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[frankgomez75]

Couple things that need to be considered in order to figure what the hell is causing all these issues:

1)  What type of TV are these overheating/artifacting issues taking place on?  HDTV or SDTV?
2)  In what position are these 360's in when the issues arise?
3)  In what kind of environment are the 360's in when these issues take place?  Carpet, hardwood floor, bookshelf, et......

I think the people having these issues should create a new thread answering these questions to determine if there is a correlation in order to to try and rectify the situation.

I'm hoping M$ is documenting all these issues so that future 360 revisions will prevent this from happening.  I also hope most people purchased an extended warranty.  As I always believe its not wise to invest in new technology without properly insuring your self... hence the need to add an extended warranty.

Furthermore, I worry that M$ may shoot itself in the foot if these hardware failures continue past the manuf. warranty on a massive scale.  For example, if the failure rate due to overheating and such is high like 10-25%, then a class-action lawsuit may get momentum giving M$ a black eye and forcing them to replace 360's due to poor manufacturing, especially if M$ knew about the issue prior to selling the system to the general population.

[thejt]

If this thing becomes a big problem it will be kinda funny.  I say this because of one thing that struck me right away.  

The fan runs at 5.5V.. yet like usual it is a 12V DC rated fan.  Ive launched a game and measured 5v at dash and in game confirming that it doesnt change.  At first I thought the fans were speeding up because it got so loud..  Then I realized that all of the extra noise came from the DVD drive.  

Im of the opinion that there's room for a fan speed increase that will go probably completely un-noticed since the volume of the DVD dwarfs the loudness of the fans.  I imagine if m$ had to they could update the firmware to increase the fan speed.  For now I will be doing a 10.5 or 12 volt fan mod on mine to ensure I dont have heat problems

[Owtlaw333]

I gaurentee everyone this is NOT a heating issue.  I just so happen to have this problem (not quite as extreme though) when I turned on my system earlier tonight.  The system was completely fresh and I got those same artifacts in different places on the screen.  When I turned the system on, the artifacts first appeared in the upper left had corner of the dashboard.  I put in COD and the artifacts appeared on the menu in the brighter areas of the screen.  All I had to do was restart the system (via switching the switch on the video cable from TV back to HDTV... since because I thought that was where the problem could have been) and it cleared it all up.  My guess is it's just some sort of hiccup with the GPU or even the video plug not being secure enough (or the switch not being secure enough)

Again, I HIGHLY doubt this is a heating issue.

Another way to comfirm this is to see if anyone with the core system is having this problem... maybe it could be a problem with the HD cable.  Just a thought.

This post has been edited by Owtlaw333: Nov 26 2005, 09:46 AM

[flashfreak]

Not good, just another sign that MS rushed this, cos there setup shouldn't need to be perfect for the console to run normally.

[Torx-T3D]

i still dont understand that during x05, demos, the 360 launch..  all those 360's didnt have NOT ONE problem or else we wouldave heard about it.  But now they are out in the open, theres problems galore.

We need to find out exactly how their 360's were setup and if there were any special additions to cool the system

[Avenger 2.0]

These problems exist. Can be just a faulty unit or a user error (wrong placement of the Xbox, not enough air circulation).

[mastersloth]

Hmmm.. this is pretty bad, think of all the litlle rich littl kiddies that get their 360's set it up and it overheats and dies within the first few days.  If MS don't sort this out there gonna lose alot of money.

[halofun121]

As weird as it may sound, to me, this sounds like a GPU overheating issue. ATI is known for overheating graphics cards. Remember all the 9800 Pros that died? I just think they need better cooling. A 3 core processor, along with a GPU with over 40 pixel pipelines (if my sources were correct) must generate alot of heat.

[Shadow Breaker]

Well overheating is DEFINANTLY causing probably most of the problems people are having. Just feel the back of your 360 after 15-20 minutes...it feels like its been on for hours and hours, even if it's in a well ventilated area. Even my friend who has it out in the open notices that it heats up extremley fast. Funny thing is though, only the back heats up fast. Feel any other part of the system, all of the other holes on it, and there fine. I haven't had any problem with mine except a few extremley minor freezes on the dash board while i was exiting someones acheivments (happend maybe 5 times), but when I shut my system off and came back a few hours later it was fine. I know the 360 heating up in the back very fast is normal, but I just want to make sure. How many other people's XBOX 360's heat up very fast?

[nyarlathotep]

It will be very interesting to see how the 360 handles the 90+ degrees and humidity this summer. Few people in sweden got aircondition and in many other countries the temp will be even more extreme. I predict a new version of 360 to arrive pretty soon.

[Torx-T3D]

has anyone thought of a temp forced air induction mod to help increase airflow?
surely theres got to be something cheap and painless you can do.

[ShadowSparton]

Wow, thats weird graphics!

[nyarlathotep]

One should probably be careful not to void the guaranty of the 360 with modding. Although I would have trouble resisting picking it apart. It would suck being stuck with an overheating one. I am gonna wait for them to start producing cooler ones then slam a watercoling system on and mod it inside a 1950´s televisionfurniture.

[cbs31572]

QUOTE(gprime @ Nov 25 2005, 11:57 PM)

Other than being on carpet, I don't see any reasons for it to overheat:

http://g-prime.net/x360/IMG_4762.JPG

I'm in Canada and it's winter, and I'm too cheap to turn my heater on... so it's not like it's too hot in here either

Have you tried to set the unit on its side so there is better air flow?  I have seen some issues with my video as well (even sitting sideways), but it might just be something else you may want to try.  ...too cheap for heat?  I'm sure that TV and 360 will keep you warm ;-) LOL.

[otakujohn]

QUOTE(Shadow Breaker @ Nov 26 2005, 09:34 AM)

How many other people's XBOX 360's heat up very fast?

Mine heats up fast, but doesn't produce more heat than my FX-55 gaming PC. Here's my theory:
The graphical issues some ppl have seen may very well be due to the GPU overheating, but I don't think the overheating is directly related to the GPU itself. In my opinion the CPU is the big heat producer here.
When someone sets up their 360 in a location that doesn't promote efficient airflow, the excess heat produced by the three core CPU will cause the GPU to overheat far faster than it would on its own. I believe this is partially due to the 90nm fab process used for the 360's CPU. Three CPU cores on a single die running at 3Ghz each coupled with a 90nm fab process spells heat...it's just the nature of the beast.
I've heard a lot of people making the argument that a "consumer electronics" device like the 360 should be able to stand up to pretty extreme torture, and I agree, but being able to take abuse comes at a performance cost.
A simple "mom and pop" PC will take a lot more abuse than a high performance gaming PC simply due to their performance difference. Performance generates heat. I've seen way too many CPUs and power supplies fried because some idiot stuffed their PC in a totally enclosed area. Even a mom and pop PC that is only used to check email and surf the web will eventually give up the ghost without proper placement.

I'm going to quote the 360's manual here:

PREVENT THE CONSOLE FROM OVERHEATING
Do not block any ventilation openings on the console or power supply. Do not place the console or power supply on a bed, sofa, or other soft surface that may block ventilation openings. Do not place the console or power supply in a confined space, such as a bookcase, rack, or stereo cabinet, unless the space is well-ventilated.

It'll be interesting to see if the PS3's Cell/nVidia setup will have heat issues.

This post has been edited by otakujohn: Nov 26 2005, 05:12 PM