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Designer Builds Coffin For Xbox's Suffering RROD 118

Posted by samzenpus from the rust-in-peace dept.
angry tapir writes "The Xbox 360 RROD coffin was created by Aussie designer Alexis Vanamois, and it does exactly what it says on the tin. It's the ultimate final resting place for 'bricked' Xbox 360 consoles that have suffered the Red Ring of Death; it even has a cavity for your controller!"

*

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Designer Builds Coffin For Xbox's Suffering RROD More

Designer Builds Coffin For Xbox's Suffering RROD

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  • Controller? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Karganeth ( 1017580 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @11:35AM (#31497470)
    The controller isn't broken, why would I throw it away?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Yo Grark ( 465041 )

      Because you sure as hell won't be buying another Xbox360!

      Yo Grark

      • Re:Controller? (Score:5, Informative)

        by commodore64_love ( 1445365 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @11:52AM (#31497734) Journal

        No but I might steal one. Like so:

        (1) Clean, clean, clean the prematurely (less than 2 years) dead X360 so it looks new.
        (2) Buy new one from microsoft.com.
        (3) Put old unit in new box.
        (4) Return for refund because "it doesn't turn on". Get refund.
        (5) If MS refuses, then provide tracking to credit card. They will Force a refund per the contract MS signed with the credit company.

        Done.

        I just did this with a USB drive that went "click click click" before finally spinning up. i.e. It was almost dead before I ever used it! Even though I had just opened the drive, my receipt was a month old, so the store refused the return. Next I bought a new one, put broken drive in new box, and returned it a few days later saying, "This doesn't work." Done.

        I do this everytime a corporation tries to screw me. They almost-never succeed.

        • Re:Controller? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Procasinator ( 1173621 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @11:59AM (#31497852)

          I would think the Xbox 360 has serial numbers. Buying from a game store, you might be lucky and they won't check (probably only would if the process is automated).

          But surely Microsoft themselves would.

          • IIRC, the serial barcode is even visible outside the box, so the teller can scan it in at the time of purchase.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *

            Not to play devil's advocate, but the serial numbers usually are on a sticker that could easily be swapped out. I doubt an sales clerk is going to bust the case open and check the internal serial.

            Myself, I can't complain. I've only had one 360 RROD on me (a launch model), and MS quickly fixed it. My PS3 never went RROD on me, but until recently there weren't any worthwhile games to play on it. So I've still gotten way more out of my 360, even with the one RROD.

            • The serial is printed directly on the casing, not on a sticker. And the packaging actually has a hole so the serial can be scanned directly from the xbox at the time of sale.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Xest ( 935314 )

            Yes they are, and there's a small hole in the 360 boxes through which you can see the serial number so the retailer and Microsoft could easily tell

            Oh, and what he suggested is also more commonly known as fraud.

            Not the smartest move, and well, certainly not recommended.

        • the serial # won't match the one on the receipt, will it? this sort of shenanigans might be why serial #s are always recorded on receipts (at least up in Canada they are...)

          • Re:Controller? (Score:4, Informative)

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @12:46PM (#31498560)
            Disgruntled Best Buy employee here.

            We don't check serial numbers unless you get a service plan, and even then, we won't have record of it until it's first repaired.

            If the item you are returning is less than 30 days old, we generally just go ahead and give you a new one. If it's more than one month and less than one year, we'll send it off to get it fixed at a service center.

            You can also do what a coworker of mine did, if you work at another retail-esque store. He went to Target and bought a jigsaw puzzle that was shrink-wrapped. He opened it up at home and took the puzzle pieces out, and replaced them with cheerios. When nobody was looking, he used our own store's shrinkwrap to make it seem like the puzzle box had never been opened, and then he promptly went to return it with the original receipt and he got a full refund

            Best Buy checks to make sure the electronics are working if they're expensive, but some smaller things like hard drive enclosures don't get tested or opened. You could easily replace one with a small brick, for example, and we would be none the wiser.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by rworne ( 538610 )

              Yes, policies like this are why Linksys is selling routers that are actually bags of dirt with "puto" [tomsphotos.com] written on it.

            • Incorrect, the POS at Best Buy requires the serial number to be scanned on an xbox at both time of sale and time of return, so it's next to impossible to pull off a switch like this at Best Buy.

        • Yeah, and nobody at Microsoft has ever come up with that brilliant plan before you did. All it would take is 5 seconds to check the serial numbers, show that they don't match, and the jig is up. This type of scam would work for most items that are inexpensive and don't have serial numbers though.

        • Re:Controller? (Score:5, Informative)

          by Ephemeriis ( 315124 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @12:32PM (#31498356)

          No but I might steal one. Like so:

          (1) Clean, clean, clean the prematurely (less than 2 years) dead X360 so it looks new.
          (2) Buy new one from microsoft.com.
          (3) Put old unit in new box.
          (4) Return for refund because "it doesn't turn on". Get refund.
          (5) If MS refuses, then provide tracking to credit card. They will Force a refund per the contract MS signed with the credit company.

