so the other night i was in my local giant retail store of...lack of options...and i saw that "COD: world at war" was marked down to a ridiculously low price, so i picked it up. i had skipped this one for some reason, so i thought it might be nice to go back and play in the WWII scenarios with the MW2 engine.

i got through the opening scenes, all the loading, etc, and about 30 seconds into the first scene. then:


ok so that means my system is overheating per the red ring decipher guide.
so i felt my console and the power source, neither of which felt unusually warm.
i unplugged the HD, unplugged the power, and let it sit for a day. tried everything again the next day, same result. so now i figure ok the console is 5 years old, maybe it's just time to replace it. just for the hell of it, i put in a different game and fired it up, played for 45 minutes no problem.

w.t.f.

is there any reason a certain game should cause my machine to shut down like as if it's overheated?



TL;DR cliff's notes:

1. call of duty: world at war causes machine to shut down with overheat code
2. other games do not
3. wtf

 

Never heard of this before

 

Can you demonstrate that the problem will occur if you play a normal game, no problem, switch to COD, problem, switch back to other game, no problem, switch back, etc? Or was your only experience without trouble the ONE switch to the other game for 45 minutes?

These machines can get flakey before they go. The experience of not having trouble with the other game could just be a fluke.

 

throw it away and buy a ps3 /thread

 

i haven't done it back to back to back to back. i tried twice with the game that crashed it, let it sit for a day, tried it again (crash), then put in a different game and it worked. after that, i didn't put back in the game that crashed it.

i haven't had this error before; the only other time i got a red light it was something about a hard drive malfunction, but at the time i just turned it off, pulled the HD off and put it back, then started it back up and all was well. i haven't played the thing anywhere near long enough that it ought to be anything use related.

i'll try the back to back to back to back method when i get home this afternoon...if it still seems like it's just the game, i'm gonna give it to a buddy for an early christmas present

 

i don't think it's actually overheating, it happens within less than probably 2 total minutes of the game running, and the console isn't anywhere near as hot as it's been in the past. plus if it was an overheating issue, it should happen with any game, not just the one



took you long enough

 

exactly. your graphics card is over-heating and you're getting the ring of death. when this starts, it's not always repeatable consistently. but eventually you're going to need it replaced, and probably soon.

it could be that game is drawing more of a demand on the graphics card than other games and so this early, it's the only one causing the problem. i don't know for sure...but it'll happen eventually with everything. i experienced something similar. it was with one game, than shortly after all games after like 30 seconds of loading, and i could only play xbox live games. then nothing at all.

call 1 800 4 my xbox ( i think that's it ) and schedule a repair. you'll have to pay for shipping out and the repair ( i think about $100 ). they'll fix it and send it back to you in a couple weeks.

the problem is that xbox ran into a late problem prior to the release....they found that once they installed the dvd drive into the xbox it wouldn't fit properly. to "fix" the problem, they cut the size of the heat sink on the graphics card...over time it is very common for the card to come lose and cause this problem due to the additional heat.

 

The RROD has absolutely nothing to do with hours on the machine. Most of the problems are due to bad heatsink on the processor during manufacture.

If you check on your local craigslist you can find someone in just about anyplace who will know how to fix them. I know a guy who re-heatsinks the processor and guarantees it for life and does it in 30 minutes for $50. He has done it for 2 people I knwo with first gen machines and they have never had issues since. If you call Microsoft and are out of warranty, I would try this route. A little artic silver in the right spot does wonders for this machine.

I have a launch console that was twitchy and had it fixed by microsoft and its now a modified console I use as a dvd player and game machine for lan parties only because it will run backups. I then have a newer console I purchased just to get a faster/quieter/cooler running machine with HDMI out.

No problem with the newer machine on heavy use, or problems with the old machine after the heatsink was corrected.

I also have a PS3 that makes a nice blu-ray player/doorstop.

 

nope, it's overheating...or rather...it did overheat sometime and beyond what the heat sink can take. you're graphics card is not necessarily damaged, but it's not intact the way it should be. that's what's causing the problem.

there's youtube videos on how to fix it yourself if you want to try that, or depending on the size of your city you might have a place nearby that fixes them too.

i've been through 3 xbox's...luckily all under warranty ( they kept extending it because of a well known problem ). but if your's is 5 years old and it's never been serviced....i doubt it'll be covered under warranty.

the original warranty was 1 year, then they extended it to 2 additional years i believe. and then i got another few months extension after my last replacement. i think i'm all out of love at this point though.

 

ok. i thought that i had read that part of the problem with the heatsinks had something to do with MS using lead-free solder for some reason, which is more brittle than normal and after being heat-cycled many times would become weak.

thanks for the suggestions and helpful hints from everyone

i'll check on CL...i may just buy an updated unit though, mine is a launch console as well that came with its own ambient noise and no HDMI