You think it will NEVER happen to you, Nope never!

It has happen to a few of your friends and when it does you pat them on the back and say things like ” aww dude that sucks” or “WOW I feel for you” or “this is going to make a great youtube moment”. You stand there and want to cry with them.  When you leave their place you are still shaking your head.

SO over the weekend, I have to say IT HAPPEN TO ME!!! now I am trying to hold my tongue here on this blog, but I am fuming,!

Let me tell you about my xbox360 console….   I have had it since 2007, it’s a HALO 3 “Special Edition” “that they have stopped making”  I was one of “those” fans that stood out in the rain over night freezing just for THIS 360 console, paid the 399.99 + tax and more for the extended warranty.  One of those fans that stayed up ALL night playing that game, beating the campaign in less time than my friends, then going online and bragging to my buddies.. Yeah one of those fans that has always bought the halo games no matter how good or crappy it was!  Now I am a huge online gamer and I realize that I do use my 360 a lot, BUT…

Microsoft I was swearing at you like you wouldn’t believe, I even called a few of my friends and got them on the Reasons We Hate You bandwagon, “and yeah I have a lot of friends that use the 360 console”

So here is what happen!!

Friday afternoon I was playing on my 360, MW3 to be exact.. When my cousin got home and said we needed to go out shopping.. So I said bye to the party I was in, took my game disk out of the console and turned off my xbox..   When I got home it was about 10 pm.  Texted a few of my pals to let them know I would be on in a few and finished putting things away.. When into the upstairs T.V room turned on the T.V grabbed the 360 controller and hit the X middle button.. I left the room to go grab a drink, half way out of the door I noticed I never heard the 360 noise from the t.v.. I frowned went back in and nothing was on the t.v it was still black.. WTF I looked over at the 360 and RED RING!!!! oh Man I was p*****, I used words I won’t put on here but use your imaginations, “they were not pretty words”..  I turned off my 360, then turned it back on. RED RING spinning around and around and around.. Now for those of you who don’t know what the RED RING is. It basically means death for your 360. And until you get it fixed or get a new one,  your xbox360 is nothing more than a paper weight.

A few reasons for the RING OF DEATH…

1.. Xbox360 heat is excessive.

The Xbox360 design has several high-power components that occupy a small space. Now, high-power components (the CPU and GPU in particular) also put out high amounts of heat. The console deals with this by using heat sinks, vents, and fans to dissipate this heat. Because there isn’t much cooling capacity in reserve, this system easily overheats if the needed airflow into the Xbox360 gets obstructed. When the heat levels get high enough, assorted design flaws start to act up leading to the red ring of death.

2.. The Graphics Chip Puts Out Too Much Heat

Microsoft designed the graphics chip in house. Although Microsoft has some experience here, it doesn’t come close to the level of expertise of the ASIC vendors. As a result, their graphics chip is inefficient in that it dissipates too much waste heat. This problem dovetails in with the weak cooling system in the console. Microsoft has gone to an ASIC vendor in the US and had the graphics chip redesigned. This move goes a long way to resolving the overheating problems. However, there are lots of Xbox360 units in use that still have the old graphics chip.

Now there are fixes for the RED RING..  “Yes I am going to get my 360 fixed”   The ONLY reason I am spending the monies to fix it, It’s a Special Halo3 Edition Xbox360 that is no long being made and I Love it..

I mean really come on!!! You spend 399.99 on a console, 60 dollars on a game, 60 dollars on a 12month online gold card,  money for MSP (Microsoft Points) for the market place/down loadable games and other things..  Not to mention the countless hours spent playing.. and you get the RED RING of Death..

I am sitting here still shaking my head!!!!

YES I went out Saturday morning to get a NEW Xbox360 at Future Shop..  299.99+taxes, it came with 3 games. Fable3 , BioShock2 and a down loadable game Halo Reach and a 3 month gold membership card.  Yes I already have all these games..  I hooked it all up, then realized this NEW xbox360 doesn’t have an external hard drive..  The older style xbox360 has the hard drive on the outside of the 360, you could unclip it and take it with you on the go, clip it onto another old style xbox360 and you have ALL your stuff..  Well F*** back to the store I went to get a transfer cable ” about 45 dollars”.. After 15 minutes I was ALL set up and ready to play.. All my Games, Achievements, History, MSPs and Profiles were on the NEW xbox360..

I will admit the new 360 is nice. It’s eject and power buttons are touch sensitive,  the controller is lighter and more condensed to fit into your hands. I LOVE the large 250gb hard drive, the built in 802.11n Wi-Fi (I’m not so sure of yet) and 5 usb ports.. It’s a bit smaller/shorter than the older styles.. I do like that they put the cooling fan on top of the 360 and not in the back “where it collects dust” I also like the NEW noises it makes when you turn it off and on, open or close the tray and start playing a game.

But still I’m feeling the loss of my Xbox360 Special Halo Edition. “Until I get it fixed!