MS Extends 360 Warranty to 3 Years for E74 Errors

[DoctorFinger]

Microsoft has announced that they will be extending the warranty on the Xbox 360 to three years in cases of E74 errors. While nowhere near as commonplace as the Red Ring of Death, anecdotal evidence shows (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=6777) instances of the E74 error on the rise. The error is connected in some manner to either the A/V port or the video processor on the system.

In addition to providing free repairs to consumers who get the error, Microsoft will provide refunds to customers who paid out of pocket to get their consoles repaired. If you paid to repair an E74 error, head to Microsoft's support page (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969905) to claim your refund.

Source - Edge-Online (http://www.edge-online.com/news/xbox-360-warranty-cover-extended-e74-error).

[rein]

Microsoft's solution to the problem. Throw money at it and hope it goes away.


I need to start playing my 360 so I can get my error codes out of the way and get a new system. The rate I have been playing consoles mine will die about the time the warranties expire. :(

[Telefrog]

Microsoft's solution to the problem. Throw money at it and hope it goes away.

I'm certainly not agreeing with Microsoft's well-documented early design and manufacturing process for the 360 that caused all these issues, but no matter what they do, wouldn't it ultimately come down to throwing money at the problem? :p

[Kelegacy]

Worst console design in history? Shoddiest console ever? I think that's safe to say.

[Gorvi]

I'm certainly not agreeing with Microsoft's well-documented early design and manufacturing process for the 360 that caused all these issues, but no matter what they do, wouldn't it ultimately come down to throwing money at the problem? :p
They're throwing the money the wrong way. Just redesign the 360 with more stable hardware and be done with it. Why this wasn't done 2 years ago is beyond me.

[Goronmon]

They're throwing the money the wrong way. Just redesign the 360 with more stable hardware and be done with it. Why this wasn't done 2 years ago is beyond me.Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering time travel is a somewhat difficult problem to solve, it would be hard to redesign the 360 then go back in time 2 years ago to replace the units with the fixed version.

;)

[Gorvi]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering time travel is a somewhat difficult problem to solve, it would be hard to redesign the 360 then go back in time 2 years ago to replace the units with the fixed version.

;)
Bah, you and your details. ;) They should keep up with the repairs, of course, but a redesign of the console would be great. Actually, that's what I'm hoping for from them at E3 this year, as long as the old hard drives still attach.

[Goronmon]

A redesign would be awesome. Especially one where the 360 doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner.

[wyeast]

And what about those of us who had to shell out for a new arcade because you bastids were too cheap to cover us a the time? :mad:

[Gorvi]

A redesign would be awesome. Especially one where the 360 doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner.
See, I just use mine for FFXI, which runs 90% off the HDD, so I never have that problem. ;)

[Telefrog]

Worst console design in history? Shoddiest console ever? I think that's safe to say.

Certainly worst of the current gen.

Unfortunately, the games, Live, and Netflix are so damn good. I just can't stay away. :(

[Goronmon]

See, I just use mine for FFXI, which runs 90% off the HDD, so I never have that problem. ;)At one point I would agree, but now even the exhaust fan on mine gets pretty loud. I think when my old one got the RROD, the refurbished one they sent me was worse off in the noise department.

[BabyJesus]

While all these problems are a giant pain in the ass to us consumers, at least they are doing SOMETHING. I went through like 3 PS2's and I really didn't play them much, Sony never did anything about their quality issues at all.

I don't know why at this point they just don't extend the entire warranty for 3 years instead of this ticky tack piecemeal shit...

[Kelegacy]

Certainly worst of the current gen.

Unfortunately, the games, Live, and Netflix are so damn good. I just can't stay away. :(

I agree because it's the most fun I've had with a console in a long time. Probably since the PS1. It's a lot of good and bad with the 360. But yeah, it's the worst console, reliability-wise, of all time. The problem is, it's still the best console on the market game-wise.

[Kelegacy]

While all these problems are a giant pain in the ass to us consumers, at least they are doing SOMETHING. I went through like 3 PS2's and I really didn't play them much, Sony never did anything about their quality issues at all.


See, I have to agree here. My PS3 died within 8 months after it was born at the factory. The warranty is for a year. However, since I bought it used I couldn't get a receipt from the guy I bought it off. Because of no receipt, Sony will NOT fix it for free; they want $150 to repair the issue. Even though the manufactured date is clearly on the system and they could even look up the serial, they wouldn't honor the warranty.

