE]Did you delete "Profile Only" or "Profile and Items"? The former is alright (as long as the account is recoverable), while the latter is disastrous.
 
I think I deleted "Profile and Items."

I purchased a new console as a replacement to my old non-HDMI system, added my old hard drive as a replacement, but it didn't register initially. I didn't know any better (no cause for alarm yet), so I went ahead and downloaded NXE and recovered my profile online.

Once that didn't work, I shut off the system and re-set the HDD into place. It comes on no problem, but as I check the memory I notice I have a profile on the HDD and on the console's memory.

I deleted the profile on the console, all my saves should be on the HDD right? It immediately signs me out of Live and I realize that both profiles are gone.

Pretty sure I'm screwed...
 
From what you said it sounds like the saves should still be there, just recover your profile before doing anything else.
 
Remember that presumably includes ANY time the console is connected to the internet, including Silver users, but that's a heck of a lot of Xbox use :whistle2:D
 
Damn, I thought I was bad hovering between 82% - 85%. How often do you play online against other people?

The star system can only go up, never down. It only takes like 5-7 preferring you to boost you up to 5 stars.
 
Really? It can't go down? What's the point then?

Maybe I should ask 7 people to boost mine. I'm silver, which means I'm stuck at 3 stars forever, which means some people think I'm some horrible person to play with online, rather than that I don't :whistle2:/
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']Damn, I thought I was bad hovering between 82% - 85%. How often do you play online against other people?

The star system can only go up, never down. It only takes like 5-7 preferring you to boost you up to 5 stars.[/QUOTE]
I got this account (and X360) less than a month ago, on X-Mas, and my main online game is CoD:MW2 (with 30 minutes of GoW2 online).

I read a CAG in the CoD:MW2 thread made some nuke boosters cry in FFA and got some stars taken away from their feedback so that made me wonder why my stars didn't go down if my "Rep" said no one preferred me, but 100% avoided me (too bad it can't say the number of people).
 
[quote name='PhrostByte']I was thinking of getting a USB > AC power adapter but was thinking maybe there's another way... thoughts?[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Empyreal']Why...do you want a wall charger? What's wrong with the USB?[/QUOTE]

Xbox 360 systems have a finite life span, and the standard warranty is only 1 year. By charging controllers on the 360 while the system is off, you are wearing out the the cooling fans, and to an extent, the power supply.

Those fans start getting pretty loud when they start wearing out. I would rather get 4 or 5 more hours of (somewhat) quiet play time (per recharge) out of the fans and power supply.

Not to mention that the charging system doesn't always work properly on shutdown. I have had the battery charging while playing, then it will error out and go green when you turn off the system. This limits the capacity of the battery.

With a usb wall charger, you can better guarantee a steady power source/eliminate problems that occur when the 360 shuts down.

You can also be more flexible. The Play n Charge kit only has a 6 to 8 foot cable. With a USB Wall charger, your could sit on your couch and plug in near there.

Or just use it for a second controller, to keep your spares charged up.


Anybody know what minimum amperage the 360 battery/play n charge kit requires? Most usb wall chargers do 1000ma, with dual port chargers offering 500ma per port.
 
I am looking to buy a new Xbox for the new chipsets and to have HDMI, but about 3 weeks ago in the news I saw how companies are trying to offload the 120gb harddrive and holiday bundles so it seems like a price drop is coming soon. I haven't heard anything since then...has anyone else? Any idea when the price might drop? Thanks!
 
Is it possible to transfer an Xbox save (Max Payne) on a 360 to an original Xbox memory card?
 
[quote name='Blackout']Is it possible to transfer an Xbox save (Max Payne) on a 360 to an original Xbox memory card?[/QUOTE]Datel makes a product that can do this. The name eludes me at the moment, but you can transfer stuff to and from a 360 HD and to and from a OG Xbox Mem card via your PC. Try their site.

I just got an E74 out of the blue. Is this the new RROD? How hosed am I? I think I've had this one (a falcon Elite) for a little over a year. Are there any false positives for E74 like a loose cable or something?
 
[quote name='jdawgg76']I just got an E74 out of the blue. Is this the new RROD? How hosed am I? I think I've had this one (a falcon Elite) for a little over a year. Are there any false positives for E74 like a loose cable or something?[/QUOTE]


unplug all cables and plug them back in and take off the hard drive and put it back on. If you still have it (general hardware fault i think) you have a 3 year warranty on E74 errors.
 
