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Xbox 360 Very Unstable
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wed Nov 23, 2005 08:27 AM
from the can't-say-anyone-is-surprised dept.
from the can't-say-anyone-is-surprised dept.
fmwap writes "There have been several postings over at Xbox-scene complaining of crashing Xbox's on new games, with default settings on single player. Crashes on Xbox Live and on startup have been reported too, and Project Gotham Racing 3 crashes before finishing the first lap. Screenshots and Video are available showing the crash."
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1699 parts ok (Score:5, Funny)
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/18
and it seems to be the same in other forums too:
http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=391764 [teamxbox.com]
Cool crash screens though. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Cool crash screens though. (Score:5, Funny)
>out a Atari 2600 game cartridge with the power on. Hey wait, the crashes themselves look better than atari
>2600 games. Oh no!
Why didn't they color the crash screen using Microsoft's trademark blue?
Parent
Re:Cool crash screens though. (Score:5, Funny)
What people really want to know is "does it run the Sony rootkit?"
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Have you tried.. (Score:5, Funny)
Or how about? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Or how about? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
And in todays news... (Score:5, Funny)
Pope is discovered to be a Catholic
Family of bears accused of defecating in forested areas
Re:And in todays news... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:And in todays news... (Score:5, Funny)
Family of bears crashes
(...for the night? crashes the party?) Anyway every camper knows to shut the flaps against the bears.
Pope is accused of defecating in forested areas
Hey, when you gotta' go, you gotta' go. Nature calls.
But this?
Microsoft discovered to be Catholic
I call bullshit - don't let the tithing (MS tax) / real charity done by the Foundation throw you off. No way Gates would let his workers wear his crucified corpse around their neck. (Though I'm sure Balmer has thought of it...)
Also 0 hits on this search. [google.com]
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Re:And in todays news... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
hmmmm .... (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like someone needs to improve their driving skills and stop blaming the system.
upgrades (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:upgrades (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess after years of working with Microsoft operating systems and just assuming that Windows was part of the computer, many users have grown to accept crashing and the need to run periodic upgrades. However, in the "black box" market, people are much less forgiving of programming bugs that lead to crashes and are much less likely to upgrade to newer firmware versions.
I work with embedded systems at my job and it's known by all programmers that our firmware needs to be as close to bug free as we can possibly get it. Think of a little "black box" that controls your printer (a print server), for example. How would you feel if you had to reset some idiot box a couple times a day for no reason? For everybody I've ever worked with, it's entirely unacceptable and it's an almost certainty that the IT managers would be replacing the box with another brand as soon as possible.
I don't know about you, but it's bad enough for me --and most people-- when my computer crashes. I would be pretty upset, however, if my game console crashed after hours of game play to complete a mission.
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Could be worse... (Score:5, Funny)
So the new XBoxes are crashing...let's just hope they've addressed the problem of the XBox bursting into flames and killing you [theregister.com]. ^_^
What is this? A tabloid? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is normal. With the massive number of parts in the Xbox 360, it's to be expected that some are defective on a few units. Microsoft will give them a replacement. Move along, nothing to see here.
Unfair (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
see....... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well... (Score:5, Funny)
and this folks (Score:5, Interesting)
what does MicroSoft call an alpha-tester? (Score:5, Funny)
Furthermore, "geek up" the product so the alpha-testers will wait in line for 18 hours and pay twice as much as for competitor's hardware for this "priviledge".
Hoax (Score:5, Funny)
Not the only site reporting failures (Score:5, Informative)
Look to the power my son (Score:5, Insightful)
80 or 110W CPU (I have heard both ways), a GPU equivalent to the ~100W R520, a HD, RAM and a constantly spinning DVD in a box how big?
And people wonder why they crash. Anyone who has one want to comment on how hot they get?
-Charlie
Re:Look to the power my son (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
How widespread is this? (Score:5, Interesting)
For example, I have a day-of-release PS2 that's still going strong, and I never experienced any of the problems that were reported here and elsewhere with these units. In this case, I assume that my machine is the norm and not the exception, but if I based my opinion on the naysayers at the time it would appear that my PS2 would be in the minority of working units instead.
Rumors (Score:5, Funny)
Unstable? (Score:5, Informative)
As a note, the system is very thermally unstalbe. I have mine vertical, and every vent is needed. If you were to block any of the airholes for any reason, or to trap the air exiting via the rear of the sytsem, the system potentially could overheat. The exhaust was very high temperature when I checked it after an hour or two of PGR3.
