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Microsoft Claim Intercooler Kills the 360!

gwn.com — Nyko's Intercooler is blamed as the source of the Red Rings of Death, according to several Microsoft tech support employees. GWN has launched an investigation and relates their own experiences with the Intercooler/360 combo.

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  • hoowahman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I never had a need for this because my console would only lockup after like 5-6 hrs of play once in a great while. Glad I never tried it but I have been an owner of a working 360 for about 7 months now. *whew*
    • xelloss, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12My console never locks up, me and my friends do LANs and leave the xbox 360s on for 7-12 hours straight. We do them a lot and we all have launch consoles. So far out of my friends that own Xbox 360 only one has had the HDD fail, and ones DVD drive won't read scratched discs. There is no need for them like you said.
    • charmedguy18, on 10/12/2007, -10/+11I had to give mine back three time. That was before I got the Intercooler too.
    • wild, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Mine just broke. And I never used the intercooler.
    • Wolfbeta, on 10/12/2007, -10/+9Don't know why buddy got dugg down for having to return his 3 times.

      I'm on my 3rd xbox360. Let's all digg me down too *rolls eyes*.
    • ReCkLeSsX, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Isn't this kind of ironic?
    • DollaDollaBill, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Ten bucks says the PS3 won't have as many problems.
    • stonr, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1do you have paypal dolladollabill?
  • wimbet, on 10/12/2007, -16/+7"The third 360 worked for about a month, and then that replacement’s disc tray refused to open one evening. This led me to get my fourth 360 console."
    • acurism, on 10/12/2007, -19/+10Geez, it sounds as if every 360 out there has been replaced at least once.
    • knupso, on 10/12/2007, -8/+18I bought my 360 at launch and have had 0 issues.
      .
    • decay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Thats good but there a still a lot of them who do. I bought mine a few days and am keep it upstairs in my chilly room.
  • WhereAmI, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Of course tech would say that. Don't ever tell them these kind of things, as Microsoft may just drop support for your 360.
    Ever get an LCD monitor(3rd party)? They tell you not to use that, either. On all consoles.
  • shane828, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4No idea if it's true or not, but I've had my 360 since June 19th and the intercooler has been on it since day one and I have had absolutely zero problems. Well besides one time the little rubber strips on it came out and I had to push them back in. But that's it. My 360s born date is May 2nd or something like that.
    • ahatter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8yeah my born on date was january 29th and i started playing it march 5th. i havent had anyproblems i have looked into getting one of these intercoolers but i always stop myself and say "dont fix something that is not broke"
    • light50, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@ahatter - exactly, I can't find any reason to use one of these devices. If my 360 dies of heat anytime in the next 2 years I get a new one.
  • Splitt3rxx, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6I will just wait till they come out with the improved 360s that don't overheat as much.
    • Jump7Miles, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I waited. I got mine on July, but it has already broke down on me twice already...
  • thepctech, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7I have a launch day 360, it has never been replaced. I watch DVD's on it at least 2 times a week, and have spent many hours playing 360 games. I also take it with me to a friends house and play HALO2 via system link for hours on end. In all of the time I have played the games it has only locked up a hand full of times. The Outfit DEMO, Oblivion, are the only games it has locked up on. I put one of these coolers on it about 3 months ago, and have not had a problem at all. The fans are louder, but the machine is MUCH cooler. Just putting your hand over the top of it is enough for me. I like the product. If problems continue with it though I think they will produce a USB version. If they do, I'll pay $15 for it and replace this one.
    • MrMuffMeat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Same here, I have had my 360 since January, and got the intercooler the day it came out. My 360 sits in an entertainment system, and though it is well ventilated, the system still would have heat build up around it. My games sometimes would "lag" a little after playing for an hour or so. I put the intercooloer on, and it has locked up maybe once since I put it on. I can stick my hand behind the system now too, and it feels much cooler now.

