BBC: Kinect caused 'Red Ring of Death' on out-of-warranty Xbox 360

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jan 5th 2011 4:00PM

Grand Theft Auto IV blamed for RRoD -- Tipster on April 30, 2008

Red Dead Redemption blamed for RRoD -- Tipster on June 21, 2010

Kinect blamed for RRoD -- BBC on January 5, 2011

As our tips box can attest to over the years, every major Xbox 360 release causes the unholy specter of the Xbox 360's infamous 'Red Ring of Death' to return. The family interviewed in this BBC piece have an especially poignant tale: they just missed out on the three year warranty the product carries for the RRoD and E74 errors.

Microsoft said in a statement, "There is no correlation between the three flashing red lights error and Kinect. Any new instances of the three flashing red lights error are merely coincidental." We believe it, given our anecdotal history. It's still of little consolation to anyone who was blessed with an old, out of warranty Xbox 360 that somehow hadn't died/broken/etc.

Source: BBC

Tags: e74, kinect, microsoft, red-ring-of-death, rrod, xbox

Reader Comments (94)

'Three flashing red lights error' isn't quite as catchy as 'Red Ring of Death'.

@Cal
I'm pretty sure if any MS employee calls it the red ring of death they will be hunted down by Steve Balmer.

Wait a minute... I bought a Kinect on launch day, and my 2006 20GB xbox that served me faultlessly for 4 years just died on Christmas Eve, forcing me to upgrade to the 360S.

At least it gave me an excuse to buy a shiny new box

@nytrojen

and MS's plan to increase hardware sales is working.... dun dun dunnnnnnn!!!

@nytrojen
At first I thought masturbating to the Sears catalogue red ringed my Xbox, but it only happened that one time so I'm pretty sure they're unrelated. I'll contact the BBC just to be safe though.

Next headline:

RRoD causes Kinect!

...wait...

@Red Runner

Only in Russia....

@lockwoodisbored
You're wrong again.

@lockwoodisbored

in soviet russia joke kills you

@lockwoodisbored
In Soviet Russia, Indian food red rings you.

There, boom roasted.

Microsoft just can't catch a break, can they?

@King Johngie the Fourth

no, but they're real good at breaking shit, though. It balances out.

@XperimntNterror

That's the smartest thing I've heard all day

This isn't fishy at all, nosiree bob. Incidentally, since it just so happens to be out of warranty, you should consider buying a new one, only $299.99, and it WON'T red ring with Kinect.

@Gibbeynator

Yes, you're right. You've broken the case. Microsoft knows who out there in the world still owns an original 360. They are watching. If you are not interested in getting a new model than they flip a switch - connected directly to your xbox - and cause the RRoD on your out of warranty console, forcing you to buy a new one. Cue the evil laughter, smoking of cigars, and swimming in pools of money.

@Uncle Jesse

It's like one of those movies about shady organizations having total control over you...only with the 360 S, if it dies, it turns into a malicious robot that kills your entire family. True story.

RDRRRoD?

@Uncle Jesse

Are you growling or just a pirate?

@Uncle Jesse Well done sir.

@Uncle Jesse I don't get it lol

You sell a crap console, people will make up excuses as to why their console was faulty. Now I'm not saying that the Kinect didn't make the console kill over, but the fact is that the older 360's are built like crap. Microsoft knows it, but they've dodged it for many years. However, even though it's Microsoft's fault, I'm going to put a bit of the blame on the family for not researching this well known issue before buying the system. Microsoft better have learned from the RROD, cause people don't like buying things that constantly break. The Xbox 360 S seems like it's generally a well made product. I hope they continue to improve with their next system.

@KungFuChaosNinja

PS: I like the Xbox 360. I'm not a PS3 or Wii fanboy. I'm just stating the obvious. It's a great system for games, but it's suffered from the crappy hardware issues and it's a shame.

@KungFuChaosNinja

No, it's true. The pre-Jasper units are absolutely terrible. I love my Xbox360, but there is no excuse for having to send in my launch day console for repairs 4 times. It was under warranty and I still have it. It runs fine now, but I still get scared when I fire it up and hear the crazy noises it makes. The Jasper 360 I have works perfectly.

@KungFuChaosNinja
the sad thing is they didn't suffer and they wont have learned a thing, except that they can get away with anything.
sure they took a big hit with the 3-year warranty costs, but how many people have bought 2, 3, 5 360's? im sure they made up those costs and plenty more, all cause people like instant gratification and cause a substantial investment (game library) will tend to retain users.

@KungFuChaosNinja Microsoft dodged it? They gave people a much longer warranty that let you get a free console or free repair and have pretty much eliminated the major problem in the new consoles. They've acknowledged the issue and made strides to fix it.

@KungFuChaosNinja
Replace "older" with "every ms product incluiding" please.

@jmood88 They haven't exactly fixed much. My new Slim died just after 1 month!!! Way to go microsoft!!!

Refuse to touch my 360 because I do not want another RROD to happen. Soon as I'm enjoying a game it will no doubt red ring on me.

Trying my best not to touch it until Gears of War 3 later this year.

@(Unverified) Tis better to have gamed and RROD'd than to have never gamed at all

@butaneko

It's easy to say that in the long run, but right after it happens, you just wish you'd never gamed that bitch at all.

Wait, what were we talking about here?

@butaneko

You're right but it just bothers me.

@(Unverified)

that logic makes no sense. "i won't use my 360 because if i do it might break and then i won't be able to use my 360." ???