          Done.

          As you say, this is theft.

          You can argue that it's a faulty product and you're entitled to your money's worth and whatnot... But that seems more like a discussion you should be having with technical support, over their warranty. Or maybe with some lawyer.

          I just did this with a USB drive that went "click click click" before finally spinning up. i.e. It was almost dead before I ever used it!

          Not trying to tell you that you're wrong here... But it's entirely possible that the USB port you happened to be using had insufficient power.

          My USB HDD does something similar if I plug it into an under-powered USB port or if I use too long a USB cable. Sounds for all the world like a dead drive. But if I plug it in to a good port or use a shorter cable it spins up just fine.

          I bought a new one, put broken drive in new box, and returned it a few days later saying, "This doesn't work." Done.

          I've got a co-worker who does this all the time.

          We had a bad thunderstorm a while back and the power supply blew on his fancy TV. He bought a new one, put the bad one in the box, and returned it.

          Last year he bought a new artificial Christmas tree from SAM's Club... Put his old, smaller tree in the box, and returned it.

          I do this everytime a corporation tries to screw me. They almost-never succeed.

          Generally speaking, they aren't trying to screw you. It can certainly seem unfair when you're bit in the ass by their return policies... And it may not be a very fair policy in the first place... But they aren't generally actually trying to screw you.

          I used to work at Electronic's Boutique back in the day. When I started there they had a virtually "no questions asked" return policy. You could even return a game if you didn't like it.

          So we'd have customers basically using us for free rentals. They'd buy a game, play it, beat it, return it, and get something else for no charge. And then do the same thing with that.

          So then we stipulated that it was only on non-working merchandise... And folks just lied and said it didn't work on their system.

          Then we stipulated that you could only return non-working merchandise for another copy of the same thing. And folks would tell us that they bought it was a gift and had been purchased for the wrong system.

          So we stipulated that it had to be un-opened merchandise. And folks will just use somebody's shrink wrap machine to repackage the game and make it look un-opened.

          The end result of all this is that somebody who has a legitimate reason to return a game to the store is going to have one hell of a hard time accomplishing that. And they're going to feel like they're being screwed. But it isn't that the company wants to screw them... It's that so many people screwed the company over the years that there's no way for anyone to win at this point.

          • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

            by theaveng ( 1243528 )

            >>>As you say, this is theft.

            I don't consider it theft when I'm dealing with (1) a scam artist that knowingly sells defective product (2) a dishonest corporation that sells defective products like the X360 with ~33% failure rate, or (c) a corporation like Bank of America that stole 1500 billion in bailout funds from our wallets. I don't consider taking money from Known Thieves to be stealing, just as I didn't cry when Saddam Hussein was hung dead.

            As for the serial number issue, I was not aware of

            • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

              by theaveng ( 1243528 )

              P.S.

              I also don't consider it stealing when *THEY SCREWED ME FIRST* with a defective product which they KNOW is defective but refuse to fix. That's why I silently Cheered when Toyota's President got drug in front of Congress. He deserved to be raked across the coals for:

              - selling engines that died prematurely at 20-30,000 miles and then refusing to honor the replacement warranty
              - selling cars that drove by themselves and killed passengers, while insisted it wasn't their fault
              - selling Priuses with faulty b

              • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

                by dimeglio ( 456244 )

                Nothing is wrong with Toyota automobiles. It's the people driving them. Otherwise, they should ban all automobiles from roads for safety reasons. For the other problem, I wouldn't point only at Toyota. If they do it, most likely, all manufactures have hidden known problems. My old Nissan 300SX Turbo was a great example of a fine car onto which they stuck a turbo which essentially screwed-up the entire exhaust system. Today, there are practically no more cars with turbos (except for a few exceptions). I paid

                • ...Today, there are practically no more cars with turbos (except for a few exceptions). I paid to fix the problems, not Nissan.

                  Are you kidding me? Let me try to list a few of the many cars that now come with turbos: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Subaru WRX, Dodge Caliber SRT4, Chevrolet Cobalt SS, Mini Cooper S, BMW 135i (and all other -35i cars), Mercedes Kompressor models, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Nissan GT-R, Ford Taurus SHO, Mazdaspeed 3, Volkswagen/Audi GTI and TDI models, Bugatti Veyron, and pretty much any diesel vehicle out there.

                  Turbochargers have become very popular since they allow a smaller engine to achieve higher power

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by gmhowell ( 26755 )

                    I'm too lazy to verify, but I believe a few of those cars actualy have superchargers, not turbochargers.

