Update: Xbox 360 Part 2, the finale, I hope (to summarize, I had to get a new one, and it’s working great)

I made the mistake of picking up an Xbox 360 console before Microsoft released an updated version. When it works it is very fun, but it’s working less and less reliably every day. A couple times a day, the console locks up (while playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted) or tells me my disc is dirty (Oblivion, and the disc is very clean). Right now, I can’t even get it to start any game — it either recognizes the games as if they were DVD movies, and throws up the White Screen of Death: “To play this disc, put it in an Xbox 360 console”, or recognizes the games as games, and then sits and spins with the fans running full bore, displaying nothing on screen.

The console is not in a “hot” area; there’s plenty of room for it to vent hot air (and does it ever). The problem doesn’t seem to be heat related, anyway, since it happens when the console is first booted after at least 16 hours downtime (work + sleep, heh). I am contacting Microsoft about this, but I suspect their solution will be to send out a “refurbished” console to replace mine, so I’ll get to play with a console someone else once considered broken.

At least the downloadable games work — the Xbox Live integration is sure nifty. The problem seems to be isolated to the DVD drive.