I haven't bothered to fix it since it died. It lasted me about a month or two. Meanwhile, I've bought dozens and dozens of 360 games. Had Sony just fixed it for me for free like they should have, without the stupid receipt stipulation, I'd still be playing my PS3.

Sony designed a more reliable console, but their repair policy sucks. So even though my 360 died it was fixed for free...without a receipt, nearly 3 years later, I think the 360 still wins in my book. Sony couldn't be bothered after just 8 months, not unless I paid $150 bucks for it. As a hardcore Playstation fan the last two gens, they changed my loyalty with one swift blow.

[CES]

Worst console design in history? Shoddiest console ever? I think that's safe to say.

They spent all the design budget on building the best controller design in history. Pity about the rest of it.

[Telefrog]

They spent all the design budget on building the best controller design in history. Pity about the rest of it.

Ignore the d-pad! :D

[menage]

A redesign would be awesome. Especially one where the 360 doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner.

Well, if I install my game, it practically goes away, so at least they tried to do shit about that at least.

EDit, shit missed that already.

[Gorvi]

Ignore the d-pad! :D
I wish I could! :p

[Johan]

Worst console design in history? Shoddiest console ever? I think that's safe to say.

Yes and yes. Safely said.

I'm on my third 360, and have had this one for quite a while. I give the thing plenty of space in the entertainment center to "ventilate" itself, but the room I game in isn't the biggest room in the house. When my wife walks in while I'm playing, she can SMELL the 360 running. Seriously...it gives off a slight odor of melted plastic or metal.

Is there an extended warranty on cancer of the lung from these things? I am not kidding; I have noticed the smell myself, but only when I walk in having not been in the room. If I stay in there when it first starts running, I don't notice. It's like melting plastic or metal.

I love the games, but hate the hardware. I absolutely hate it. What a piece of crap.

[Goronmon]

I love the games, but hate the hardware. I absolutely hate it. What a piece of crap.Yeah, this sentiment seems to be shared by a lot of people.

[BabyJesus]

Yes and yes. Safely said.

I'm on my third 360, and have had this one for quite a while. I give the thing plenty of space in the entertainment center to "ventilate" itself, but the room I game in isn't the biggest room in the house. When my wife walks in while I'm playing, she can SMELL the 360 running. Seriously...it gives off a slight odor of melted plastic or metal.

Is there an extended warranty on cancer of the lung from these things? I am not kidding; I have noticed the smell myself, but only when I walk in having not been in the room. If I stay in there when it first starts running, I don't notice. It's like melting plastic or metal.

I love the games, but hate the hardware. I absolutely hate it. What a piece of crap.

All electronics that run very hot have a similar smell. Stick your nose behind an old tube tv. You can't smell the TV as much because there is no fans pushing the smell around. Not necessarily good though, but kinda normal.

[bapenguin]

It's not like MS isn't revising their hardware trying to solve issues. It's really unknown if the latest iterations have "fixed" this or not. With 15 million or whatever out there before the major revisions came into play (Falcon/Jasper) - issues are still going to appear to be widespread.

[Slack3r78]

Worst console design in history? Shoddiest console ever? I think that's safe to say.
Worst industrial design, maybe. LOL BREATHE IN.

Very clever design as far as the console bits of the console go, though. The shared memory architecture was an absolutely brilliant move that I seriously doubted early on.

[Bingley Joe]

It's not like MS isn't revising their hardware trying to solve issues. It's really unknown if the latest iterations have "fixed" this or not. With 15 million or whatever out there before the major revisions came into play (Falcon/Jasper) - issues are still going to appear to be widespread.

I bought a Jasper last week, and the HDMI port on it doesn't work. Fresh out of the box :mad:

Spent a solid 2 hours on the phone with MS trying to figure out what was wrong.. in the end, their advice was to simply not use HDMI. Unbelievable. It was literally the most retarded tech support experience I have ever had.

[MosBen]

Aren't these E74 errors just now becoming a widespread issue, and even then, isn't the evidence annecdotal? It seems to me like they're much more out in front of this issue than they were on the RROD, where it wasn't until the problem was really widespread that they extended the warrantee.

