This is another addition to the ongoing saga of my Red Rings of Death. If you haven't done so, please take a few minutes to read Part 1, 2, and 3.

As you have probably gathered from my other posts, my Xbox 360 died a short time ago and I bought a temporary replacement, with no intentions to keep it any longer after I got my repaired/replaced console back in the mail. Well yesterday I received a box from UPS sent from the repair center in Texas to me, and it contained an Xbox 360 console! Only 16 days?! Hot dog! I opened it quickly, and looked at the back sticker. It has a manufacturing date of June 26th, 2008. "Ok," I said, "so they replaced my console with a new one! That means if I look under the A/V port I should find an...! Oh..." As I glanced over, I noticed that it was minus an HDMI port. Alright, well I didn't have it before, don't have it now. It's not that big of a deal.



As I looked back over, I noticed the serial number looked all too familiar. But no way, it can't be the same one. I grabbed my digital camera, with which I had taken a picture of the back of my sent in console before it was boxed up. Sure enough, when I compared the serial numbers, they presented a perfect match! Wait, what?! A console made two months ago with my serial number? How exactly? Ok that's fine I guess, however it is possible. I removed the faceplate to see if the silver tape was under it or not, and as I did, the USB port springy door broke! Later, I super glued it into perfect condition, and the silver tape was M.I.A., replaced by the other little Microsoft branded sticker. Moving on, today I thought I should test to see if it works fine and all. First, I figured it would be best to get Rock Band out of the Arcade bundle I bought a week and a half ago. Sounds like an easy task, right? Well I pressed the power button, and nothing happened. I pressed the eject button, and nothing happened. I tinkered with the power cord endlessly, and even more nothing took place. So now what? I'm out of $60 for this game even if they take the console back? This twist would even make M. Night Shyamalan proud.



I looked under the faceplate and didn't see any obvious signs of a manual disc eject hole, but searched for it on the internet anyway. Thank Google I found a site that told me exactly how to do it, and at last I pried Rock Band away from the clutching death grip of the Arcade model. Talk about jealousy, sheesh. Immediately after, I set up my repaired (???) console and it worked perfectly! After swapping face plates (hehe), I boxed the Arcade console back up with all accessories included. They refunded my $299.52 in cash with no issue. I realize as I finish this last sentence, I am as I was before any of this happened, but it is 16 days later (fast, Microsoft, fast!!) and my console was made much more recently.

[Song lyric credits: "Everlong," by Foo Fighters.]