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Microsoft says that only 3% of Xbox 360s are defective

engadget.com — Joystiq is reporting that despite the buzz surrounding defective Xbox 360s, Microsoft claims that only 3% of the units sold have been faulty, which is below the industry average.

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 2, 2005

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  • ConradB, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I just went into Circuit City in San Mateo this evening, CA to see when the next 360 shipment comes in. The guy at the counter said when they sort out the issues with the first shipment - i asked what he meant - and he said 50% of the first batch were returned to that store. He said the dvd drive was scratching disks and hard drives were failing. I said i'll come back when they sort out their issues.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"The guy wearing the chubacca costume is going to give rave reviews even when everyone knows Star Wars I and II sucked pretty bad."

    No he isn't. He's going to go:
    ROAAAAAAAR! (In a chewy kinda way,) and it'll be up to the viewer to determine if chewy is really upset.
  • danimal87, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3And I told my parrents that I had only smoked weed a couple of times.
  • kejistan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Everyone I know who has a 360 have absolutely no problems with it. But hey, if you hate Microsoft, you don't need to let the trivial act of actually trying their products get in your way before you tell everyone that they're crashing and broken.
  • JohnH, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The interesting word here is "only."

    What's the difference between these these two statements?

    "Only 3% of X-Box 360s are defective."
    "3% of X-Box 360s are defective."

    The answer is that one leads the reader, and the other doesn't.

    Now 3% may very well be below the industry average. But that includes an extra piece of information, and one that may be subject to its own problems.

    (I'm actually hoping, for a change, that the systems aren't defective -- while the retail games leave me cold, multiplayer online emulated Gauntlet is strangely compelling....)
  • Francky, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3OK, let me get this straight... According to some of you, we cant complain about a 3-5% defective ratio (or 20,000 bad consoles) Because Apples ratio is Bigger ?!

    Hasn't it accrued to you that perhaps BOTH are Highly unacceptable ?!
    We have grown so accustomed in being sold defective crap that some of you have started to accept it. It should be a fluke to get a defective product. Like one chance in a thousand... not one chance in 20 For God Sake ?!

    Think about it, if your job was to make a product and every 20th item you did didn't work, do you think you'd keep your job long ?! No. your boss wouldn't accept it and neither should we.
  • osrevad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The true statistic is that 3% of the Xboxes had to be sent BACK for a replacement.

    That's thirty thousand units for every million.
  • t3hX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1> I just have a hard time believing that the XBOX 360 failure rate is only 3%. Microsoft has a long history of playing down bugs and defects in their product.

    Very correct. If a bunch of idiot lawyers can sue Apple about the iPod nanos, where the hell are the lawyers now!?
  • dkh7m, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1this probably wouldn't even be an issue if stores had enough boxes to replace the faulty ones. i'm sure the people who are complaining the loudest are the ones who waited in the cold for 18 hours to get a faulty box that can't be immediately replaced. the failure rates don't surprise me. i've bought plenty of crap that didn't work out of the box.
  • Kev13Dd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Sweet Jesus...

    There are going to be hardware errors. Anyone out there who expects100% success on all their consoles better expect the same out of themselves. Never ever making an error in their own lives less that be unacceptable. Hardware isn't a direct science. There are so many tiny freaking pieces that to get every single one of them working 100% of the time would be more expensive than the dickens, as well as requiring testing of every single console before they send it out...

    "well I paid for the console it should work perfect"

    You'll end up get a working 360. You bought one with a glitch, oh well. You chose to buy it, no one forced you to. You accept the risks when you buy anything, and I don't care how much money you spend or how long you stand in line, you STILL agreed to the risks when you purchased the console. But yes, you also paid for a working one. AND GUESS WHAT! You get a working one. It might take longer cause you have to go through the trouble of sending it back, but you're not special. Deal with it

    I'm sick of every single person who has an X360 glitch expect that they are more important than anyone else. That they deserve special treatment, that we should all give them sympathy, that their experience is representative of the whole launch. IT'S NOT. You bought it, you took the risk, you shut your mouth

    K
  • ratlhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My 360 hasn't had a single problem. It's unfortunate the Microsoft haters have decided to take a couple stories reported online and blow them out of proportion.

    Get a life people.
  • Trepan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1One thing you may want to think about, I saw someone here post about stuff moving around inside the case.

