360 Broke-Fix it or Send it in

[bassmasta]

I was playing my 360 the other day, and then the colors got all weird, with red blotches everywhere. So I restart it, and I get no video but audio. I tested it with another a/v cable, so I've found that its probably the scaler chip that got loose (Falcon revision). Its about 2 years old, so the warranty still stands.
Should I send it in or fix it myself? I don't really feel like waiting a month or so to end up getting a POS refurb.

[vskid]

Send it in. Most fixes are just bandaids that quit a month later, and are best done as a last resort. It only took my friend's a week or two to come back, but that was about a year ago.

[bassmasta]

Well, I just registered it for a repair, and its out of warranty! $100 to fix because its not e74 or rrod. Guess I'm cracking it open.
Thanks for the help.

EDIT:Ha! I was reading the warranty, and MS will not repair it if it was damaged by Acts of God! LOL!

is damaged by Acts of God, power surge, misuse, abuse, negligence, accident, wear and tear, mishandling, misapplication, or other causes unrelated to defective materials or workmanship;

[vskid]

I don't think they actually test them to see what was wrong... *coughcough* And if you play it a bit more, it'll probably turn into an e74 or RROD.

[nevermind1534]

Do the towel trick in attempt to get a RROD.

[bassmasta]

Do the towel trick in attempt to get a RROD.

I thought about that, but I realized I don't want to damage any components when I'm just going to portablize it anyway. Probably should have said that earlier.
Anyways, I'm just going to grab a $1 case tool off of ebay (for convenience) and tear this sucker apart. All MS would do is resolder the chip on and give it a warranty that I'm going to void.

[vskid]

From everything I've seen, they replace the motherboard, not fix it (or send you a refurb unit that already has a new motherboard). A lot easier for them to do that. So you would be at stock condition. Then you can mod it to keep it cool from the start, and it hopefully will never give you any problems.

[collinE]

yeah, try your best to get RRoD. If they fix it and then also get the problem you're describing, they'll fix that too. or like vskid said, send you a refurbished one. They did that for me. I'd rather portablize one that I know is up to par than use one that could fail a minute after my fix.

[bassmasta]

Ahh. So I'm probably going to towel it. Should I towel it to get RRoD every time, or just once? Or should I report that I got one but never do it?

[collinE]

My co-worker only got it once and he didn't have a problem with them fixing it. I'm sure they get such a flood of them that they assume you're telling the truth.

[nevermind1534]

Yeah, if you can't get a RROD right away, just tell them you got one, and they'll probably replace it anyway.

[bassmasta]

Which RRoD should I label it as? 1 or 3 lights?

[samjc3]

3 is more common. go for that.

[nevermind1534]

3 is the one that they fix for their extended warranty. 1 is only covered under the short warranty.

[bassmasta]

3 it is. Thanks for the help. Now to overheat my xbox...