As an Xbox 360 owner, you constantly read or hear that MS's console is a ticking time bomb. Ive owned mine for quite awhile now and foolishly started believing that I would be one of the roughly 50%, according to surveys, that wouldn't have to go through a console hardware failure. Sadly after getting off work and sitting down to mindlessly shoot zombies in the head, I too faced that stomach sinking RRoD. What's worse, I purchased mine around Christmas ought 6. Which makes my console technically 2-3 weeks outside the 3 year warranty window against hardware failure. I'm hoping MS will do the right thing, however its not something I'm counting on.  

This leads me to wonder what to do if MS chooses to charge me for a repair. I've read the fee is about $120. If it comes to that I would much sooner just go out and buy a new system instead of something refurbished that MS would send back. Right so I go out and buy a new Xbox 360. Wait do I really want to reward MS for selling me a shoddy piece of hardware by going out and buying the same piece of shoddy hardware again? Ok so I buy a PS3. Yeah it's got BR, reportedly more reliable, and it's the same price as a comparable 360. Oh but the vast majority of my friends game on the 360.  

Wanted to hear from people in similar situations. What route did  you end up going?

PS3 and a decent computer. If you dont like the controls on your comp, you can connect the Xbox controller to the comp. Voila, a Xbox 360 with better graphics but maybe lacks 2-3 Xbox exclusives

There shouldn't be a fee as long as the warranty still stands.

The three year warranty really just means "in ten years we won't do it." If you have an early version and it craps out and they say they're going to charge you can say exactly what you're thinking. That you paid for a 360 to support a brand that you appreciate and want to continue supporting by getting new games, accessories, and paying for Xbox Live every year. Say that if they charge you anything more than $20 dollars you're going to refuse the repair and buy a Playstation 3 and never buy a Microsoft game console ever again.
 
Really they have no reason to refuse you a free repair (or in some cases $20 dollars, but that's just for shipping). They knowingly sold you a shoddy product and if they want you to pay to "fix it" that's tricking customers. Usually if you want to get something cheaper or for free, as soon as a problem arises ask for a manager so they know its "serious business." 
 
However if you're not sure you want to get a repaired xbox or a ps3. Just know that if you don't repair your xbox you'll have all those games you'll never be able to play again. Which is more costly then a Ps3. So really the smart decision to to get it fixed.
 
 
Hope that helps.

ive had 3 xboxes but no rrod, mines would just stop reading discs and make this loud fuckin noise. Needless to say i dont play it anymore. I got a ps3 a few years ago. For the first year it sat there collecting dust but now i love it and its my favourite console. Most of my friends have switched over to it aswell and ive never had a problem with it. Ive started to build up a nice collection of games and blu rays.
 
My advice would be to jump ship to ps3, but if you play online a lot with your mates and they are all only on the xbox then you may aswell fork out for a new xbox.
 
hope this helps

I had my launch 360 die very early on and for a while I was having them die less than a year after one another.  I was smart enough to buy an extended warranty from MS right at launch, so I've never paid to get it fixed.  However, for some reason MS managed to fuck up the tracking of my extended warranty (it was going to expire and I was going to renew when I found out how much they fucked it up).  So right now I'm without a warranty.  After my 2nd 360 died I bought a backup 360 (arcade unit) which I still have.
 
Anyways, my current plan is when my current 360 dies I'm going to go over to the backup unit and I'll try to trade in my 360 somewhere admitting it's broken, or maybe I'll try to fix it myself.  When the backup unit dies I'll probably get one of those new-fangled HDMI 360s and get another extended warranty from MS?  Hopefully I won't have to do that as my latest fixed 360 from MS has lasted over a year now (about a year and 1/2).  *knock on wood*

I'm on my second. This one has 'red ringed' several times as a fluke seemingly, including the first time I ever turned it on. Its seemed fine generally so far, though. Got it at the beginning of 09. The one that died was a launch 360, so it lasted far longer than anyone elses I know, which I'm happy about. I don't play all that many games on my 360 right now though. Bayonetta, Darksiders, all I've played recently. Most big upcoming games I'm gameflying for the consoles, or getting on PC. If this one dies, I have 2 more available to me at anytime. If they die as well..then maybe I would say fuck it.