      I would assume that Microsoft WOULD say this as well, since they could use this as a way to void warranties. I am very happy with my intercooler.
    • LycoLoco, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Of course it's cooler - it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do. The problem lies in the fact that it's pulling power from what the 360 is expecting, and in the long term leads to problems for the 360.
    • Zaetha, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The Intercooler drains energy between the "brick" and the 360. The problem is that the brick sends just the right level of power to run the 360, no more, no less. A certain level of power is always expected between the power brick and the console.

      And this changes eventually damage the console.
  • toomdad, on 10/12/2007, -7/+7I got a 360 about 6 months ago, and last night I started getting the red lights of death. It was manufactured 2/2006, supposedly after the fix in production that they recently admitted to. I had no intercooler on that system, and I highly doubt mine was even from overheating as I only played it maybe 10 hours a week (wife and kids makes finding gaming time pretty hard to find).
  • andyd273, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5I'm just gonna wait till christmas 07 before I get one. by then it'll be cheeper, a lot of these bugs will be worked out, and there will be a lot of used games that I can get for cheep instead of paying full price...
    as the saying goes, all good things come to those who wait.
  • hanshasuro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Maybe, but it's certainly not the only cause. I have never used any third party cooling devices and my 360 is in an open well ventilated spot.

    I got mine on the first day it was out and had many problems with it (lockups). It eventually died (red rings o'death) and it took 2 trips to the repair center before they gave me a new one (which has been working fine).

    Bottom line: their early hardware quality sucked, and there's no way around that.
  • adamjhwkfan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I don't have a 360 personally.. but my brother has had to return his twice for the "red ring of death" and he has never used the intercooler.. nor is it around any other electronics.
  • SPARTACVS, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6My console had no problem for 10 months. I recently borrowed my friend's intercooler to see how much heat it would remove, and it didn't help very much in GRAW so I gave it back to him. Then, a week later my console locked up and got the 3/4 ring of death.
  • Rickler, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9Don't put the ***** power brick on carpet.
    • neuralcooker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yeah, this is the only couple times mine locked up is when the brick was on the carpet.
  • CollateralDmg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I was worried about heat so I got myself an intercooler. Not long after (week or two maybe?) I started getting the ring of death with any game I put in. I took off the intercooler and haven't gotten it since.
  • acidhash, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5Anyone with half a testicle can see that this "Intercooler" ***** things up. Common sense. Unless you guys have been hired by Nyko to say nice things about it ;-)
  • gregharmon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3My first Xbox 360 would lockup - as did many of the first Xbox 360s and I was told this was due to the optical drive and not overheating. I sent the unit in and had a replacement that has work flawlessly ever since.

    I would be hard pressed to believe that a decent amount of the new Xbox 360s have heating problems unless the area you place it is incredibly hot.
  • DRock4776, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I got my 360 right before Christmas. December '05 build date. No problems until a few months ago with Oblivion. I bought the intercooler and it was fine for a while, but got worse when I started playing Dead Rising.

    It tanked this Saturday (3 red rings of death). I shipped it back that day, and I should have my replacement on Monday.

    Who knows if it was the early build, the intercooler, the games, or some combination. Microsoft was great about replacing it, though, and hopefully I will have better luck with my next unit (fingers crossed...).
  • monkeywrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I dunno, putting that thing on there, having its fans suck through the 360's fans can't be good. Doesn't it make the 360's fan spin more?

    Seems to me the stands that push the cool outside air in through the bottom are the way to go.

    P.S. I had the intercooler and it made my 360 lock up. I just ordered a vertical fan stand so we'll see how it goes.
  • ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Nyko makes cheap junk just like Madcats.

