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Well, that was fun - XBox just died a firey death

G

GhaleonEB

Member
So I turn on my XBox tonight, and get the famed "dirty disc error". Concerning, but I've seen it before and turning the system on/off and ejecting the drive a few times fixed it.

Well.

After the fifth or sixth time, I turn the system on, and it sounds like a fucking freight train barrelling towards me. The drive is doing something crazy, clealy scratching the fuck out of my Halo 2 disc (noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!) while the unit actually vibrates. I'm thinking, this thing weighs 18lbs, what kind of force does it take to vibrate it? It's as if a tasmanian devil just got jammed in the gears and wants out.

Now the door won't even open - hitting the eject button promps the whole vibrating, angry animal scenario while the light blinks. That's it. I've tried prying open the DVD drive, but there's no catch on the inside that I can find to snag.

So, shit. Now what? I've gotta have my Halo 2, but at the same time the 360 comes out in fall and I was planing on retiring the Beast when it did; don't want to buy a system just for six months use. Ack!
 
P

PS2 KID

Member
Is it still under warranty? Even if it isn't, I would give Customer Support a call and complain about it. Maybe they'll even send you a free XBOX once they hear your sob story. :) Be sure to mention what it did to your Halo 2 too.
 
G

Gahiggidy

My aunt & uncle run a Mom & Pop store, "The Gamecube Hut", and sold 80k WiiU within minutes of opening.
purplebanana.gif
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
It's about 2 1/2 years old, so I'm sure the warranty is dead. But, yeah, I'll call the customer service tomorrow. I may break out the Dreamcast and go a little retro for a while. Heck, maybe the Genesis and go really old school.
 
P

Pedigree Chum

Banned
PS2 KID said:
Is it still under warranty? Even if it isn't, I would give Customer Support a call and complain about it. Maybe they'll even send you a free XBOX once they hear your sob story. :) Be sure to mention what it did to your Halo 2 too.
Click to expand...

Also how old are you? If you're a teenager get your father to make the call.
 
O

Odnetnin

Banned
GhaleonEB said:
So I turn on my XBox tonight, and get the famed "dirty disc error". Concerning, but I've seen it before and turning the system on/off and ejecting the drive a few times fixed it.

Well.

After the fifth or sixth time, I turn the system on, and it sounds like a fucking freight train barrelling towards me. The drive is doing something crazy, clealy scratching the fuck out of my Halo 2 disc (noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!) while the unit actually vibrates. I'm thinking, this thing weighs 18lbs, what kind of force does it take to vibrate it? It's as if a tasmanian devil just got jammed in the gears and wants out.

Now the door won't even open - hitting the eject button promps the whole vibrating, angry animal scenario while the light blinks. That's it. I've tried prying open the DVD drive, but there's no catch on the inside that I can find to snag.

So, shit. Now what? I've gotta have my Halo 2, but at the same time the 360 comes out in fall and I was planing on retiring the Beast when it did; don't want to buy a system just for six months use. Ack!
Click to expand...

this is funny because its you.
 
A

AniHawk

Member
GhaleonEB said:
Perhaps I'm just naive. Up until a few months ago I was pretty low-key around here; having a new daughter born within two weeks of my mother dying kind of unhinged me. That, and a lot of my posts lately have been late at night, when I'm pretty much just trying to stay awake.
Click to expand...

That's a hard post to respond to.

But congrats on the birth of your daughter, and I'm sorry about your mom. :(
 
S

Shaheed79

dabbled in the jelly
And to think some people still damage control the lack of true Backwards Compatability in the 360 like they don't need it. That Xbox ain't gonna work forever fellas! I got a 3 year waruntee on mine but I might extend it even more now.
 
T

TeTr1C

Member
I'm on my second Xbox too, and I got another damn Thompson hard-drive. Why do these suck?


My friends have Samsung drives. Bastards. :lol


I had to get a new Xbox when my Fable started erroring, and then other games like Brothers In Arms.
 
