My Xbox died

[AcemanPB]

Well there I was, playing Halo 2 with some close friends via Xbox live. Then all of a sudden the game locked up. So being the Windows user I am I turned off my xbox and attempeted to turn it on. But much to my dismay I was greated with this screen:

"Please contact customer service, you Xbox may need to be serviced"

Well after playing phone tag and being transfered back and forth between the various departments of the xbox live customer support they tell me my xbox needs to be serviced (wow good job guys). According to Microsoft the going rate for fixing their products is 80 dollars... this sucks. I take really good care of my Xbox, it sits for the most part under my TV where it is generally dust free and well ventillated.

I'm still shocked that my Xbox outlasted my PS2 (my PS2 has been on its last leg for a while, I doubt it will survive GT4). Has anyone else had this problem? I'm thinking if a modchip will fix whatever problem I'm having I'll turn this box into a project box and but a new box for live.

[Vex]

I don't know that a mod chip will fix your problem. It sounds like there's a problem with the boot-up. Mod chips generally override this sequence allowing your "back-up" software to boot. If you're not able to boot up to begin with, then you've got bigger probs. Sorry

[pointm@n]

Yeah the Xbox is pretty robust. I've had mine since it came out and have not had any problems with it.

[Steelrat]

Its very well built. In fact, its worth more than what you pay for it, as Microsoft takes a loss on every xbox they sell.

[pumaking]

do the wal-mart swap, buy a new one pay cash very important. Get home swap out xbox and go back following day to return, get refund and u got yourself a new xbox. I've done this several times at wal-mart works great.

[Lohman446]

do the wal-mart swap, buy a new one pay cash very important. Get home swap out xbox and go back following day to return, get refund and u got yourself a new xbox. I've done this several times at wal-mart works great.

Mind you that amounts to fraud or theft and could be prosecuted... but hey, why not

I know I'm giving you are hard time, but deceitful people in retail drive up the prices for all of us, at least in theory.

[tony3]

From Seinfield, "Paying retail is for suckers."

[TDonovan]

So it isn't covered by the warantee? I had mine since it came out and they fixed it for free not too long ago... It then came back the same as it was before, with some tampering done to the drive so that it would read slower (and wouldn't have the skipping/failure to play that it was having). I got pissed off and called them again. They sent me either a completely new one, or a nice refurbished one after I sent my box back (shipping paid by them). In addition, they included new cables and a large controller (the kind that was discontinued) which I like best.

[lord1234]

get with me on AIM and maybe i can help see if its repairable.

-Lord1234

[Steelrat]

do the wal-mart swap, buy a new one pay cash very important. Get home swap out xbox and go back following day to return, get refund and u got yourself a new xbox. I've done this several times at wal-mart works great.

You know who ends up paying for this kind of stupid crap? EVERYONE. Its stealing, plain and simple.

[Conversekidz]

If your going to do the walmart swap they check the serial numbers now, so that won't work unless you get creative.


Buy a new x-box, remove it from the box, and then physically open up the x-box and swap the internals with your old box. Package it back up and now you have a new xbox internals in your old case.


but don't do that, its stealing and wrong.....

[AcemanPB]

Well its really got me confused. Today after I got home I tried playing and it worked for about 40 minutes before it froze up again. So all the harware seems to be working correctly. I'm thinking maybe its a firmware issue? I don't really know what else it could be. I really would hate to pay the 80 dollar flat fee for microsoft to re-flash my xbox. I know its not over-heating and it runs fine for a while then just decides to freeze up randomly and throw up that error message.

Oh well I guess I can concentrate on Gran Turismo now

[kenndogg]

do the wal-mart swap, buy a new one pay cash very important. Get home swap out xbox and go back following day to return, get refund and u got yourself a new xbox. I've done this several times at wal-mart works great.

you can't, Wal-Mart has a serial ID system that can track when you bought it and if it was bought at a Wal-Mart. Can't really peel off the new serial tag and put it on the old x-box b/c you can easily tell its been tampered with.

[kenndogg]

If your going to do the walmart swap they check the serial numbers now, so that won't work unless you get creative.


Buy a new x-box, remove it from the box, and then physically open up the x-box and swap the internals with your old box. Package it back up and now you have a new xbox internals in your old case.


but don't do that, its stealing and wrong.....

you can't w/o breaking the seal, which is a dead giveaway

[pbzmag]

Check out www.llama.com. They have all the codes when you get the service screen. If your warranty is up, you can try to open it up and check the IDE cable.