Europe Investigates Microsoft Xbox 360 Scratching Disk Problem Posted by XanTium | June 1 23:30 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From theinquirer.net: [QUOTE] THE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER for Consumers has asked Microsoft to explain why Xbox 360s have so many faulty hard drives [note: obviously they mean disc drives here]. According to this Dutch web site, Commissioner Meglena Kuneva wants answers from Microsoft. Fast. There are, apparently, 1,000 complaints from The Netherlands alone. She wants and expects Microsoft to respond to worldwide complaints about the problem. There's a radio interview with the Commissioner, here - much of this is in English. She wants Microsoft to respond in a week. She mentions this in her blog, which can be found by clicking on her EU page. [/QUOTE] Full Story: theinquirer.net

are we talking about faulty "hard drives" or optical drives..?

your move m$ lol

pffft total market scam. Microsoft paying small companys to take surveys/investigate "disc scratching problems" to take the attention away from the real problem OVERHEATING/3ROD!!

We all know thats the only real BIG problem, I mean yea discs get reported scratching here and their but for the most part the numbers are small compared to overheating and the 3 rings of death.

Not for me. This hits closer to home as I have had 2 discs scratched but 0 3RODs. Maybe one was my fault, but now that I think it wasnt. I moved the console (off) with a disc still in it, but it wasn't on so it should matter. The other disc was scratched by the 360 for sure no doubt. But its only GH2 and GUN that have had this problem, all other discs are fine and have been for quite some time now.

Oh well, just go down the street and have them restored for 3 bucks, they look brand new again!

But props for Europe for standing up to MS about this problem. See MS will fix the 3ROD problems. But as for disc scratching you are SOL!

European Xbox 360's must have serious problems if their Hard drives are scratching their DVD's.

I imagine its a typo or the author of the article is not computer literate.

My 360 has never moved. Never been bumped...yet it's somehow scratched 2 discs.

I'm anal about my cds... I have cds from '95 that have zero scratches on them still although I've listened to them hundreds of times.

I also don't change games much...If I'm not playing split screen with someone, I'll leave the same game in there for months. I'm very glad that this is staying public! a warranty extended to 1 year simply isn't enough for flawed 1st version consoles.

They have given microsoft a week...ok now what, what happens when they dont respond?

Microsoft gets fined by the EU for selling a faulty product, and knowing about it or something like that, and gets more time to respond in return. Didn't know the HDDs were that faulty though, I thought it was the DVD drives. Need to listen to that interview to find out if they mixed them up.

Guess they never heard of X-S. They could conclude in 5 minutes of reading why the discs get scratched.

Well i live in the Netherlands and that website (originally vara.kassa.nl) is translated by a cheap translation site, so it's pretty much half-assed english

But there's a english version of this programme on TV broadcasted in England, they had items about the 3ROD, but the dutch programme didn't understand and did their articles about scratches on DVDs

Thank god - The first step has been taken to get someone like the EU involved. I've just started noticing on most of my discs that are used frequently that the clear bit in the middle, where the ODD spindle motor attaches, are cracked pretty bad. Neither of the cracks reach the data yet - but like many people my console never gets moved. I know the EU can be twats at time (*Cough*Windows "N" variants*), but I'm really hoping they DO get involved soon and force MS to offer a fix - and not that shitty disc replacement scheme either. The fault lies with the drive.

It's whenever my games are spinning down I noticed this rubbing noise. It's as though the motor just lets go of the disc at high speed, rather than hold it whilst slowing down. Unfortunatley, its a launch-day console and MS won't acknowledge it without £120.

And I'm pretty sure they meant DVD drive, not hard drive.

"She mentions this in her bog" lol

With all the typos and stating that the hard drive is scratching discs...somehow I doubt that this will help in any way, form, or fashion. And whoopity-doo Bazzle, somebody mentioned something in their blog. Freakin blogs, I don't care to read someone else's opinion on stuff like this unless they actually know what they are talking about.

One reason more I am running backups.
It was enough one time seeing my PG3 brand new disc scratched after a few runs...
I hope MS will have to refund us!?

YEEEEAAAAH!!!! YES!!! Finally MS is being looked down on from something big and international. Of course MS will do something now. I hope EU will tell them that they will ban their product from Europe if they dont fix the problem. MS is so greedy and want money that they cant afford to losing more customers.

I think maybe her blog is incomplete. It doesn't mention an ODD drive anywhere.

How can EU cite MS for a 'faulty' product if they can't prove a fault.

