My XBOX360 now is semi-ROD. Sometimes it starts up and able to play for 3-4 hours without any problems. Sometimes it starts up and plays only 5 minutes before it hangs and cannot start up with 3ROD. I have been playing it at home with a VGA monitor for 5-6 months without problems. But after moving it to Jakarta (now on offshore project) which my hotel room has a 32" LCD TV, i started playing it on HD. (1400 x something resolution?) On the 2nd day, the XBOX started 3ROD-ing.

My theory is playing the XBOX at full HD settings stresses the GPU more probably causing it to generate more heat causing the mobo to flex and the solders break, causing the 3ROD. If played on normal settings ie: normal TV and VGA, the life of the XBOX360 might probably be longer.

I have about 6 friends who bought 360s and playing them on HD. As of today, all of us but 1 of us (which i have no contact with for sometime) have 3ROD-ed. All our consoles not more than 6 months. My console is 2nd hand and is about 1 year old, but played well until i switched it to HD.

Does HD make your xbox easier to 3ROD?

Thanks for your participation.

NOTE: If you played for 5 months on normal settings and 1 month on HD settings, please assume you have played it for 6 months on HD as the poll is to gauge how old your console is, not how long specifically you been playing it on HD.

I dont think HD will makes a difference since all the games are output at 720p then either upscale or downscale according to your display. Also you said you're in jakarta now? iirc mobiusvyper had the same problem sometime ago when he was there, he said the voltage was not stable or something.

Mine dead after 2 months. Currently in tot31 hand to make her turn into zombie box.

I heard something like that, but perhaps 720p isn't the maximum? I noticed especially playing Gears of War during cinematics, there is a lag when playing the game on HD but with normal settings, the lag isn't there, which made me come to the conclusion HD causes the GPU to work harder.

Voltage not stable....dun think so. All other electrical devices seem to be working fine. I've not encountered anything that proves this.

Lol! I thought its my machine getting old already... so this is the problem. Yes i also experience lag when it comes to loading or checkpoint for a couple second. Which is not happen when i use my crt monitor and normal setting to play.

But we didn't play on HD because we didn't have an available HDTV

I don't think the unstable voltage would be a problem for a hotel. The house we have there isn't very new either(over 10 years old) and so it might be just faulty wiring that's happening through the years.

My 360 has survived 3 times of 3RoD. I think all of them due to the unstable voltage in the house. Though for Hotels it shouldn't be a problem. But then again it does sound like what happened to my 360 when it went 3RoD.

I really don't think playing HD has any affect on 3RoD likelyness or whatever. Lots of people here play on HD and most of them are fine

lol maybe the house keeping girls played his console till 3ROD when he is not there.... juz JK JK....

i play only in SDTV, tested VGA a couple of times. had a scare of 3RL recently. i think the GPU have to work just as hard for SDTV resolutions.

many ppl are speculating the flexing of the motherboard and the falling solders is the culprit lar. but many common stories go like this, owner seldom play, then turn in on once in a blue moon and BAM- 3RL! TS, hopefully ur set can be fixed with X-clamp replacement.

mine happen like that...1 day no turn on next day 3ROD..so wat im doing now is turn on everyday even though im not playing..

Hi everyone, I'm sure wolfx is trying to find out how 3ROD works... after changing from normal to HD and he experience something like this...

Well, I would like to share my experience which... the one thing I will never go there again and it happen to me in a very scary way.

I bought my Xbox 360 beginning this year. Was using normal TV for 4 months before I bought a 32'inch LG LCD HD TV. It was great... bought many games and then the day before yesterday, I and my buddy was going to do co-op for Guitar Hero II.

Before I then, I did co-op with my gf playing Guitar Hero II (one wireless controller and my Guitar wired controller) and it was great... no achievement was there as I was very bad at it (until recently, I'm okay now but still need practise).

So I and my buddy plan a week before to go to a well-known place to play Guitar Hero II (don't want to insituate but then I rather not say incase they marah me). So there I was with him, plug my console into their power suppy, plug into their monitor and then start the console. A weird thing happen. My wired controller can't be use while my buddy can. So I thought maybe its a glitch. Fine. Then I put in the disc of GHII... here's what it says:-


"Cannot detect disc. Please put in the correct Xbox 360 disc"

I was shock. The day before, I was jamming on my own until almost 5 in the morning. So why this happen. Fine. Take out the disc, put back in again. Same message happen. So I was thinking maybe 3rd time is a charm... and it work. So both of us was wondering has this happen before. We ignore.

So there it is. Game menu. Can't detect my sign-in and so my buddy use his controller and start a co-op game. Played one song. Great, got 3 achievements. Then here's what happen. The 2nd song at the end of it, the screen went blank and I got 4 RED LIGHTS. 4... not 3 but 4... I freak out. Off my console and start again. Wait until its up... and it's normal. Fine, start again. Do co-op, play the game... song end, same thing happen... only this time it was 3ROD! I freak out more than ever. Off the console, and on again. Back to normal. Fine. So I change my HDD unit and ask him to put his HDD unit in. Start the game... by the time the song we play co-op ends... the same thing happen and it came out 3ROD... I freak out even more. Off the console again, I try a copy of Gears, another message like what happens to my GHII disc appear the same message again. So the day end short... and I pack up my things, went back home and set up my unit again.

