360's Rings of Death!

Vince · Post by **Vince** » 05 Sep 2006 04:56 pm

Don't know if any of you guys (or gals...) have had this happen, but today i was playing Burnout for around an hour. Decided to turn off my 360 for a bit but i left the game in the console. So i turned the unit back on, took out the game, turned off the console, unplugged it but for some strange reason got the urge to turn the console back on to hear some ripped songs!
When i turned the console on, all 4 quadrants on the unit lit up red, then after 5 seconds only the bottom right corner lit up red... I had my tv turned off, so i turned it on to see what was happening and i had a screen with all these different languages saying my console was experiencing system error and to call customer help, then at the bottom of the screen, in fairly large bold, was E68 (or E63, can't remember the exact number, but it was E60-something).
I phoned customer support and he said it was a 1-off fault, but when he told me to turn on the 360, i got a screen that looked purple and off centre and very fuzzy. I flicked the switch from HDTV to TV then back to HDTV on the AV plug at the back of the 360, and the unit rebooted and started normally. The guy on the phone said if it ever happens agains call back and quote the reference number given.
I just want to know what it was, and why i got that screen. Do i have anything to worry about? The bottom right red light appearing is not mentioned in the instructions of the 360, so i'm scared it's fucked, and i've only had it for a week

! I really don't wanna return it for a PS3...

Can anyone here help? My brother seems to think it's just the AV plug not plugged in properly, hence the 4 red lights. But he couldn't explain the bottom right red light...

Faraday · Post by **Faraday** » 05 Sep 2006 05:12 pm

I have had the 3 red lights of doom on 3 different consoles, thankfully all within a month of each other, so I have had it replaced for free. Do a search on google, I remember a few guides that let you know what the problems are based on the lights and how to fix it without going through Microsoft.

Peppermint Lounge · Post by **Peppermint Lounge** » 05 Sep 2006 05:13 pm

So you went the 360 eh Vince? Sorry to read you're having probs. I don't have one so haven't seen the issue you describe. Even based on Ranch membership though it appears you'll go through at least one returned 360 on the path to a fault-free machine.

mech · Post by **mech** » 05 Sep 2006 05:18 pm

Hahahaha, zing.

My 360 has been flawless so far... *touch wood*

jizzlobber · Post by **jizzlobber** » 05 Sep 2006 05:34 pm

yeah same here

good thing too, don't have a warranty

Vince · Post by **Vince** » 05 Sep 2006 05:34 pm

Yeah Pep, decided on the 360, but based on this crap i'm reconsidering it now! The 4 red rings are apparently just the AV plug not being read, which is nothing, but i'm a little scared of that lower right red light... Anyone know what it means???

Twiztid Elf · Post by **Twiztid Elf** » 05 Sep 2006 05:35 pm

Same. Only had the very occasional lockup, which always seems to be software related. Sucks when it happens though.

I had red lights once. I was playing the 99Nights demo, and a visitor was leaving, so I paused and went outside to say bye. When I came back, the screen was blank black, and three of the four quads were Red. I freaked out. Rebooted, and all ok. Phew.
I think we had some kind of wierd power disruption, as a lot of the electronics in the house went wierd that day.

pilonv1 · Post by **pilonv1** » 05 Sep 2006 05:36 pm

That's just the vocal minority at its finest Pepp

Vince · Post by **Vince** » 05 Sep 2006 05:40 pm

Also Pep, just wanted your honest opinion now that i have a 360... I really want another console for a bit of variety, so would you think a Wii or PS3 would be better?
I'm aware that one is roughly 600 dollars cheaper, but do you think the remote will be enough to sustain interest in the long term for the Wii? I just seem to think that the Wii will be the most popular console this gen, but i really don't want to miss out on the PS3... What to do???

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 05 Sep 2006 05:48 pm

Vince wrote:Yeah Pep, decided on the 360, but based on this crap i'm reconsidering it now! The 4 red rings are apparently just the AV plug not being read, which is nothing, but i'm a little scared of that lower right red light... Anyone know what it means???

Yeah you get that if you pull cable out, so probably your video cable got nudged out. I had some issues with a 3rd party vga cable where sometimes it wouldn't read the cable properly. Using the official vga never had one problem though, so the 3rd party cable was a bit dodgey. My advice is really work the machine in, play it like mad, if the problem really is a problem it will come up again for sure.

So far my 360 has gone great, which considering my luck with electronic items is an amazing feat. i've pumped easily a good 400hrs of game time on my machine and leave it on idle downloading when i'm home.

Vince · Post by **Vince** » 05 Sep 2006 05:55 pm

Is that what the lower right red light means Lestat? It just struck me as weird that all 4 lights lit up, then 3 lights went off but the bottom right red light stayed on, with that error screen (E68 i think). I have never heard of the lower right light up red before... Went on to Google to look up the meanings of the red lights and error screens, and it said that E68 is a Hard drive problem (possibly not connected properly) so i just took it off and re-connected it. Hopefully it never happens again, but it's strange. I waited all this time to buy the 360 in the hope that all the bugs would be ironed out. Guess i was wrong

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 05 Sep 2006 06:01 pm

here ya go vince, according to this guide it says you have a hard drive connector error?

