360 possible purchase?

[Festerfly]

A chap here at work has a early release 360 premium.. This has NEVER had the RLOD issue but does however have a couple of drive problems in that it can take upto 5 minutes to get a game to load up .. kind of like it isnt detecting a disc in the drive.

Now he has had enough, its not being used because he cannot be faffed with trying over and over again tp play a game.. sometimes it works fine, other times it doesnt want to know for a few minutes.

He has decided to go out and buy a new xbox.. simple as..:oh:

The question i have is that i can now pick this unit up from him, what would be a reasonable price? It would be a complete Premium kit (latest update done via Halo 3 disc) and hasnt been connected to the net before (he doesnthave B/band!:oh: ). And it would include a game or two as aprt of the deal (plus poss Halo 3 if he gets that as an additional package deal on th new one as he already has a copy!)

Now i believe that this fault isnt covered by the new extended MS warranty so i would either have to crack the unit open myself (therefore invaliadting any future warranty) or send to MS for them to fix (at more money then its worth probably!)...

Any help, advice or suggestions regarding this problem appreciated..

Also, what sort of price would you think??? i dont want to offend him but we do usually spend 4/5 days bartering over a price anyways! :lol:

plus he will let me pay him over time as i havent got much cash spare due to xmas coming, Car MOT & Tax, New Car Engine (different car), xmas holiday Break for wife as present (poss Scotland so Parris watch out!:rolleyes: ) etc..

[DRussian]

Well i mean depending on the games, accessories and cosmetic condition I would say around £80-100 is a good deal £100-£150 sounds a bit high seeing as you can get a new one for nearly that but you have to factor in the bits and bobs you`re getting.

As far as I know this error wouldnt be covered by the warranty but could be a simple(nothing ever really is) disc drive swap.

[Festerfly]

I did wonder about doing a Drive swap.. but that would break my 'warranty' seal if i did.. then knowing my luck a RLOD would show a week later!

is there any way around this? new seal etc?

[diddydonn]

Unfortunately with the 360, its not as straight forward as swapping the dvd drive over like with the original xbox, however swapping the laser over in the drive is reasonably straight forward, but this would indeed invalidate the guarentee

Couple of things you could try, 1stly (and works 90% of the time) is simply using a dvd lens cleaner, if that still doesn't work, you can open it up and use a cottonbud and alcohol and directly clean the lens

If that still doesn't work, then you could always 'tweak' the laser, this usually works 99%of the time, but if done incorrectly can shorten the lifespan of the drive, or worst case burn out the lens completely but then your back to swapping the laser over, which usually cost less than £10

As for worrying about invalidating the guarentee, you could be very careful removing the seal using a heat gun/ hair-drier and gently lifting it off (and then whilst your as it you may as well flash the drive firmware if you are so inclined to)

Price wise, obviously the cheaper the better, but i wouldn't pay more than £150 with a couple of games and an extra controller. specially with the dodgy drive and the time and effort that may be needed to repair it and get it working fully

[Barc0de]

i have a better suggestion.

get the XBOX. It has a 3 year guarantee, no? Find a way to RLOD it or even send it back to MS for fixing (the drive) it or sending you a referbished one.

they didn't take the 1.5Billion hit on warranties for nothing my lad, use your rights!

[Festerfly]

thats what i was thiking.. i might call them and play dumb and demand a new xbox!

failing that, i will give Andy's suggestion a go......

I think we are talking around the £80 -£100 mark tbh.. but no doubt a bartering session will ensue... :D

so far i have had all of his cast off consoles... :D

[Taucias]

Don't buy any machine that has intermittent faults or small problems. They will invariably become regular permanent 'features'. You'll regret it.

Save your money now and get a new 65nm machine after Christmas.