Xbox 360's & other consoles buring up - Discussion Thread

[Deus Flux]

EDIT: BURNING up not buring up, sorry.
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I got an idea about this from the other 360 thread I made. My 360 is fine, and I always keep a cooling fan running on it. But during my search to config. it to the net, I saw a video of someone playing their 360.. on a rather fluffy carpet! LOL! Now I know some of the issue is with Microsoft (is the overheating issue solved now with the newest console?) but seeing that video.. I wonder how much of that blame actually belonged to Microsoft and all of the complaints directed towards them. I'm thinking a lot of the issue is due to user neglect.

What about you guys here? Do you treat your consoles with respect and care? Not to offend anyone here if you do so - but anyone that runs their console on a carpet is just asking for it to burn up. A little common sense goes a long way here. What do you guys think on the subject? Have any friends who do this? I have one that plays his PS3 on the carpet.

[Pikminister]

Never considered placing my consoles on the floor/carpet. Don't remember ever doing that with my SNES back in the days or with any of the other consoles I've had over the years.

But one of my cousins does that. His Xbox 360 sits on the carpet right next to his HDTV. But the thing is, he has so much shit all over the place. He collects stuff (superhero stuff, mostly) and places them next to the TV. So I guess he considers the 360 as less valuable than the other stuff he owns.

[Deus Flux]

Yeh, I have another friend who has a 360. He usually has all kinds of stuff around his. Soda cans, other wires, games, papers, food even sometimes. It's a bit of a fire hazard in that regard, but the last time I tried mentioning that, the result was a bit of anger when all I was trying to help avoid is his house burning down.

The thing about the 360 is that it has air vents on the bottom of it and those being blocked could mean trouble. Anyone know if the PS3 has them on bottom also?

[Zombie_X]

The newer PS3's have small air intake vents under the rim of both sides of the system and a small one in the front under the disc bay. I use a USB fan on my PS3 and have it sit behind the system. Pulls out plenty of hot air ;)

Yeh, I have another friend who has a 360. He usually has all kinds of stuff around his. Soda cans, other wires, games, papers, food even sometimes. It's a bit of a fire hazard in that regard, but the last time I tried mentioning that, the result was a bit of anger when all I was trying to help avoid is his house burning down.

The thing about the 360 is that it has air vents on the bottom of it and those being blocked could mean trouble. Anyone know if the PS3 has them on bottom also?

[Hcloud13]

I have OCD when it comes to keeping things cleen and orderly and my PS3 has always been on a elevated glass shelf with a foot in diameter so it can vent & not overheat or anything.Same with my Wii and 360 & I dust all of them once a week.
My launch 60GB PS3 got the YLOD about 2 weeks ago But I was able to bring it back to life using the heat gun trick on the CPU and GPU on the motherbord.

[Rancid Cheese]

My n64 used to sit on the carpet if I got to put it on the big tv when my friends came over or likewise going over to their house. Mainly because it was the only way it would reach all the chairs/players being wired controls and all. Gamecube had a similar problem come to think of it until the wavebird came out but even at that I only had one so it still went on the carpet . Incidentally they are both still 100% working, my xbox has it's own shelf and it's propped up horizontally on 4 bottle caps (one at each corner) to allow air under it too just-in-case, it's now nearly two years old . . .

[Deus Flux]

I use an old Nuby brand cooling fan for my consoles (originally intended for ps1 & n64). It's a bit tricky to explain, but it's a grey plastic (horizontal) base with a decent sized fan in the middle of it that puts out a surprising amount of cool air. The front has a tray that comes out where you can store memory cards and whatever else.

The base has an elevated "rim" around it so when you place a gaming console on top, air can circulate underneath. I've had this beast for years, since 1996 or 1997 and it's still going strong although a bit noisy now. It's working great for my 360. I'd love to buy another one but they seem to be impossible to find now. I can't even find a picture online of it. Anyone else have/had one of these?

[Rancid Cheese]

Never heard of it or thought it would be necessary in the ps1/n64 era. Maybe need to spray it with a can of air like you get for a pc, might help with the noise . . .

[Pikminister]

I use an old Nuby brand cooling fan for my consoles (originally intended for ps1 & n64). It's a bit tricky to explain, but it's a grey plastic (horizontal) base with a decent sized fan in the middle of it that puts out a surprising amount of cool air. The front has a tray that comes out where you can store memory cards and whatever else.

The base has an elevated "rim" around it so when you place a gaming console on top, air can circulate underneath. I've had this beast for years, since 1996 or 1997 and it's still going strong although a bit noisy now. It's working great for my 360. I'd love to buy another one but they seem to be impossible to find now. I can't even find a picture online of it. Anyone else have/had one of these?

Is this the one?



I think it came out in '98, though.

My PS1 never had cooling probs. I only needed to place it upside down at some point... but that was another issue.

[Carnivol]

I wonder how much of that blame actually belonged to Microsoft and all of the complaints directed towards them. I'm thinking a lot of the issue is due to user neglect.

When you work with customer support, retail or any other job that involves frequent interaction with people who have something that's capable of encountering some sort of "common" error, you'll be AMAZED by how many repeated offenders there are. Sure, there's the odd issue here and there from the man in the street, but it's amazing how many times you'll see the same darned people show up with the same issue over and over again... this after countless servicing and even several complete replacements of hardware and a swap of brand and everything.

[Deus Flux]

@Pikminister:

Ah I guess my memory must be a bit rusty, then. But that is it! Where did you find that image? Is there somewhere that has a backstock for sale? My PS1 never overheated, but I had one to help avoid what you posted above, Pikminister (having to turn the system upside down). It's on the technical side but i'll try to explain.

While such machines may/may not be better bulit these days, any device that uses a laser on a slide rail to read from a disc will cause a certain amount of friction and heat every time the rail moves back and forth to read data. Gradually, the rail will wear down, becoming mis-aligned/further away from the disc surface than it should be. This is what causes skipping and a lot of disc read errors, especially on the original PS1. There is a round screw-type thing on the side of a PS1 laser assembly called a POT. By turning it, it makes the laser eye move up and down. The closer the eye is to a disc, the better it reads the data. That's why when if faulty PS1's were turned upside down, they'd work a lot better.

By using one of those cooling units at all times, a console's lifespan is substantially prolonged because the fan helps to keep the laser assembly & circuit board(s) cool and it can be when powered on. Fixing a laser eye (adjusting the POT) and using a small piece of sheet metal superglued to the slider is possible (it's a huge pain to do), but after I did that once, I went the easier route and that's when I bought one of those fans.

Rancid Cheese, thanks for the suggestion! I think I may buy a can of compressed air & try it out to see if it helps.

[Deus Flux]

@Carnivol:

Haha yeh, I understand what you're saying and have similar stories from being around my friends that don't treat their game discs very well either.. or actually, treat them horribly. For example, one friend of mine had bought a new game for $60. (Personally that's a bit of money to just throw around). He had it for less than 2 weeks before I saw him again. I come over, "Hey, can we play your 'X' game?
Him: It's not working anymore.
Me: What do you mean?
Him: It won't load. 'I think it's "defective" so i'm going to take it back to the store). (By the way I LOL'd @ him saying "defective")
Me: Hmm.. (look at bottom is disc...) ....
(The disc looked like Freddy Krueger himself came up from hell and scratched it). I don't know how it was as scratched as it was, let alone in that small of a timeframe.

EDIT: Funny topic I just found http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/93740...-dead/60420992