Orko

Well, I bought my xbox a few years ago, I've taken great care of it even though it hasn't gotten nearly as much use as my GC or PS2. Now because of that fact I decided I would go out and get the new Fable since it was only $20 and I've been wanting to play it since the original release.

This is where things went sour for me. I started playing the game and I noticed it was making alot of noise and loading rather choppy, but I didn't dwell on it too long. When I got to a certain point in the game it froze up and went to a screen I've never seen before. It was all black with green boarder and text that read; "There's a problem with the disc you're using. It may be dirty or damaged." So I took the game out and took a look at the disc, no smudges no scratches, nothing. So I put it back in and started a new game getting to the same point to and it didn't happen. I thought, "Great, that was probably just a fluke." Well I continue on and it happens again.

Up until now I've never had a single problem with my XBOX, ever. I thought maybe it really was just one bad disc, but, since that first time, it started happening with my other games too. I thought about trying one of those console cleaner discs, didn't help at all. Now my XBOX is pretty much shot.

So my roomate suggested pulling the old "switcheroo", at wal-mart. He said I should go up to wal-mart, purchase and XBOX, then replace the good one with my broken one and return it for my money back. I have to say I'm seriously considering it, lol. I've never done anything like this before, but I paid alot of my money at the time for my XBOX and I don't think I should just be SOL after a few years.

Anyway, this is what I have been thinking; I'll find a rather shitty wal-mart, purchase the console, do the switch, then wait a few days. When I'm ready to return it, I would first send a friend in and make sure the return center is flooded with holiday shoppers and the employe working looks like they would be clueless to my scheme (that's my nice way of saying dumb). Then go through with the return and come out victorious!

Well, that's my plan, lol. If anyone has any advice or personal experiences to offer that would be great. Also, I'm going to need rather good excuse as to why the box is open and I want to return it for the money and not another XBOX, so if you have an suggestions there, that would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks.

jwoody

I'd recommend checking Wal_Mart's policy on prosecuting fraudsters beforehand.

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Lasereth

Just because your XBox shit out doesn't mean you can ethically or legally commit fraud in a Wal-Mart! Your beef is with the XBox manufacturer. It sounds like you got a Thompson drive in your XBox...they shit out very easily. Either buy another XBox from a friend or wait for them to go down in price. There's really not much you can do. Mine is starting to do it as well.

-Lasereth

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Carno

Mine did that after about tweo years of use, and I had to buy a new DVD drive.

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shakran

Remind me why Xbox is great again? My Atari 2600 has been running just fine for 28 years (and yes, I just played some games on it last week). With the addition of moving parts to the consoles their reliability has taken a hit - no surprise there - but then it becomes harder to see the advantage of a console over a PC. Especially with the Xbox 360 having reliability problems within hours of purchase

Furry

Due to dust on the lens and having dropped it several times over the last ten years or so, I can only play games on my original playstation if I turn it upside - down. Try that with yours, it might just work.

Either that or get a 360 when the supply/bug problems have dried up and do whatever it is that M$ makes you do to play your old games...

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CityOfAngels

You can always replace the DVD drive. Check this thread, which I started because my friend was having a similar problem: (edit: xbox-scene forums seem to be down; I'll link it after work if they're back up by then).

Toaster126

Please don't commit a crime so you can play XBox games.

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Ace_O_Spades

I'm gonna go against the grain here and say stick it to microsoft and wal-mart

fuck them... they are global powers... FIGHT THE POWER

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Feh.

barenakedladies

im with ace... fight the power.

everyone seems to wake up in this world and say "who can fuck today"

well im tired of being the fuckee... im gonna be the fucker for once and say go for it.

you cant EVER stop other people from doing it.

the whole one person CAN make a difference does not work here... join the crowd.. fuck everyone else and play your games in peace.

ubertuber

My xbox does the same thing. In fact it has been doing it for about 2 years now... It hasn't really gotten much worse and I just deal with it. I'm waiting for the kinks to be worked out of the 360 (and the price to come down!) before I buy one.

