SquareTrade Report Claims Xbox 360 Failure Rates at 16pct Options

[Xbox-Scene]

SquareTrade Report Claims Xbox 360 Failure Rates at 16pct Posted by XanTium | February 14 00:55 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From 1up.com: [QUOTE] A new report claims the truth is somewhere in the middle. SquareTrade deals in selling warranties for electronics, and has amassed their over 1000 warranty claims to come up with some interesting data. The findings were a 16.4% failure rate of Xbox 360 systems, versus a roughly 3% rate for the Sony PlayStation 3 or the Nintendo Wii with sample sizes in the high hundreds. The well-known "Red Ring of Death" error accounted for about 60% of those hardware failures, and thus most system-breaking problems are covered by Microsoft's extended warranty plan. SquareTrade CEO Steve Abernethy speculated that the future may see an even higher percentage. "It is reasonable to believe these failure rates will increase over time, since the Xbox 360 failure issues tend to increase with prolonged use where overheating appears the main culprit," he said. Abernethy went on to note that while the company didn't track the different variations of the 360, he "would estimate most if not all were the original motherboard." [/QUOTE] Full Story: 1up.com

[g8crapachino]

The old motherboards are no longer being manufactured and they are being replaced/fixed as necessary. In all logic the number of failures would go down, not up.

I know it's human nature to be negative, cynical, and hope for the worst but the facts just don't fit the story. The story sides on the dramatic just to get readers.

[Bubbalynch]

The old motherboards are no longer being manufactured and they are being replaced/fixed

Replaced by what? Another 'old' motherboard? (possibly)

Fixed how? You mean to tell me that theres actually a PERMINANT solution for console thats been plauged with the ROD? I think not.

If the board is replaced with a newer board thats been redisgned, maybe. If its only been 'fixed' or replaced with another old board, then it still falls in the faulty hardware catagory if ya ask me.

Until the old boards are completey squashed, which is nearly impossible considering how many are out there and how many are being used as refurbished products, the ROD will NEVER stop haunting 360 owners.

Thats my take on it anyways.

[openxdkman]

The right way would be to measure stats for each model, for each manufacturing year, for a precise amount of time T.

Then if your 360 age is n*T, and RROD probability during amount of time T is p
(for a fixed number of played hours per week, in average climate)

Then, the global probability of RROD will be something like this formula :
(this is for very low p and n=300, but you get the idea)




So if 33% was for 1 year and 16% was for 6 months it's coherent but they never communicate the amount of time (age) of all measured xbox'es... So it's not enough precise to allow exact stat to be known. It's 2 figures anyway, for 1 year old, I guess : MS, you are bad console hardware designer.
That's all.

This post has been edited by openxdkman: Feb 14 2008, 10:24 AM

[steveju]

"In taking statistics, the two most important factors are sample size and randomness. By using a pool of over 1000 redeemed warranties, the report's sample size is sufficient."

Ermm... no, it's not. You can't just say that your sample size is sufficient, you need to present some proof. 1000 360s isn't even 0.01% of all the Xbox 360s ever sold. How did they come up with their numbers? How random was their testing?

Smells too much like BS.

[MaulerX]

Replaced by what? Another 'old' motherboard? (possibly)

Fixed how? You mean to tell me that theres actually a PERMINANT solution for console thats been plauged with the ROD? I think not.

If the board is replaced with a newer board thats been redisgned, maybe. If its only been 'fixed' or replaced with another old board, then it still falls in the faulty hardware catagory if ya ask me.

Until the old boards are completey squashed, which is nearly impossible considering how many are out there and how many are being used as refurbished products, the ROD will NEVER stop haunting 360 owners.

Thats my take on it anyways.

Did you read his post?? All he is saying is that with more reliable hardware already out there, that
16% overall failure rate should not go up, like the article suggests. In fact, it should slowly go down
as the overall install base grows with the better hardware.

[0794]

yet another attempt to try and statistically quantify the obviously reported problem with the 360's failure rate. and yet another failure to clearly present data that is believable by technical analysis standards although the actual reported failure rate sounds better or more realistic that either MS' or others' reports. until MS comes clean with the truth (and there is no need for them ever to) we can only continue pure speculation with random sample sets...

[NineT9mustang]

16%? I'd say more around 30-40%

Speaking from experience, I know of about 10 people with 360's, every single one of them has had their 360 go bad. Some once, most 2 or 3 times, one buddy had his go bad 6 times...

On top of this, they all know a bunch of people who had bad 360's...people i know that dont' own 360's know people who had their 360 go bad...

Sure this is just my side and I don't account for the entire 360 population, but i know plenty of people online who are in my same shoes...know tons of people who have had problems

Of course theres people who have had 0 problems, but we all know they are the minority

30-40% seems reasonable, call me crazy