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Power Supply/RROD Question

Daggger

Shared on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 07:37

Has anyone ever heard of the RROD being caused by electricity supply within the dwelling (apartment/house/etc.)

My coworker moved into a new apartment and within two weeks his release day XBox went from working fine to RROD via overheating.

He borrowed his good friends XBox and opted to stop playing when he started getting similar overheating issue, shutdown at XBox startup etc. (not quite RROD but clearly going down that path).  The XBox was returned and worked at his friends place for multiple hours with no issue.

My coworker is using a powerstrip, not a surge protector, the household temperature is about 70, with an AC unit, and two fans blowing in the room with almost direct recirculation of the air in the XBox.

Finally his father, who is a building inspector, came in and investigated his new apartment and found no issues with the wiring, fuse box, and with about 10 minutes of monitoring found no abnormal voltage fluctuations through the outlet.

Base on all the information it appears as though unregualted power to the XBox is causing the overheating.  I have recommended, after my coworker gets his RROD repair, he get a monster surge protector (which evens out all power supply draw (i.e. no voltage fluctuations).

Is there anything else anyone can think of that would cause an almost immediate RROD, and/or has anyone ever heard of the home power flow causing electronics overheating?

Hints/Tips on fixing the problem are appreciated as well.

Comments

Deman267's picture
Submitted by Deman267 on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 08:03
I had a RROD caused by a static discharge.Walking on carpet, playing some MW2, moved the power supply and ZAP!Microsoft fixed it and it's as good as new. Look into the static issue. Buy a surge protector,but don't but a Monster. Somewhat overpriced.Good luck.
AngryJason's picture
Submitted by AngryJason on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 08:17
Stupid observation here, but I have had red ring like symptoms when my AV cord wasn't seated fully. Hate to do the old "is is plugged in?" tech support gag, but it has made me red in the face once or twice.
TKBosss's picture
Submitted by TKBosss on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 11:05
Depending on how old his Xbox is. Back some time ago MS was offering to switch out power supplies because of a problem that the old one was causing. You might give them a call and see if this is the issue.
VenomRudman's picture
Submitted by VenomRudman on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 11:13
Screw Monster, get a UPS.
moesley's picture
Submitted by moesley on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 12:08
what you describe is possible, not very common, but possible. i would expect to see it in an older building that might have spotty electrical wiring to begin with, or sub-code legacy wires. getting a ups to flatten out the power signal isn't a bad idea either way.
TANK's picture
Submitted by TANK on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 12:11
Bad power can cause a failure in any electronics not just the xbox. Your friend should go pickup a CyberLink or APC battery backup power strip. You can get them for about 30-40 bucks. The battery in these cheap ones won't run the xbox / tv / amp for more than a few seconds but what it will do is even out the shitty power your friend seems to have. It could be that his power sockets aren't grounded.
wamam87's picture
Submitted by wamam87 on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 13:35
he should also try tracing all the circuits. make sure the outlet he's using isn't on the same circuit as something that is causing a drop in voltage. if it's on the same line as the refridgerator, AC, deep freezer, electric heater, or anything with a large power consuption, move it to a different outlet that's on a different breaker. power sags (low wattage) is the most common reason for somethng like that...if it's caused by the high voltage to his power supply. as everyone else has said, a UPS should remedy the problem as well. if the high voltage isn't part of the problem, it's still a good idea to have one anyway.
TheCarnivalAngel's picture
Submitted by TheCarnivalAngel on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 13:46
Where was the unit placed? In a small cabinet? I've been thinking of putting mine on top of the AC vent to keep it cool! I also thought about trying that with a overclocked PC, run everything into the garage during the winter to keep the unit really cool.

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