@maveric101 That's 'cause it's not a logic :P

I was disgusted with this BBC report. It was one of the worst pieces of journalism i've ever seen from them.

It did nothing for the consumers (didn't talk about SOGA at all - a UK regulation which provides cover for some thing outside of warranty time limits).

Their headline, given Microsoft's comments on the matter, was also complete hearsay. one person saying after they used kinect it broke does not equate to "Kinect blamed for 'red ring of death' Xbox 360 failures" - Where does the plural come from?

Grah.

@lockwoodisbored

I'd rather pay to keep Murdoch at bay.

i've had 4 or so xbox's my last one was out of warranty and got mine from my sister before she moved and its out of warranty and is an older system but haven't gotten the three red lights of death yet hope it doesn't happen anytime soon though.

The dumbest thing about this whole debacle is that this happens with every generation. Have we all forgot the early-gen PS2 issues?

@Teancum

Yeah, I remember that. The problem with the 360 is that it's well passed it's permissible launch hiccup period and it still keeps gasping and choking along. I still have an NES circa 1987 and it STILL works to this day and has NEVER been repaired. Almost all of that console was built using cheap-as-you-can-get parts to boot (even for it's day). The 360 failures have far exceeded acceptable levels... by about 4 years ago.

@XperimntNterror

It's not the new 360S models (or even the Jasper units) that are malfunctioning though. Is it? I thought it was just the older models that people still used that are breaking down.

@Uncle Jesse

well RRoD doesn't seem to be an issue with the 360S (yet), but i can personally attest to the PSUs being faulty. I bought a 360S and 3 months later the PSU started making a sound like putting tin in a garbage disposal. Other people around the internet were making the same complaint. To MS's credit, though, they sent me a new one free of charge. We'll see what happens in the next 2 months. Hopefully, that will be the only instance of trouble. My point above though, was really just saying that the 360 has, overall, led the pack for system failures in any generation since the NES and that's why it keeps getting harped on.

@XperimntNterror

I totally agree on 360's problems, the percentage of failure are just unacceptable for a 5 year old hardware (my boss always said that MS is an evil empire), but comparing NES and SNES with today's systems is bit unfair, those systems didn't have moving parts like cooling fans, CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive or even Hard drive.

@XperimntNterror

still love that crippled box of fun, though.

@jocaju

That's fair and very true. I was getting at it's overall longevity. I honestly think that you will see far more functioning PS3's in the next 20yrs than you will 360's, though (to compare it to something current). Unfortunately, I feel like the 360 was, by design, built to be temporary. Why not? If it can continually provide MS with more hardware sales, it certainly seems plausible. At least to me, but I love me some conspiracy theories! :D

@XperimntNterror

You say you've never had to repair your NES, which I believe, but can you say that you've never had a hardware issue? Did you ever experience the blinking red power light? The cultural pervasiveness of "blowing into an NES cartridge" is testament to the fact that a lot of people had problems with the NES hardware. Whether you recognize it or not, the NES had a poorly designed cartridge socket that caused the system to fail quite a lot. In most cases you wouldn't need to actually repair the system to get it to work, but the NES wasn't as ironclad as you imply.

since there are only 3 lights, leaving the ring incomplete, isn't it more like the Red Arc of Death? haha. totally RAD!

Pre-Jasper chip 360s are pretty dodgy. It wouldn't surprise me if the USB power drain by Kinect causes overheating and the E74 error. Let us know if Jaspers or 360S's have RRoD issues, otherwise it's kind of an old joke. If I [still] had an older Xbox 360, I would be expecting an RRoD at any moment.

@Styli On old 360s, the Kinect draws its power from a separate adapter, not over USB from the main unit.

Kinect... the rockstar version

I've been wondering this in quite some time...

Why people call it "Red Ring of Death"? It is just three lights, instead of the four needed to be a ring...

It should be called the "Red Earing of Death" or "Red Three-Quarters of Death"...

But, well, I guess is much better "Red Ring of Death"... XD

@FHT
I liked the "Three Red Lights" 1UP podcast.

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BBC: Kinect caused 'Red Ring of Death' on out-of-warranty Xbox 360

Reader Comments (94)

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:02PM Cal said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 6:43PM Bewoulf said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:05PM nytrojen said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:12PM XperimntNterror said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:26PM adrunkamputee said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:05PM Red Runner said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:14PM Bumper said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:40PM adrunkamputee said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:57PM chromekreeper said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:07PM adrunkamputee said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:05PM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:13PM XperimntNterror said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:25PM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:05PM Gibbeynator said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:11PM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:21PM Red Runner said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:07PM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:17PM The Tim said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:47PM vidjagamer said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 6:51PM 182 said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:09PM KungFuChaosNinja said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:11PM KungFuChaosNinja said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:15PM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:01PM scratchh said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:02PM jmood88 said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 7:18PM eNriqeu said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 8:34PM ownmeanie said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:11PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:16PM butaneko said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:11PM Vcize said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:12PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 6:27PM maveric101 said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 1:50PM Ghost Matter said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:13PM liam said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 7:39AM Herbaceous Border Patrol said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:15PM StormChaser91 said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:18PM Teancum said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:27PM XperimntNterror said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:52PM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:04PM XperimntNterror said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:07PM jocaju said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:08PM XperimntNterror said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:17PM XperimntNterror said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 5:44PM HoopyHobo said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:18PM Admiral Ackbar Supreme Commander said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:20PM Styli said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:39PM spin cycle said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:20PM NoirR said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 4:22PM FHT said

Posted: Jan 5th 2011 6:44PM hfm said

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