Freezing Problem is Due To Faulty DVD Drives

[jpup]

Re: Freezing Problem is Due To Faulty DVD Drives

Back on topic though, I'm hopeful that MS straighten's this out soon. Although I have to give them props, they sent me a brand new system due to my freezing problems.

I'm glad I sold you the bad one. Mine has been flawless thus far.

[WTF]

Re: Freezing Problem is Due To Faulty DVD Drives

:y4: Yeah... well at least I have a brand spankin new one, lol. I still haven't played it yet though. I'm giong to go hook it up and see how it goes.

[Erv]

Re: Freezing Problem is Due To Faulty DVD Drives

This will be big once the inevitable happens and people start losing up to $700(ebay) investments...makes me glad I avoid launches.

[jjoe]

Re: Freezing Problem is Due To Faulty DVD Drives

Sorry to hear that. Were you playing a game or was the 360 just sitting idle with no disc in the drive?

It would happen while gaming, but not consistently. In fact, my problem was deciding if occasional freezes warranted returning the unit. I've heard some people indicate that all of the 360s freeze, but others say their unit has been "flawless". I gues it depends on whether those saying their unit has performed flawless has had the occasional freeze that they choose to ignore as not being a problem. My unit was fairly new (12/16/05) so I wonder if the occasional freeze is normal. One guy at xbox.com said if your unit freezes once, you should send it back as that is clearly a hardware issue that will only get worse. I'm curious whether those saying their units are flawless mean that they have never experienced any freezes.

[Rodster]

Re: Freezing Problem is Due To Faulty DVD Drives

It would happen while gaming, but not consistently. In fact, my problem was deciding if occasional freezes warranted returning the unit. I've heard some people indicate that all of the 360s freeze, but others say their unit has been "flawless". I gues it depends on whether those saying their unit has performed flawless has had the occasional freeze that they choose to ignore as not being a problem. My unit was fairly new (12/16/05) so I wonder if the occasional freeze is normal. One guy at xbox.com said if your unit freezes once, you should send it back as that is clearly a hardware issue that will only get worse. I'm curious whether those saying their units are flawless mean that they have never experienced any freezes.

Yeah I would return it Joe and have MS send you another one. When you here others say their 360 has been flawless we mean it. My 360 has never made a hiccup or stopped working while playing a game. It also runs slightly warm.

I was going to respond further about heat issues in your previous post but I was waiting to hear your respons first Joe. I've been working with computers since the early 80's pre P.C. era and have built many systems myself.

Heat buildup in a computer will surprise you how fast temps climb within 2-4 mins of using a system. Within 5 mins your system could go from idle temp to max temp if your CPU and DVD drive are being worked to near full capacity.

The 360 is basically a PowerMac with three CPU's and they do generate a hella lot of heat within a few minutes of gaming. Keep in mind the system is a lot smaller than your average PC and it relies on blowing out as much hot air as fast as it can. The DVD drive spinning in a 360 uusally is running at max or very close to it while playing 360 game. Try taking out a 360 disk after 10mins of gaming and you would be surprised how warm or even hot the disc will get. Multiply 3 CPU's in the 360 and that's a lot of heat.

To put it in more perspective I recently built a bad @ss AMD gaming rig. I use PC Probe II to monitor my onboard my voltages and temps. At the XP boot screen and at idle my temps run about 33c. If I play any game for about 5 minutes where the CPU is being worked hard the temps will climb to 52c in a short period of time. If I monitor the temps and load a DVD in the drive I will see my temps climb another 3-4 deg celcius.

So you can now imangine what loads the 360 is constantly under and how much heat the system is generate. 10 minutes of gaming might be short for you and me but to the 360 that's enough time to generate some serious heat. And if your 360 is not up to the task of getting rid of the heat then your components will start to fail. The first signs are usually lockups or freezes.

Call MS and get another 360. It's not normal what you are seeing. The first thing I did to my 360 was to lay it flat because you generate better air flow. The last thing I did was to raise the unit by placing an eraser on each corner of the unit and did the same with the powerbrick. I have not one problem since launch.

p.s. sorry for the long thread

[jjoe]

Re: Freezing Problem is Due To Faulty DVD Drives

Yeah I would return it Joe and have MS send you another one. When you here others say their 360 has been flawless we mean it. My 360 has never made a hiccup or stopped working while playing a game. It also runs slightly warm.

