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Does that always mean absolute dead? Can it be prevented?

Just curious.

Often 'Boxes will show classic graphics corruption before dying, apparently as the 'board warps from overheat and Xenos' solder joints begin to loosen. They may cool in synch with the board straightening back out and reconnect, but it's almost always temporary. Once it starts to really go, not much can be done. It's 99% doomed.

Some show no warning signs. My last RRoD saw the box lock up during a cutscene (a few minutes before I would've ended play anyway, ironically); I shut it down and, powering back up half an hour later, red rings.

Current production has 65nm CPUs. Word was that 65nm Xenos chips began production awhile back, but no real word has come down when or if they've yet gotten into retail Boxes.

With winter coming I may not bother, but it seems likely adding some external fannage to force air in should help, tho likely not looking too elegant. Photos of Opus boards/heatsinks show them to be substantial, with at least one heatpipe.

I've heard that the towel trick works sometimes, but you have to get some sort of aftermarket cooling to keep it alive.  Some people have used stronger HSF clamps, with some success.

Last edited by Mr. T (2008-09-22 6:10 pm)

user wrote:

pocket full of posey

solder, solder, they all break down?

elpato84 wrote:

I'm curious how it'll work out; I think that last time, I got back a brand new console, but still from an old production line. This was really near the beginning of the 65mm (or even before?), so I think I didn't get much more than that.

A friend of mine sent one in recently and he got back a new one too.  Maybe MS is trying to get the older flawed consoles out of circulation before they send them to the poor house. 

Bat wrote:

Unconfirmed, contradictory reports are surfacing about Jasper's putative arrival. Nothing definitive yet. Stay tuned.

Do they still name XBoxes? I'll have to check mine. I remember that my 1st gen was called "Cupid." I was put off at first, but luckily I know enough mythology to think it at least slightly cool.

elpato84 wrote:

Bat wrote:

Unconfirmed, contradictory reports are surfacing about Jasper's putative arrival. Nothing definitive yet. Stay tuned.

Do they still name XBoxes? I'll have to check mine. I remember that my 1st gen was called "Cupid." I was put off at first, but luckily I know enough mythology to think it at least slightly cool.

Mine was called smokey and i have another one called casper. I dont think the 360's come from the factory with a name though

Ah, I meant the much more trivial name that the Xbox gives itself, like when you start up a system link in Halo, and it lists the different consoles. Or like when you network your PCs and they show up with names like "Pato's Computer" or something.

Bat wrote:

Me, I was just riffing on what you wrote plus the factory codenames for a bit of fun.

If Jasper boards are becoming common, it *should* be the solution to the reliability issues.

I have noticed hesitation in my Opus Box, intermittent brief freezes, drive slowdowns... probably should've expected the like in something cobbled together from recycled parts, spit, baling wire and duct tape. That disc drive is LOUD, shakes the floor on bare wood.

I ever have some spare change and it breaks again, I could see a better Jasper model, maybe in increments- Arcade plus existing HDD to start, 60 or 120 GB drive later, HDMI->DVI from the get-go. Then again, a better display... there's never enough money any which way.

You should start up a news site

Mine came back today, and with a free month of live, too. Now to see if I actually activate it...

So far, there has yet to be a confirmed Jasper sighting, despite a lot of false information. I don't have a lot of new info myself, but I did want to clarify a number of things that seem to still be confusing. Some of my own suggestions from my previous article may not be as useful as I'd hoped.

A number of readers have informed me that early Falcons were still labeled as drawing 16.5A, which is the same as the Zephyr/Xenon systems. That is, they were labeled directly on the console as such (the PSU rating is not really relevant). These Falcons came with either the 203W/16.5A PSU or a 175W/14.2A PSU, but again, the PSU labeling is not really that relevant unless it's something new (150W for Jasper). Despite the labeling, these systems drew the same amount of power as later Falcons that were labeled correctly. Chances are, Microsoft was just finishing off their stock of older pre-printed stickers. Therefore, my suggestion that a console labeled with 12.1A on the 12V rail, regardless of PSU included, would be the easiest way to identify a Jasper is only partially correct. Eventually, it will be true of all Jaspers, but it may not be true of the very first ones to hit stores. As such, I believe that measuring the power draw at the wall outlet using a Kill-a-Watt (or similar device) will be the best way to ID Jasper early on. Once again, here are Anand's numbers from his Falcon for reference (not a super early one, but not a late one either). Jasper should be about 40-50W less than Falcon both at idle and during game play - so around 50W idle, 75W during Halo 3.

The Jasper Hunt Continues: Still Looking for the 65nm Xbox 360