You may have heard there are more Xbox 360 retail units coming soon. Probably with it, you may also be hoping that Microsoft has finally figured out the Three Red Light failure, also known as Red Ring of Death (RROD). Don't count on it. If you thought the Xbox 360's problems were solved with the recent "Jasper" Xbox 360 unit (reduced power consumption 12.1 amp unit with 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU), they were not.

I can tell you from my firsthand experience, the Jasper Xbox 360 has been my 8th Xbox 360 system to fail, only after 3 months from purchasing it. I had purchased it in hopes of using an Xbox 360 unit that wouldn't fail after returning seven Xbox 360 units back to Microsoft, all for the same Three Red Light Failure. Yes, I am about to head into my 9th Xbox 360 unit since I purchased the Xbox 360 at launch on November 22, 2005. My experience isn't an isolated one and as time goes on, it seems like it's only snowballing for Microsoft.

Here are various reports from just the past week on the Xbox 360 Three Red Light Failures and consumer experiences:

"My Xbox 360 Died Part III" - Article notes "Microsoft has leased space on the actual UPS grounds."
"An Xbox 360 Comedy of Error" - Article notes the consumer experience in returning an Xbox 360.
"Just got the RROD on my 360 Elite..." - Recent questions and experiences with the Red Ring of Death

There are also other issues affecting the Xbox 360, where consumers are being charged $99 for repairs by Microsoft:
"Guess who's getting sued again?" - "Microsoft is being sued yet again for allegedly knowingly selling, and profiting off of, defective products."

Back in 2007, I posted an article when the Xbox 360 Elite system was introduced, thinking that would have solved the Xbox 360 hardware failures. From the regular comments below the article, you can see that the Xbox 360 Elite is failing as well. You can see more consumer experiences here on an another article from 2007. Just search for terms such as "RROD, xbox 360 three red lights, xbox 360 failure rate" and you'll find many failure reports and consumer experiences with the Xbox 360.

Microsoft has tried various measures to address the broken Xbox 360 systems, from extending the warranty on an Xbox 360 to three years for the Three Red Light failure (also recently extended for E74 errors) and Microsoft doing behind-the-scenes modifications to the Xbox 360 hardware (these are the codenames you hear about: "Jasper," "Falcon," "Zephyr"). Microsoft has setup a site to initiate repair service at support.xbox.com. If you are experiencing problems with the RROD, I advise you to call 1-800-4MYXBOX (1-800-469-9269). Do not use support.xbox.com. It may take you weeks to get your Xbox 360 unit back. Call in and speak to the service personnel and let them know you want your repair expedited. This is Microsoft's problem and they are inconveniencing YOU with it. Their automated system only conveniences them and takes time away from your entertainment and for services you are paying for, such as their 1-year Xbox LIVE Gold Membership fee and Netflix, if you subscribe to either of those.

As someone who writes about gaming just about everyday for the last several years, I can tell you the Xbox 360 is an unreliable gaming system. Yes, the online play is great with Xbox LIVE. Some of the Xbox 360 exclusives are incredible. But if you can't rely on step one, powering it on, what good is it? It's surprising that Microsoft continues to sell Xbox 360 units with such persistent hardware failures. As I learned in the book "The Race For a New Game Machine," Microsoft was in a rush to get their Xbox 360 system out before their competitor, Sony's PLAYSTATION 3. Microsoft may have made it out of the gate first, but it's a price they're paying for dearly now, and in the long run. The hasty release is also costing you, the consumer.

So I open this post to comments from you, to share your experience with the Xbox 360. If you had the RROD failure, where have you reported it? How has the Xbox 360 failures affected you? What advice would you give other Xbox 360 customers having problems with the hardware?

http://www.gamingbits.com/content/view/6337/1

My 360 failed once. It was a not so early model, bought August/September of 2007. Sent it in, got a new one shortly afterwords. That one hasn't broke yet, even during long gaming sessions. If someone is on their 8th 360, they need to stop blaming Microsoft, and they need to start looking at what they're doing.

I have had 2 360. My first was a launch Core, never had any issues, sold it to a friend, who also has yet to have issues and still uses it today. My second is an Elite with no issues yet.

8th 360, I call Bogus, this guy is an idiot.

In other news, YLOD still persists on the PS3 on the 65nm process as well.

More news at 7.

9th system to fail? Do you game ALOT? If not i would think you need to take a look at where you have your Xbox360 set up. Is your gaming area adequately ventilated, dirty or do you just use your 360 as a door stop? I mean i know these things can fail but 8 seems WAY above average.

This article was already posted once, and the thread was locked. It overly sensationalizes the problem, making it seem like RRoD are just as prevalent as they were for launch models, which is clearly not true.

I'm not denying that it can still happen, but for everybody like the author who claims to have had 8 xbox failures you have someone like me who has never had one.

Even at a 33% failure rate for every single one the chances of that happening are about 1/10,000.

If its 16% the chances are about 1/2,500,000 for this guy to exist.

thats what I was thinking before I opened the thread, im sure squilliam will come in and try to spin it around with ps3 negativity

Commentator: "The GM check engine light failure is quite prominant"

Commentator: "The GM company has improved the model quite a bit, but the check engine light failure is still happening"

GM: "The only way the check engine light 'failure' will ever be fixed is if we change it to something else"

See?

How can an error message be 'fixed' unless the message itself is changed or the model becomes 100% infallible? This is nothing to do with calling the PS3 an unreliable console its got everything to do with how people fixate on the error message. RROD can never be solved just as YLOD can never be solved by anything other than changing it to the BLOD or something or BROD (blue light)

Squilliam, every console has at least some failures. My Gamecube failed on me, and that's supposed to be one of the most reliable systems ever. However, compare the PS3 failure rate to the 360 failure rate. Then, look at your sad rebuttal. Numbers don't lie. I think this is as much of a troll thread as anyone else, but you're setting the 360 up for a competition it can't win.