defective xbox360?

[mrsako]

I got my xbox360 maybe 2-3 weeks ago at gamestop. I've noticed sometimes while playing it starts making some loud noises, and on one occasion it did freeze up on me while playing halo3. (I don't remember if it was making loud noises when it did that though)

I tried to do some google research and the only remotely close thing I could find is: http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/25/h...erheating-360/

which kind of describes my problem (my power supply is on the floor as the directions suggest i should place it)

I'm trying to figure out if what I am experiencing is normal (the loudness, i think it may be fans running loud) or if there is something wrong with my xbox and/or power supply.

I'm fairly new with console gaming and the xbox 360 so I'm not sure what I should be doing, I think gamestop has a 1 month warranty thing on defective items so I want to bring this across my local gamestop if the case is that my xbox has a problem. Is there a way to verify if there is a problem with it or anything?

[namehater]

you really need to explain this loud noise your hearing, might be fans, might be the dvd drive grinding, might be your hdd spinning, try and narrow down this noise your hearing, also, is it just when you power on or is it a constant noise? did you buy this console brand new, or was it a used one?

to me it sounds like your on the road to heart break, i personally would take it back, when your shopping make sure you get one that has HDMI outputs on it to ensure your getting the best cooling/hardware that is available

[mrsako]

I bought it brand new, right now Im reading over this limited warranty stuff out of a booklet that came with the xbox.

it doesnt always make the noises and it usually only happens after playing for extended periods of time (over an hour), so I want to think it is the fans or some sort of temperature problem, but it doesn't really sound like the fan I don't think, it sounds more like the diskreader or hard drive, but it's not really comparable to the sounds you might hear out of a PC disk reader or hard drive (but I don't know how much you can compare the xbox hardware to that of a PC)

[mrsako]

Just as a thought, I was thinking about detaching my hard drive and playing my xbox for a few hours, see if i get the noise again, doing this could probably narrow it down to not being the hard drive right?

Is there some kind of issue I might face playing without the hard drive? (besides the fact I probably cant load/save games or get on xbox live, but I could play for example halo3 in single player right?)

Would it cause some kind of problems playing with the hard drive detached for a while then putting it back on? (ie games getting confused or profiles getting confused)

[namehater]

i wouldnt put take it off or put it on while the xbox is on, recipe for disaster, you may just have to wait until it goes kaput then return, did you buy any extended warranty? if not, return that one, and repurchase with the extended warranty

[mrsako]

I was planning to detach the hard drive before turning it on. but anyways.

Do you think it is likely gamestop will take the 360 back on the premise of it making noises (i purchased it on 9/28, and I think their store policy is a 30 day "it will work" guarantee, I think i saw that somewhere once).

on the receipt it says opened opened new systems can be exchanged for the identical item w/ in 7 days, I don't know if its referring to it's status of being faulty or not (in any case there is the 90 day manufacturer warranty which seems to cover my scenario, but I don't want to have to sit through a good 2 weeks or more of shipping things around). Has anyone been in a similar situation with gamestop, is there something i should or shouldn't say to ruin my chance of getting my system replaced?

also, If I end up exchanging the whole thing, is there a way to "backup" my hard drive or transfer it to something (I'm most concerned about losing my online profile and achievements, I'm not sure exactly what gets saved on the box and what is stored on Microsoft's servers)

[Peench]

I'd exchange it now. It could be a myriad of issues unfortunately.

You can try to see if they will let you keep your HD and just attach it to the new console, or you can backup your data onto a Memory Unit. They have them up to 512k. Depending on how many games you have played and how big your game saves are, they should fit.

[mrsako]

When I am at the Xbox dashboard/guide thing and I am NOT logged in, it has

"
-sign in/1 profile found
-join xbox live
-recover gamertag from xboxlive
"
buttons to select. It looks like if i choose recover gamertag from xboxlive I can just return the whole thing, get my new box and do the recover gamertag from xboxlive thing, The real thing I don't want to lose is my gamertag and achievements, I don't mind having to redownload demos and xboxlive arcade games, or losing my saved games

[Peench]

You can recover your GT to a new console, but before you trade that old one in - if you are going to leave the HD on it - DELETE your profile! You don't want someone else playing on your account.

When you start up a new console, you can recover your GT. All of your achievements will remain (points anyway). But if you don't save/backup your game saves, you will have to start those over.

[mrsako]

I think I am going to go this route instead of buying a little xbox memory card thing which I will probably never use again. the only xbox games I have right now are halo2 and halo3, so that probably means I will just lose out on the fact that I beat the game in normal (im planning to go through and beat it in legendary soon anyways)
It's pretty early right now so gamestop isn't open yet, I'm planning to call them in a few hours.is there a safe/best way to go about removing my profile off of the hard drive? should I just do it on the memory managment menuscreen thing on the xbox guide?
thanks

[Peench]

You should be able to delete the profile from the "memory management screen" in the System blade.

Keep us posted and hopefully all goes well.

[mrsako]

I called gamestop, They guy said that running loud does not mean the unit is defective so they can't do anything for me, he said i should try calling microsoft but also said they may not do anything for me either (though on some google results it seems people have had their potentially defective products that are noisy exchanged through microsoft.

So that pretty much rules out getting help from gamestop, what I am going to do next is find some time to bring my xbox to my friends house (who has had a 360 since it first came out) and run them side by side playing the same game, if mine is indeed running abnormally loud I think I will go ahead and give microsoft a call before 90 days passes.