What is the Xbox 360's repair warranty term?

Question

I'm debating whether or not to ship my Xbox 360 in for repair (three red lights, out of warranty, original Xbox 360). Its warranty expired in 2008.

If I pay for Microsoft to fix it and it breaks again two days later, will they cover it? Can someone please confirm what the post-repair warranty term? 30 days? 90 days? Anything? I didn't see this explicitly mentioned on their site.

Asked by Mike B

Answer

This is available on their site: the link to the US version is here.

What is my warranty after my console is serviced?

We provide a post-service warranty for serviced consoles. The length of the warranty depends on whether the service was in-warranty or out-of-warranty as follows:

In-warranty service: If your Xbox 360 console was serviced within the original warranty period (free repair), you receive either the balance of your original warranty or 90 days, whichever is longer.

Out-of-warranty service: If your Xbox 360 console was serviced out of the original warranty period (paid repair), your serviced console will have a 90-day warranty.

Answered by Dave DuPlantis

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How do I replace an XBox 360 DVD drive if the original drive is broken?

Question

I bought a used XBox 360 drive with a broken DVD-drive. When I try to play any game, it says "Play DVD" on the launchboard. When I hit A, it gives me a white error screen (pics to come).

The Internet tells me this could happen if the DVD-drive motor is dying, but also if the DVD-drive firmware was previously hacked incorrectly.

Information on the 'net about replacing the DVD-drive is confusing and conflicting:

• Some places say you can just take any old drive from another XBox 360, but that didn't work - I still get the same error.
• Some places say you need to have the exact same manufacturer and model DVD drive, and it should work. I have reason to suspect this is not the original drive (see below), and there is no place which can tell me what model DVD-drive my model XBox should have come with.
• Some places say you can use any drive from another XBox, but you need to hack it to match the motherboard's "DVD-drive key," a unique key matching every motherboard to the DVD-drive it came with. They say there is no way to get the key from the motherboard (without ridiculous hardware hacks), but you can get it from the original DVD-drive, by hooking it up to a computer and using software which is also used by pirates. I followed all the steps, got the key, uploaded it to the new drive, but it still doesn't work. I suspect the drive it came with is not the original, or the original key was previously overwritten during a botching attempt to hack the drive.

I don't want to pirate games, I just want to have a working DVD-drive. There must be a way to replace a broken DVD-drive, right (how do the XBox repair shops do it)?

Is there any way to fix this freakin' Xbox!?

Asked by BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft

Answer

The Xbox 360 has whats called a "DVD key" paired to each motherboard and DVD drive combo. The DVD key on the motherboard must match the DVD key on the drive or the console will not boot games. If you already tried dumping the DVD key from the drive that came with the Xbox and flashing it to your replacement drive (using the correct firmware for the replacement drive as well) and the console still does not boot games (displays "Play DVD" when a game is inserted), you don't have the correct DVD key and the console will never boot a game.

There are ways to retrieve DVD keys from the motherboard however they fall under "ridiculous hardware hacks" as you called them and will probably be more effort than it's really worth. However, if it's a route you're interested in following, there are currently two methods for dumping the NAND (Where the DVD key is stored) of an Xbox.

One method is the JTAG hack (tutorial) you would only need to follow this tutorial up to the point where you dump your NAND then you can use another program to read the DVD key from the NAND. However know that the JTAG method only works for Xbox consoles running kernel version 7371 or lower. (You can check what kernel your Xbox is running under the system info.)

If your kernel is above 7371 though you'll need to do the Reset Glitch Hack or (RGH for short, tutorial). I don't know much about this hack because it's fairly new and I myself have been out of the Xbox modding scene for a while now. It's going to follow a similar style to the JTAG hack though you'll have to solder connections to various points boot Xellous and dump the NAND.

Those, unfortunately, are the only two ways to dump a DVD key from a motherboard, so if you don't feel like going through the effort of the methods posted above, your Xbox will not boot anything besides DVD movies.

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While we're on the subject of DVD drive flashing and replacement I'll clarify some things for you for future reference.

Some places say you can just take any old drive from another Xbox 360, but that didn't work - I still get the same error.

You can indeed use any model of DVD drive found in the Xbox 360's as long as the DVD key on the drive matches the DVD key on the motherboard; if the keys don't match, your console won't boot games. However, if you intend to use this console on Xbox Live, you must replace the drive with the same model drive that was originally in the Xbox — if you don't, you will be console-banned from Xbox Live. (Meaning that console will no longer be allowed on Live.)

Some places say you need to have the exact same manufacturer and model DVD drive, and it should work. I have reason to suspect this is not the original drive (see below), and there is no place which can tell me what model DVD-drive my model Xbox should have come with.

Like I said above, if you wish to just play games and not access Xbox Live, any DVD drive will work so long as the DVD keys match between the motherboard/drive. If you wish to access Xbox Live, your best bet of keeping your console from getting banned is to use the model of DVD drive that originally came with that console.

Here is the list of Xbox 360 motherboards. Generally the motherboard DVD drive pair goes something like this.

• Xenon — Hitachi, Toshiba, or Philips model drive
• Zephyr — Hitachi or Toshiba model drive
• Falcon — Benq or Liton model drive

Every revision post-Falcon contains some variation of a Lite-on Drive for security and performance reasons.

Answered by Tunderwood

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How could I know what caused the Yellow Light Of Death?

Question

I had the Yellow Light Of Death (YLOD) on my PS3.

I found many videos on youtube that explain how to repair it.

I read and search a bit further and the problem may be caused by a disc error or a power supply failure or a "reflow"

How could I know what caused the YLOD ?