                    • You're thinking of the Cobalt and Mini. They were both converted to turbochargers several years ago.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by zeet ( 70981 )

                      For sure the Mercedes Kompressors and the Mini Cooper S. However there were also some missed out.

                  • By now, I hope they figured out all the quirks when mass producing automobiles with turbos.

              • You HAVE to think this way in America.

                No one is looking out for you. Those days are OVER. Corporations have the same rights as people, except they are better than you in every way in the eyes of the law. Not only that but they have almost limitless resources relative to the consumer and can get what they want. I don't need to go into detail over how corporations run America these days, old news.

                I couldn't agree more with you aveng. You need to get yours. Use YOUR moral compass while also consulting ethics o

            • Re:Controller? (Score:4, Insightful)

              by Ephemeriis ( 315124 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @01:06PM (#31498900)

              I don't consider it theft

              You're the one who said you "might steal one"...

              And, considering the defect rate on 360s and the poor warranty, I'm not sure I'd really argue with you on the ethics/morality of it.

              a corporation like Bank of America that stole 1500 billion in bailout funds from our wallets.

              Stole? Or was it handed to them on a golden platter with no requirements or restrictions or oversight?

              I didn't cry when Saddam Hussein was hung dead.

              Granted, he seemed to be a pretty bad guy. Maybe he deserved to be hung, I don't know enough to say. But considering the violence, death, and bloodshed that has resulted from our intervention I'm not sure we actually did a good thing there.

              ...and in response to your PS below, because I don't feel like clicking "reply to this" again...

              If a corporation Screws you, I consider it acceptable to screw them right back.

              While it may feel good... And may be justifiable... The problem with this is that it doesn't actually fix the problem.

              Sure, maybe you get your money's worth in the end... But Microsoft is still selling a product with a 33% failure rate and Toyota is still selling cars with defective parts.

              Which is why I suggested originally that perhaps it was a conversation better had with someone in technical support or with a lawyer - with the intent of coercing the company into fixing the actual problem.

              • While it may feel good... And may be justifiable... The problem with this is that it doesn't actually fix the problem.

                Sure, maybe you get your money's worth in the end... But Microsoft is still selling a product with a 33% failure rate and Toyota is still selling cars with defective parts.

                Which is why I suggested originally that perhaps it was a conversation better had with someone in technical support or with a lawyer - with the intent of coercing the company into fixing the actual problem.

                "Not fixing the problem" depends on what you consider the problem to be. If I've got a bricked piece of electronics, my problem is that I've got a bricked piece of electronics. Sure, it's also a problem that some entity is selling products with an excessive defect rate. It's just not my problem -- or if it is, I only own a tiny share of that problem. I used to worry a lot about trying to help do my part to get things fixed: calling tech support, calling the comment line, writing letters . . . I've never

              • >>>Which is why I suggested originally that perhaps it was a conversation better had with someone in technical support or with a lawyer - with the intent of coercing the company into fixing the actual problem.
                >>>

                Don't you think that's already been tried? A woman sat on the floor of Congress and testified that her car accelerated to 90 miles an hour, she could not get it to stop (even when shifting to neutral), and when she called Toyota she wasted several hours & received no resolutio

                • Don't you think that's already been tried? A woman sat on the floor of Congress and testified that her car accelerated to 90 miles an hour, she could not get it to stop (even when shifting to neutral), and when she called Toyota she wasted several hours & received no resolution. Toyota denied the problem existed for YEARS.

                  So, obviously, the solution is to steal a new car from Toyota - right? You get a working vehicle, the original problem still remains, but you feel morally justified because the company tried to screw you first - right?

                  Or do you prefer the current hearings with lawyers involved who are trying to make Toyota bear responsibility for their defective products and actually fix the problem?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by brkello ( 642429 )
              I think the phrase: two wrongs don't make a right applies here. The people you screw aren't the same people benefiting from the business and I imagine your arguments won't fly in court if you steal fram BoA.

              • >>>two wrongs don't make a right applies here.

                And yet we do exactly that when we imprison people. The criminal commited a WRONG of stealing or killing, and we commit a *second* wrong of depriving that person of his liberty. So YES two wrongs DO often make a right.

                And we call it "revenge" or "justice".

        • People should know that anything purchased with a VISA card automatically is covered with an extended one year warranty from the expiration of the manufacturer's warranty. Here is the info on the VISA warranty extension [newcorp.com].

          If that link doesn't work, just do a google search for "VISA extend Warranty".

          They also have a purchase protection program that covers anything you buy with a VISA card for 90 days replacement if you lose, break or the product is stolen. I broke the glass on my iPhone within 2 months of

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Renraku ( 518261 )

          I condone this.

          If a corporation is willing to screw their consumers to save a buck, the consumers should be allowed to screw the corporation to save a buck. If my cheap electronics lived a long and fulfilling life, I'd just buy another. If my cheap electronics die after 30 days and no one will touch it with a 6ft pole, then I'll do whatever I can to recoup my losses. Including pulling this kind of stunt.