No offense to you personally (or Ace and barenakedladies), but your friend's idea is illegal, unethical, and stupid. It isn't Wal-Mart's fault that your xbox doesn't work. Given that the machine is a few years old, it isn't even really microsoft's fault. Save your conscience and go buy a used xbox somewhere. Buy your next machine from Circuit City and get their protection policy if you are really that upset, but don't break the law - that's lame. It's true that you probably won't get caught during the busy holiday season, but if the threat of punishment is all that keeps you from doing things you know are wrong, you'll soon find that you reap what you sow.

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Poppinjay

You have a gamecube, PS2, AND an XBOX?

Dude, play with your cube and PS2, and give some money to the poor while you're at it.

Screwing over Wal Mart isn't fighting the power, it's using the power to your advantage. Fighting the power would be shopping at stores that participate in fair wage plans and paying the extra .25 for a lightbulb because of that. Or making unabombs. That's fighting the power too, I guess.

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Jinn

You know, I'd never heard of the "switcheroo" but damn it sounds like a good idea..

That said, try running your xbox in a VERY open space. Mine at home throws that stupid "dirty or damaged" erorr all the time if I leave it in the entertainment center. For some reason, getting hot tends to make the drive less reliable..

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Carno

The ol switcheroo works, take it from someone who may or may not have possibly seen it happen..maybe.

But stealing an Xbox from Wal Mart is not "fighting the power." It's actually kinda comical to think that.

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Carno

The ol switcheroo works, take it from someone who may or may not have possibly seen it happen..maybe.

But stealing an Xbox from Wal Mart is not "fighting the power." It's actually kinda comical that people think it would be.

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stevie667

Use a hairdryer or other blowing thing and direct it into the internal spaces. Sometimes dust and crap clogs up all the circuits and you need to clean it out.

Otherwise do the switcheroo, i don't even live in america and i hate walmart.

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japhyryder

I am with all of the screw Wally World types, have some holiday cheer and get a new xbox.

Wal-mart deserves it

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t3m3st

You could always trade in your XBox and buy a new one. That's what I did with my broken PS2.

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I do it for the rare drops

t3m3st

Get Guitar Hero. Fight the man with rock and roll.

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I do it for the rare drops

Buk

Why can't you just use a $9.99 lens cleaner? I don't get why you have to go and swap out your xbox fraudulent or not.

pan6467

The switcheroo is nice but be careful to make sure thet on an item like that they didn't have the SN on the outside of the box match with the console. Hate to see you get into legal trouble for a $100-300 game system, that will end up costing you $1,000's for being stupid.

On a side note, I went to Best Buy today to get a printer cartridge (I know I overpaid but I rarely print at home doing most at school so.... that $33 will last over the next year probably). Anyway, I was surprised to see they did not have 1 XBOX 360, they had a shitload of regular XBOXes. The first thing going through my mind is they pulled them all because of the problems they have been having and the fact MSN is facing a class action lawsuit over it. But odds are they are just sold out.

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guthmund

If it really is a bad drive and it's not just dirty then the lens cleaner might work for a while, but eventually the drive is just going to fail.

You can order another DVD drive off the internet and replace the thing yourself. It ended up costing me all of $35, if I remember correctly, certainly cheaper than buying a new x-box or getting caught trying to scam Wal*Mart.

Don't get me wrong, I don't really care if you scam Wal*Mart or not. It's not as if I've never pulled the 'switcheroo' myself, I'd just have to question whether it would be worth it.

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Poppinjay

Somewhere down the line, somebody will match up a part number on the box with the actual XBOX, and then they will know they've been switched.

It may happen at Wal Mart customer service. It may happen at the Microsoft manufacturing plant. If it makes it that far, and any purchase has been paid wihit a credit card, or you've sent in one of those warranty cards, hope for the best. Because however lax Wal Mart might be, Microsft doesn't play.