As a guy who has gone through his fair share of 360s (5 to be exact, but who's counting?) I think I have some valuable feedback to add in. You mentioned you have friends that play 360. Also, someone else mentioned that replacing the games that you had would be extremely costly. In the end, I'd throw cost aside and focus on what's really important here, friends. Do you really want to play all those games alone when you can be playing with friends?  
 
All i'm saying is that playing games alone sucks. If your friends aren't willing to go and buy ps3s and start all over again with you, then you should try to get it repaired or buy a new one if that fails. The only thing to ask, i suppose, is are they worth it? Not to be rude, but if they are just a couple of people that you met on XBL and hang out with occasionally, then maybe they are not worth the trouble that you believe it is. If they are really good friends then go through a little trouble for em. 
 
Not to sound all mushy or anything like that, but money is money. Each company wants their own and they all have different tactics. If you are gonna start over, don't let it be for the fact that you think you are showing the company who's boss. If you got a new console and can't play with some good friends, I'm not sure exactly if you've achieved anything.  

I've gone through one. The launch xbox that I had crapped out after one year, and then i bought one of those fugly green halo 3 special edition ones. I was desperate... It has worked perfectly since I got it.

Those who have commented about the importance of playing with good friends are very right. The ability to joke around with people you know makes gaming an exponentially better experience. It reminds me of a period a few years ago when I would play far less often than I currently do. A time when my friends hadn't  yet invested in this generation's console.  I plan on contacting customer support tomorrow see how it will hash out.

when mine broke i was glad, didn't even test it twice just packed it up and sent it off. better for it to break during warranty than after. Also bit about friends is true, i used to game once a week or less but then all my friends got 360's and now i play...too much    

I'm in a similar situation.  I purchased my console toward the end of January 2006, so my console is now outside of the RRoD warranty period.  I've had my system die on me twice from that malady.  Thankfully, that was back when it was covered, so it was repaired inside of two weeks each time.  Ha, that was back when they sent you a box, too.  I've been cautiously optimistic since then, but as of late it's been getting louder.  My console is in a well ventilated area and has nothing on top of it.  Still, a recent failure during a play-through of Mass Effect has me worried.  Once while playing the game, my system locked up and red ringed (3 blinking red lights but not the same 3 as previous times), so I turned it off and let it be.  Later, I turned it back on and I haven't had a problem since.  I've continued to play games on it, so maybe it was an overheating problem (2 lights normally) or some other glitch.  Either way, I am sure my system will fail again.  So, since the majority of my HD gen console games are for the 360, I'm left with a choice.  I can pay to get it repaired (3rd time), buy an Arcade model or buy an Elite and get the larger HDD.  I don't know quite what I will do yet, but chances are I'll go with the Arcade.  Since I still can't stomach the idea of paying $100 more just for the HDD.  Since the 120 HDDs seemed to have disappeared from online shelves, I am hoping that Microsoft will restructure their whole hard drive business model.  Then, maybe I can get an Arcade for $200 and a bigger HDD for a reasonable price.

If you want another xbox, and don't want microsoft to have the money, buy a used one haha.  
 
That's how I buy any of those annualized franchises, like sports games.

Moved to the Xbox 360 forum.

My roommate's 360 has red ringed twice now. The first happened about one year after purchase. He brought it with him while visiting his parents over Christmas. When he returned and plugged it in at our apartment it was dead. I assume because of the cause of the RROD that he was playing right before he packed it up at his parents. The system was hot and jostling it around to pack it up loosened the connection that cause the problem. In a way it was a bit of a relief. The regular warranty was expired and the disc drive was starting to go bad. The second time was at our apartment about a year after that. It surprised me because we kept the thing on a wire rack, so it was getting air circulated around it on all sides and the temperature in the apartment hadn't gotten above the low 70s in months.

"  Wait do I really want to reward MS for selling me a shoddy piece of hardware by going out and buying the same piece of shoddy hardware again? Ok so I buy a PS3. Yeah it's got BR, reportedly more reliable, and it's the same price as a comparable 360. Oh but t he vast majority of my friends game on the 360.  "

" @scubasteve2010: If it doesn't work, there's an EU Trading Law that requires all electronic goods to be shipped with a six year warranty by default. It certainly applies to televisions, but I'm no 100% sure on consoles. Of course, this is arbitrary if you're based in the USA, but hey. "

First few times my 360 broke I just got a replacement. Didn't mind because the store I bought it from replaced it free of charge, but after the third or fourth time I got fed up and got a PS3 instead.