    Yes it is true there is some movement of something inside the case. But I believe it is the device that the console uses to tell if it is horizontal or vertical. If you haven't noticed, either way you place it, player one's always lighting up the top left quad of the circle of light.

    That scared me at first too, but I'm pretty sure it's normal. The only problem I had was that after several hours of gameplay, the graphics started to stutter a bit, but I chalk that up to my own fault of not ventilating it properly. It does throw a lot of heat, but what do you expect for a triple core processor.

    As for 360s that fail, that really sucks. I can imagine someone wanting one for a long time, getting it home, and having it fail. I've been lucky enough that mine hasn't failed whatsoever. I don't doubt it's happening, it happens with everything. As long as you get your money back or get a replacement, I don't see what the big deal is, other than it's a bit of an inconvenience. It's not like MS is a company that will go away any time soon.
  • greeensmoke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My 360 is working great.. not a single problem
  • terrya64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+03%. They must not be practicing six sigma.
  • mcbesq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hey Sony fanboys... I can remember 5 years ago, when my brand new PS2 had a defective optical out. Sony's not immune either. Stop being a fanboy and start being a gamer.
  • diggismycollege, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0they must have only sent out 3%
  • Voltron64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I camped out with a group of people and bought 4 360s at best buy, mine runs fine and all the rest are running tip top. No problems here. lucky us?
  • 01Techman10, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Microsoft lies
  • OBSCENE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You are all retarded. Defective does not mean that they were built wrong. Electronic components fail (diodes, filters) and so on. All electronic devices are expected to have all defective percentage over 3%. That is just the way it is.
  • sporkman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0well it's logical that something as complicated as this would have defective units, it has how many parts? 3 processors, a powerful graphics processor, a giant power supply, plus all the little pieces that go onto the motherboard, and go into the processors gpu and psu, it only takes like one or two things wrong to make the whole unit defective, and

    I don't consider overheating a defect, it's a pebkac problem, or pebc(controller)ac
  • nnonix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Much of the DVD scratching is due to moving the unit from horizontal to vertical while the disc is spinning. Somehow people feel this is a reasonable thing to do ... but would never consider doing it to their computer. Duh!
  • smokkeyy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0


  • PlancksCnst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+03% sounds huge. Even .5% would be outrageous, but then again, I've read some of those idealistic six sigma articles.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_sigma
  • energyblue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well at least it ain't any more then 3%.
    Still waiting for my 360 in the UK, i've preorderd it but its in shortages.
  • cceverett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I would believe the less than 3% figure. We have to remember that there is really not that many times where a mass number of one company's electronic consumer product is bought at one time. If 400,000 people all bought the exact same DVD player in one day we would be hearing about how some of those are defective also. We will hear the same thing when the PS3 comes out and everyone will be surprised again that there are defective consoles.

    This is a great point. The only reason this seems like an exorbitant amount of defects is because they were all purchased within 24 hours. You spread that over 6 months and it is not so bad. Don't get me wrong, I think that MS needs to work on their quality control, but Jedi55555 makes a great point.
  • paulmetzger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Thing is, with the AVERAGE product in the industry, you can just take the defective unit back to the store and get a new one.
  • vannyx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"My friend was playing Perfect Dark Zero and all of the sudden is started acting funny. The screen looked weird and the game wasn't responding right. He took out the disk and there was a fat mark on it, like a ring all the way around. The 360 ate his game..." Dude that's a feature, that ring goes around 360 degrees.

    But back to topic, i have about 10 people i know that has bought the unit. 2 of them are having absolutely no problems whats so ever. They love it.
    the other 8 in some way or another has problems ranging from , overheating to burned out power adapters to the ring 360 on their media feature. my best friends brother who spent 1000 dollars on it, got a system that worked flawlessly for about 2 days and now it just turns on and does nothing more. He has been praying to the machine spirit for a few days now hoping to get it working.
  • PlancksCnst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@socrates
    Yes, but 3% of X * 5% of X = 15% of X
  • Sirocco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If MS says it is 3%, it's probably around double that. Standard corporate PR: Admit there's a problem, but downplay it.
  • Crazyguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If I am going to pay $400 dollars for something 0% of them should be defective.
  • PlancksCnst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe they'll be collectibles, like defective currency is. (just kidding)
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"ALL the 360's I've seen have been faulty. That's 100%. All have failed in one way or another within the first two hours of use. The build quality is atrocious (mechanically misaligned DVD drawers, poor cable terminations, loose fittings rattling around inside the case). Electrically, the power supply is unsafe - I had one that got so hot that it scorched a table."


    that's funny, mictester.