My rig (for reference) was running at 720P for part of it, 1080i for the other part (to compare whose transcoder was better, my TV or the XBOX). I'm on XBOX live, and upon boot, the system updated itself and restarted. This could have been a critical update that fixed the problem that people are talking about.
All and all, I'm quite impressed with the hardware. The emulation works better with some XBOX games than others. For instance, Forza motorsport runs sluggishly on the 360, yet Dead or Alive 3 runs flawlessly.
The live marketplace is impressive. They have HD downloads available, such as music videos and trailers. In addition, you can download new games such as bejewled from Microsoft. There are also themes that can be purchased via live, and as Penny Arcade themes are available, many people should be able to get their themes for sale on Live.
If I see crashes, I'll repost. However, so far, after 10+ hours of operation, most of which with PGR3, I have no crashes or errors to report.
What's "a trace of a crash?" (Score:5, Funny)
What, exactly, is "a trace" of a crash? Sounds like "a little bit pregnant" to me...
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Heat (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't have an Xbox, but maybe you could try running it with the cover off or a fan blowing on it?
Re:Heat (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Rushed to market? (Score:5, Interesting)
In the case of PDZ, I'd question the stability of the game from the fact they were stamping the damn thing before running it through Microsoft's test regime. The problem is with both parties frankly, because if you're stamping it before final testing, the you probably didn't do your OWN testing to make sure things were working properly. Or, I bet Rare was biting its fingernails hoping Microsoft didn't find known issues.
Admittedly, this is version 1 of the 360. You can never find all the problems until a product is put out to market and widespread use finds all sorts of issues you never thought of. For all we know, some people having issues maybe have their 360 plugged into a dizzying array of power bars hooked up behind their home theaters. Power issue, maybe? Inadequate cooling? Time will tell.
In any case, I'm pretty glad I'm not an early adopter this go-around. I'm still considering picking one up, but I think I'll wait until the game library's a little less sports-heavy, and maybe for the 65nm chipped versions to hit the shelves.
I'd like to thank the guinea pigs (Score:5, Funny)
We salute you!
Overheating! My experience. . . (Score:5, Informative)
Since the machine is pretty loud I put it in my home-entairtainment cabinet, which it shares with a receiver, DVD player, and an old VHS. While the cabinet is relatively large, when I close the glass door and play the XB360 it gets very hot in there after playing (and I've been playing alot).
Quake 4 seems to really stress the XB360 out since there is an aggrevating amount of slow down in the game. Several times when Quake 4 got too hectic my XB360 froze up on me. After I felt how hot it is I took it out of the cabinet and so far (being since last night) I haven't had any problems with crahes so far.
What to Watch (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I wish I had a dollar (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:I wish I had a dollar (Score:5, Funny)
hmmm..
DANTE: All right, so even if independent contractors are working on the Death Star, why are you uneasy with its destruction?
RANDALL: All those innocent contractors hired to do a job were killed--casualties of a war they had nothing to do with. (notices Dante's confusion) All right, look--you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way; you got the wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia--this is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everyone within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living.
BLUE-COLLAR MAN: Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, but what were you talking about?
RANDALL: The ending of Return of the Jedi.
DANTE: My friend is trying to convince me that any contractors working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when the space station was destroyed by the rebels.
BLUE-COLLAR MAN: Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm a roofer...(digs into pocket and produces business card) Dunn and Reddy Home improvements. And speaking as a roofer, I can say that a roofer's personal politics come heavily into play when choosing jobs.
RANDALL: Like when?
BLUE-COLLAR MAN: Three months ago I was offered a job up in the hills. A beautiful house with tons of property. It was a simple reshingling job, but I was told that if it was finished within a day, my price would be doubled. Then I realized whose house it was.
DANTE: Whose house was it?
BLUE-COLLAR MAN: Dominick Bambino's.
RANDALL: "Babyface" Bambino? The gangster?
BLUE-COLLAR MAN: The same. The money was right, but the risk was too big. I knew who he was, and based on that, I passed the job on to a friend of mine.
DANTE: Based on personal politics.
BLUE-COLLAR MAN: Right. And that week, the Foresci family put a hit on Babyface's house. My friend was shot and killed. He wasn't even finished shingling.
RANDALL: No way!
BLUE-COLLAR MAN: (paying Dante for coffee) I'm alive because I knew there were risks involved taking on that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. (pauses to reflect) You know, any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault. A roofer listens to this...(taps his heart) not his wallet.
Parent
Re:I wish I had a dollar (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, i don't know if the headline is correct (the console is very unstable... but only for a bunch of people), but if true, it has the smell of a rushed product all over it. And i won't make any friends over this, but serves these people right. Yeah, you, the ones that couldn't wait a couple of months and pay 3x the price in order to buy a product before it has been properly reviewed. And i don't mean like Gamespot's "Oooh! It's the second coming of Christ"-kind of reviews.
