XBox 360/250 GB Buyers, BEWARE!

[Kimberly Davenport]

O.K. so, I was talking to Karl about this earlier today and mentioned to him how bad of luck I've been having with Microsoft's so called 'gaming system' as of late.

Long story short, 3 weeks ago, purchased XBox 360 250 GB Slim console. Get it home, take it out of the box, play it a little bit, it's all shiny and sexy and whatnot. So everything's cool. A few days pass and all of a sudden I go to play the thing again, and the Dashboard is giving me an 'Open Tray' message. So of course I play with it for a while, taking the disc out and back in again, over and over again before making my way to the XBox 'support' site and pages to find a possible remedy.

After following their instructions on the website, it still wouldn't play any games anymore after that point. And I did everything. EVERYTHING they said you should do (some of which was just ridiculous to think it'd work) But hey, I did it anyway. So to no avail, I decided to return said console. And I did.

They in turn, gave me another. The same model, but supposedly a brand new one which they guaranteed to work.

Bull..

Fucking...

Shit....

Got the thing home and tried that one and it didn't even work for as long as the last one did. It STARTED out with the Open Tray error message and would only play DVD's and music CD's like the first one. What the hell? Really Microsoft? Are you serious?

The only thing I got from that purchase was a nice thick ring around my SVR 2011 disc after attempting to get the console to remotely act like a... Well a gaming console. And it did NOT comply, probably destroying my CD in the process. Fuck you very much Microsoft.

So again, I decide, I'm going back to the Gamestop store to return it. Maybe it was a bad batch or something. So I'll go to another one that's not too far from where I live right. It can't happen again...

How wrong was I? So I got another from a different store, and the precise same thing happened to me as before. No game playing for me at all with these consoles. All of them seem to be duds and from my research there seems to be tons and tons of other people having the same problem lately. Now I know the open tray error thing is not a new thing with XBox's but one would assume that a NEW console design and build on an existing system that already had these problems would rectify those quirks and defects before releasing a new version of their flagship product...

But... You'd be wrong to assume that.

Microsoft really laid an egg on this one. I didn't want a refund to go get a PS3 since I was planning on having both anyway, but now I think it's time I make that trip back to Gamestop with my 'act a fool' hat on and walk out of there with my money, and nothing less. Yeah. I think that'll have to happen. Beware e fed peoples, beware...

[Chris Lionheart]

I've never heard of this happening to a brand new machine. Only older machines with some wear and tear, ya know? Let alone 3x new machines! By chance are you running the machine stood up rather than horizontally? That can sometimes warp the disc trays (gravity pulling on disc door, cd falling loose inside machine and all that).

I know you said you went to a different GameStop somewhere along the process, but it seems like extremely bad look/a bad batch distributed locally. If it is new you should have a warrantee, right? As in, it not costing you anything to send it in for repair?

[Christian MoneyMaker]

Just bought one. So far mine is fine but will be on the lookout.

[Kimberly Davenport]

Well I only heard of it AFTER it happened to me, since... Well why else would I look for any evidence of something like that ya know?

Looking all around the internetz I found evidence of thousands and thousands of cases of the same thing. Some consoles playing for a few days like my first one. Some doing the precise same as mine as soon as it's out of the box. So, while Xbox will never say it's a common thing, it clearly is. I'm thinking of going to another Gamestop a few more cities over. *sigh*

And yes it's still under warranty so no cost, but it's kind of like buying a brand new car then having to drop it off at a mechanic to get a new transmission in it before even driving it home. It's unacceptable.

Update: Just talked to the manager at yet another different Gamestop shop about an hour away and unlike the employees at the other 2 he's heard of this open tray error situation going on and wants me to bring the console to his store whenever I can which will probably be sometime next week. Hopefully I'll get another one. One that works.

[Syren]

Feel my pain guys. I haven't even moved onto to the shiny 'new' Slim consoles yet. But I'm currently on my 4th X-Box 360 in a little under 6 yrs. Last one, I had to actually pay for. While the others that went out. Were replaced by Microsoft themselves.

Currently, I'm using the last of the bulkier 'Arcade' models (with the 120 gig HD from a previous system attached). Really if this one goes out, and the next & final system I buy kicks the bucket? I'm done with Microsoft. They can go fuck themselves. I'll stick with the PS3. May not be my favorite system. But at least its more durable.

[Kimberly Davenport]

*virtual hugs Brandon* lol I know dude I know

If you don't mind me asking, what were the exact problems with the consoles before they crapped out on you?

[evil]

1st & 2nd consoles: Red Ring of Death (RROD)
3rd Console: Open Tray error (same problem your having)
4th Console: So far, so good. But I had a scare with the open tray message a while back. Lasted about a day or two. Then worked perfectly fine from that point on.

[Kimberly Davenport]

Wow. 4 consoles? That's insane. Shit I might as well dig the old Dreamcast or the Sega Genesis out of the attic and plug those sumbitches up. At least they both still work. Microsoft has gotta tighten their work up. Guess I should have stayed loyal and remained with Sony. *shrugs*

[evil]

^My main reason for going through 4 consoles on the X-Box. Loyalty lol. I liked the original X-Box alot. Never had a problem with it. Still runs smoothly today. Yet I've been through 4 X-Box 360 consoles. But my 'loyalty' is both being tested, and stretched pretty thin. Likely 1 more system for me if it comes down to it, and I'm done.

[Chris Lionheart]

Seeing how long it took THQ/YUKES/WWE to 'dump' PS2 versions of their SVR games, the PS4, WiiU and NextBox can go fucking do one. I'm not in it for prettier graphics, 3D graphics or motion controls. As it stands, with my PS3 looking to be a Blu Ray player as well, I plan to stick with my current PS3/Xbox360/PS2/PC combo for years to come.

[Ryan Blaze]

psssssssttttttt..... The colourful part of the disk is supposed to face UP!

Jokes. That's bullshit, mang. I'd say just go to Microsoft and ninja the whole building. You won't get a working 360, but you'll probably feel better.

[MG Cage]

I've had an old arcade 360 for 5 years now and it's always worked for me. You just had an unlucky... week, lol.

[Kimberly Davenport]

^No one's that unlucky. Not even a cursed sumbitch like me. Small update though... A friend of mine left his Call of Duty 4 disc here earlier today and just out of curiosity I popped it into the console. Even though i knew it was slightly scratched I figured why the hell not..

The piece of shit played. All the other games I tried to play before and this one played. Albeit it only played the first 2 levels before freezing up and wouldn't play past it but that's just weird.

Went back and tried the other discs.... Nothing lol Fuck Microdickssoft

[Titan]

Well, you're the unlucky aren't you? Can yo ass play the game? Lmao.

[Chris Lionheart]

my brother thinks I have broken his COD:BlackOps disc. Even though I've been so busy doing other stuff I've never even played it when I borrowed it the other week. Turns out he can get to the main menu of the game but then it won't play for him. At first I thought my other brother's Xbox360 was giving him a disc read error as he's had it for a long time untill he explained it properly. The physical disc doesn't have a single scratch on it though, lol.