by Jozel Max

Are you having Xbox 360 problems? You are not alone. Most consumers have at least one issue with their console because of bad design and a high failure rating.

These problems can be anything from the "Red Ring of Death", to just simple game freezing. Some consumers experience disks being scratched while others see "bricking". Whether the problems are acceptable or not, they are still a headache.

Though most come to accept it, having your favorite game freeze up on you in the middle of an important quest or right when you finally make it to that monster that you been working so hard to get to, it can be very frustrating. It's even worse when you take out the disk to realize that it has been scratched to the point of no longer being playable. This is actually a fairly common issue. It is caused from either the disk not being secure in the drive or the pads at the reader missing. This happens more often when the console is positioned on its side, rather then laid flat.

Another issue Xbox 360's have is "bricking". "Bricking" is a term used within the industry due to the brick shape of most electronics. Since a brick is useless when it comes to electronics, when items like a game console, DVD player or similar quits, it's now "useless as a brick". Some dashboard updates have caused "bricking". The only fix for this is to contact Microsoft to see about a replacement or repair. If the console is out of warranty, the repair could cost anywhere from $99 and up.

The most common problem with Xbox 360's is the "Red Ring of Death". The name for this issue comes from the three red lights that are on around the power light on the face of the console, forming a red ring. This is caused from either a general hardware failure or a core digital failure. Either of these problems is not good. Both require your console to be sent in to Microsoft for repair or replacement. The average turn around to receive one back is eight weeks. Due to the commonality of this issue, Microsoft extended the 1-year warranty that these consoles came with to 3 years from date of purchase.

On November 1, 2006 a patch was released. This patch, when applied, caused "bricking" in many systems. This led to a lawsuit being filed later that same month. This wasn't the first of lawsuits that had been filed against Microsoft concerning the Xbox 360's problems. Soon after the Xbox 360 first hit the markets the year before, a lawsuit had been filed.

The most recent class action lawsuit filed against Microsoft was in October of 2008 by Californian consumers. The filers claim that Microsoft knowingly manufactured faulty consoles and that they refused to release the actual failure rates of the consoles.

Xbox 360's too often have problems. In an industry where only 3-5% is an acceptable failure rating, a rating of over 50% is outrageous! What happened to the game consoles that lasted for years and years without any problems what so ever?

About the Author:
Now you can Repair Xbox 360 under one hour, and forget your xbox 360 hard drive problems, and play again your favorite games.