Xbox 360 Hardware Failures

Despite it supposedly being based on the newer and much more reliable "Falcon" platform, my latest Xbox 360 Elite (purchased 9/08) has failed with the Red Ring of Death (RRoD). This just a few weeks after OmniscientDeath's Xbox 360 Elite failed with the E74 error (previously blogged about here and here). If this happens to you, there a couple of options.

Option 1: Microsoft. Microsoft has extended the warranty for these two specific issues to 3 years from the date of purchase. You can go to the website and process a return painlessly and relatively quickly. It's free of charge, costs nothing upfront, and a new Xbox is generally delivered to your doorstep in 2-4 weeks.

Option 2: Best Buy Product Replacement Plan. Some of you may still have the "old" PRP in effect. Typically costs 15-20% of the purchase price up front and lasts for 2 years. You can choose at any time to exchange your Xbox 360 for a new one for any reason (broken or not), or receive original purchase price back. This has proven to be lucrative as Xboxes have dropped in price, meaning that you have been able to get new hardware every two years with the price drop typically covering the cost of a new PRP and then some. Service can be requested over the phone or in store.

Option 3: Best Buy Geek Squad Black Tie Protection (Gadgets and Gizmos). This has replaced the old PRP and has significant differences from the PRP for E74 and RRoD failures. Specifically for these two failures, Best Buy will not do anything over the phone, instead referring you directly to Microsoft...i.e., the plan is worthless. If you bring your Xbox into the store, they will verify the error and then handle it via "Rapid Exchange." In short, this means they send your Xbox off-site for service, and then a refurbished one is sent back to the store in a few weeks. This is the exact same service as from Microsoft, except that it costs money, and your console is shipped to a Best Buy store instead of to your house. If you manage to get four Rapid Exchanges in the two year service period, then they will replace your Xbox with a new one or give you "fair market value" in a gift card. i.e., you will not get purchase price back like with the old PRP, you will get whatever the Xbox is worth at the time.

For those of you that got conned into buying the new Gadgets and Gizmos service plan, I recommend not telling the customer service agent what the problem is if you have an E74 or RRoD problem. If you are more vague and say "it freezes" or "won't boot" instead, they more often than not will not try to reproduce it and will just give you a new Xbox to take home instead of the stupid Rapid Exchange process. You can keep your old hard drive, but they will keep the new hard drive themselves in that case.