    It is no suprise to me that this thing could cause problems with the 360.
  • Maltby, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I use an intercooler without any problems. It reduces the heat alot. I'd had the odd freeze but thats not any different from any console i've ever owned.
    • charmedguy18, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I've not had a freeze since I got my new xbox. I got the new xbox, then got the intercooler one day. I still haven't had a freeze.
  • mageofdeath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I can vouch for this, because I have that intercooler thingy and I swear every couple of minutes in dead rising had disc read errors, but low and behold removing the intercooler fixed all of my problems, also the system would crash way too often...
  • plsailboy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3i totally blame microsoft. if they hadn't attempted to launch their product early and actually spent time trying to fix the cooling issue, third party vendors wouldn't be forced to create such cooling devices.

    good ***** job microsoft
  • davymac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yep.. same ***** happened to my friends... removed.. all good...
  • Alex.Hurley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I have an intercooler and my system had more freezes then I would think normal, I just took it off and hopefully it changes it a bit.
  • Cornloaf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I have had my 360 since launch day. I have left games on pause overnight, left the machine to download demos, trailers, etc, and I have never had any problems. My 360 and its power supply is on a shelf in my entertainment center.

    My brother's 360 was the same date as mine, but died after 6 months. The 360 was on a shelf in the entertainment center but his power supply was behind the TV on the carpet.

    Last night I was playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance and noticed that I could hear the fans in high gear for the first time ever. Rather than get some kind of cooler device, I think I'll blow out the dust.
  • ASSASSYN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I modded my 360 with new blue light fans with variable speed and temp. monitor and control. Previously I had no problems and currently I still have none. Yet taking precautions is always a good solution I never believed that nyko inter-cooler would help. So, I am not surprised it causes a restriction of airflow subsequently causing a processor failure.
  • teamparadox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I believe it, if your drawing power from the system then its not getting what it needs. Hell I had a PC PSU that wasnt giving my system enough juice, I went through 3 hard drives in 6 months before I figured that one out.

    I never use 3rd party accessories on my consoles, but its even worse when its an unlicensed one. That basicly means MS never tested it, it was never proven to work, and it could even be damaging like this is.
  • beastlykings, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Why dont you just take out the cooling fins in your xbox and replace them with a water cooler.

    Thats seems like the way to go.
  • rezonq3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Two 360's bought used. Both launch 360's, both didn't look like they were babied.

    Both work perfectly nearly 4 months after I bought them off the people.

    No intercoolers.
  • Bob_Oliver, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1My 360 died and I don't have an inter-cooler. Overheating is not an issue for me. The replacement 360 I got from M$ failed out of the box. Its been more than a month and I don't have a working Xbox. M$ will not reimburse me for the month of live that I'm paying for, but can't use.
  • bolt7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I've been using the intercooler since it first came out, having no problems untill around 2 weeks ago. Everytime I powerd on the 360, the cooler just made a loud whirring sound. The console itself turned on fine, it's just the cooler was going out of control. I found out turning it off and on again solved the problem, but doing that everytime I turned on the 360 is just stupid. After reading this today I've happily removed my 'cooler' and threw it away.

    I noticed after removing it and turning the 360 on I got a 3/4 red Ring'o Light. Decided to turn it off and try turning it on again and it worked fine, though takes around 5 secands or so for the start up screen to show (is that normal?)
  • bedouin, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Leave to Microsoft to build a console that not only locks up, but requires 3rd party accessories just to cool properly.

    Why you people buy their products I have no idea.

    I've had consoles starting with an Intellivision to a Gamecube and never had one 'lock up' or crash . . .
  • bassman730, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I had an intercooler for about a month until the power supply would continually stop working. No red rings of death or anything. Microsoft sent me another one, same problem. Eventually I decided to stop using the intercooler to see if that was problem. Never has a crash since. And that was in May.
  • Bladeex1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0The intercooler is the Best. I've used several and now problems...I actually run a gaming company and Nyko has supplied us with some intercoolers as prizes for give aways, and not one person has ever complained about them locking up. The 360 has it's own issues with too much heat, but I also have never had a problem from the 4 360's I own and we run tournaments for 10 to 12 hours at a time.

    http://www.agzonline.com is where we are located. If you want to try an intercooler I still have a couple from my last tournament and will gladly give it away to the first couple of people that visit our site and contact me via the message board. You just have to make sure that you come back here and post what happend after you used it.

