Red rings of death!!!!

[iadis58]

Our XBOX 360 has suffered the "red rings of death" I understand that microsoft will extend the warranty for three years since they have acknowledged they have a major problem with this game platform. My problem is I bought this on EBAY and just noticed it has no serial numbers anywhere!!! I have tried to contact the seller but it sounds like he is not selling at the moment. Why would there be no serial numbers...stolen or refurbished. He sold it as new and unopened. Do I have any recourse with e-bay? We have had this for two years withoout a problem and Microsoft will not start a return process without the serial numbers. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on next step. Thank you

 

[msmayor]

You've had it for two years? I seriously doubt either ebay OR the seller would be willing to help you at this point. I think you're out of luck.

If it was truly "new in the box" you should have actually had the box it came in, which would have had all the ID information on the box. There should have been a sticker on the unit with the same information. Absent that then you're right, Microsoft is really in no position to help you because there's no way to prove how old the unit is. It could be more than three years old and out of the extended warranty.

Suggest your next step is just to buy a new unit.

 

[Planogirl]

Ebay definitely has nothing to do with this. It's too bad that you can't reach the seller but I doubt that he would help either.

I agree that all you can probably do is buy a new system.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

There's an "arcade" system (without the hard drive, which you may have) on amazon.com or dell.com today for $159. If you order it through amazon, you get a 2nd controller free if you order by april 10th. Just add it to your cart.

We've been through several red rings of death. We're on our 2nd sytem ourselves, lol.

DH was able to fix it once using some videos that another DISer recommended on Youtube, they were very helpful, I think it cost us maybe $10-13 if I recall. It did work for awhile, but we ended up getting the RROD again and bought a new system because it was a good deal.

 

[cm8]

That sucks, I hope that you are able to get some info off of the box. I assume that you do not still have the box and the items that came along with it? Is there a panel on the xbox that could possibly be opened and the SN retrieved?
Do you by chance still have the transaction paperwork from the seller stating that it was new and in the box? here is some info for you. I am pretty sure that you have already looked for it in those places, but if not, this can help you locate it.

How to locate the serial number and console ID of your Xbox 360 console

http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/kb.aspx?ID=907615&lcid=1033&category=hardware

 

[iadis58]

I realize we have gotton two years of use out of the machine, my problem lies in the fact that Microsoft admits they have put a inferior product on the market and that is why they have extended a 90 day warranty to 3 years. That tells me they know they have a big problem and it's their fault. I was wondering if anyone knows of reasons the serial numbers would be removed unless you are selling stolen or refurbished merchandise. Shame on me for not noticing from day one!!!!!. Would there be anyother reason the serial numbers would be removed? As far as I am concerned, sounds like he miss represented the item sold. Maybe there is nothing I can do but I want to make sure thus guy never sells anything on EBAY again if that's the case.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

Your problem is with the guy that sold you the xbox. If there aren't any seriel numbers I would think he scraped them off since you can tell how old the machine is by the numbers.

Try looking at Walmart. The had a refurbished one for a really good price a couple of weeks ago. I know it came with some extras but I'm drawing a blank on those.

 

[msmayor]

I realize we have gotton two years of use out of the machine, my problem lies in the fact that Microsoft admits they have put a inferior product on the market and that is why they have extended a 90 day warranty to 3 years. That tells me they know they have a big problem and it's their fault. I was wondering if anyone knows of reasons the serial numbers would be removed unless you are selling stolen or refurbished merchandise. Shame on me for not noticing from day one!!!!!. Would there be anyother reason the serial numbers would be removed? As far as I am concerned, sounds like he miss represented the item sold. Maybe there is nothing I can do but I want to make sure thus guy never sells anything on EBAY again if that's the case.

There's no legitimate reason I can think of as to why the serial numbers would have been removed. Because you didn't realize it at the time of purchase, its really unreasonable at this point to try and blame the seller as it would be very easy for him to just say that you had the system for two years and you removed the numbers. I think your idea of trying to keep him from selling on ebay because of something that happened two years ago is a bit unrealistic.

Yes, Microsoft absolutely knew and admitted the early generation of XBox systems had a problem with the RROD...its why they came forth pretty quickly and extended the warranty for three years. They are not shirking responsibility at all...but they do require that a serial number be present and available and you cannot blame them for that. Its how they are tracking the age of systems returned and knowing what has been fixed and going back out as refurbished. My son has had his system replaced twice with great efficiency and no questions asked because of the RROD. Microsoft has been great at taking care of the problem.