As for the worst hardware of all time, I don't know. I never owned a PS2 (I know, gasp!), but I had plenty of friends that did, and most of them had to replace the thing at least once, particularly the early adopters, and I don't recall Sony replacing their consoles for free. I'm not trying to be an MS appologist here. I got a 360 on Day 1. The original machine died about a year and a half ago, and MS replaced it for free. When the first one broke I had the replacement within around three weeks, which was a pain, but didn't seem completely unreasonable to me. I've had no problems with my current machine. All in all, I'd say that I'm a pretty happy customer. Maybe I don't play my machine as much as others, which might be why I've had fewer problems with my machines, or maybe other people do things to their machines that aggravate the hardware problems (enclosed spaces).

Either way, I've played lots of games on my 360. I got a PS3 a few months ago, and other than playing around with Flower, the only game I've really spent a significant amount of time with is Burnout. And then there's my Wii, for which I'll pick up a new game every once in a while, and then forget as I get sucked into another game on another system, but which otherwise is still pretty much a Wii Sports machine for when people are over. So, hardware problems (and immense noise production) aside, the 360 is still my preferred of the three from this gen.

[BlackPete]

Is there an extended warranty on cancer of the lung from these things? I am not kidding; I have noticed the smell myself, but only when I walk in having not been in the room. If I stay in there when it first starts running, I don't notice. It's like melting plastic or metal.

MS: "I love the smell of ozone in the morning. It smells like... victory."

[Zanzibar]

I don't know about 'worst hardware ever', but it's close. We had 50 people with PS2 debug kits, which were functionally identical to the retail PS2s but with a few minor debugging additions in the code. Those died at a rate of 1-3 every month - disc drive errors, mostly. We actually asked Sony to send us an additional 10 so we'd have some on hand to replace the ones that died without having a lot of downtime.

The X360 kits die significantly less frequently - maybe one every 2 to 3 months. RRoDs, all of 'em. Haven't had an E74 error yet, maybe that's because we don't generally use the NXE ;)

Oh, and original Xbox kits NEVER died. We had 20 of em, not one of them died in 4 years of usage.

[Purple Santa]

Finally. I've had the E74 error flash me for the last year. I kept waiting for it to die. I'd send it off now but ADD is about to get some time off before graduate school. After then...might just ship it off to get it fixed.

[BlackPete]

I don't know about 'worst hardware ever', but it's close. We had 50 people with PS2 debug kits, which were functionally identical to the retail PS2s but with a few minor debugging additions in the code. Those died at a rate of 1-3 every month - disc drive errors, mostly. We actually asked Sony to send us an additional 10 so we'd have some on hand to replace the ones that died without having a lot of downtime.

The X360 kits die significantly less frequently - maybe one every 2 to 3 months. RRoDs, all of 'em. Haven't had an E74 error yet, maybe that's because we don't generally use the NXE ;)

Oh, and original Xbox kits NEVER died. We had 20 of em, not one of them died in 4 years of usage.

Don't get me started on the TOOLs... (both PS2 and PS3).

[Iron Past]

They're throwing the money the wrong way. Just redesign the 360 with more stable hardware and be done with it. Why this wasn't done 2 years ago is beyond me.

Aside from the other post responding, I want to say I'd rather them throw the money at a decent design for their next console. I can only imagine the amount of headache and money rushing the last one caused, so I'd hope they're doing that.

[J Arcane]

Worst console design in history? Shoddiest console ever? I think that's safe to say.
People tend to forget that the PS1 and PS2 both were almost as bad. Every single one of those machines that either I or someone I knew owned eventually developed some kind of hardware issue. You'd think an electronics company would be able to build disc drives that don't constantly fucking fail.

And then of course there's the glorious NES, in which for no adequately explainable reason, Nintendo took a perfectly functioning system, and then deliberately redesigned it to be worse. I still don't know what the fuck they were thinking with that thing.

There's also Sega's expansion hardware to contend with. Their main consoles were all great but I never managed to get a fucking 32X to actually work.

This is not to defend the 360, mind, that thing is fuckawful as well, and is why I refuse to buy one, even for the now pathetically cheap price the pawnshops sell them for anymore, because I'm not in the habit of wasting money on systems that self destruct. I swore off that sort of behavior with the PS1.

[bapenguin]

People tend to forget that the PS1 and PS2 both were almost as bad.

I worked at EB during the PS1 days and I remember we used to suggest to people to flip them upside down so they wouldn't over heat.