[quote name='jdawgg76']Datel makes a product that can do this. The name eludes me at the moment, but you can transfer stuff to and from a 360 HD and to and from a OG Xbox Mem card via your PC. Try their site.
[/QUOTE]

I believe you're talking about the Xport, I've got one and it was a lifesaver bringing over my xbox saves as well as backing up so much invested time with my 360 hdd.
 
[quote name='JustinDM']I am looking to buy a new Xbox for the new chipsets and to have HDMI, but about 3 weeks ago in the news I saw how companies are trying to offload the 120gb harddrive and holiday bundles so it seems like a price drop is coming soon. I haven't heard anything since then...has anyone else? Any idea when the price might drop? Thanks![/QUOTE]

I think the general speculation is that there will be a "relaunch" with 250gb and/or Natal together. Seeing as my Elite just tanked, I'm going to start saving Amazon credit for May/June to preorder.
 
Is there anything I need to be aware of when buying a used 360 hard drive? I know I would need the data transfer kit, is that still free through MS?

Anything else?

My 20 GB only has about 6 GB left, so its time to upgrade.
 
I seem to be having an issue with some of my DLC. I sold my old system last year and then later picked up a new system. I downloaded my old arcade games and just noticed some of the are not working. When I try and play Sonic or Braid it says I need to unlock the full version. I've tried deleting them both and then downloading them again but that didn't work. Anyone know what's going on?
 
[quote name='FrankySox']I seem to be having an issue with some of my DLC. I sold my old system last year and then later picked up a new system. I downloaded my old arcade games and just noticed some of the are not working. When I try and play Sonic or Braid it says I need to unlock the full version. I've tried deleting them both and then downloading them again but that didn't work. Anyone know what's going on?[/QUOTE]

Did you do a license transfer? You get one a year, and would need to do that, then redownload. You also should be able to play the full versions so long as you're online even before doing the transfer, but the transfer ties them to the new system so you can use them offline, etc.
 
[quote name='A Happy Panda']Is there anything I need to be aware of when buying a used 360 hard drive? I know I would need the data transfer kit, is that still free through MS?

Anything else?

My 20 GB only has about 6 GB left, so its time to upgrade.[/QUOTE]It's not free any longer, it's $14.
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']Did you do a license transfer? You get one a year, and would need to do that, then redownload. You also should be able to play the full versions so long as you're online even before doing the transfer, but the transfer ties them to the new system so you can use them offline, etc.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I did the license transfer. The weird thing is that most of the games I had before are working, the only 2 I've noticed so far are Braid (which really sucks) and Sonic. I'll try to do the license process again and see if it just missed a couple of games.
 
[quote name='FrankySox']Yeah I did the license transfer. The weird thing is that most of the games I had before are working, the only 2 I've noticed so far are Braid (which really sucks) and Sonic. I'll try to do the license process again and see if it just missed a couple of games.[/QUOTE]The license transfer is an all-or-nothing process. It shouldn't miss any games, unless you bought the games on your old system after you did the license transfer.

If you keep having issues with it, you need to contact Xbox support. I had an issue like this when I swapped consoles, did the license transfer and had the new console crap out the day after I did the transfer. I had to have them do the transfer again on their end and it took 7 days for it to get fixed, plus needed to be escalated to Level 3 support.
 
Is there any way to put an Xbox Live subscription on hold? My Xbox just broke and I'm in the middle of moving, so it'll be a while before I actually get to sit down and play a game on Live. It'd be nice if I wasn't stuck paying for these months in which I won't even be able to use the service.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']The license transfer is an all-or-nothing process. It shouldn't miss any games, unless you bought the games on your old system after you did the license transfer.

If you keep having issues with it, you need to contact Xbox support. I had an issue like this when I swapped consoles, did the license transfer and had the new console crap out the day after I did the transfer. I had to have them do the transfer again on their end and it took 7 days for it to get fixed, plus needed to be escalated to Level 3 support.[/QUOTE]

And let us know what happens! I've never heard of that situation where some don't work after the transfer, so I'd really like to know the cause and solution :(
 
[quote name='BustaUppa']Is there any way to put an Xbox Live subscription on hold? My Xbox just broke and I'm in the middle of moving, so it'll be a while before I actually get to sit down and play a game on Live. It'd be nice if I wasn't stuck paying for these months in which I won't even be able to use the service.[/QUOTE]

Not as far as I know. When your console breaks, and they fix it, they do give you a one-month card to make for the lost time, but I've never head of any way to put the account on hold. It just rolls along.
 
Ahhh okay, thanks!