F

FortNinety

Member
Hey, I just got a new Xbox the other day! And I'm already paranoid about the AC plug; what's the number to call to get a replacement?
 
D

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
FortNinety said:
Hey, I just got a new Xbox the other day! And I'm already paranoid about the AC plug; what's the number to call to get a replacement?
Click to expand...

I thought the AC plug replacement was only for Xboxes from 2003 and earlier, if you bought a brand new Xbox recently, you should be fine... I didn't bother replacing mine (oh shit, what's that smell coming from the basement??? smells like smoke? :p j/k). Should I or am I safe (my Xbox was manufactured Nov 2004 and purchased Jan 2005)
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Called tech support today, and they were pretty cool. It's gonna cost me $79.99 to have it repaired (I pay to ship, they pay to ship back), but they'll replace whatever needs replacing. The really cool part was, they promised to test the Halo 2 disc, and if does not work they'll replace IT as well. The guy also got me signed up for the replacement power cable at the same time.

So far, I'm impressed. I'll ship it out tomorrow, they promised no more than 8-10 business day turnaround from when they get it. Tossing in a working Halo 2 disc if needed was very classy.
 
C

CurseoftheGods

Banned
GhaleonEB said:
So I turn on my XBox tonight, and get the famed "dirty disc error". Concerning, but I've seen it before and turning the system on/off and ejecting the drive a few times fixed it.

Well.

After the fifth or sixth time, I turn the system on, and it sounds like a fucking freight train barrelling towards me. The drive is doing something crazy, clealy scratching the fuck out of my Halo 2 disc (noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!) while the unit actually vibrates. I'm thinking, this thing weighs 18lbs, what kind of force does it take to vibrate it? It's as if a tasmanian devil just got jammed in the gears and wants out.

Now the door won't even open - hitting the eject button promps the whole vibrating, angry animal scenario while the light blinks. That's it. I've tried prying open the DVD drive, but there's no catch on the inside that I can find to snag.

So, shit. Now what? I've gotta have my Halo 2, but at the same time the 360 comes out in fall and I was planing on retiring the Beast when it did; don't want to buy a system just for six months use. Ack!
Click to expand...

:lol


Gahiggidy said:
purplebanana.gif
Click to expand...

:lol :lol :lol
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Thought I'd close the loop on this.

Just got my XBox back in the mail. Included is a new copy of Halo 2 (just the disc, in a slimcase). I boot the machine up and it works great, clearly a new disc drive in there. Very quiet, none of the start-stop humming that the old Thompson did all the time.

Then I try to log onto Halo 2. No profile. Bad news. Checking the memory at the Dashboard, there's nothing on the harddriver. Nada.

Long story short, I call customer service and am able to recover both my brand new Live account and the Killtacular Halo 2 maps for free, just had to downloard them again.

I lost all my game save data, but I'm actually not too bummed about that. Just gives me an excuse to do Halo and Halo 2 over again; not sure if I'll go back through all my other games.

+1 MS customer service. Fixed system, new Halo 2 disc and a turnaround time of about two weeks (from when I sent it).
 
M

Minotauro

Finds Purchase on Dog Nutz
My XBox has been fucking up recently too. It has a Thompson drive but the symptoms don't seem to follow the standard ones I hear. Instead, when I turn it on, the light will flash once and nothing will show up on screen. Then, it will start flashing, alternating between red and green. Does anyone know what this might be? My system is modded by the way...
 
F

FiRez

Member
Minotauro said:
My XBox has been fucking up recently too. It has a Thompson drive but the symptoms don't seem to follow the standard ones I hear. Instead, when I turn it on, the light will flash once and nothing will show up on screen. Then, it will start flashing, alternating between red and green. Does anyone know what this might be? My system is modded by the way...
Click to expand...

