Items tagged with RROD
It wasn't unusually difficult end bosses or rampant cheating in online multiplayer titles that once caused gamers to have nightmares. What used to keep players up at night were tales of the dreaded Red Ring of Death (RRoD)—three red lights around the Xbox 360's power button that indicated the console had entered the afterlife. To add insult to injury, Microsoft also released an XBox 360 update at one point that also bricked more than a few consoles. The whole ordeal cost Microsoft dearly, to the tune of about $1 Billion clean. That figure is the result of extended warranty coverage and subsequent repairs and replacements. In his book, "Xbox Revisited: A Gameplan for Corporate and Civic Renewal,"...
Read more...
One of the ways that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo gradually reduce the price of consoles is by adopting increasingly advanced manufacturing technologies that reduce the size and power consumption of the console's components. Microsoft has combined both the CPU and GPU inside the XBox 360 S into a single chip configuration; details on the new design are starting to leak. The XBox 360 is an infamous example of the problems manufacturers can encounter when pushing the performance envelope—the initial XBox consoles weren't designed with sufficient thermal tolerances which lead to the infamous RROD (Red Rings of Death). It's been several years since Microsoft patched that particular problem,...
Read more...
Microsoft's new XBox 360 S adds a variety of spiffy new features, even if it does require regular sacrifices of virgin discs. One of the more subtle (but arguably most important) additions is the addition of a thermal monitor. We don't know yet if the XBox monitors the internal temperature of the CPU or uses a thermistor embededed in the motherboard, but the end result is the same. In the event that the XBox detects an overheat, a red dot pops on in the center of the power button and the system powers down. It's nice to see Microsoft finally adding this functionality, but it's a mystery why the console wasn't designed with it from Day 1. Microsoft has never confirmed exactly what caused the Red...
Read more...
The hardware specifications for the components in the XBox 360 or Playstation 3 may not have changed since launch day, but semiconductor manufacturing has advanced significantly. Supposedly leaked photos of a new XBox 360 motherboard indicate that Microsoft could be poised to take advantage of that fact. If the image is real (and it might not be), Microsoft has redesigned the XBox's motherboard from the ground up. Image by Kotaku.comAbove we have the leaked photo, below we have the XBox 360 motherboard as its more-or-less appeared to date. The major difference between the two is the position of the GPU. We've known Microsoft was working on a combined-package for the CPU+GPU for awhile; the jump...
Read more...