Paying upfront for promises is bad buisness. Don't buy into the hype. It's only a console.
Parent
Re:I wish I had a dollar (Score:5, Informative)
Sounds like its likely a combination of out-of-spec power conditioning and overheating. The two can reinforce each other AND combine to contribute instability... parts that are hot are less likely to be tolerant to poor power conditioning, and parts that are experiencing power fluctuations tend to produce more heat on the surge cycles.
Parent
... Re: MS Paying DEARLY (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft responded to this in the way that gained them the most extra profit- they rushed the system to market without (apparently enough) random batch testing or other beta testing. People (lots and lots of people) bought the systems. They are crashing. Microsoft will now start to release patches (probably over Live) that correct this bug or that. The paying public will accept this and install them. People who buy XBox 360s down the road will expect the patches to be installed before they buy the system- but they'll still expect to have to install more at some point.
It's NOT the computer companies fault things have grown this way. They- like all companies- are a FOR-PROFIT venture, and will do whatever they think is the thing that will garner them the most profit. Period.
Welcome to Capitalism, enjoy your stay.
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Re:... Re: MS Paying DEARLY (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm curious how Microsoft plans to patch the systems without hard drives. Aside from updates to the BIOS, how can changes to the video games be saved?
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Re:... Re: MS Paying DEARLY (Score:5, Insightful)
Regardless of Microsoft's "plans", they will find that the consumer elecronics business is _not as easy to dominate as the arena of PC software. Their biggest competitor (Sony) is a veteran of consumer electronics and is having all sorts of financial problems -- ironically, people point to the Playstation division as Sony's sole saving grace. In fact, Microsoft is already finding out because J.Allard's original plan was for the Xbox1 to be turning at least a tiny profit by this point. Instead, they dumped a bunch of money into a new design and rushed it to market.
If this Xbox360 crashing problem is widespread enough, these things are going to either be shunned by the market, or lose all their profit potential fixing them.
Parent
Re:I wish I had a dollar (Score:5, Insightful)
So they can't win. Everyone knew that already but seriously it's not going to cost them anything.
Consider their "limited release numbers" early adoption beta testing. They got them out there into the real world without having to give the units away and now they are getting the feedback they need to add to the new "revisions" that will still be out before the PS3.
It's a good thing though, the *only* reason I could ever see purchasing an XBox with Live would be for racing online. Now that I can't do that I might as well wait for Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3 w/o network play
Parent
Doesn't it strike you as a bit odd (Score:5, Interesting)
But give how common these problems are, doesn't it strike you as odd? This is almost like there was no testing at all, which doesn't make sense. The developers surely would have caught these weeks, if not months ago.
Parent
Re:I wish I had a dollar (Score:5, Insightful)
So they can't win.
Ahh, but they can win...it's called proper project management.
Delays can and do occur, but to be years off target is inexcusible. Rushing a product to market to meet the project deadline is also inexcusible. Microsoft has way too much experience in software development to not be able to estimate how long a project will take. When projects are chronically late by significant anounts of time, your means of estimating time to complete projects needs to be re-examined.
Longhorn is estaimated to ship when, 2008 is it? This is several years behind schedule? (I don't know for certain.) Microsoft's project manager knew (or whould have known) what was going into the new OS and the developers should have been better prepared to provide a more reasonable estimate of the time needed to complete the project.
Of course, the MS Marketing Dept. may be setting timelines and not the engineering/R&D department....no shock there.
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Oh, They Can Win (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, they've also shown that they can win with their anti-competitive practises. Too bad there's not some sort of legal entity that will call them on it...
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Sony has had its moments too... (Score:5, Informative)
In fact, there has been a class action over the issue:
http://www.ps2settlement.com/ [ps2settlement.com]
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Re:Last minute change in the BIOS? (Score:5, Insightful)
It sounds like you're just making shit up.
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Re:Last minute change in the BIOS? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Well... (Score:5, Interesting)
this sort of stuff happens with lots of rushed to market consumer electronics. no big deal to me; its what you would expect. all i can say is that ive had my fair share of consoles do weird stuff, but no playstation or nintendo product ive ever owned has repeatedly crashed on me within the first 24 hours of owning it.
the postings are on xbox-scene. if they are biased against microsoft, i cant tell. its an xbox modding/fan site! would multiple users go out and spend $400 plus games, peripherals, etc. on x360s just so they can post screenshots of self-inflicted crashes?
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