I think this is bogus. If there's no information about a problem, then how can MS find a solution? I'm not saying that the xbox isn't faulty, cuz it IS. I'm saying why post this news as if it were definitive? Why doesn't the blog talk about the type of complaints in the NL?

The 1 yr warantee on the xbox is reasonable, but I understand the desire for a longer one, seeing how it is kind of a new product. However, the evolution of technology is like the speed of life... it goes fast. It's the standard for a product to have a year warantee, but in reality, it's unrealistic to have a longer one(in a corporate perspective).

I can wholeheartedly agree that this should be a wake-up call for MS. It's important for them to address this issue. MS has a large market in Europe and this is the start of an impending problem for them. If they can make good on these complaints, then Sony will still have serious competition. I'm skeptic, though.

The EU just doesn't like Microsoft, now do they?

Now, let's wait for European Union to took measures about the red light of dead problems.
I really don't get it. Why doesn't anyone gives attention to this RLOD problem?
I only see programas and news about scratched discs, but I see a lot more people with RLOD than faulty discs. And I think it is a more serious problem as well.

IMHO the RLOD problem should be addressed as that's much worse than scratched discs, personally my 360 went back with 3RODs but only suffered from 1 scratched disc (Saints Row) which was entirely my fault (don't move 360 while disc is spinning, lol)

M$ say it's a small number of 360's that suffer from this but everyone I know who has a 360 has suffered from this problem (which is quite a few) so statistically this problem must be huge so if this makes M$ take their collective heads out of their as*es then its all good..

nice one

Never mind this. The EU shoud investigate why MS charge DOUBLE for MS points in Britain than they do in the US for something which is delivered by the net and has ZERO marginal cost. 100 points costs $1.25 in the US but the same amount of points costs £1.25 ($2.50) in the UK.

Can you believe that the shivering Isles download for Oblivion (1gb) costs $60 over here. F*ck it, I think I'm going to complain to someone about this. Let's see if I can get MS fined 80 billion dollars or something for being a rip off merchant. Apple just got done for charging the UK more than the rest of Europe for iTunes and their ripoff wasn't nearly as bad as MS's.

So can someone explain to me how a hard drive causes disk scratching problems? Godam EU shut up and get your facts right before you file a complaint.

I thought the whole overheating/3RLOD problem was much bigger than the discs getting scratched. No one that i know has complained about their games being scratched, but the majority of my friends with 360s have gotten the 3RLOD atleast once.

Update from the article:

How about reading the actual article before screaming Eurofags?



Because there aren't any trade agreements that FORCE prices to be fair between the US and the EU, at least not for game consoles.

Look at the price history for the original Xbox and you'll see Ireland get an absurd launch price for it (like the UK/Ireland always does), and a sharp decrease the MOMENT it's released with a lower price in mainland Europe. THAT's an example of what the EU can do for you. They can't enforce anything about insane prices for Europe as a whole.

the woman got too much time in her hands, what is an EU comissionar doing with xbox complaints....i bet her kameo disc scratched while she was banging near the console.

The EU is serious about that! They will force MS to do better or/and will punish them! As they did before! (MS /WinXP, MS had to pay almost a billon!)

the EU is really serious about taking care of EU costumers! They don't want crap to be sold in the Union! If the Xbox360 is destroying a 3rd Partie Product (i.e. Movie DVD/or Game) they will face problems at least in the EU! Worst case scenario would be that the have to pay every destroyed disc whether it is a game or movie or music, because it can be seen as they just want u to use their Marketplace/Downloads, and that would be against free market.....

Actually the EU is against monopolies and this considered a monopolistic move ( selling of a defective product knowingly )

selling of defective product is monopoly?

djeezes ... she sounds stupid. unbelievable she's one of the persons to rule our europe :-s

Actually the EU can do something about it because 800 MS points costs £6.80 in the UK (10.14 euro) and only 9.30 Euro in Europe. MS will not allow you to use points purchased in another country other than where your xbox live account is based. EU is supposed to be a free trade zone and this is why apple got into trouble for charging 0.99 euro for a song in europe and 1.14 euro (0.79 pounds) for songs in Britain whilst restricting the ability of British purchasers to purchase songs from anywhere apart from itunes.co.uk. The result was a Pan-European itunes store with the same prices charged for everyone (0.99 Euro). MS is doing the exact same thing itunes was and is headed for trouble should the European Commision choose to investigate their favourite American company.

see

i noticed that as well lol
i wonder how many people she has viewing her musings on her bog

Hye people. I got an interesting story. True.

