Any advice/help you all have to offer would be wonderful.

Ok so this past Friday I was packing up my Xbox 360 to move out of the dorm, and it basically commits suicide. I had it on a box on my bed, far away from the edge, and I was sitting on the floor. The 360 falls to the ground, hitting the hard tile floor. My harddrive and the gray grating that goes in between the HDD and the console itself fell out. I also notice there is a slight rattling noise as if a small plastic part broke off and is loose inside the 360. I put the Xbox back together and pack it up.

I get it home, and when my friends come over to play Rock Band I get the E68 error. From my research, this indicates a hard drive problem, voltage problem, or fan problem. I've been thinking my Xbox was on the way out for some time now because of how loud it's been, and my dad (who fixes computers for a living) thinks it has a fan problem. When I disconnect the HDD, the system still works. As I see it, the problem is either with the hard drive itself or with the system's connection to the hard drive. I can't tell which. I have a friend with a 360 whose HDD I could borrow to check in my system, but he's in Bermuda. If you all are more familiar with what the E68 error means, though, then you might know that it's not the connection but the hard drive itself.

Here are my options:

1) Buy a new 20gb hard drive on EBay for about $30.

2) Let my dad try to fix it (my dad has never in his life come across a computer he wasn't able to beat into submission... haha).

3) Wait until Jordan gets back, try his HDD, and then if that doesn't work buy an Xbox arcade and stick my old harddrive into it. I have the money for this option but as I am about to study abroad in England for 5 months I'd rather not spend the $200, especially because I'm also about to spend $170 on a new iPod.

Thanks for the help!

Say it Red-Ringed, send it in and you get a brand spanking new one.

"Say it Red-Ringed, send it in and you get a brand spanking new one."

No, there was a big thread on this a bit ago, and it was shown that they do not.

wait till jordan comes back if his HDD dont work let ur dad fix it

say it red riged. my disc drive broke so it would have been 200 bucks to fix it. so. i took it, threw it in a microwave and put the microwave on for 2 seconds. BLAM. no red rings. lights broke av output broke but it would still turn on. i dont advise that im just saying. they dont check

I think it's totally disgusting they charge for anything that breaks anymore. Everyone with Falcon boards are starting to get E74 errors, conveniently about 1-2 months after the one-year warranty expired. The Xbox 360, for all its faults that Microsoft KNOWS was THEIR doing, should have a lifetime warranty that covers everything except physical consumer damage.

I love the system for the game library, but it is easily the worst-built console of all time.

^ I think all major electronics  should come with a 5 year warranty.
Because if an electronic can't last 5 years, that's just lame.