Eric Krassinger

First off, I have always been a huge fan of Microsoft. Ive own their stock for multiple years and have always been a huge fan of their operating systems. I also was a huge fan of Xbox 360. I thought it has been ground breaking and offered more features than PS3.

Lately, I have been rethinking my stance. Enough that I haven’t installed my Windows 7 that I preordered. The reason for this spite is that my Xbox 360 Elite quit working last month. Everyone knows that Microsoft has experienced a huge problem with defective units due to overheating. I bought an elite almost 2 years ago because it had the new processor that ran at a lower temperature and was quiet. Well, I turned it on last month to watch a DVD and I got two red lights. I looked it up and saw that it was an overheating issue. I knew they extended the warranty to 3 issues for an overheating issue. 2 out of 3 people I know with an Xbox had to send theirs in to get fixed. So I filed a warranty claim to find out that I did not have the “right” overheating problem (i.e. The Red Ring of Death). What is up with that? How can there be more than one over heating issue and have different warranty periods? It cost $100 to send in to Microsoft to get repaired which I thought was totally crazy. Why would I pay for half the cost of a new one to run into the possibility that it would just fail again? My next thing was to take it apart to clean it. I did that and it still overheated. It had no dirt on the fans anyway. I also took off the heat sinks and applied new thermal compound based on possible fixes I read but that did not work either. So that leaves me with a tough decision. I really like having a Xbox and have a ton of money invested in it with Rock Band songs. I also really want to get the new Call of Duty but am struggling with the idea of buying a new one to have the same problem again. I might just buy a Wii because it rocks and a PS3 because I can play COD and also the new upcoming Gran Turismo.

All I can say is how can Microsoft have allowed such a nightmare? They have basically lost a huge fan and purchaser of their products.