No Canis, I cannot allow you to play a game tonight.

In what seemed to be a normal Wednesday(3/18) night, the unwanted occurrence happened.  I sat down to get in some time with my precious…. I picked up the controller, pressed the big xbox button and attained happiness as the familiar sound of the 360 dashboard came into view.  Entered a code in the marketplace to download the Halo 3 Mythic Map pack and navigated to the active downloads screen to monitor its progress. Things going well, downloading fairly quickly until it hit about 46%. Out of the blue, the 360 screen flickers and goes dark.  The power light was still on the 360, but nothing was responding. So, since I could not turn it off and then back on with the controller button, I get up to press the power button. A few seconds pause and I turn the 360 back on.

Houston, we have a problem. :(   As soon as the 360 sound plays, the big 360 globe that you see before you are taken to the dashboard comes on the screen and freezes.  Power off and on the system, same behavior. Frustrated, I turn off the system, unplug the power brick and let it sit for a minute.  Plugged everything back in and turned it in.. Ah, bliss… the dashboard comes up, I get logged in and again navigate to the active downloads screen.  Sadly, this would be the last thing that I see.  As soon as the progress meter shows on the screen, the system freezes completely.  Again, getting up to turn it off and then back on, I am greeted by a very odd sound and then the heartbreaking visual shown above. :(  My 360 has died.

Luckily, I rememberd that I had bought this system not that long ago when I replaced my launch, Core unit.  I sold that system and used the money to offset the cost of the Elite system.  I also purchased Best Buy’s product replacement plan, a very wise decision.  So, when I bought the system, it cost me $449.99 + tax for the system and $79.99 for the PRP.  When I got to the store with my system and receipts, the CSR said they would have to test my system first to verify the failure. After testing it, I could see the flashing red lights from behind the counter. She started the replacement process.  After 15 minutes, she had rung me up for a new 360 Elite system and new PRP on that unit.  I paid an additional $6 and change for the replacement. $399.99 + tax for the Elite, price drop FTW and $59.99 for the PRP, another price drop. I had expected to have to pay $20+ for a new PRP, I did not know that dropped in price.  In addition, the Elite came with the 2 game bundle of Lego Indy and Kung-Fu Panda.. So, I got to keep that as well.  Consider me very happy.  All said and done, I was only out of comission for one night of gaming.  I hope my new 360 loves me more then the discarded one.

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