The sad part is - it worked most of the time.

[J Arcane]

I worked at EB during the PS1 days and I remember we used to suggest to people to flip them upside down so they wouldn't over heat.

The sad part is - it worked most of the time.
Back in those days, our vidgame market was all locally owned, and all the stores had literal stacks and stacks of broken PS1s. Most of them got into the repair business, largely just to recoup their losses on used PS1s.

[Goronmon]

People tend to forget that the PS1 and PS2 both were almost as bad.The 360 taught me how fucking annoying a noisy piece of hardware can be.

[violent]

Every system has had their problems but if there was ever a single console remotely close to the 360 in failure rates it was the original NES and even that wasn't permanent.

[DaedalusFolly]

Every time my 360 craps out and I have to restart, mostly on "Disc is unreadable" prompts, I wait with baited breath as it cycles over.... is this the one that it doesn't come back from? Is this the day it ends?

[Gorvi]

Aside from the other post responding, I want to say I'd rather them throw the money at a decent design for their next console. I can only imagine the amount of headache and money rushing the last one caused, so I'd hope they're doing that.
While that would be nice, that really shouldn't prevent them from doing a redesign on the 360 that actually works. Look at the slim PS2 or the DS Lite (or i), it can be done.

[x Returner x]

Worst console design in history? Shoddiest console ever? I think that's safe to say.

For me it was the PS2 I went through 4 of them. The 360 I'm on my second only because I wanted HDMI.

[Banacek]

Worst console design in history? Shoddiest console ever? I think that's safe to say.

I had three PS2s. I've had 2 360s. One more 360 and we have a tie! I think I just jinxed myself into a RROD :)

[Banacek]

I worked at EB during the PS1 days and I remember we used to suggest to people to flip them upside down so they wouldn't over heat.

The sad part is - it worked most of the time.

Yeah it did. I got an extra year out of my PS1 because I played it upside down.

[Gorvi]

Yeah it did. I got an extra year out of my PS1 because I played it upside down.
Wasn't it something with the track the laser ran on to read the CD? I was lucky, I didn't even get a PS1 until mid-98 and that thing lasted me fine until I bought my launch PS2 in October of 2000. The launch PS2 lasted about 2 years before I started to get DREs, but I sold it as is and replaced it for about $100 difference, and that PS2 has lasted me ever since. Of course, a lot of that time it was used to play a lot of FFXI, but between my wife and I we're talking over 4,000 hours of gaming easy on that thing.

[Banacek]

Wasn't it something with the track the laser ran on to read the CD? I was lucky, I didn't even get a PS1 until mid-98 and that thing lasted me fine until I bought my launch PS2 in October of 2000. The launch PS2 lasted about 2 years before I started to get DREs, but I sold it as is and replaced it for about $100 difference, and that PS2 has lasted me ever since. Of course, a lot of that time it was used to play a lot of FFXI, but between my wife and I we're talking over 4,000 hours of gaming easy on that thing.

I think so. The track broke so the laser couldn't move correctly when it was right side up. Flipping it solved the problem. I do have to stay that my PS1 was a launch model, and it lasted (with some tricks) up until I bought a PSOne. My PS2 died if I looked at it wrong.

[DoctorFinger]

The PS1/PS2 issues were pretty widespread, but the internet was less of a beast then and the reports stayed localized for the most part. But for the most part they were also often fixable by most consumers with a minimum level of tech savvy. The RROD is not something you can fix with an alcohol swab and a screwdriver the way I could with the PS2.

[Kelegacy]

I had a PS2 die, but that's because I was stupid and bought it used in college. I thought my current PS2 was dead but apparently it wasn't...it started up yesterday just fine. I picked up Persona 4 and I'll get P3 FES when I can find it. I should be starting it up sometime this week.

My PS1 lasted me forever, until the very end when it started being finicky playing games. My 360 started giving disc errors after only a year of playing--luckily it died when upgrading to NXE so I got it fixed for free. My other 360, the arcade unit I bought to replace the disc drive-dead 360, is still going strong, but if I don't install a game to the HDD it sounds like someone is sharpening an axe inside the console. I seemed to have fixed it by running the vision camera cable under the front of the console, propping it up a bit (it stands vertically). It's not recommended, but it hasn't ruined any discs. And the thing is "quiet" now, meaning no grinding noises. Still loud as a jet engine though. Thank God for installing to the HDD.