Listen, i now live in Chile i brought my pal xbox 360 from london with me which was having problems with my backups. Nearly almost every game would get scratched or not load, loud ripping noises could be heard coming from my 360.(This story does have point!) So worrying that my 360 might die on me in a country that 360s are hard to find, i decided to trade it for a PS3 on a website called mercadolibre(Spanish version of ebay). A VERY BAD DESICION, it was total crap a guy from the north of chile gave me a boxed NTSC PS3 60gb with 2 games. i didnt want to be left with a console full stop + i thought even though the 360 is better this guy gotta be crazy to take my xbox 360 for a new ps3 + 2 games. Know i knew full well there was a problem with my 360, but i didnt tell this guy. BAD, I KNOW but i thought maybe he wouldnt notice :-) 2 weeks later i was sitting there with my PS3, missing my 360, but getting reassurance that if i didnt get rid of my 360 i would have been left with no console. + i saw it as an investment, i mean PS3s retail here in chile in one store for the equivalent to 800 pounds!!!!.

Now, ( I will get to the point) I had a ps2 and a sony erricson w900i mobile, i decided to advertise to exchange them for a 360 on the same website,a new one or second hand. didnt really matter i just wanted my 360 back. And i thought,....yeh get a 360 back....well....a NTSC version... then i can just burn NTSC versions of the games i want and start my collection again ( ALL my previous burnt games were PAL, no use to me...so i thought!) so, another 3 weeks later, no offers for my phone and ps2. Then i got one offer, a guy wanted to give me a PAL XBOX 360 boxed. I thought for a second.......thats weird! A PAL system in chile (CHILE is NTSC BY THE WAY)I thought i was the only one in Chile to have had PAL system. I looed at the description with the advertisement....PAL XBOX 360, BOUGHT FROM LONDON........120 pounds!!!!! PREMIUM( Obviously the advertisement was in spanish, i just translated it for you. And yes! 120 POUNDS sTIRLING!) i THOUGHT TO MY SELF COULD THIS BE MY 360 THAT I GOT RID OF UNWILLINGLY??!!!?? well, it didnt matter i just wanted my 360 back and if it was my SAME 360, wouldnt matter, i could just stare at it all day long( Nothing else to do in this shit hole country). SO BLA BLA BLA, i offered this guy a ps2 unlocked with 50 games, and to my surprise he accepted. I thought to my self this must be my 360!!! he selling it so cheap and accepted my ps2 for a 360!!! This guy must know there is a problem with the DVD drive i thought. BLA BLA BLA...... i went to meet this guy to do the exchange....LOW AND BEHOLD IT WAS MY 360!!!. Apparently the guy i first exchanged the 360 to found the drive was screwed, so sold it to another guy on the same website. And that other guy was the guy i was metting to exchange a ps2 for a 360.

BLA BLA BLA.... cut an even longer story short. I done the exchange, went home plugged in the xbox 360, same problem i had before still evident ( I know, its the same 360, BUT i though maybe,just maybe the problem would have magically dissapeared!) Now, i watched the dutch video where the little boys 360 was dissected by a guy who claims the problem with scratching discs was because the lens had no support pads. You all know the video im talking about. Well, i knew how to take my 360 apart and put it together in a matter of seconds, i flashed my own 360 and backed up my own games. Piece of cake.....I will just open my 360 see if what this guy is saying is true...you..know...the pads on the laser thing. Got to my drive opened it up, looked as close as i could...couldnt see shit. Maybe pads were there, i dont know. my eyes were bad+ i didnt have a friggin microscope. I realised this was the first time i opened my drives case,.....What the hell..........i ran to the kitchen got some glass cleaner and some cotton buds. Let me just clean the lens anyway i thought... so i cleaned the lens manually. I didnt have money to buy a lens cleaner + most of them are rubbish. 1 minute later, i put everything back together bla bla bla, turned my 360 on loaded my VIVA PINATA game, which by the way didnt work FOR 3 MONTHS + Heavy CIRCULAR SCRATHES and KAZZAMMMM it BLOODY WORKED, not just once, BUT IT IS NOW 5 WEEKS LATER AND ALL MY GAMES ARE WORKIN. NOW, ALL I DONE WAS MANUALLY CLEAN THE LENS AND MIRROR IN THE DRIVE AND MY SCRATCHING DISCS PROBLEM STOPPED. For noobies i wouldnt advise to do this your self, but guys like me that flashed there 360 themselves, PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY!

