Yes kids, it’s the Red Ring of Death.
More details follow.
First, let me say that I’ve done the research to identify how to have the best chance at obtaining the newest hardware when I purchase another one. (Soon, because I pre-ordered Beatles: Rock Band and I’m not going to miss out on downloading All You Need is Love (which will only be available, I understand, on Launch Day – 9/9/2009). What I’ll be buying is the 120GB Elite matte black model (timeline, model features). Further, to make sure I have the newest motherboard, I need to verify (if possible) that the power supply is 12.1 Amps (this table shows how to differentiate motherboards by power supply specs). (For my Green colleagues, I have to assert now that the 12.1 Amp model only draws 100 W, unlike my old model, which drew 175 W.
Second, let me say that while the timing is crap from the point of view of Beatles Rock Band, the timing is fortuitous vis a vis the recent price drop. This model was $400 last month and is now $300 (and the hard drive it comes with is worth $150 retail). Also, the RRoD was expected – my XBox is about 2 years old and therefore is a little better than typical from the point of view of the hardware failure issues XBox 360 has had. I will get the dead one fixed and will probably find a good home for it among my friends after it comes back from repairs. Speak up if you’re interested.
Third, I thought it might be helpful to say how I sort of saw the RRoD total failure coming. First symptoms were that the USB ports got a little finicky. My USB guitar controller for Rock Band refused to work. My microphone controller worked in only one of the two front USB ports. Controllers would half-recharge via the recharge/wired connection cable. All of the USB related symptoms expressed over the past 2 to 3 months. Secondly, in the past couple of days I had XBox Arcade games and Netflix freeze up completely during play or playback as well as a briefly scrambled audio playback (then silent) accompanied by scrambled and frozen video and a completely unresponsive system. (Controller lights and XBox lights looked normal but nothing happened when pressing the silver X button.)
It wasn’t until, during troubleshooting, I removed the hard drive (it sort of clips in at the top), that the RRoD showed up. After that, it didn’t matter if I put the drive back in or not. I now turn on the XBox, see the system boot up, see the NXE dashboard start populating, then the screen goes black and the console displays the RRoD.
I am a little worried about integrating my old ID with the new XBox and transferring my licenses (of XBox Arcade games and content that I’ve paid for). I understand that while the process is simple (though you have to recall all of your purchases – I’m more concerned that I’ll forget some Rock Band/Rock Band 2 tracks than I am about discrete games), I understand that DRM can be lost for non-XBox Live accounts after transfer. Oh well I’ll see what’s up when I get there, I suppose.
That’s where I stand now. I’m going to see if I can’t get me a new black elite system today. But if not, it can wait a little. I’m not concerned as long as I can get one before 9/9/2009. 