 

[gatormommy07]

The 3 year extended warranty was only for the first released 360s. I know because we had to send back our original one for disk read peoblems, then they sent us a refurb. That one died some time after,(same disk read problem). We got another new one(refurb.), it did the same thing. This was now past the 3 year mark of our original, they wanted over $100 bucks to fix it, we decided to buy a new arcade version, after about 6 or 7 months, same disk read problem, this one was replaced by yet another refurb. Then that one did the same thing!!! So we waited and bought a new 360 Elite, so far so good. (knock on wood!!!) But if you do not have a SN, they will not help you, sorry to say. My best advise is to look into buying a new one from a reputable dealer and registering it as soon as you get it, then they will have the date of purchase and know when it was made.

Sorry about the RRoD that would definitly suck!!!

 

[Nayan]

Please be careful buying a used rig, especially if you want to play online. Microsoft, just a couple months ago, banned 1 million XBox systems from it's Live! network. Chances are, you got just this kind of machine. Here's a story about it:

http://consumerist.com/2009/11/microsoft-says-there-is-no-recourse-for-gamers-whose-consoles-were-banned.html

Here's the story of the banned machines showing up online for sale:

http://consumerist.com/2009/11/if-you-dont-care-about-online-gaming-banned-xbox-360s-available.html

 

[nroush313]

Anyone have any problems with their xbox360's burning lines into their games?? My xbox360 has not been reading certain songs on the Beatles Rock Band and I looked at the game and it has lines in it. Any advice??

 

[Jaklackus]

There is no serial number at all? Did you look under the faceplate too? If it's not there I would be concerned about it being one of the banned units mentioned above. Every time I have called in on a unit ....I am always freaked out over how much they know about me based on that serial number...I don't remember putting all that info in...but I probably did at some point.


We have been through the red ring of death several times. I had won a limited edition system over a year ago and because of the customization the warranty was voided. I called XBOX just to find out my options....they were going to charge me $100...I explained that we would keep it for the case and buy a new one and thanked him for his time and then the rep offered to fix it for free. We used to get our consoles back...the last 2 have been different units, so there's a good chance I will just get a generic unit back tomorrow(a UPS computer called me today..lol) It took me 3 weeks to decide to send it in after I got the label..but I figured the value of a used, broken limited edition system probably wasn't worth holding onto when Microsoft was offering a free generic replacement.

 

[rina900]

Did you pay with Paypal? You can try taking up a claim with them. Also, Microsoft will cover new Xboxes for up to 3 yrs - you can try your luck with contacting them and seeing if there is anything they can do.

 

[NMW]

I realize we have gotton two years of use out of the machine, my problem lies in the fact that Microsoft admits they have put a inferior product on the market and that is why they have extended a 90 day warranty to 3 years. That tells me they know they have a big problem and it's their fault. I was wondering if anyone knows of reasons the serial numbers would be removed unless you are selling stolen or refurbished merchandise. Shame on me for not noticing from day one!!!!!. Would there be anyother reason the serial numbers would be removed? As far as I am concerned, sounds like he miss represented the item sold. Maybe there is nothing I can do but I want to make sure thus guy never sells anything on EBAY again if that's the case.

Without serial numbers I doubt you would even be able to send it to Microsoft to be repaired for a fee, much less under a warranty. We have sent back 3 XBOX's over the years. Two times Microsoft fixed them for free (under warranty) the other we paid-maybe around $50?? The box and the machine should have serial numbers on them.

I have never ever bought anything from ebay, so I have no idea why they would have been removed or what you can do about it. At this point, I would just buy a new system.

 

[msmayor]

Did you pay with Paypal? You can try taking up a claim with them. Also, Microsoft will cover new Xboxes for up to 3 yrs - you can try your luck with contacting them and seeing if there is anything they can do.

The unit was purchased two years ago. Even PayPal isn't going to help you on a 2-year old transaction.

 

[Jex]

No reason to buy a new one, it is an easy fix and takes all of 15 minutes to fix.

 

[scrappyjae]

We also have been visited by the red rings of death-twice. My son got it fixed by them for free the first time, but the second time they stated it was going to cost him. That was before they extended the warranty. Pissed me off. We are now on our second system, so far so good. Now that I said that of course it will probably go haywire. It is just frustrating that they know they have these problems and haven't fixed them yet. Living with a teenager who can't play his video games...they should be paying me!!

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

We recently encountered the red rings also... problem is i never registered the console. Am I stuck? We have original box etc. I may even still have receipt.

 

[msmayor]

We recently encountered the red rings also... problem is i never registered the console. Am I stuck? We have original box etc. I may even still have receipt.

Call Microsoft. The numbers will help let them know when the console was manufactured, which can be a clue to when it was purchased.

Of course, if you can find the receipt even better.

 

[princessmom29]

No reason to buy a new one, it is an easy fix and takes all of 15 minutes to fix.

Really????? Please tell us how to fix it b/c i have NEVER been able to recover a system after RROD. I had one come back on once, but immdiately go out again, but other than that, nothing. They have all had to be sent back for a fix (3 times for me 2 times for my sister). Everyone I know who can fix them says it requires a fair amount of money in parts to fix it anyway.