Print - Isolated Hardware Glitches Mar Xbox 360 Debut

Microsoft on Wednesday acknowledged that it has received some complaints from customers about technical problems with its recently launched Xbox 360 game console. The news comes at a tough time for the company, which had been hoping to dominate the next generation video game market by releasing Xbox 360 well ahead of the competition.

"It's a few reports of consoles here and there not working properly," said Microsoft spokesperson Molly O'Donnell told CNN this week. "It's what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity." The problems include systems that spontaneously shut down or crash to a multi-language error screen. Early indications are that the problems are all related to the power supply overheating.

Though reports of these problems still seem to represent just a small fraction of Xbox 360 consoles sold so far--all Xbox 360 retail units sold out within minutes of the product's initial availability on Tuesday--it's unclear how many systems are affected. Many Xbox 360 sales, for example, will likely sit in boxes until Christmas. In my extensive use of Xbox 360 over the past few weeks, I have not experienced any problems related to overheating or the power supply.

For customers with problems, however, there is little they can do locally. Since Xbox 360 is in such short supply, and will be until after the holidays, they cannot exchange the units at local retail stores. Xbox 360 customers who do experience problems should contact Microsoft at 1-800-4MY-XBOX or visit the Xbox 360 Web site (http://www.xbox.com) for a fix or exchange. Microsoft says it will arrange for overnight delivery of flawed units to a repair center.

Despite the glitches, Xbox 360 is off to a torrid start. Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson has described Xbox 360 as "one of the biggest things that's happened in this industry in a long time," and comparisons to the Windows 95 launch--still the industry standard for product launches--are widespread. With Xbox 360 available to customers several months before the competition, Microsoft understands that timing is important to the device's success. "Our goal with Xbox 360 is to be the worldwide leader in this business," says Robbie Bach, the Chief Xbox Officer at Microsoft. "[Xbox 360] is ... the opportunity to be number one." Microsoft is spending over $2 billion marketing Xbox 360 and seeks to sell about 3 million units in its first 90 days in market.

In related news, technology research firm iSuppli has examined Microsoft's two Xbox retail packages and verified that Microsoft loses money on each console, a fact that Microsoft executives had already discussed publicly. According to iSuppli, Microsoft loses about $11 for each Core System it sells and a whopping $153 for each Xbox premium bundle. However, Microsoft expects component costs to fall dramatically over the life of the system, and it reports that it will eventually make money selling the console; this is how Sony and Nintendo operate as well. In the meantime, Microsoft hopes to recoup its costs with massive sales of software and accessories.

Send 'em back for a replacement. It's always disappointing if a toy or game [or anything pretty much] doesn't work out of the box. Microsoft would be smart to perhaps throw in an 'extra' for customers who've had to put up with returning the equipment. If this is any compensation to any XBoxers who come up agains the glitches: Paul THurott has an excellent website .. lots to read, plenty of screen shots etc. and is worth checking out while you wait for your XBox's return: www winsupersite com

Xbox 1.0 – never buy the 1st version… Ahh well, you gotta have something under the tree for the kids! Engaget sez put it on top of an open box and get some air circulation for it – a 3 core power-pc needs lots of air (& power) and the case of that thing is pretty small…

After listening to complaints of most of the kids that I coach I've decided to ask them to write an essay about their feelings for Microsoft and Bill Gates, who do not deliver on their promises. The best essay will receive an award (a Nintendo DS and an Apple Ipod Nano) and five of them will be selected to be uploaded into the school's website. Most of the kids have just found out how Mr Gates was able to build an emporioum from a garage start up enterprise....by lying through his teeth...

Good heavens, a gaming console has some glitches in its product launch and people start accusing Bill Gates of "lying through his teeth". Talk about a miserable accusation!? What's wrong with people these days!?

I'd say this is much about nothing... From what I've heard most of these odd glitches are power related. The power brick is huge (really, really huge), and it can overheat. There is a status LED on the side, but not sure if I trust it. The easiest solution is that the Xbox has 2 rear fans. I've tucked the brick about 6 inches back from the console exhaust. The console doesn't seem overly warm, and the airflow over the brick has kept it only slightly warm to the touch. If someone couldn't use my solution, then I'd say make sure the brick is well ventilated. Hiding it behind the TV cabinet with a jumble of cables is bound to cause problems.

Gmancis - that's really shocking if you're in a coaching position and are prepared to force your prejudices on the kids in your responsibility - or is that your interpretation of "coaching"?

"I'd say make sure the brick is well ventilated. Hiding it behind the TV cabinet with a jumble of cables is bound to cause problems." Where else *should* it be? Maybe it deserves its own shelf on your equipment rack! Heck, you can probably even get a couple of fans to put on it to keep it cool! Nice conversation piece. "Here's my new xBox, and here's my really cool power supply!" *shaking head* Honestly...

"Despite the glitches, Xbox 360 is off to a torrid start. Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson has described Xbox 360 as 'one of the biggest things that's happened in this industry in a long time,' and comparisons to the Windows 95 launch--still the industry standard for product launches--are widespread." I haven't heard this anywhere else and doubt it highly. The X-Box 360 is the biggest thing to happen to the industry in a long time? Even more crazy, comparing it to the release of Windows 95? Oh, please.

TORRID start? It may be "hot" or "passionate" according to Webter's dictionary, but for most people "Torrid" also implies bad. But isn't all of this just HYPE anyway? There were supply shortages, which is why all of the actual Xboxes sold out in a few hours. This is either supply chain manipulation (to make the demand appear to outstrip the supply by keeping the supply low) or incompetence (not supplying enough) or both. Perhaps "torrid" isn't such a bad word after all.

Another thought: wouldn't it be cool to be able to boot OS X on this box? You'd get something no-one has ever had before: a fast, cheap Mac.

The 360 we have tested runs warm at best.And it doesn't have fans blowing on it,We have not had a single problem so far.For a new release we think this is an outstanding gamers development.Most of the negatives come from people who probally have never even seen a 360.A real problem to us is a previous comment by Gmancis who is in a position of authority over childern and by his/her statement is abusing that position with their own personal bias,which has no place in a classroom.We wonder what other bias attacks this person is instilling on young minds? If any of our childern were in this persons influence we would like to know.Who else is on the hit list? Henry Ford,maybe Martin Luther should not have had a dream, We suppose Linus Torvalds wrote the whole thing up himself and never heard of unix? Think about it.Over a Billion a year to charity not bad for a "garage thief"

GMancis- Are you also going to tell the kids you coach that becoming entrepreneurs out of their own garages is a bad thing? Nice message.

I'm dissipointed. I wouldn't know anything about glitches in the x-box 360, because I haven't recieved mine yet. I had one on reserve, and paid for in October. I keep being told, x-box's will come in soon. In my opinion everyone who had one on reserve should have recieved one first, not any department store. I would like to know when I will get one. After the holidays, isn't good enough for me, so I hope I'm not waiting that long.