[EternalGamer]

I agree because it's the most fun I've had with a console in a long time. Probably since the PS1. It's a lot of good and bad with the 360. But yeah, it's the worst console, reliability-wise, of all time. The problem is, it's still the best console on the market game-wise.

I'll agree for now. But I've been out of pocket for THREE 360's at this point. And that is in addition to two that had to be sent off and one that remains iffy with disc read problems.

I am not buying another no matter what. If I get red rings on the two I'm currently using, I will just start playing everything on the PS3.

[Orca]

I think so. The track broke so the laser couldn't move correctly when it was right side up. Flipping it solved the problem. I do have to stay that my PS1 was a launch model, and it lasted (with some tricks) up until I bought a PSOne. My PS2 died if I looked at it wrong.

I think it was the spring that held the laser steady. It would lose strength and the laser wouldn't track properly.

[Banacek]

I think it was the spring that held the laser steady. It would lose strength and the laser wouldn't track properly.

Could be. That a long time and many beers ago.

[MosBen]

So, if so many problems come from the disc drives, when will MS, Sony, and Nintendo ditch them completely and go for exclusively downloadable systems? The next gen seems like it would be too soon. On the other hand, DVDs are definitely out for the next gen and MS may not want to throw Sony money with every system and game sold by going with BR.

[Gorvi]

So, if so many problems come from the disc drives, when will MS, Sony, and Nintendo ditch them completely and go for exclusively downloadable systems? The next gen seems like it would be too soon. On the other hand, DVDs are definitely out for the next gen and MS may not want to throw Sony money with every system and game sold by going with BR.
Nothing is stopping them from going with HD-DVD if they really need to. Just because there won't be any HD-DVD movies doesn't mean the format can't be used by them for data (games). It wouldn't be the first time a console has had it's own format for games, SEGA did it with the GD-ROMs for the Dreamcast.

[J Arcane]

So, if so many problems come from the disc drives, when will MS, Sony, and Nintendo ditch them completely and go for exclusively downloadable systems? The next gen seems like it would be too soon. On the other hand, DVDs are definitely out for the next gen and MS may not want to throw Sony money with every system and game sold by going with BR.
You might note, that Nintendo was a very long hold out on disc drives for their consoles, and that their handhelds still are cartridge based, for much the same reason.

I'd also note that I've never seen any widespread problems with the disc drives they have manufactured.

By and large, I think they learned from their mistakes with the American NES, because everything else has been rock fucking solid from a reliability stand point. Even the Virtual Boy, despite being utterly awful for entirely different reasons, is built like a brick shit house. You can still find the things to this day in Goodwills and thrift stores across the country and almost to a one they still work like the day they were made.

Honestly, it's been a long time since I've seen a Nintendo system fail for a reason that wasn't total user neglect or mistreatment.

[DoctorFinger]

So, if so many problems come from the disc drives, when will MS, Sony, and Nintendo ditch them completely and go for exclusively downloadable systems? The next gen seems like it would be too soon. On the other hand, DVDs are definitely out for the next gen and MS may not want to throw Sony money with every system and game sold by going with BR.
The DVD is a Sony format, so they're already throwing them cash for each system. I can't see them NOT having a BR drive in the next iteration. Too many people are too wedded to having physical media for an all digital console to hit it big in 2012-2013. The generation after? Maybe.

[MosBen]

Huh, somehow I've gone over ten years with DVDs not knowing it was a Sony format. Crazy. In light of that, I guess it makes sense for MS to drop a BR in the next machine, with hopes to avoid physical media at all in the next machine after that.

Going to digital distribution would probably be supported by the content producers, but now that I'm actually giving this some thought, it'd piss off Best Buy/Gamestop as well as the internet providers who are already trying to cap bandwidth usage.

[mister slim]

Microsoft gets a cut of Blu-Ray royalties anyway, since it uses their codecs.

[Exodus]

I just wish that they would create a new version of the 360 that was reliable. yes their are cases where people have had no problems but the failure rate is there. Many a friend has had their xbox 360 kaput on them. I just want a reliable one. -_-

[violent]

I just wish that they would create a new version of the 360 that was reliable. yes their are cases where people have had no problems but the failure rate is there. Many a friend has had their xbox 360 kaput on them. I just want a reliable one. -_-

This is where I stand too. It would be one of my favorite consoles ever if it weren't so unreliable. It's such a fundamental problem that any greatness to come from the device is in jeopardy.