I put in my Guitar Hero II disc, it runs alright. Fine, so I start playing... I play 5 songs straight. No problem... no 3ROD no nothing. Last night until today... no red lights. My console is fine... no problem.

So there it is again... how do we explain this problem when I was in that place it happen, while in my own comfort home it didn't? Weird isn't it?

I remember I read it something of what causes the red light to appear from Xbox official site says (if only I can find it... but I will and post it here when I can) of their FAQ what the red light means. I believe my console was very near to heat sources (it was very near to the monitor) and it can cause red light. My set up at home between my speakers and my HD TV was quite far apart... giving space for my console to breath. It could be that problem... or it could be a problem we still can't explain.

Still, wolfx has his theory... but its unexplainable how each and everyone of us got hit my 3ROD in many different ways... but I read a FAQ in official XBOX website and it's informative. Here's what they say:-



Xbox 360: Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light
View products that this article applies to.
Article ID : 907534
Last Review : April 25, 2007
Revision : 4.3
SYMPTOMS
You see three lights on the Ring of Light (RoL) flash red on the front of the Xbox 360 console. The upper-right quadrant light is the only light that does not flash red.

CAUSE
This behavior occurs when the Xbox 360 console experiences a hardware failure.

Back to the top
THINGS TO TRY
1. Examine the lights on the power supply. When you turn on the console, the power supply light should illuminate green even if the three lights on the Ring of Light flash red. If the power supply unit light is not green, follow the steps that are listed in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

906101 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906101/) Xbox 360: The power supply light is red
MORE INFORMATION
The power supply has several built-in safeguards to help prevent damage to either the console or to the power supply itself. The power supply can turn itself off in conditions of too much current, too-high voltage, or too-high temperature. Under these conditions, the light on the power supply will turn from green to orange or to red, or the light will turn off. When the power supply light is green or orange, the power supply is functioning correctly.
. Follow these safeguards to help the power supply work:
. Do not block any ventilation openings in the power supply.
. Do not put the power supply on a bed, on a sofa, or on any other soft surface that may block ventilation openings.
. Do not put the power supply in a confined space, such as a bookcase, a rack, or a stereo cabinet, unless the space is well ventilated.
. Do not put the power supply on a stereo speaker, an amplifier, or a heat source such as a radiator or a heat register.
. Plug the power supply directly into a known good wall outlet. You may experience problems if you use an extension cord or power strip if the extension cord or power strip is faulty or cannot supply the needed power to the console.

2. If you continue to experience this behavior, contact Xbox Customer Support.
Note If the Customer Support agent cannot help you resolve this issue, return the console to Microsoft for repair. See the More Information section for Customer Support contact information.


So maybe you all should check how you set up your Xbox 360... unless someone can can say otherwise... then Xbox 360 is really a ticking bomb ready to explode.

This post has been edited by hairyLGS: Jun 10 2007, 02:00 PM

Most people setup properly one la. Yours is a freak incident. 3ROD itself has so many different codes.

Anyways, I didn't vote...'coz my box ROD'ed but I keep reviving it. Been doing it many times liao. So now every few days need to reflow...hehe...sure die soon.

And hairylgs is the said 6th person who i have not been in contact with. Where u been?

Anyway this confirms it that all 6 of us have now 3ROD-ed or rather, me and hairylgs are both semi-ROD-ed for now, with consoles not more than 6 months old except mine. All of us play on HD when it 3ROD-ed.

The current poll data is interesting. Hope we can get about 30-40 votes to get more accurate data.

Like i said before,playing on normal tv or HDTV is not the problem since the signal coming out from your xbox already at HD level (720p). Most of this 3ROD problem are just random, like unkool machine 3ROD just after 3 days of usage while my friend in the US been using his 360 from launch until now no problem whatsoever and yea my friend playing on a big arse HDTV, not sure about unkool though but i think he only use his monitor.

Actually it depends on the game the resolution is programmed at. Some games are 720, some are 1080.

Are you suggesting that the xbox outputs at 720p, but your TV somehow knows how to downscale/upscale the image?

Some interesting info:

http://www.ctoforaday.com/articles/000055.html

But that article also stated that games don't slow down at higher resolutions, which i don't think is fully true. Probably the frame rates are less at higher resolutions hence the illusion that cinematics are slower.

they are all auto set depends on your setting when you put in the game actually.

anyway, 3 Rods doens't affect on HD actually.. I got 4 xbox 360 at my shop running 12 hours everyday one 1080i. 3 on 720p.

already 1.5 years old liaw.

In short, it all depends on luck

if my memory serves me correctly, all games are programmed to be rendered atleast on 720p. after that it will be upscale/downscale (depending on the resolution you choose) by the ANA chip (HANA for Elite) before outputting the video.


EDIT: btw the article got something incorrect:
LCD TV are optimized for HD thus will display 720p/1080i correctly, unlike LCD monitor that doesn't necessarily compliance to HDTV resolution standard.

This post has been edited by xxboxx: Jun 10 2007, 11:24 PM

Play some more Blue Dragon lar... before you finish the game... RIP soon... chuckle...

haha... BD... hmmm 3ROD really random one...
has anyone have 3ROD in Air-conded room???
is it the heat factor or electricity factor???
STill need some experts to diagnose the problem...