          No one would have a problem with it if they knew how much waste there is in the technology sector. I'

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by hatten ( 1640681 )
      It's no use to have a controller without a console. duh.

      • If you have a wired controller (like me) you can use it with your PC to play emulated Atari, Nintendo, Sega, and Playstation games.

        Those old games like Mario64 or Skies of Arcadia may look primitive but they are hella fun.

        And free. :-)

    • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by semifamous ( 231316 )

      If your console is dead, why would you still need the controller?

      What do you mean, you're going to buy a new one? People are really stupid enough to buy a product with a failure rate this high? And to buy it repeatedly no matter how many times it fails?

      Wow. People are dumb.

      • If the owner doesn't want to buy another xbox, it would be wise to sell the controllers or give them to a friend.
      • Toyota seems to be doing okay, still...

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Pojut ( 1027544 )

        People are still under the impression that RRoD is a widespread problem, despite the Jasper's not even getting hot enough to cause the box to red ring? Seriously, check out a Jasper unit...a PS3 Slim puts out more heat than they do.

        I should know. My Jasper 360 is sitting on a shelf next to my PS3 Slim.

      • It's like saying your Blu Ray Player is useless because your TV is busted. You can plug your 360 controller into your PC to have it work like a gamepad. You can give it to a friend. You can sell it.

        In any case, buying a new console or not, the Controller still has many uses, and shouldn't be discarded.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by almondo ( 145555 )

      Because you would want to intern the controller in carbonite with it's mother to preserve it for the outdated lame game console resurrection.

      360, a high tech alias for 'the runaround'.

      MS EULA: You don't really own this bathroom fixture, we do, and we can drop the big and final load in it whenever we wish.

      Sorry Billy, your device has ring around the collar, and all the kings men wouldn't waste their time duct taping a bricked Xbox back together again.

    • The controller isn't broken, why would I throw it away?

      So the console can be played in the afterlife, of course.

  • Why (Score:2)

    by 0racle ( 667029 )
    Why would I buy a coffin for something I'm going to either send for repairs or throw out?

    • To send for repairs, you wouldn't. Not unless you wanted to slap a shipping label on it and send it back in the coffin to be a smartass and really stick it to the poor warehouse worker they hired solely to stuff replacement XBox360s in return mailing boxes! Er... "The Man". Yeah. That'll show "The Man"!

      If you're going to throw it out and not do anything else with it, well, why NOT exercise your creativity a bit and have some fun? Might take some of the edge off of having an $X00 paperweight, and you'd

    • Agreed. Instead, why not plug it in and leave it on for a while so that it can self-cremate?

  • My friend got his repaired for free when it died.

  • A sign... (Score:3, Funny)

    by thijsh ( 910751 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @11:48AM (#31497678) Journal
    Yesterday night my second xbox showed the dreaded RROD while watching a movie. Maybe this is a sign... and a proper burial will please the gaming gods and allow my next xbox to live a long and ever-green life.

    The gods will have to pry the controller out of my dead cold hands though.

  • Why is this here? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by slimjim8094 ( 941042 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @11:49AM (#31497702)

    What is this crap? Chuck it in Idle. Please.

    Oh wait, it's samzenpus. Carry on, I guess.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eln ( 21727 )
      All of samzenpus's articles are Idle material, he just occasionally posts them in other sections so he can get views from the 80% of Slashdot readers who have blocked idle.

      If he was hired to provide these sorts of stories, then great, let him do it...His bosses just need to prohibit him from posting in sections outside of Idle.

  • All we need, more totally useless shit passed off as art going to fill up already overburdened landfills.

    What a legacy to leave our kids :-(

  • For some reason when I read this I immediately thought of Animal House and the dead horse in the Dean's office.

  • I would never bury my xbox (Score:3, Funny)

    by Logibeara ( 1620627 ) on Tuesday March 16, 2010 @12:42PM (#31498504)
    Instead I'm going to cryogenically freeze it untill microsoft can find a fix for it in the future.
  • If my XBOX was bricked and no warranty coverage was left, the LAST thing I'd want to do was to pump *more* money into an even MORE useless "accessory". Also, as mentioned before, the controller is probably still good....
  • I am going to need four!
  • Fix it. http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/ring_of_light_x-clamp_fix.htm [llamma.com] This kit is supposed to correct the RROD.

    • I second this. About a year ago my Xbox 360 died. I followed this guide and brought it back to life. It's still running today.

  • I'm so sorry about that horrible, horrible errant apostrophe I put in the submission headline :-(

  • A buddy of mine, arranged a death by firing squad [youtube.com] for his busted Xbox.

  • this was something you could easily repair yourself with a few metal bars , a screwdriver and two hands

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