returning unmodded 360 to MS for repair - drive broke - but claiming RROD?

[Midnight Tboy]

Heylos,

okies so I'm not a newbie when it comes to 360 itself as I've modded a few 78s and older.

Anyways...... eons back my mate bought a 360 a few months after launch, before I bought and flashed my first one.

He refused to get his 360 flashed cos a) it might break and was under warranty, and b) he might lose his gamerscore(!) YES I know!! I did have to tell him time and time again the account wouldnt be banned

Anyways, a few month back his dvd drive packed in....lol...after all the times I told him "look if you get it hacked, after x games you could buy a new 360 anyways IF it did get banned to continue his precious gamerscore"

Told him to call up MS and claim it was red ringing out after an hour or so, and to return it, but he's just too lazy to call them up so he just went out and bought another one. I've known a few ppl to send off 360s hacked or not, and often they seem to have had new drives swapped out too in the note

Several months later and pestering him to get it replaced he's still never bothered and its virtually been a doorstop ever since. Jokingly offered him 20quid for it and he said yes.....

Sooooooo......I've never actually called MS up myself.....but have heard you can alternatively do it online too

Has anyone here sent a box back to MS, claiming its ringing out when its not? I know theres a shop up in middlesbrough who are a bit dodgy, who will force a red ring and charge about a tenner or so for doing so, but bit reluctant to open it up seeing as its unmodded, and could prob find out how to force it myself. (was thinking trying to towel trick it into submission

Was thinking if contacted them to let them know it was red ringing out randomly cos I know from my own experience of first one dying (which I just had replacement from shop) that it wouldnt necessarily always kick in from turning the console on and only when games are run for certain time. Then hoping/presuming that they'd replace the drive at same time, and if not to then call and say "ok so it powers up but now since you've given it back it wont read anything" lol

Onto next question. Mates not sure if he still has receipt, but would I be right in thinking that if dont have a receipt then they take the 3yrs from the date of manufacture on the console itself...so in effect giving me a deadline at the latest of the 2nd Dec to get it sorted out if its a launch box.

cheers

 

[havelln]

why not dump the key off the drive and flash it to anouther drive

 

[Midnight Tboy]

I forgot to add about that.. I did consider that, however my mate did say that a few weeks back he did dig it out to put in his bedroom, with his plans to just use it as a divx player using a USB stick. He said, (his quote) " picture quality sometimes flicks to hmm how to describe, kind alike double shadowing of different colours"...so was thinking perhaps theres some other 'issues' with it around the corner. It could of course be that his codecs on that box hadnt been updated, or tv settings in other room, but made think worth going for a replacement

 

[Midnight Tboy]

just been speaking to him online about it.

said its not so much in the divx playback...said he could dl the codecs for that no problem....but at random times on marketplace etc it had that "effect"...when still having it connected to the same hdtv....so I wonder if that means its a sign that gpu could be on its way or just random anomoly with his tv, tho says never happens on current box and only noticed it when messing after drive first packed in

 

[Enticy]

I have gone through 4 Xbox 360s - 3 originals and 1 elite. I have never sent mine back to ms have always taken back to shop. But that was because each one died within 12 months warranty and I have always had either my receipt or have bank statement which is proof of purchase if bought by debit card.

The 3yrs manufacture guarantee will almost certainly be taken from date of manufacturer if no proof of purchase is available. Trouble is the date of manufacturer maybe difficult to judge as shops stock pile the things and it might have sat there for some time before it was bought by your mate.

With the problems it your mate is describing the gpu is almost certainly on its way out. If he wants to use it it would be best to have a new one in perfect working order. Its a pity he's too lazy to do anything about it - it would annoy me having a £270 paper weight when it might so easily be sorted out with a little effort.

I am not trying to slate your mate by the way, I just like to have all my gadgets in working order or else I do something about it. From your post you seem to be similarly minded.

You could buy it off him, fix it yourself or else send to ms and get them to fix it then sell on ebay or elsewhere. If your mate isn't doing anything else with it then its of no use to him.

Just my opinion with no insult intended.

 

[Midnight Tboy]

yeah it annoyed me to no end how he just left it unused for so long too and couldnt be bothered to call up MS, even when I gave him link that allowed him to fill in form to return it to MS.

I presume that when MS fix the RROD that they do so by replacing the whole mobo, which should fix the possible GPU problem too.

So of course think I will buy that 360 off him at bargain price. Then once its sorted use it as a 2nd machine, especially as my own box is banned Only hassle being the odds are that they'll prob be a liteon in it but aint a big issue, just bit more money to sort.

Wondering however, whether I should try something to force the RROD....but expect if I say to them it happens within an hour or so of gameplay and intermittent etc, they arent going to sit and watch it to see it happen

 

[Enticy]

As well as my own I have also flashed some of my families. My nephews has just packed up and so of course I got a call telling me so. I said if he found his receipt I would take it back for him but warned him that the new lite-on drives are more difficult to flash and as it involved soldering i would not touch it.

So what did he do? He rang ms...dough. But guess what they said; they are sending him a new power cable for a 3RROD. Go figure.

When you say there will be a lite-on in it do you mean after ms fix it? If there is a lite-on in it now it should still be inside the 12 month warranty as to my knowledge they have only been around since March/April. If this is the case you could try your luck with the shop, they might be sympathetic and exchange it. But then you will almost certainly have a lite-on drive.

 

[Midnight Tboy]

hiya, no the machine was only bought a few month after the launch of the 360 - so somewhere between Dec 2nd 2005 and april 2006 the manufactur date is. It was however definately a hitachi which was the brand new drive of the time, so wont be anything higher than a 78 and prob not even that.

But seeing as the 'real' problem is the dvd drive is knackered and wont read discs, presume that MS will change the drive also, and then give a liteon back. And of course if they only changed the mobo and still drive then they'd have a call back saying "you've sent me back a non working console"....but I know that some of my mates have sent their machines back to MS and in the letter said drive was changed too (before the liteons) even tho there was nothing wrong with the drive (and in some cases was)

 

[Enticy]

Only two options then; either leave it where it is or try your luck with ms. At least you will have a working box with the possiblity of hacking it albeit with another spoofed drive. Better than where it is at the moment anyway.

 

[Midnight Tboy]

figured as much

anyone any idea how to force a 360 to red ring out. Was thinking of trying to towel it upside down or something daft like that for about 2 hours Would rather not open it up seeing as its unmodded, though could if need be.......or just say it does it randomly after an hour or so without doing anything to box

 

[witchy]

I saw a video on Youtube were a guy gave his 360 a RROD by repeatedly pressing the Eject button, he said that the 1st few times you do it it will repair itself after a few hours, but after you've done it 3 times then it remains permanent.

I don't know if it's real or not, but why nother lying about something like that?

 

[Midnight Tboy]

lol...I'll have to give that a try when I pick it up in the next few days....can't see it working though tbh.

Out of curiosity - whats the going rate for getting someone to take the key from the new drive which will most likely be a liteon, as I have yet to mod one of these and have never trusted my solder skills (presuming still need to solder to these passkeys to get the key from them?)