Whether you’ve experienced it yet or not, the three red blinking lights of death on the Xbox 360 Ring of Light is an all-too-real issue signaling more often than not that your console is either dead or has a foot in the grave.
I’ve personally encountered the lights and watched my console suffer an unceremonious end just over six months from the date of purchase. Due to the skimpy six month warranty period, Microsoft Customer Service wanted me to fork out nearly half the cost of the console to send it in for repairs. Thanks, but no thanks.
The issue of Xbox 360’s meeting an untimely demise has apparently prompted Microsoft to do the right thing: extend the warranty period to a full year. In their words, “The one-year warranty is now the standard for the Xbox 360 console. Customers who experience hardware issues with their Xbox 360 within one year of purchase can have their consoles repaired at no cost. Moreover, the new warranty policy is retroactive, so consumers who may have already paid for an out-of-warranty Xbox 360 repair within one year of purchase will be eligible for reimbursement of their console repair charges.”
Kudos go to Microsoft for not only “doing something” about the problem moving forward, but addressing those already forced to fork out Benjamins for repairs between the six month and one year mark. Now if only there were a firmware upgrade that eliminates hardware failures altogether…
