It was but a few days ago when Peter Moore apologized to Xbox 360 owners around the world for the notorious 'red ring of death' epidemic and extended the warranty on all consoles to three years. That was a classy move indeed, but a possible cause of the error has been hypothesized and reported by GamePolitics.com that makes the shoddy manufacture of Microsoft's console all the more shameful. There are theories flying around that surge protectors may very well be the cause of all the trouble. Widely used and innocent surge protectors, the bane of Microsoft? It would seem to be the case.
Microsoft reps have apparently been informing unlucky gamers that surge protectors may lie at the heart of their consoles' collective deaths. It's being said that the 360 can't handle power reductions and changes to the electrical supply result in its weak point being attacked for massive damage. As you may have guessed, this is the exact scenario that surge protectors can trigger and, according to GP's report, as many as 90% of all slaughtered consoles have been plugged into one.
There are more than a few of us in the Destructoid community who have watched their machines perish, sometimes on multiple occassions. Who among us has had their console plugged into a surge protector, with or without issue? This is pretty damning stuff if it's true, that such a common appliance could equal the breakage of an expensive games console. Moore must be thankful he can just shout "THREE YEAR WARRANTY," in our faces and run away laughing. Prevention would have been better than cure though, yes?
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
1:56 PM on 07.08.2007
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I personally have never had a problem though...picked it up a few months after it came out.
Shoot, mine even survived a lightning strike that killed our microwave! I have a bad habit of not paying attention to the weather outside while I'm playing.
Now I just have it plugged into a surge protector, and have suffered no incidents.
Leaving it plugged directly into the wall is a bad bad move.
As someone who used to deal with very touchy power issues and professional electronics, it is ill advised to not have one at all.
A UPS is your ideal solution, but then, that's only a surge protector with a battery and nothing more. A power conditioner could solve issues as well, but given that we're paying $400 for a console, they'd better be putting some better power supply components in there than a cheap crappy $20 Chinese power supply. Conditioners are for people who are massively anal about power consumption, not average joes like you and me.
I say it sounds like a cop out.
NVM
For one thing, in responce to this, poeple have been saying that they have had problems with or without the surge protector... there are those who say they had had problems and used a surge protector, and there are those who say they had no problems; and there are those who say they had problems with the wall outlet and those who had no problems... In short, problams have been happening with or without the surge protector...
Second, even if surge protectos did have something to do with it, it is no escuse for MS... Poeple use surge protectors ALL the time, for their consoles, TV's, entire entertainment center; and yet it is ONLY the 360 that has the problem... If MS can't build their console to work with a very commonly used appliance that ALL other electornics are able to use with no problem, than the 360 has got some serious issues
Also, the article sounds like it's making a bold uneducated guess on that 90%... it's probably based on the fact that surge protectors are VERY commonly used items by poeple, especially those who have several electronics around their TV... Hell, i'm a bit surprised to hear about poeple who don't make use of them...
I'd be amazed that microsoft can't find a fix for this if its true. I mean, I use that surge protector to safeguard my AV set up since it was a considerable investment. my 360 gets the most play, so its plugged into the first jack after the TV.
launch day bitches. squash that rumor. my 360 is fight!
Why is it that the surge protector is at fault instead of the 360? I have never heard of any electronics that have failed because of incompatibilities with a SURGE PROTECTOR.
Blame the 360, not the protector.
So, have any 360s modded with liquid cooling died?
Haha, lame!
90% of Xbox 360 users who had the dreaded RROD also use the system to play video games...
90% of PS3 users report no such incidents of hardware failure
My 260's have always been plugged into a surge protector and no problems yet, except for some disc read errors. Ah hell I tempted fate with that sentence. *knocks on wood* Speaking of which, why knock on wood?
Proof?
As i said before... 360 failures are being reported by both those who use Surge protectors and those who don't.... 360 not failing are being reported by both those who use them and who do not.... what more proff do you need that it is the 360 that are in poor maintence and it is not the fault of the surge protector (an appliance that generally doesn't cause failures in any other appliances... unless it is a very poor protector)
If surge protectors were the cause then failures would be reported ONLY by those using surge protectors... 360's failing while being attached to surge protectors sounds like nothing more than a coincidence... hell the only reason you may get more reports of 360's failing with a surge protector than without is simply because A LOT of poeple use them; they are a VERY COMMON appliance.
dtomek for intance, the surge protector may(and probably doesn't) have nothing to do with the sucess of his 360... while their are many reports of failed 360's their are plenty of reports of successful ones... He may have just recieved replacment/repaired 360 that was slightly better than his last one, thus making the sucess of his new 360 while not attatched to a surge protector nothing more than a coincidence
MICROSOFT 360 SURGE PROTECTORS!
and tell you what! Ill throw u a marketing gimmick! instead of giving them for free, sell them for $9.99!!! and put "NO Red Ring EVAAA!!!" seal of proof!
thank you, thank you, you can donate my 500millions shares here with Jimmy boy, as I am here only to serve~