What is The Xbox Slim Failure Rate?

The Xbox Slim failure rate has changed quite lot since the new console was released to the public. In a previous article, I mentioned how the Xbox 360 Slim could still get the Red Ring of Death (Or the Red Dot of Death) the same as the other Xenon generation Xbox’s. However, since publishing that article, I got a lot of people asking me for information on how many Xbox 360 Slim’s failed.

The Xbox 360 Slim has been reported by Microsoft to have improved upon the current 33% failure rate among Xenon generation Xbox’s. They say that the failure rate has been improved because of the addition of another big fan, and a new redesign. However, the Xbox 360 Slim still fails with a RDOD (Red Dot of Death) in some cases.

So then, you say, that’s all very well, but what is the failure rate for the Xbox 360 Slim? Well, the failure rate for the Xbox 360 slim has been reduced from the previous 33% to around 10 - 15%. In my opinion, that is not much of an improvement - A lot of Xbox 360 slims will be affected by the RDOD still to come!

Even worse, the three year warranty that covered the original Xbox 360 Xenon has been removed, and the console is only warranted under for just one year! If it goes bust after that… Bang… Another $150 to repair it!

Unfortunately for you guys with the RROD out there - You probably heard that the Xbox Slim did not get the errors as fast as the original Xbox. I think it’s better to just try and fix your current Xbox rather than buy a completely new one that may get the exact same problem again. 

Is The Xbox Kinect Causing The RROD?

According to the guardian, connecting a new Xbox Kinect to an old model Xbox can potentially cause the Xbox to overheat and display the Red Ring of Death that has affected more than 30% of the consoles produced. Microsoft claims that there is no correlation between the two actions.

"There is no correlation between the three flashing red lights error and Kinect. Any new instances of the three flashing red lights error are merely coincidental."

Microsoft Spokesperson

There are many plausible explanations as to why these new RROD's could have happened - Some claim that the Kinect uses too much processing inside the graphics unit which is the part of the console that is susceptible to overheating. Another theory to this is that when the owners of the Xbox 360 buy a Kinect, they use the machine more and more, which means that there is a higher probability of getting the RROD.

I'm not suggesting that you don't buy a Kinect here though. If you do need a Kinect however, buy a new console that can handle the processing.