Otherwise, I'd love for somebody to explain how switching is fighting the power. Wal Mart won't come crumbling to its knees if one person or a thousand people pull a switcheroo. They'll just pay their underpaid hourly slaves that much less and award a few less community grants which is the one good thing they do. If enough people do this, eventually they'll scan all products being returned on the spot, ESPECIALLY big ticket items like an XBOX.

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CyCo PL

I doubt walmart would actually prosecute for doing the "switcheroo", just ask you to leave. You could say something like "heh sorry, I have 2 xboxes and I guess I just put the wrong one in there".

If you wanna play fable lost chapters though... just get the PC version, great game

Coppertop

If you do this, ahem, easy-to-pull-off switch, make damn sure you pay with cash. Also, a little bird told me that Fry's falls for this every time, seeing as how they have the most liberal return policy ever designed by man. Their returns lines are frequently longer than their checkout lines, should you be lucky enough to have one in your locality.
"other blowing thing"

heheh

Justsomeguy

How well can you talk to people on the phone? Call up the company and tell them that you bought an x-box with a Thomson drive. You know that when the system came out, there was a problem with it and it needs to be replaced. There are still many class actions in the process I believe against both Playstation 2 and Microsoft. Speak well and get your point across and they will fix your unit for free and pay for the shipping. Sony and Xbox both replaced my two. They should fix your system np to avoid lawsuit and keep future business. Unless you act like an idiot.

Ace_O_Spades

If you buy something, and through no fault of yours, through regular use, it breaks... and if this happens after your warranty has expired... what do you do? grab the ankles and say "Yes Bubba, I'd love for you to violate me until you've extracted another 300 bucks worth, then we can do this all over again next time it breaks"

It's dog eat dog... they fuck me, I'm gonna fuck them... unless I get caught, then they fuck me again.

It's only a crime if you get caught only sheep follow every law in the book... what a boring life.

Big business routinely operates on the fringes of the law. White collar crime and corporate crime don't even factor into screwing the little guy in the sake of the bottom line... it's a crime society's elite has chosen NOT to codify into law.

yes, what I propose he do IS fraud, and yes, it IS possible he will get caught... but I propose what Microsoft does by turning out a product that doesn't last as long as bread in the cupboard is equally criminal... the only way to punish them is by going vigilante on those fuckers.

[edit]

or calling them up and playing nice and seeing if they will replace it... as the above poster suggests.

hahahaha

occam's razor just sliced away my proposal

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Feh.

stevie667

Overall i'm glad i went with ninty, i've only had one memory card break (which i wrote an angry letter about), and 2.5 controllers break, admitidly because i...ahem...hurt them.

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Orko

Well, I was over at my folks house the other day going through some stuff, and I found the original box! Hopfully I can return it as is within the law and all that jazz.

Hardknock

THANK YOU.

Fuck Wal-mart and the rest. They don't give a fuck about us. Their lobbying keep us Americans from getting quality products or they sour the ecoomy with shitty jobs with shitty wages. I pull this stunt with them all the time and those poor high school grads (sometimes dropouts) aren't the wiser.

Just make sure that granny at the front door doesn't scan your shit as you go in.

And when you buy your replacement, use cash. But you knew that already.

Justsomeguy

To add to the above, here is a pic to identify your drive type if you were not sure. If a Thomson, then getting it fixed for free should be np.

Wingless

Well when they scan in the system they scan in the serial code. If you do teh switch you'd have to either switch case or the sticker.

Or just drop $50 or so and buy a new Samsung drive instead.

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tenchi069

im in the "just replace the drive" crowd. call xbox div at microsoft, explain the problem, ask if a new drive is the solution and go that route. ask about discounts for sending in your old broken drive ( they usually don't tell you about them, but will verify if you ask )

as far as the "microsoft and walmart are big corp meanies:" I would hope you wouldnt take the alternator off of a rental car simply cause your Ford warranty just ran out before it died.

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Ustwo

Hahahah fight the power .....

You kids are precious sometimes.

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