Kinect and the RRoD ... coincidence or not?
While Microsoft denies that there is any connection between its new motion-sensing controller Kinect and Xbox consoles suffering the dreaded Red Ring of Death (RRoD) failures, the complaints from users keep rolling in.
Here's a selection of comments I've received in over the past few weeks from people who believe their console died after hooking it up to a Kinect controller:
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I purchased a Kinect and games bundle yesterday 27/02/2011 from my local Argos store. All was plugged in correctly. I calibrated the sensor as per intructions. I carried out all updated as per onscreen messages. On one of the updates my console froze. I rebooted an all was ok.
I continued with all updates and all appeared ok. Whilst playing Kinect adventures after approx an hour the screen console started to freeze more and more and then the dreaded RROD. If I leave console for a while I can play again and then RROD appears after console freezing again!
This appears to me to be TOO MUCH of a coincidence as I'd not had any problems with any games or the console before I pugged in Kinect and carried out all the updates!!
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I have the older version of the Xbox 360. I believe mine is about 3 years old now. Never experienced the RRoD until I just bought the Kinect for my girls for Christmas. Within 2 days of playing the Kinect our system has failed with the RRoD. Tried disconnecting the Kinect but the Xbox 360 no longer works. I really don't think it is coincidence. My girls have played the Xbox360 frequently enough. It was not until we hooked up Kinect that we have problems.
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I've got an xbox elite that I've had for approximately 3.5 years. I've played off and on for those 3.5 years with heavy play following new releases of COD games. I've recently been playing a lot because of the new Black Ops game (probably 1 to 2 hours a night, 4 nights a week since the release). Over Christmas I got an Kinect and since then I've played a few times. Probably about 3 hours of total time spread out over a week or two. I just turned on my xbox this evening and immediately got the RROD. The xbox logo hadn't even splashed on the screen so I don't see how it's an overheating problem. I guarantee the Kinect is causing RROD problems. I had been playing my xbox regularly since Black Ops came out with no problems. Three hours of accumulated time with the Kinect and I get the RROD, pretty small odds that after 3.5 years (and thousands of hours of playtime) I suddenly have the problem.
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Yes, i have a Xbox 360 that i almost never play, once plugging in the Kinect i starting getting a rrod after a day of play. This is very frustrating as i have only played my xbox for a total of about 10 hrs. I have most likely a couple hundred hours in my wii.
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Our old 360 mfg dated 12-17-2005 has worked reliably since day one, used regularly, at least once a week, more offer during the winter months. Purchased a Kinect before Christmas, plugged it in, and it went into the RRoD while performing the setup for the first game.
Not too upset about it, we got good service from it, but it is suspicious it died within minutes of plugging in the Kinect!
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It happened to me. Had an elite with not problems for just over 3 years. Got kinect the week it came out (Nov). Worked great for 3 weeks, then RROD. The kinect was plugged into the device when it died. I thought it was bad luck. Hope there is something more then mere coincidence.
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I used to believe that Kinect-related Xbox RRoD deaths were purely coincidental, but given the amount of feedback I've had from owners who have suffered console deaths, I'm now of the opinion that if I had a old-style console that was out of warranty (pre slimline version - the new version seems unaffected), I wouldn't connect a Kinect to it unless I was willing to shell out the dough on a replacement console.
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