said by Selenia :

Not defending the system, but the 360 does have some known issues if you researched it. Seems you did, since you know about the RRoD. The other 2 consoles are more reliable, if that's what you seek. Not saying not to buy it, but you knew it was a risk. Seems MS is handling the situation properly and I doubt they'd be as likely to give you a broken console as you were to get a bad one from a store.

said by dvd536 :

I wonder if the replacement unit is going to be another walmart model where every conceivable corner was cut or a good one.

said by nokken :

Hey guys,

Never used this forum before but seems like a good time to start.

So...

[RANT]

I heard about a sweet deal Walmart was running today from 8am to 12pm in their electronics department. They were selling new Xbox360 Arcade editions for $199 with a free $100 Walmart gift card. If one was planning on picking up an extra controller or a game or two with their new console, this essentially meant the console only cost $100. I just couldn't pass this one by...

So I get to the store at 9:30am. If there were any left in stock, I was gonna buy one. I get there and there are 3 left. So I pick one up along with Halo 3 and an extra controller. I get home, unbox the console, hook it up to my SDTV 480i Piece of Crap, and proceed to import my Games for Windows - LIVE Gamertag over into Xbox LIVE Silver. I'm really digging the dashboard user interface of the 360. I spent about 10 minutes creating my avatar (what a total copy/paste job of Nintendo's Mii concept) and then go take a break to watch the Bama/LSU game on TV.

After the football game, I decided to fire up Halo 3. I really liked Halo and Halo 2 on the original Xbox and was very excited to play the 3rd installment in the series. I press the 'Eject' button on the console. I place the game on the disc drive tray. I press the 'Eject' button on the console again to close the drive. Halo 3 starts up and it appears the intro movie had tried to start in the background. However, a message from Xbox LIVE showed up and told me about an update that was available. Before I even got a chance to tell the system to download the update, my console freezes. No response from any controller buttons. Still image. All I could do was turn it off. So I turned it off.

I think to myself, "Hmm ... well that's happened on my Wii before ... it's probably nothing." I turn the system on again. A big pixilated system error message shows up. "System Error. Please contact Microsoft Customer Support" is displayed in several languages. At the bottom is the error code "E 74"

Oh great.

So I turn the system off and on again.

This time there is no video output and 3 of the 4 lights around the power button are flashing red - the ever-ominous "Red Ring of Death". According to the Official Manual and many Internet sources, this is the error code for hardware failure. I called Microsoft and submitted their version of an RMA and I have to ship the console to them for service. They are paying for a shipping label.

Brand new broken system, out of stock retailer, 3 weeks to get it sent back to me in working condition. AWESOME!

[/RANT]

I guess the moral of the story is you get what you pay for.

said by Hall :

Failed the same day you bought it and you took the Microsoft route of getting it fixed ? Not me.... Back to Wal-Mart it would have went. I would have told them it worked for a few hours, show the receipt showing it was just bought the same day, and get a different one. No mention of "RRoD" or error codes either (not that they'd have meant anything to the returns people).

said by Hall :

Failed the same day you bought it and you took the Microsoft route of getting it fixed ? Not me.... Back to Wal-Mart it would have went. I would have told them it worked for a few hours, show the receipt showing it was just bought the same day, and get a different one. No mention of "RRoD" or error codes either (not that they'd have meant anything to the returns people).

said by Rob :

You do realize that although the Xbox 360 was $199, and you got a $100 Walmart gift card, that now you'll end up spending $400-$900 dollars on a new TV?

said by Kearnstd :

i have to ask, why is it that the modern systems seem to have more quality issues then the older gen like the NES and SNES era? is it simply greater volume of sales(ie more chance of bad units due to greater number reporting), or is it lower quality workmanship in construction/coding/

said by Ken :

Did the box already look opened? It's very unusual for a system to die that fast. I'm betting someone returned that unit, and Walmart put it back on the shelf.