I know there are quite a few Xbox owners here so they might have some advice. I bought an XBOX 360 less than 2 weeks ago from Dick Smith. Got the Premium version. All has been well with it, works with Vista Media Centre and TVersity. Last night I went to switch it on to watch some streamed media through it and got the 3 red lights. My son had been playing it for 3-4hours during the day without a problem, its been played for probably 20hrs in its life, its sitting in a open ventilated area. Is my only option to send it back to Microsoft and wait 2 weeks for a repair or can I take it back to the retailer and get a new one? Given that it is all of 11 days old.

Check out the Dept Fair Trading or ACCC on how long the DOA period lasts. I believe inside DOA you can take it back to retailer.

I don't know about DSE, but Officeworks would take it back... so you should try them, you might be in luck.


Be aware that DOA is between the retailer and supplier, not between you and supplier or you and retailer.

Some retailers (I know officeworks do for example) have a period where they will offer "money back"...

I'd call DSE and ask them. They're not going to bite.

i believe DOA is like 24 hours.

but who knows.

but most likely yes, sending it to MS. Start the process now in anycase.

As long as you do it within 3 years, you wont have to pay anything.

Might just be me, but I'd call Dick Smith.

Dude that blows. was your power brick on carpet? my fingers are constantly crossed with mine.

i thought the 3 lights error was caused by faulty soldering on the mobo that fails after the machine had been used for a while and heated up.

what does the power brick have to do with it?

I heard the power brick has to be cool as well.

Some red ringers that I've heard of were caused by the motherboard physically warping and bowing from the heat, can be fixed temporarily by blasting it with a heat-gun, fun stuff.

As for the OP question, call DSE first and ask if they'll exchange it. If not, go through xbox.com.au and organise a warranty repair - we had one sent off and a refurb sent back within a week.

call dicksmith find out of they will take if yes then win
if no
then wrap xbox360 in towel and leave on for awhil if it fixes it then win
if no
then send it back to mircrosoft they will replace it with new non breakable mobo and its an even bigger win.

honestly they have fixed the red ring error, if you take it back to dicksmith you are likely to get a replacement straight of teh shelf and then get this problem again in the not to distant future, if you fix it yourself the same outcome can happen. if you send it to microsoft you will wait longer but be happier in the long run. plus 2 weeks is the longest it will take, the first time i sent mine back it took less then a week.

Ive worked at dick smith in a previous life. PPL, please dont buy gear from there...

anyways, you take it back to DS they will send it away for 4weeks.

If you call HQ and kick up enough stink, they will bow to you give you a brand new replacement garenteed.

We used to always get ppl coming in with busted tvs n s***, we'd have to tell them we can only send it away for 4 weeks, theyd call hq complain, hq calls us and makes us just hook em up.

Didn't MS get busted for selling refurbished 360's as new?

DSE have a 14 day change of mind policy where the item if faulty or you don't like it can be refunded or exchanged.

It shouldn't be a problem. I'd more than happy refund it or exchange it for you if i was running a DSE .. oh wait .. i am!

I had 3 xbox's brand new out of the box the other week with 3 red lights. The HDD's were faulty.

Can't blame the retailer at the end of the day for faulty equipment. We just sell it .. we don't make it :)

However you do choose to sell it, so we can blame you for that ;)

I registered the XBOX on their website yesterday before calling Microsoft. The XBOX is already out of warranty according to the manufacture date, thats some old stock DSE had :-) . I spoke to Microsoft and they told me they have a 90 day replacement warranty for faults so I can take it back to the retailer and get a new one within that time, just need to give them the Microsoft reference number and my reciept. I also called the DSE where I bought it and they weren't too sure but said box it and bring it in and we'll see what we can do. So Thursday night shopping it is again! As mentioned above, not so sure if I want another xbox off the shelf if it is going red ring again........I'll try another one and if thats no good I'll send it to Microsoft.

Hopefully my Nintendo Wii will arrive from HP soon (gotta love giveaway promotions), haven't heard anything of those have hardware failures.

Why don't you ask for a refund and buy one from somewhere good?

Hopefully my Nintendo Wii will arrive from HP soon (gotta love giveaway promotions), haven't heard anything of those have hardware failures

Heh Nats had all sorts of dramas with his, took weeks (months even i think) for a replacement to come back.

Anyway, as for the xbox already being out of warranty. Maybe it's out of the standard one year term, but MS extended the warranty on all 360s with the red ring issue to 3 years.

Mass - did you go to the australian website ?

the xbox360 has 3 year warranty and the xbox360 itself as a console hasnt even been out that long?

The online site (yes the aussie one) just goes by the manufacture date from the serial number you register. The Xbox I have is a new one just been sitting since May06. The 1 year full warranty is in effect from my date of purchase as long as I have a receipt, the extra 2 years only cover for the 3 red lights, nothing else. Their online system doesn't give you the ability to update your warranty details but the dude I spoke to said it doesn't matter as long as u got a receipt.

Nats is a fool so its not surprising he couldn't get a kids console to work.