Xbox errors, Who's to blame?

The Xbox 360 is well known for it's failure rates. It has so many errors it could drive you nuts, and the worst thing is the errors are very common.

On July 5, 2007, the Vice-president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division published an open letter recognizing the console's problems, as well as announcing a three-year warranty extension for every Xbox 360 console that experiences the "general hardware failure"
indicated by three flashing red LEDs on the console. A source that has been identified as a team leader and key architect in the creation of the Xbox and Xbox 360 and a founding member of the Xbox team provided insight as to the high rate of failures. The interviews suggest that Xbox 360 units that fail early in their life do so because of problems in the system design, parts supply, material reliability, and manufacturing issues as well as a system not tolerant to faults. These issues were alleged to be the end results of the decisions of management in Microsoft's Xbox team and inadequate testing resources prior to the console's release. A second source cited that, at one time, there was just a 32% yield of one of the test production runs. 68 of every 100 test units were found to be defective.


Error's in the Xbox 360:


Scratched discs:
According to sources some Xbox 360 slim's inherit the error of scratching discs, Microsoft says owners contribute by moving they're Xbox 360's when the disc is in it but people have complained even when the Xbox was stationary they had this problem. In some cases the disc was left unreadable and Microsoft only replaces certain discs, mostly limited edition. technical engineers already knew about the problem before release confirm this with Microsoft with a list of solutions. According to Microsoft, the problem decreasing the disk rotation would take too much time to load a game and bumpers in the disk tray would cost 25 cents per console—a total of about 11 million dollars."The Llamma's Adventures" investigated the matter and concluded that some Xbox 360 drives lack a mechanism to secure the disc solidly in place.Currently, Microsoft still maintains that it is the user's fault when discs are damaged, because it "makes clear with multiple warnings not to move the console with the disc inside." It also maintains that only a minority of customers are affected by this issue. However, the company did not comment on the lab tests.


E74 Error:

An E74 error is indicated when the lower-right quadrant of the ring indicator flashes red and displays an error message in multiple languages: "E74 System Error. Contact Xbox Customer Support". The error is caused when there's a video problem, because the Xbox 360's hardwarescaler chip is damaged. As of April 14, 2009, the E74 error is now covered by the three-year extended warranty, and customers who previously paid Microsoft for out-of-warranty service to correct the E74 error will receive a refund.

It is worth noting that the E74 error is displayed in the Screens of Death article as a "Green Screen of Death" and a "Black Screen of Death" because early versions of these errors had an almost jet-black background with a hue of dark green. Later versions would show a completely jet-black background. Reports of impending Q4 red-light failure stem from users who report an abnormal display with poor, grainy video as well as black dots/artifacts appearing on the screen.

NXE Update issues:

On November 19, 2008, Microsoft released the "New Xbox Experience" (NXE). This update provided streaming Netflix capability and avatars; however, some users have reported the update has caused their consoles to not properly read optical media. Others have reported that the update has disabled audio through HDMI connections. A Microsoft spokesperson stated the company is "aware that a handful of Xbox LIVE users are experiencing audio issues, and are diligently monitoring this issue and working towards a solution." Microsoft released a patch on February 3, 2009 for the HDMI audio issues.

"Open tray" error:

When an Xbox 360 cannot read a CD/DVD or game disc, it may not recognize that it has a disc in its drive. Instead of the "Play Game" or "Play DVD" options, an "Open Tray" option appears. The issue is linked to a dirty laser in the DVD drive, a magnetic problem that prevents the drive from spinning, or insufficient lubrication of the drive motor. However, disconnecting and re-connecting the Xbox 360 sometimes works. Taking out the disc, closing the tray, then re-inserting it can go around this problem, as the opening and closing of the tray tells the Xbox to read the tray for content. Also, putting in a different game/DVD may work. Lately some cases in which the Xbox 360 can not read any more discs reporting this error all the time have appeared.This issue can be removed if the Xbox 360 is opened and the laser is cleaned.

Also, this error can be caused because the laser travels too far on the guide rails and tries to read the center of the disc where there is no information. This can be fixed by opening the console and placing a spacer on the rail to prevent the laser from traveling too far.Occasionally, leaving the console alone for a certain period of time can make the problem become non-existent.


The real question is who's to blame? Is it the engineers, the designers, The whole of Microsoft's Xbox department, or the owner themselves? Contribute to answer the question by commenting on the blog or creating/contributing to new threads.