SO NOW IM SITTING HAPPILY WITH A 360(WORKING PERFECT), A PS3 . Basically you could say i GOT A PS3 AND A WORKING 360 BY GIVING AWAY MY OLD PS2.AMAZING. ANyway sorry for the long story, but please if you have the disc problem, dont give up, try cleaning the lens manually. it worked for me.

yeah, and i talked to a mechanical chicken yesterday

what is this person gonna do is microsoft DOES NOT answer

what will she do

Good for you .


She's the European commissioner for consumers so it would be in M$ interests to cooperate unless they want to end up getting fined etc.

Isn't it quaint how European governments actually stand up to big corporations to protect the rights of individual consumers, instead of working with the corporations to help them screw people over.

I think the EU is doing well regarding Microsoft. They've had issues with them before which got sorted, hopefully this does.

im pretty dure m$ will just reply with the fact that they started their "new" disc replacement program about a month ago+....but maybe the EU will continue to pressure them, i guess thats why yall get ripped off on most USA products and complain about it all....your in the end getting better treatment, but for a price

thanks for sharing your life time story

It's obvious. MS will fix your 3rlod free under warranty. THEY WILL IN NO CIRCUMSTANCE ADMIT A FAULTY DRIVE PROBLEM OR REPLACE/APOLOGIZE FOR SCRATCHED DISKS. Now I think there should be a game disc replacement program like some DVD movies have. There will be less insentive to make backups if a company will replace my scratched disc for free.

I pay 60 bucks for a disc w/ no warranty? IMO thats f'ed up. Hell I'll even pay the quarter for the disc.

If you really thing the EU is doing this strictly for the benefit of the consumer then you are, at best, naive. Look at all the other lawsuits the EU has brought up against companies...the consumer get's a pittance at best, the government get's a bankroll. Does the consumer actually see a tangible benefit? A scratched Xbox DVD is no more uncommon then a scratched music CD or scratched Movie DVD. The Xbox 360 isn't the first device to accidently ruin it's own media. The big different here is there is a very large multi-national corporation with $50+ Billion in the bank being run by the richest man on the planet. The EU just see's an opportunity to make some $$$.

The last time the EU clashed with Microsoft we got Windows N editions. Did any EU consumer actually ask for a version of Windows without Media Player or were certain companies behind certain competing products {cough} Realplayer {/cough} really behind it all?

Think about it...

I suppose you also think that the 3 red lights of death are just as common as any other consumer device failing? Some people have no problems at all with their Xbox 360s and their discs, but there's been reports all over gaming news sites, posts all over forums all over the Internet, and now some EU commissioner in Netherlands has recieved a significant number of complaints. Microsoft have even launched a disc replacement program for their own published games, and extended the warranty to 1 year in US and Canada, neither of which they legally had to do. You still believe that the 360 has the same failure rate as a walkman? Yes, obviously this done for a benefit other than the consumer, but clearly the consumer does benefit - Microsoft would want to avoid any fines or legal trouble by raising the quality of their Xbox 360s. The ends justify the means.



That difference is why you're HEARING about this complaint, not why it's happening. Small companies get grilled all the time by national governments as opposed to multinational, the information barely making it to the Internet. Brits will know this for example by BBC Watchdog, which deals with cooperations everyone's heard of (i.e. eBay) to companies no one's heard of outside a 3 mile radius.



The last time the EU clashed with Microsoft it wasn't really ABOUT the consumer. Microsoft is a monopoly, and there are laws to prevent monopolies from screwing over other companies. Microsoft aren't giving Apple, Real, and all the smaller media players a proper chance if they include their media player AND make it near-impossible to remove. If Microsoft can't comply with these laws, they shouldn't be doing business in the EU.

You also forgot the other half of the clash.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemus...ent-program.htm

Only replace following games though http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemus...ement-games.htm

Costs £10/$20

Worst case scenario: get the proper warranty repair numbers from MS.

To be honest I don't think this will result in anything, it's just a statement from a person who wants five minutes of attention.

This is a problem with all discs that use hologram material in the centre. (look at dvd rental discs - the clear ones are usually always fine, whilst the hologram ones are usually cracked).

We certainly did. (just like the USA antitrust proceedings re: internet explorer, which turned into a farce :( ).

yeah the 3rod is a bigger problem, thats what i have backups for. although 2 of my friends 360's scratch discs when used in the verticle position, never bumped. i just think they need to tell people to sit them horizontle, and extend warranty for 3rod