XBox 360

cruzanheart

We bought a supposedly new XBox 360 for Jackson, our 12-year-old, for Christmas. A couple of weeks ago it got the dreaded three red rings of death (akin to a computer's blue screen of death) so we called Microsoft. They assured us that the serial number of that XBox showed a warranty good for another year so we sent it in for service. It was returned a week later with a letter stating that, since the unit had been modified by someone other than Microsoft, the warranty was voided and they could not fix it.

We're going to pursue this with eBay (because of course the seller has ignored my messages) but, in the meantime, does anyone know of anyplace that will fix an XBox 360 that has been modified? I tried Game Stop and they said no way. But surely if the damn thing can be "modified" (whatever that means) by someone other than Microsoft, it can be fixed by someone other than Microsoft.

Any XBox wizards out there? Help!

Thanks,

Nina

MissingLink

It may not have been "modified" at all. The previous owner may have only been curious and had a peek inside. They void the warranty if you break the security seal.

Team Xecuter have an inexpensive repair kit. Any electronic hobyist should be able to use this kit to fix it for you.

Instructions Here

Caedes

I would go back to the ebay seller, and give them the option of sending you a new 360 or you report them to microsoft and Ebay as selling modified 360s. Although I'm sure there are legitimate reasons to modify your 360 the vast majority of modified (or chipped) machines are modified in order to play pirated games. If they are a legitimate seller they wont want to lose their ebay trade, so be persistant. Write back to microsoft with the details of who you bought this new machine from.

Big Tex

Wow ML, thanks for the link. We knew there had to be someone and someway to get this thing fixed.

Great idea Caedes, I never thought of Microsoft. You're right, as proprietary as they are they would want to know about someone modifying one of their products.

Thanks again!

Chris

5go

From my experience buy a used one from a Game-Stop or used game store. They usually give a guarantee over Microsoft's worthless one. Give up on that one though, he sold it because he fixed long enough to get rid of it. Never buy a 360 from a private seller it's a dud more often than not.

Simon

If your XBox has been 'modded' (even if it's since been removed) then the warranty is well and truly void. Your only recourse is against the seller and your at the mercy of eBay for how much help they will give you.

If it only had a 1 year warranty then it is no where near new as I think Microsoft provide 3 year cover ... you want to get a proper new one as the new design from last Dec has better cooling, a cooler (smaller die) chip and is reportedly a lot more reliable.

Persue things with the payment processor (PayPal or Credit Card) if you don't get anywhere with the seller. You should only buy from eBay if you get the buyer protection of either.