Xboxfounder (Xbox Insider) Answers Questions

February 1st, 2008, 21:31 Posted By: wraggster

* Q: After reading the article, my Xbox got the RROD, but that's not what this post is about. Instead of sending off refurbished systems, why not send consumers a brand new xbox when they experience the RROD? Isn't sending them one that got the RROD, just delaying the inevitable?
* A: Sorry to hear about your 360 dying. I hope you get swift satisfaction from MS and get back into the action soon.
The reason MS uses used materials to fulfill repair and refurb needs is purely economic. It is rational for any electronic company to try to do what MS is trying to do. Especially when the failure rate is so high. If MS had to eat the cost for all those failed units, it would put pressure on the biz unit up and down the food chain. Who can write off 4 million units at 400 bucks each? Well MS can. But they won't. Another bad decision.
What's irrational about the way they are doing this is that they don't have a good idea, a high confidence, that the actions they take in repair lead to a unit that is as good as new. Or as good as it needs to be. They don't even clean them off. So you can baby your console, play it 100 hours, have it fail, and get one back that has been abused at a frat house and has a couple of thousand hours of use on it. Not a very fair deal. Regardless of the warranty. I could write for hours about this subject alone. But I hope you get what I'm saying.

Q: You mentioned in the past that the 360 can scratch you discs. How does this happen, and is there a way to fix that problem?
There was only a span of about 4 years between the launch of the XBox and the XBox 360. Should we expect to see the newest XBox within the next 2 years, or is it more likely for Microsoft to perfect (Or get as close to that standard as possible) the 360 before even thinking of launching a new console?
* A: Disc Scratches?
The 360 scratches discs when gamers jump around. The shock gets coupled into the console through the floor. The disc wobbles and hits the laser assembly. The part of the laser assembly that causes the scratch is about 1/2 inch to the outside of the laser, so the console doesn't show a problem at the time the disc is scratched because it isn't reading where the disc is scratched. It's only later when the laser hits the scratch that read errors occur. Then the user doesn't associate their activity with the damage because they didn't happen at the same time as far as they can see. An ODD has to be susceptible to this. It must be missing the pads on the inside of the top cover that are put there to stop the disc from traveling into the laser. A lot of this info is on the web, but I figured out how it happens and why it's controversial when it happened to my son on a new game. I sent this info to a friend at MS. Let's see if they do anything about it.
3rd gen when?
The reasons the span between XB1 and 360 was so short were that XB1 was losing so much money, and MS wanted to get a head start on Sony in this gen. But the plan for 360 was for a 7 year life cycle before the next console. I don't know if that has changed since I left, but I don't see anything to cause it to. Just because they are already working on it doesn't mean it's anywhere near shipping. It's normal product development practice to always be working on new technology. And what should they be doing, given the problems on 360? I'm sure they don't want to repeat that.

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