[Codicier]

This is where I stand too. It would be one of my favorite consoles ever if it weren't so unreliable. It's such a fundamental problem that any greatness to come from the device is in jeopardy.

I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. If it hasn't happened now, it's not getting any more likely. I'm on my 3rd 360. Both replacements were free though, so other than the wait and the annoyance it wasn't bad.

But the machine is shit, and is unlikely to ever have a model which is not shit. So, if you don't yet have a 360 and want one, you can either get a 360 now, play it, and deal with the failures like everyone else or you can wait for a day that will probably never come.

[Iron Past]

So, if so many problems come from the disc drives, when will MS, Sony, and Nintendo ditch them completely and go for exclusively downloadable systems? The next gen seems like it would be too soon. On the other hand, DVDs are definitely out for the next gen and MS may not want to throw Sony money with every system and game sold by going with BR.

When they can figure out a way to pipe in a sufficient connection to my house for free. As it stands, I can't even pay a phone or cable company to do it, capped or not.

I realize that many people don't have the availability problems of broadband that I do, but you also have to realize that not only are there infrastructure issues, but bandwidth caps, increasing monthly fees for access, speed and reliability problems etc. with broadband. It's something that won't be fixed soon, I'm afraid.

Edit: I know you made another post about, just giving a general statement. ;)

[violent]

I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. If it hasn't happened now, it's not getting any more likely. I'm on my 3rd 360. Both replacements were free though, so other than the wait and the annoyance it wasn't bad.

But the machine is shit, and is unlikely to ever have a model which is not shit. So, if you don't yet have a 360 and want one, you can either get a 360 now, play it, and deal with the failures like everyone else or you can wait for a day that will probably never come.

Oh, I know it won't happen, that's the shame too. I pretty much stick to my PC and PS3 these days because I can play without worrying I'm gonna get screwed. Amazing that I enjoy the console with fewer features and titles basically because the other has massive hardware issues. Even if the Wii were not the juggernaut it is, this would still be a battle for second place.

[BabyJesus]

Huh, somehow I've gone over ten years with DVDs not knowing it was a Sony format. Crazy. In light of that, I guess it makes sense for MS to drop a BR in the next machine, with hopes to avoid physical media at all in the next machine after that.

Going to digital distribution would probably be supported by the content producers, but now that I'm actually giving this some thought, it'd piss off Best Buy/Gamestop as well as the internet providers who are already trying to cap bandwidth usage.

Isn't just Sony's format. I think Philips was a major player in its development as well.

[Orca]

I'm hoping Sony will one day greenlight this kind of coverage for the YLoD, so I can get my money back.

[OldJadedGamer]

I'm hoping Sony will one day greenlight this kind of coverage for the YLoD, so I can get my money back.

Good luck, they never admitted any problem with the DRE's for the PS2 and instead settled out of court. Sony may be a lot of things but in denial is one of them.

I have three friends that have the yellow light of death right now.

[torrefaction]

Well, my fifth box red ringed. But still a free replacement, so I still don't care.

[Slack3r78]

Well, my fifth box red ringed. But still a free replacement, so I still don't care.
That's what she said.

[Crowe]

From the commodore 64 through to my Xbox 360 I haven't had a console or PC completely fail on me yet. I feel pretty lucky so far, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my 360 is going to say goodbye once I start to play it a little more.

[cp#]

My 360 died a few months back (RROD). I only recently got around to sending it in for repair. The process was pretty easy. Turn around was less than a month I think. But when I went to use it... the disk drive doesn't read any games or DVDs, it just clicks. And the USB flip thingy is busted. Weak service!

[Iron Past]

My 360 died a few months back (RROD). I only recently got around to sending it in for repair. The process was pretty easy. Turn around was less than a month I think. But when I went to use it... the disk drive doesn't read any games or DVDs, it just clicks. And the USB flip thingy is busted. Weak service!

That's weird, but you have that 30 day extended general warranty after repair, so call them. The USB thing... you're not supposed to keep your faceplate on there when you send it in (they tell you about a dozen times), so I don't know about that (but I have an extra Elite faceplate if it bothers you that much). I'm lucky, though; I live a few hours from a repair center, so when my box red ringed a few weeks ago turn around was six days. :)