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EDIT:

I followed all instructions in this video and my PS3 has rebooted!!

I don't know for how long but it works!

EDIT 2:

After 4-5 weeks, the PS3 has died again.

Asked by Luc M

Answer

The Yellow light of death is used by the PS3 to indicate a hardware failure with the consoles motherboard. On the Xbox 360 this is equivalent to the 3 part Red Ring (often known as the Red Ring of Death).

There are a lot of things which can go wrong with a motherboard, and this is by no means an exhaustive list. The most common reason for Montherboard errors in Consoles is caused by overheating. Consoles have notoriously bad air flow and push their thermal limit rather regularly. This usually results in solder (a material used to connect computer components) heating to a point where it liquefies and detaches. There are many components for which losing solder is non-fatal, but many RRoD and YLoD are caused by GPU (and sometimes CPU) becoming detached as a result of this.

Because turning off your Console will cause the solder to cool (and sometimes reattach) a common solution to these problems is to increase air flow. Alternatively when solder does become detached, it does not always re-liquefy on subsequent heating. As a result some people will suggest just the opposite: decreasing the air flow. The goal here is to re-liquefy the solder to reconnect the components. Frequently a damp towel is recommended.

While neither strategy is guaranteed to fix the problem, these home remedies do have a non-trivial success rate. The only way to guarantee a fix is to either re-solder the component yourself, or send the console in for repair (where they likely will re-solder the component).

Answered by tzenes

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What is the warranty term for XBox 360 Repairs?

Question

I'm debating whether or not to ship my XBOX in for repair (3 red lights -- out of warranty -- original xbox). It's warranty expired in 2008.

If I pay for Microsoft to fix it, and it breaks again 2 days later, will they cover it? Can someone please confirm what the warranty term is AFTER XBox 360 repairs are complete? 30 days? 90 days? Anything? I didn't see this explicitly mentioned on their site.

Asked by Mike B

Answer

This is available on their site: the link to the US version is here.

What is my warranty after my console is serviced?

We provide a post-service warranty for serviced consoles. The length of the warranty depends on whether the service was in-warranty or out-of-warranty as follows:

In-warranty service: If your Xbox 360 console was serviced within the original warranty period (free repair), you receive either the balance of your original warranty or 90 days, whichever is longer.

Out-of-warranty service: If your Xbox 360 console was serviced out of the original warranty period (paid repair), your serviced console will have a 90-day warranty.

Answered by Dave DuPlantis

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Replacing an Xbox 360 DVD Drive

Question

I am not entirely certain of the legality of this situation, and just smack me if it's not, but I have had a problem with my xbox 360's disk drive. After reading a number of guides and such I have come to find a few things.

1. It's possible to replace a drive in the 360.
2. In order to have the replacement drive work correctly (read: work at all), it must have the same lock code.
3. In order to have the disk drives share the same lock codes, one method of doing this is to swap one of the internal boards from the broken drive to a new, replacement drive.
4. There is another method involving getting the lock code itself out of the broken drive and putting it in the working drive. This, by contrast, is done by connecting the drives to a PC and doing something to each of them to transfer the code.

Now, in this whole process, I have already gone so far as to order the replacement drive and rip it apart to try to transfer the board. Much to my surprise, the board in this particular bad drive was non-separate-able from the board. The boards were physically soldered to each end of a wire. I opened the good drive to confirm, and it too was soldered together.

So I was left with #4 up there. After more research, I found that you need SATA cables and a PC that can handle it, plus some software. I haven't really found anything too much more specific than that. However... I did find that the same method to transfer the lock code is also potentially used to make the xbox read burned media... Just, instead of putting in your broken drive's lock code, you put in some pre-prepared file or some such stuff.

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I want to make it clear at this point that I do not want the drive to read burned media. What I do want is for the drive to work and play my legitimately purchased games again.

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Now, after all that information, my questions are as follows:

1. Is this method legal?
2. Second, if it is legal, how would I accomplish this?

Edit: After some talk of this issue the other day, my brother decided that he's just gonna go buy a new one since he doesn't want to wait for me to get mine fixed. So, as if this wasn't a low enough priority already, it's even lower now. I'd still like to get it working if only to have done it once.

Answer

To answer the first question: Yes, it is legal, but you'll also void your warranty.

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How do I repair a scratched game disc?

Question

I have kids, which means I have scratched game discs that my systems can't read.

Several months ago, I watched a video demonstrating how to repair scratched game discs using car polish. I tried that, and it didn't work. After a little more research, I found and purchased this plastic polishing kit from Amazon. Following the instructions (and using some ultra fine sandpaper to sand out the really bad scratches), I was able polish and sand out the scratches on one disc, while another remains unplayable, despite repeated repair attempts.

Using the plastic polishing kit requires a lot of time and effort. I'm lazy and want it to be easier and simpler.

Is this the best way to repair a disc? Are there any repair tools that are generally accepted, known, and proven to work? Do any game publishers support replacing damaged discs?

Answer

Go to your local game shop. That's usually the safest way to have a disc repaired, as they have a precision machine that can remove just enough of the plastic.

Otherwise, I've always used toothpaste and a glass cleaning cloth. If you take off too much of the plastic, you'll ruin the disk.

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How can a broken gate be repaired?

Question

While exploring, I've noticed in a few random sectors the remains of a dead sector Gate. I've heard in the forums for previous versions of the game that Gates are repairable.

Can broken Gates be repaired and how does one go about repairing them?

Answer

You can't if you're playing "vanilla" x3. In vanilla x3 they are just there to sit around.

If however you're playing a modded out version of x3, there's a script on their official scripting forum, that allows you to repair and link broken gates.

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