    Oh and we don't have any official connection to Nyko they just were a prize sponsor for an event incase people are wondering.
  • SPARTACVS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The real reason why the 360 is making so much heat is because the console was designed to have a liquid-cooled/2 fan CPU heatsink solution, but they cut the liquid at the last minute in order to save on production costs. It was said by an Xbox engineer in the OurColony viral "creating the 360" video, of which an edited, shorter version was included on the Xbox 360 hard drive.
  • halosniper7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4my fifth one is in the mail

    and people always say,"it was on the carpet" but...it wasnt
  • cdauks07, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i bought the intercooler a week after i had my 360 and the day that i put it on, my 360 stopped working.
  • ChinezePanda, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1have had mine since day one...

    running at 1080p.... optical sound...

    Has NEVER broke on me...

    even if it did... Its insured.

    Btw.. who woulda thought that attaching something along the power line of your 360 would screw your 360 .... /sarcasm

    intercooler steels vital power from the system itself.. these things are engineered with power distribution in mind (the 360 that is)

    bottom line...

    THE 360 NEEDS ABSOLUTELY NO OUTSIDE HELP.

    back to graw....
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1360 doesn't do 1080p... yet.

      gimp
  • vadrmail, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you are out of warranty with your 360 and it needs repair go to www.imxbox.com and get it fixed. I sent mine in for the red ring of light failure and I had it back in the same week! These guys are awesome in my book.
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Doesn't surprise me. Nyko is just looking to take your money, and the way it taps power is potentially risky.

    I have a first-day 360. Yeah, it's loud. Yeah, it runs hot. But no, if you don't put it in an enclosed cabinet, it doesn't overheat.

    I ended up having to modify my game cabinet so that I could get it in there with the door closed because the 360 was too loud. But if I didn't mind the noise, I could just have set it on the counter.

    PS3 is certainly the same way. It runs hot too. But it cools itself just fine if it is not in a cabinet. However, unlike the 360, it's dead silent. A big plus in my book.
  • linuxinsidev2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Lol,

    Microsoft should have designed the system knowing that over time, there would be variations in voltages and things like that, as the power pack gets warmer or even when components start to get old the voltages will drop slightly, having the power balanced on a pinpoint is not the way to design a device
  • Linkmon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0 DollaDollaBill, the PS3 is overheating, locking up and frying in the test labs. They are having so many problems with the initial batch that that may delay launch.

    Stupidity.........
  • moonlanderr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I also bought the Intercooler and had the system lock up. And had to restart my XBOX360. Then I had the system shut down. So I call XBOX360 support and they told me to unplug everything and plug everything backup and my system started right up again.

    I will no longer use the NYKO Intercooler on my XBOX360 anymore.
  • poolboy82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I purchased an Intercooler after my friends 360 went red ring. I didn't want to risk the same fate. Now I purchased my system this past July and hadn't had a problem, not one single lock up.

    I slap the Intercooler on and get welcomed to the noise of a small plane roaring in my entertainment center. I figured it was better than spending money on repair service so I put up with it. Then I started getting lock ups. Was it Dead Rising or other known games that tax the system?

    Nope...it was Lego's Star Wars II.

    I'm in the process of running it again without the Intercooler to see if I have fewer lock ups.
  • Zoglog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The intercooler broke my 360
  • Pomykalaj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I also recently just got the red ring of lights due to this damn thing.
  • fastfood15, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow, i can't believe that engadget posted their link to digg.
  • neverplay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It just melted the back of my 360 two days ago.
    I wish this story had come out sooner.

    This product is garbage and it voids your warranty.

    This wil be my second broken 360.

  • Bob_Oliver, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How come people who are posting that they've experienced issues with their 360s get dugg down?
  • walter909, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's true I took mine off 2days ago when this story came up and my 360 hasn't frozen yet. Before it was freezing once or twice a day. I thought it was because I played it to much between me and my little brother but its this inter cooler thing .
  • AxViolenTxStorm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well, ive owned a 360 since the release, and have thought about picking up a intercooler once or twice (actually went to walmart with intents of buying one once, but they were out of stock...

    anyway, My 360 runs just fine, havent had any problems, but the intercooler just seemed like a good thing to have, after reading this i will be sure to stay away from it for both my 360, and my wii.
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