-HD failure
-Check the solder points

hey GhaleonEB do you really pay the 5$ again?, they will be free in a month
 
M

Minotauro

Finds Purchase on Dog Nutz
FiRez said:
-HD failure
-Check the solder points
Click to expand...

Well, mine is a solderless modchip so that probably isn't it. Plus, when it failed to work after I first installed it, the system would still come on. It could be the HD though.

Either way, thanks for the suggestions.
 
O

Oracle Dragon

Member
Minotauro said:
My XBox has been fucking up recently too. It has a Thompson drive but the symptoms don't seem to follow the standard ones I hear. Instead, when I turn it on, the light will flash once and nothing will show up on screen. Then, it will start flashing, alternating between red and green. Does anyone know what this might be? My system is modded by the way...
Click to expand...

Had this happen on another Xbox (that was modded). Turned out the mod chip had come loose, so pop it open and take a look.
 
M

Minotauro

Finds Purchase on Dog Nutz
Oracle Dragon said:
Had this happen on another Xbox (that was modded). Turned out the mod chip had come loose, so pop it open and take a look.
Click to expand...

Cool, I'll give that a try.

You may have just saved me the $200 or so that I was going to spend on a replacement crystal XBox.
 
F

FiRez

Member
Minotauro said:
Well, mine is a solderless modchip so that probably isn't it. Plus, when it failed to work after I first installed it, the system would still come on. It could be the HD though.

Either way, thanks for the suggestions.
Click to expand...

still check the contact points specially in solderless mods because they get loose with the time, with a solder mod you are sure that the mod has a very solid conecction to the Mobo
 
D

Deku

Banned
What do you expect when his avatar is a green bannana giving ass service to a purple bannana. If it was a more modest poster, maybe they'd get more sympathy.

Besides, the fact that systems made by purple rarely breakdown and are far more reliable with better customer support probably prompted a few posters to rub it in as well.

:D
 
H

HokieJoe

Member
What the hell does his avatar have to do with it? I mean, am I missing something? Does his avatar in some way deride those of another console ilk?

EDIT:

So the avatar is a not subtle joust at Gamecube's huh? Well, you learn something new everyday I guess. Still, I don't think it's cool to make fun of his console breaking down.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
HokieJoe said:
What the hell does his avatar have to do with it? I mean, am I missing something? Does his avatar in some way deride those of another console ilk?
Click to expand...

It's a joke on the dancing bananas that get broken out every NPD release. There's a dark purple for Sony, green for MS and normal purple for Nintendo. Once upon a time some guy posted this one when the XBox sales doubled the GC, and I thought it was hilarious. I don't really see it as a commentary an any system in particular, just a really twisted inside joke.

That said, lots of people have been touchy about it lately (Nintendo fans in particular) so I've been considering changing it so it's no longer a distraction.
 
H

HokieJoe

Member
GhaleonEB said:
It's a joke on the dancing bananas that get broken out every NPD release. There's a dark purple for Sony, green for MS and normal purple for Nintendo. Once upon a time some guy posted this one when the XBox sales doubled the GC, and I thought it was hilarious. I don't really see it as a commentary an any system in particular, just a really twisted inside joke.

That said, lots of people have been touchy about it lately (Nintendo fans in particular) so I've been considering changing it so it's no longer a distraction.
Click to expand...


Gotcha'. I've been a member here for five months, so some of the inside stuff still goes over my head. Obviuosly. :lol
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
HokieJoe said:
Gotcha'. I've been a member here for five months, so some of the inside stuff still goes over my head. Obviuosly. :lol
Click to expand...

I've been around for a few years, and I still have to ask about some of the inside references sometimes. This place has got a history that goes back forever.
 
T

TheDiave

Banned
Color me disappointed... I was all hyped to see some pics of a charred Xbox carcass, and instead, it's just a story of an Xbox that'd make a great toy for a lonely woman.

Still, wow... Tough luck, dude.
 
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