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=484726" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But yeah it does say hard drive error relating to connector. So just make sure the hdd is in snug and like i said give it a good play through, so far the experience around here has been if the machine is fubared it will crap out in the first week or 2, so give it a good working out. You do have a 12month warranty too, god bless our great consumer laws.

Vince · Post by **Vince** » 05 Sep 2006 06:04 pm

Thanks for that Lestat. I'll keep playing it, but if something happens i'll return it straight to EB for an exchange!

Kreghor · Post by **Kreghor** » 05 Sep 2006 07:41 pm

I agree with Lestat, just play any your hands bleed. My machine is damn near always on. If it's not me plating, it's the damn other half playing bloody hexic for hours.

So far so good with this policy, I've only had a couple of software lock ups, no rings of death for me

Peppermint Lounge · Post by **Peppermint Lounge** » 05 Sep 2006 08:31 pm

Vince wrote:Also Pep, just wanted your honest opinion now that i have a 360... I really want another console for a bit of variety, so would you think a Wii or PS3 would be better?
I'm aware that one is roughly 600 dollars cheaper, but do you think the remote will be enough to sustain interest in the long term for the Wii? I just seem to think that the Wii will be the most popular console this gen, but i really don't want to miss out on the PS3... What to do???

Can't go wrong either way, really. I know you love your Playstation exclusives like Silent Hill, MGS and God of War so PS3 seems the logical choice. But then you've already shelled for a 360 so if you need something in the short term maybe go the Wii route and hopefully by the time the PS3 big guns start firing the console will have come down a hundred or two.

You've asked for my opinion on the Wiimote and honestly it just isn't doing it for me at this time. Gesture control can be fun in bursts but not for 20-40 hour games. Vision I've seen of it in action shows control is cumbersome and laggy - two of the worst adjectives possible when describing videogame control.

Pat · Post by **Pat** » 05 Sep 2006 08:48 pm

Out of interest, Pep - have you played any games with gesture controls? (Serious question - Ive not seen nor played anything like that, even in arcades which are shit down here).

I'm looking forward to demo pods popping up instore whenever. In principal, it shouldnt be laggy between input and on-screen movement - I'm sure Vision can enlighten us on the subject but how long would it take to translate a small signal with a CPU running at 700MHz? I dont think the signal would contain too much info aside from simple vectors for position, velocity and acceleration.

You would hope that such an integral aspect of the system was executed well.

And I still dont see that waving a controller around will be a bad thing. (I know I never got tired from smashing xbox controllers)

Peppermint Lounge · Post by **Peppermint Lounge** » 05 Sep 2006 09:56 pm

Played some Eyetoy, some arcade (horse racing, fishing, skiing, duck 'n shoot, boxing). They're fun but it's novelty-value fun. Wouldn't want to control any kind of substantially long game like that.

As mentioned control appears laggy and the action doesn't appear at all compelling. I'd rather rip some precision combos in God of War and enjoy the associated visuals than take up plastic arms in a laggy exchange of awkward, limited moves.

Pat · Post by **Pat** » 05 Sep 2006 10:18 pm

Any specific examples of laggy controls? Ive seen quite a few, namely of mario galaxy and wii airplane and they looked fine to me.

Candy Arse · Post by **Candy Arse** » 05 Sep 2006 10:34 pm

The 360 hardware to me comes across as cheap now. The whole thing reeks of cut corners and I don't overly like it.

Can't say I expect much better, if better at all, from new Sony hardware given their track record. Gaming is doomed.

Pat · Post by **Pat** » 05 Sep 2006 10:37 pm

Candy Arse wrote:. Gaming is doomed.

And what, pray tell, is the lesser of three evils?

Candy Arse · Post by **Candy Arse** » 05 Sep 2006 10:40 pm

PC gaming.

Pat · Post by **Pat** » 05 Sep 2006 10:41 pm

Three words: "Games for Windows"

Candy Arse · Post by **Candy Arse** » 05 Sep 2006 10:43 pm

No doubt there's a point there....I just can't see it.

Rocco · Post by **Rocco** » 05 Sep 2006 10:49 pm

Pep, I dont really get what you are trying to say...

(a) You have seen the Wii in action at some expo or conference of some sort?

(b) You have seen technology similar to the Wii controller in action?

(c) You have played with the Eyetoy, and believe the Wii will encounter the same problems?

Nintendo would not invest millions of dollars into releasing a home gaming system, if it’s main selling point (controller) is flawed or does not even work properly. I cant believe there are people out there who claim Nintendo would be willing to risk its reputation as an international videogame conglomerate, and choose to sell and market a product that simply will fail to deliver? (yes, I remember the virtual boy, but times have changed and Nintendo would not be crazy enough to pull a stunt like that in this time of age, and with so much to lose).

I really think once the Wii is released, it will prove that laggy or mediocre controlling is most likely due to poor gesture control software coding by lazy developers as suggested, and not a hardware fault. Nintendo will most likely establish this when Zelda, Metroid or Wii Sports manages to amaze whilst crap like Need 4 Speed & Sponge Bob are plagued with shithouse controls and other problems once assumed to be hardware related.

Finally for those who have not yet seem, confirmed real pics of the PS3 & Wii USA gaming kiosks.

Candy Arse · Post by **Candy Arse** » 05 Sep 2006 10:50 pm

A+ viral marketing/damage control.