Sadly I was just about to post a similar topic. Yesterday I had my second bout with the RROD. The first time was a  bummer but was covered under the 3 year warrenty (bought it back dec 26 06). However this one is not covered by 2 weeks lol I know. So, now I either anti-up the 100$ U.S(I'm Canadian so it's more) or I pull the old return at wal-mart fraud.( which accroding to murphy's law even though my friend as got away with it twice, ill get fucked.) As mentioned  in this topic, I to considered throwing in the towel on the 360 but have way to many games/dlc and friends to just throw away. So here I am with a right now towel tricked working 360 as temporary solution.

I lost my second 360 to RRoD recently, thankfully I'd almost stopped using it altogether. Bought a PS3 about a year and a half ago and I've favoured it since. I don't plan on repairing the 360; but I'll keep the games in the hope that either 1. My brother gets it repaired at some point or 2. That their next console in b/c.

" As an Xbox 360 owner, you constantly read or hear that MS's console is a ticking time bomb. Ive owned mine for quite awhile now and foolishly started believing that I would be one of the roughly 50%, according to surveys, that wouldn't have to go through a console hardware failure. Sadly after getting off work and sitting down to mindlessly shoot zombies in the head, I too faced that stomach sinking RRoD..."

I bought my first in 07, it lasted untill August 09. I could go on about the bullshit MS produces, but I won't. All I can say is if you buy a new one, get some little rubber feet things (the rubber stamps many electronics have on them) and put them on the bottom of your 360. It lets the air get underneath and sucked into the xbox, cooling it alot more. I did that, and the heat that comes out of the back of the console is noticeably cooler. From August to now, I've defiantly put in more playtime on this console that I did the last even though I had it for 2 years. and it's still working great. It runs quieter (I believe due to the extra cooling from the feet).

Honestly man there are so many of these RROD threads. Everything that has been said here has been said about 30 times before in other threads if you search for them, not trying to be a dick or anything. 
 
But yeah, always install to the Hard Drive, don't stand it vertical and keep it lifted so air can flow beneath it and you'll be fine. I've had mine for over two years no problem. I have mine on an eraser broken into 4 peices and put on the corners.

I called for support awhile ago, and was 6 days past my warranty. The associate was very nice, but I still couldn't get service. I was lucky in my case that it turned out to be a driver corruption, which I fixed myself.
 
If you have an Arcade or Pro, an Elite should be way more stable. If you install games to drastically cut down on optical drive usage, that helps a lot as well.

My 360 actually stopped working exactly a week ago now and I think my best course of action is to just get a new one. It's an old console and the parts on it seem pretty worn out, I wouldn't want Microsoft to switch out a part or two just to have another one brake down a month or so later.

i've gone through 2 xbox 360 already. one from RROD free warranty from gamestop, got E74 free under warranty. now i'm just waiting to see if i will get E74 or something that i don't want. my E74 happened around this time of year. 
 
i have a ps3 just bought it in august and i have a gaming PC. if the 360 does die then i will find someone to repair it. if they don't' then i guess i will have my ps3 and PC to play on.

All I know is this RROD thing has scored MS a ton of money (unless it was offset by replacing warranted consoles, I guess). Mine went 2 weeks ago, haven't replaced it yet, but I literally don't know anyone in real life who owns a ps3. literally. 

I've been a 360 and PS3 owner since day one and even though the PS3 is far more reliable I have always spent more time on the box.  I've always preferred XBOX more since back in 2002 when XBOX launched it was the shit.  I skipped so many days of school to play it meanwhile most of my friends were playing their shitty PS2.  I've also had a Dell XPS 720 gaming pc and graphics wise it blew 360 out of the water, but I always kept coming back to 360.  It's the features, XBOX Live, and games.  PS3 does have excellent exclusive games and I've played and beaten basically all of them, but third party games are always better on 360 and don't let people fool you with PSN, XBOX Live is the way to go.  Also they might repair the console for free.  I found that if you are nice to the customer service reps then they are nice to you in return.  Like when my first XBOX 360 broke they sent me PDZ as a gift.  Also they usually send one month live cards to pay off the month it's been missing.

"I've gone through one. The launch xbox that I had crapped out after one year, and then i bought one of those fugly green halo 3 special edition ones. I was desperate... It has worked perfectly since I got it. "