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Is Kinect causing the dreaded RROD for Xbox owners?

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DVDBack23 @ Jan 05, 2011 20:39 | 15 comments

Although Microsoft has denied it, an increasing amount of Xbox 360 owners are complaining that their new Kinect systems are causing their consoles to get the dreaded RROD (red ring of death).

In the earlier years of the console, RROD was a major problem for 360 owners, as the lights mean the console needs to be replaced. Microsoft has curbed the problem with recent iterations, which use more efficient boards.

Console owners are now complaining that shorty after connecting their Kinect motion control systems, their Xboxes are beginning to fail, with some saying the death light came within a week.

Says one upset youth, Adam Winnifrith (via BBC):

We plugged it in the day we got it but only played it a few times before we got the red lights. The next day when we tried it again we still had the red rings of death and haven't been able to use it since. It is quite a shame as we got loads of new games for the Xbox too and I never had a chance to play them.

The child says the warranty on the console expired just two weeks ago leaving the family with little recourse.

Microsoft was quick to respond to all the complaints:

Kinect is designed to work with every Xbox 360 sold to date.

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.

Microsoft sold over 3 million of the systems since launch.

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Comments

Comment by: coorva (Jan 05, 2011 21:19)

well of course there going to say that,how else are they going to cover there ass,,cant wait till the slim start failing,,then its our fault because!!!

Comment by: Anonymous User (Jan 05, 2011 22:35)

This article hit exactly what just happened to our Xbox 360 after plugging the kinect into it. I hooked it up and played the game that came with it and then it kept stating is was saving the content and then the 3 red lights came on. Then my kids were able to play again a few days later some how and again the 3 red lights appeared the followng time we tried to play it. It costs $99 just to have it checked out....by time they fix it you could buy a new one-isn't that convenient!!!!!!

Comment by: stuntman_ (Jan 05, 2011 23:56)

look on craigslist I bet you can find someone that will fix it for 35 or less. I wouldn't be suprised if kinect is causing the red ring. I am sure it makes the console work quite a bit harder. But honestly depending on how old an xbox is, it's going to red ring at some point kinect or no kinect

Comment by: KillerBug (Jan 06, 2011 03:20)

Originally posted by stuntman_:
look on craigslist I bet you can find someone that will fix it for 35 or less. I wouldn't be suprised if kinect is causing the red ring. I am sure it makes the console work quite a bit harder. But honestly depending on how old an xbox is, it's going to red ring at some point kinect or no kinect

The 360 has always been unreliable...why would anyone attempt to push such a platform to do 3D spacial recognition?

Comment by: redux79 (Jan 06, 2011 15:39)

If Kinect draws power directly through the xbox itself then I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it were causing older models to red-ring. I'd be curious to see if this is affecting most if not all pre-jasper chipset 360's.

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that MS knows that every chipset up to and including falcon had/have significant fail rates. I believe the first falcon chipsets were in the halo 3 edition consoles and they're coming up on the end of the 3 year red-ring warranty.

This means either a $99 repair (with no guarantee it wont fail again) and several weeks of waiting, or buying a brand new 250 gig wireless n console for $300 (yes I know there are cheaper models). Assuming that many kinects were given as x-mass presents new games were purchased as well. So are you going to let new games collect dust waiting for a repair or sell the dead xbox and buy a new one?

This may be an attempt to flush out all the older unreliable models in an attempt to save money on repair costs while boosting current sales. Like I said just my own paranoid conspiracy theory… although I believe it’s quite possible especially from a corporate point of view.

Comment by: xaznboitx (Jan 07, 2011 07:01)

MS are lying because uncle works at Gamestop and he told me that 360 keep breaking down because of kniect and rrod

Comment by: stuntman_ (Jan 07, 2011 08:48)

your uncle working at gamestop doesn't really make him a reliable source (even though I do agree with him)

Comment by: ajennice (Jan 07, 2011 14:31)

Originally posted by stuntman_:
your uncle working at gamestop doesn't really make him a reliable source (even though I do agree with him)

The latest dash update has been rumored to overcl;ock the processors (in non-slim consoles) to work with KINECT. If they're known for failure at regular clock speed overclocking them isn't going to make them last any better.
Also rumnored why many consoles got the RROD after doing the last dash update as well

Comment by: 0ldskool (Jan 07, 2011 18:16)

I say the only way to avoid this is to take things into your own hands. modify your 360's to include water cooling for the cpu's cause we know that M$ does not know how to properly cool it....

Comment by: ajennice (Jan 07, 2011 18:34)

Originally posted by 0ldskool:
I say the only way to avoid this is to take things into your own hands. modify your 360's to include water cooling for the cpu's cause we know that M$ does not know how to properly cool it....

Seen some pics/vids. For cost of modding that far, just extract the NAND and have the fans run at max 100% of the time, and add the core 2 cooler.
I also take old OEM fans and make ram air fans for the side opposite of the HDD area. Just wire a 12v transformer and a toggle to the OEM fan, remove the dark grey plastic end piece from the console (if you don't care about warranty, dremmel the steel meshing out as well for unobstructive flow) and wire tie the fan to the end of the console so it jets cool, fresh air into the end. Flip the toggle when you want to for added air flow

That and the 12v NAND mod (or talismoon whisper max fans) will drop the exhauset temp by 5-8*F (which is a nice jump)

Also just raising the console up anywhere from 1/2-1 Inch will help as you'll allow more fresh air to get under the console where a majority of heat will build up.

Comment by: bhetrick (Jan 07, 2011 19:58)

Originally posted by ajennice:

Seen some pics/vids. For cost of modding that far, just extract the NAND and have the fans run at max 100% of the time, and add the core 2 cooler.

A 360 with and edited nand (which opened the chance of being LIVE banned) and a fan running at 100%, sounding like a jet...

vs.

A 360 with an added water cooling kit being LIVE-safe and super quiet...

I'll take the h2o kit hands down. Water cooling will keep the console much cooler than any other mods. And with the 360 h2o kits available, it's actually easier for many to install one of these than to hack, cut, solder, tape, etc trying to do a nand/fan hack.

Comment by: bhetrick (Jan 07, 2011 19:58)

Originally posted by ajennice:

Seen some pics/vids. For cost of modding that far, just extract the NAND and have the fans run at max 100% of the time, and add the core 2 cooler.

Comment by: ajennice (Jan 07, 2011 22:06)

Originally posted by bhetrick:

Originally posted by ajennice:

Seen some pics/vids. For cost of modding that far, just extract the NAND and have the fans run at max 100% of the time, and add the core 2 cooler.
A 360 with and edited nand (which opened the chance of being LIVE banned) and a fan running at 100%, sounding like a jet...
And unless you're sitting onthe 360 and have the tv turned waaay down, the sound isn't noticable.

vs.

A 360 with an added water cooling kit being LIVE-safe and super quiet...

I'll take the h2o kit hands down. Water cooling will keep the console much cooler than any other mods. And with the 360 h2o kits available, it's actually easier for many to install one of these than to hack, cut, solder, tape, etc trying to do a nand/fan hack.

The don't do the NAND trick, just do the talismoon whisper max.

Comment by: bhetrick (Jan 07, 2011 23:08)

I'd go with the Legacy before the Max, and it's still the same situation. When in "Turbo" mode it still sounds like a jet taking off.

Comment by: phobet (May 20, 2011 03:08)

"Microsoft was quick to respond to all the complaints:

Kinect is designed to work with every Xbox 360 sold to date.

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."

That's like saying "We've taken notice of you repeatedly smacking your forehead against the wall. We fail to see the correlation between that, and your complaints of headaches."