I was going to respond further about heat issues in your previous post but I was waiting to hear your respons first Joe. I've been working with computers since the early 80's pre P.C. era and have built many systems myself.

Heat buildup in a computer will surprise you how fast temps climb within 2-4 mins of using a system. Within 5 mins your system could go from idle temp to max temp if your CPU and DVD drive are being worked to near full capacity.

The 360 is basically a PowerMac with three CPU's and they do generate a hella lot of heat within a few minutes of gaming. Keep in mind the system is a lot smaller than your average PC and it relies on blowing out as much hot air as fast as it can. The DVD drive spinning in a 360 uusally is running at max or very close to it while playing 360 game. Try taking out a 360 disk after 10mins of gaming and you would be surprised how warm or even hot the disc will get. Multiply 3 CPU's in the 360 and that's a lot of heat.

To put it in more perspective I recently built a bad @ss AMD gaming rig. I use PC Probe II to monitor my onboard my voltages and temps. At the XP boot screen and at idle my temps run about 33c. If I play any game for about 5 minutes where the CPU is being worked hard the temps will climb to 52c in a short period of time. If I monitor the temps and load a DVD in the drive I will see my temps climb another 3-4 deg celcius.

So you can now imangine what loads the 360 is constantly under and how much heat the system is generate. 10 minutes of gaming might be short for you and me but to the 360 that's enough time to generate some serious heat. And if your 360 is not up to the task of getting rid of the heat then your components will start to fail. The first signs are usually lockups or freezes.

Call MS and get another 360. It's not normal what you are seeing. The first thing I did to my 360 was to lay it flat because you generate better air flow. The last thing I did was to raise the unit by placing an eraser on each corner of the unit and did the same with the powerbrick. I have not one problem since launch.

p.s. sorry for the long thread

Thanks, Rodster. Don't apologize for the long post, it was useful information I did not know. A lot of people have complained about damaged discs creating problems, but I don't believe that to be the case. When I owned my original xbox, I never returned a single game. I think it is very rare to have a damaged disc. That leaves the problem as either a programming issue or hardware failure. One person in one of the sites I was reading indicated it is a programming glitch b/c the 360 is new and programmers need to learn the system before they can get all of the glitches out. If you'll read a lot of the posts in the thread with the 360 problems poll, you'll see many people saying they had one or two freezes, but nothing "out of the ordinary". This indicates an acceptance that the 360 may freeze on occasion even though the hardware is perfectly fine. IT is good to know that your unit has never had a lock up. Have you played problem games such as nba 2k6 without lock-ups? How long have you had your 360?

[Rodster]

Re: Freezing Problem is Due To Faulty DVD Drives

Thanks, Rodster. Don't apologize for the long post, it was useful information I did not know. A lot of people have complained about damaged discs creating problems, but I don't believe that to be the case. When I owned my original xbox, I never returned a single game. I think it is very rare to have a damaged disc. That leaves the problem as either a programming issue or hardware failure. One person in one of the sites I was reading indicated it is a programming glitch b/c the 360 is new and programmers need to learn the system before they can get all of the glitches out. If you'll read a lot of the posts in the thread with the 360 problems poll, you'll see many people saying they had one or two freezes, but nothing "out of the ordinary". This indicates an acceptance that the 360 may freeze on occasion even though the hardware is perfectly fine. IT is good to know that your unit has never had a lock up. Have you played problem games such as nba 2k6 without lock-ups? How long have you had your 360?

Joe I think the damaged disc thing came from some initial gamers who moved their systems while playing a game and the disc were spinning at max speed. You can count me in with that group when I was playing PGR3 and I decided to lay my system flat and I heard a pretty bad knocking noise inside the drive. Fortunately the disc was fine.

Some retail disc have had some problems but it's not a frequent thing. My NBA2K6 has been flawless no lockups or freezes. The other problem right now is all the histeria created by the few systems that have had problems (MS says 3-5%).

The other day i'm playing FN3 and I see my controller's LED's start freaking out out and my immediate reaction was oh crap. All it was that I needed to recharge my batteries and it was fine. I purchased my 360 at the midnight launch in Florida.