New question: Is it common for the memory unit slots to stop working when you get an RROD? My Xbox usually runs for a few minutes before it freezes now, and during that time it doesn't detect my MU at all. I know the problem isn't with the MU itself, because it worked fine when I tried it in a different Xbox.

The slots were definitely working fine up until the Xbox started freezing. My profile is on the MU, so I would have noticed if they weren't working earlier. Now I'm just wondering if I should expect the slots to work after I fix the RROD.
 
I've never heard of that, but possibly people just weren't using them between when it died completely and the first RRoD. I'd think support for them would be off the 'chipset' chip, and this is more likely caused by the GPU, but still, who knows what could go wrong when a major chunk of the system isn't working...

Hmm...I think the memory controller on the Xbox is part of the GPU.
 
So, my 360 red ringed in December. I filled out the Warranty info in the beginning of January and finally got it packed and to UPS last week.

The tracking number shows nothing. It loads as a valid "Shipping Info Received" tracking number, but its not even showing the parcel as received by UPS.

I'm worried. Just how worried should I be?
 
I'm pretty sure I'll be buying a new Xbox at this point and slapping my current 120 GB hard drive on it. If I get my old Xbox fixed later on, is there any way I can use an XBLA game on both consoles? I'm wondering if I could re-download games onto the old Xbox (I've still got an old 20GB hard drive lying around), move the console into another room with no internet connection, and play those games with non-Live gamer profiles since the titles were originally purchased on that console. Then with the new Xbox, I'd just use my normal Gamer Profile to play the same games, which should work for me since I'll be signed into Live. Am I understanding this correctly, or would this not work??
 
I need a HDD for my Xbox360, and I've been looking around. I seen a 60GB Live starter for $84 on amazon, but I'm trying to save more money. I have my doubts about buying on ebay, but 2 listings caught my eye. I wonder if anyone else bought theirs off ebay or from these sellers. Or, bought it somewhere else cheaper. I don't want to end up with a fake or banned HDD.

Xbox360 60GB HDD $54.99

Xbox360 120GB HDD $58.99 + $5.99 S/H

The sellers have pretty good feedback and they sold a lot, but I'm wondering where in the world they get their inventory. The guy selling the 120GB has 800+ listed in inventory, and the guy selling the 60GB had has around 100 units.
 
Did anyone else get an email from Xbox Live that gave them 2 free months of Live service with codes in it? I guess it's because I've been a gold member 2 years and maybe it was my 2yr anniversary. The codes worked and now I have Live until June which is nice and appreciated.
 
Question about payment options for Live: is there any way to have a Live account without having a credit card on file?

I'm paid for 12 months thru 01/11 and my card was charged already for the full year. I let the card expire since I don't want MS to have my credit card info if I don't have to, but now I can't even use a 12 month prepaid card to add onto my account. I can't just pay for Live using the prepaid cards? Hassle if that's the case.
 
Kind of a weird question, but where do they pack the memory unit in the Xbox Arcade package? I just got mine from the Dell.com sale and I can't find the MU anywhere. I mean it wasn't a selling point for me or anything since I already have an MU, but I want my complete package dammit!
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']Question about payment options for Live: is there any way to have a Live account without having a credit card on file?

I'm paid for 12 months thru 01/11 and my card was charged already for the full year. I let the card expire since I don't want MS to have my credit card info if I don't have to, but now I can't even use a 12 month prepaid card to add onto my account. I can't just pay for Live using the prepaid cards? Hassle if that's the case.[/QUOTE]

My credit card information is invalid on my live account, it's no big deal.
 
[quote name='rywateska']Does anyone know if I would be able to sign up for a Netflix subscription and pay via Microsoft points?[/QUOTE]

No. Netflix manages their subscription, MS manages LIVE.


[quote name='SteveMcQ']Question about payment options for Live: is there any way to have a Live account without having a credit card on file?

I'm paid for 12 months thru 01/11 and my card was charged already for the full year. I let the card expire since I don't want MS to have my credit card info if I don't have to, but now I can't even use a 12 month prepaid card to add onto my account. I can't just pay for Live using the prepaid cards? Hassle if that's the case.[/QUOTE]

Like Stone99 said, you don't a CC on file. Most people (myself included) advise against it. You shouldn't be having a problem adding a valid pre-paid card. Try redeeming it from Xbox.com and see what happens. I would call 800-4MY-XBOX if you are still having trouble.
 
[quote name='stoned99']I think they stopped including a MU in the Arcade versions because they added memory to the MB for save games.[/QUOTE]ahhh good to know my package wasn't missing anything then. thanks!
 
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