The Green Goblin Blog

Today was an "almost" day for Xbox in so many ways.

1. I was shopping in Comet for an extra Xbox 360 for the bedroom. They had only one Arcade in stock and that was a bundle with Sega Superstars Tennis (+£10 on the unbundled price). I knew from checking online that no shops seemed to have Arcades on their own in stock at a reasonable price so paid the extra for a game I didn't want. Slightly grey cloud appears.


2. When I got home, I went to xbox.com to register the new purchase. Strangely, the newly added console showed no "Warranty start" date but did have a "Warranty expiration" of May 17th, 2010 - well short of the expected 12 months. I assume this date is based on when the console is delivered to Comet. Grey cloud darkening.


3. After pinging one of my colleagues in the US, I called Xbox support and they asked me to email them a scan of the till receipt. Was impressed that I didn't need to post anything. The telephone line was almost clear too so I didn't have to concentrate on what the person was saying too much either. Sunshine filtering through breaks in the cloud.


4. To test the new console, I plugged it into the TV and had a play with the blades. Having no storage (hard disk or memory card), the console comes with the old interface. I couldn't put the hard disk from my other Xbox onto this one for secret squirrel reasons. Against my better judgement, I dug out the Xbox wireless network adapter and tried to get the console to talk to Xbox Live. I typed in the WEP code but failed to get an IP address from my router; even giving the console a fixed IP address wouldn't get me anywhere. I really hate that adapter. Cloud blocks the sun again.


5. After putting the new purchase away (no monitor in the bedroom yet), I decided to try out the Tennis game to see if I'd been ripped off. Before I could, the console advised me to install a secret squirrel update which I agreed to. Console locks. Reboot and try to download the update again. Console locks. Maybe there is something wrong with the update? Reboot. Console DIES with lovely flashing red lights. Reconnect all cables and try without hard disk - still dead. Maybe I shouldn't have let the old console see the new addition to the family. Thunderheads appear.


6. Knowing the drill, I go to the Xbox support website (the telephone lines closed an hour ago) and try to request a repair. I sign in and click on the serial number of the dead console - get prompted to sign in. I try this loop for a few minutes before closing all browse windows and trying again - no joy. Even rebooting made no difference. Ominous purple glow around clouds.


7. In the end I went to another machine and made the request frem there. The website correctly showed that I was out of normal warranty so I mentioned in the "anything to declare" text box that this was for a three-red-lights warranty repair. Then the form asked for credit card details - hopefully I won't get billed £78.20 for this and have to fight to get a refund afterwards. Nowhere on the receipt does it repeat the text I typed in or state that three-red-lights warranty will be free. The process doesn't fill me with confidence. Heavy rain starts to fall.


8. The email with the returns instructions only took an hour to arrive - this is good. I've heard form colleagues where the emails never arrived, resulting in delays due to contacting Xbox support on the phone and resubmitting the repair requests. Downpour ends.


9. Just realised that I had donated the cardboard coffin the last repaired console came back in to some poor soul at work. So now I need to find a sturdy box to send the dead console back in. Distant rumble of thunder.

Fingers crossed that the repair process includes - for the first time - a successful migration of the game licenses. One can only hope.

Strangely, I'm not too angry about all this. Maybe that's partly because I'm not mid-way through a game. The console dying during my recent Fable 2 period would have irked me somewhat.
Sue - now she is going to be SO PISSED OFF when she comes back from her training course in Birmingham to find the Xbox is dead AGAIN. And she'll blame Microsoft - handily, there's a representitive just a few feet away...

Scores on the Doors

Console #1 (purchased) - 12 months (Jan 06 - Jan 07)
Console #2 (replacement) - 10 months (Feb 07 - Nov 07)
Console #3 (replacement) - 20 months (Dec 07 - today)
Console #4 (purchased) - ?? months (today - ??)

[[Update]]
It has been pointed out to me that my Xbox is effectively 42 months old so I no longer qualify for a free three-red-lights repair. Joy.

Labels: Xbox