[Gaming] My XBox Boots to Red Ring of Death

It may seem that there could be a problem with your XBox 360, right? Well, luckily us 360 owners have been given a little more leeway with the Red Ring of Death by having our warranties extended by an additional three years. Sounds great, right? Well, yeah, but there's also the problem of the system being known to scratch disks while playing them.

Everyone that uses a system that utilizes disk technology to store the game itself knows that this can always be a problem, so what's the big deal right? Here's the big deal: Apparently Microsoft has known of these issues.

"This is...information that we as a team, optical disc drive team, knew about," Microsoft program manager Hiroo Umeno said in a deposition. "When we first discovered the problem in September or October, when we got a first report of disc movement, we knew this is what's causing the problem."

"Because these greater gyroscopic forces are combined with both a weak magnetic force for holding the disc in place, and a tray-loaded design that can be oriented vertically, uncoupling of a disc during normal console use was a predictable result."

There have also been proposed fixes for the issue that have all been turned down by Microsoft due to various seemingly unnecessary side effects such as having negative effects on the tray opening and closing (increased magnetism on the game disk) to longer load times (slowing down the drive speed) to the not so unnecessary 35-75m cost for Microsoft to fix the drive itself by installing bumpers.

As a response to their liability to the scratching of disks, a representative told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer the following statement:

"While we have had some users contact us with concerns about scratched discs, it is less than one-half of 1% of the total Xbox 360 user base," a Microsoft representative told the Post-Intelligencer. "Xbox 360 is designed so that it will not damage a game disc as long as the console is not moved while the disc is spinning. Too much movement of any game console, not just Xbox 360, can cause scratches on a disc. That's why we put a warning on the face of the disc tray, which the user has to physically remove before the initial use of the system. We also have warnings posted online and in hard copy instruction manuals."

Here's my issue... Who reads the manuals!? It's not a legal liability to read it and thus is an unnecessary request of the user.

I love Microsoft and how easy they have made it for the millions of non-technical users out there; however, there's a point where they need to be slapped on the hand for cutting corners and need to own up to their mistake.

Take Care.