    I have one and none of these things are true at all for my unit, build quality is great, dvd drive has no problems whatsoever, it has never locked up, the cables are of good quality, granted is does run a little hot but it is stupid to say it is scorching surfaces it is sitting on. it wouldn't even be UL listed or even allowed to be released in the US if it did that.
  • zediker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0
    from suMMx: "the scratching disc problem is retards moving their consoles while games are playing. Also the problem seems to be because of the power supply not the console."

    not true. I have had CD rom drives that would scratch the disc because the CD tray was mounted too high and/or when the CD was ejected the CD rom drive would just drop the CD on the tray while it was spinning when it ejected it.
  • PacoDG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0HAHAHAHHA


    what in the hell

    this blog posting crap is getting out of hand

    the link takes to you engadget

    which takes you to joystiq

    which takes you to THE ACTUAL ARTICLE

    no digg just for this reason

    I love engadget and joystiq, both great sites, but this is just plain retarded.
  • ucg1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0_only_ 3%? 3% is not a small percentage.
  • soulfire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If I remember correctly from my operations class you want six sigma quality for your production. That means you want 99.99999% of your product to work. Having only 97% work is pretty bad.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_sigma
  • imagic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Did they have the same problem with their first console.
  • Sithlrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ZOMG my friend's cousin had a XBox 360 and plugged it into the wall and it started shooting LAZER BEAMS out of it's red buttons on the controllers and the DVD drive started spitting FIRE and it burned down his house and got up and went next door and started doing the same thing to his nayborz home. He is now HOMELESS and so is his nayborz. Thanks M$, ur teh suxor.
  • billyocean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yet another M$ sux Digg that gets us to stir the pot. I'm just glad fanboys dont hold meaningful positions and still live in their parent's basement. Otherwise I would be forced to drink the Mac/Linux/PS3 kool aid and have no original thought of my own.
  • jedi55555, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I would believe the less than 3% figure. We have to remember that there is really not that many times where a mass number of one company's electronic consumer product is bought at one time. If 400,000 people all bought the exact same DVD player in one day we would be hearing about how some of those are defective also. We will hear the same thing when the PS3 comes out and everyone will be surprised again that there are defective consoles.
  • Moose_Head, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I hate fanboyism.
  • MoeB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i can believe that... but that 3% sure is a vocal bunch
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Everyone I know who has a 360 have absolutely no problems with it. But hey, if you hate Microsoft, you don't need to let the trivial act of actually trying their products get in your way before you tell everyone that they're crashing and broken."

    That is exactly what is going, kejistan.

    the biggest abusers are the people who don't even own one or would even buy one if they were perfect.

  • MonkeyFit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0">>> is there something in the 360 now (hardware) thats superior to what a consumer can get off the street? >>>

    Processor and videocard. Videocard especially."

    Isn't the video card based on the ATI 520 chip? The same chip in the X1800 (which I realize costs about as much as an Xbox 360). I'd say it's the processor and power supply. I don't know anywhere you can get a brick that big. ;)
  • seriypshick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"If a bunch of idiot lawyers can sue Apple about the iPod nanos, where the hell are the lawyers now!?"

    You stole my thoughts. :D

    Just a reminder: only 0.01% of nanos were affected.
  • Lynn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Some of the reports of defective units are coming from PS3 fan-boys.

    When the PS3 is launched expect the 360 fan-boys to say they have defective units and that all the display units in their area are broken.

    I have no problems with my 360.

    GamerTag: sp0re
    http://live.xbox.com/member/Sp0re
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+03% is 1 in ~33 consoles. Who wants those odds? Think about it. If you are the 34th person, you're gonna have to wait several months on Microsoft for a fix.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"That's unfair, kejistan. Am I understanding you correctly? If some people are having trouble with the 360 they've purchased then they have to be Microsoft bashers to say something about it?"

    I think kejistan is right though, 16x9, alot of the people that seem to be complaining here make statements about how bad these systems are and then say they would never buy one..or say that some unreleased product is better, he is not talking about the people with defective units...

    that is what he is getting at.....
  • Zeush8su, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0no problem,s with my system since day 1 .
  • suMMx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Screw Microsoft, I have no need for anything they make in my life! Better yet not a single product they make I own. I live a Microsoft free life and it feels good. I hope they choke on their mediocre software and game console.

    cookie?
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