Xbox 360 Crashes - MS Offers Troubleshooting, Repair or Replace

Some Xbox 360 owners are starting to report problems with their brand new next generation gaming console. Messages posted to gaming forums and discussion groups mention that consoles have crashed during play thanks to several different errors. The crashes were reported as happening with a variety of games including Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing and Need for Speed. Microsoft acknowledged the reports but said incidents were “isolated”.

BBC - Crash reports dog Xbox 360 launch

One of our forum members, reported that his newly bought Xbox 360 keeps crashing while playing Project Gotham Racing 3 in single player mode. Crashes on Xbox Live and on startup occur too. He included screenshots of the crashed Xbox 360 and a video of the crash here (2MB XviD). A quick look on our forums seems to indicate he’s not the only one. Several of our members seems to get crashing 360s. It doesn’t seem to be related to a specific game, as we get reports of the Xbox 360 crashing with several games. And it’s not all the same Error-number either (E79, E74, E64, real crashes, …).

Xbox-Scene - Xbox 360 Crashing Like Mad?

My story first - between my friends and I, we bought 6 machines at the Zero Hour event. Of the 6, my machine has a dead hard drive, another machine is working but is rather flaky (seen some strange behavior - the drive may also be scratching discs, as my friend’s copy of Condemned is now unplayably scratched, but we don’t know if the drive caused it - the machine has also had problems booting games and being turned off…), one seems to be good, and I haven’t heard yet about the status of the other three.

GA-Forum - The Xbox 360 defect thread

So, is there a widespread problem with the Xbox 360, or is this a mixture of expected hardware fail-rates and post-purchase regret, empowered by the global megaphone that is the Internet?

SPOnG - Xbox 360 Faults

The heat is on, and not for the first time. In February, Microsoft recalled power cords on the Xbox following reports of injuries due to defective electrical components. And a couple has sued Microsoft in a Texas court and claimed that the faulty design of an Xbox caused their house to burn down, according to an Inquirer story.

CNet - Xbox 360 honeymoon is over

“We have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected,” Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O’Donnell told Reuters in a telephone interview. “With any launch of this magnitude, you’re bound to see something happening,” she said.

O’Donnell said the best way to resolve the issues is to call 1-800-4MY-XBOX for trouble shooting. If that does not solve the problem, she said, Microsoft will repair or replace the unit.

Reuters - Some Xbox 360 buyers reporting problems

See Xbox 360 Crash Fix Found - Overheating Power Supply