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MS Puts the Same Old Parts Inside the 360 at Repair

Thermal design expert analyzed the 360's heat radiation system

Aug 7, 2007 13:22 GMT  ·  By
Temperature inside the machine (with the chassis closed)
   Temperature inside the machine (with the chassis closed)

When Microsoft takes your broken Xbox 360 for repairs, you're pretty happy about it right? You shouldn't be. Here's why. Even though the electronics giant expanded the system's warranty, promising to tap all of the machine's issues, such as scratching discs, the red ring of death, and of course, overheating, the company is apparently replacing damaged parts with identical ones, that should perform as badly as the ones before. Up on Techon.nikkeibp.co.jp is a piece debating the Xbox 360's overheating issues. Seemingly, Microsoft hasn't fixed it.

"Nikkei Electronics focused on the heat radiation system for two reasons," reads the piece. "One is that the Xbox 360 is known as a game console that often goes thermorunaway.The other is that some have reported they heard a snapping noise when the Xbox 360 broke down and became inoperative. This makes sense if a component broke due to heat load caused by insufficient heat radiation."

It's quite a lengthy article (which I advise you to check out), so here's the bottom line for you. As the investigation was approaching its end, experts came to one, staggering conclusion: "Microsoft did not change the thermal design in the repair," reads the last subtitle in the piece up on Techon.

"Finally, we opened the chassis of the Xbox 360 repaired in May 2007 and compared it with the other Xbox 360 we purchased in late 2005." What do you know, the heat sinks and fans looked completely identical. "To our surprise, the composition of the repaired Xbox 360 looked completely the same as that of the Xbox 360 purchased in late 2005. It turned out that Microsoft provided repair without changing the Xbox 360's thermo design at least until May 2007."

Is Microsoft's Xbox 360 the winner, as far as functionality issues are concerned, or what? Not to mention that the company's attitude towards the whole deal isn't that outstanding either. I don't know... I for one am getting a little tired of writing about the Xbox 360's same old issues. Is there anything inside the Xbox 360 that didn't fail up until now?