Dead 360 - Couple of Questions

[iGiDK]

Hello there, I was wondering if anyone could assist with this.

Fired up VT3 last night and my 360 gave up the ghost by displaying a blue and black chequered grid and then finally the red lights of death.

It was bought about 11 months ago in a High St music/games store so I'll be going to them first to see about a replacement (have read up on sales of goods act/trading standards etc etc.)

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My queries are regarding the potential loss of data on the HD (I'm a casual gamer, therefore it would probably take me another 11 months to get to the various stages that I'm at in all of my games again if I had to start afresh!)

1. Would I be able to buy an official memory card, hook up my HD to my mates 360 and move my save game data on to the memory card, and then from the memory card onto a new HD when the console is replaced?

2. Should I just buy a new HD and slap that on the dead 360 when I do the return? (and then sell the spare HD for a small loss)

3. I've got a few Live Arcade titles that I bought, will these still be 'unlocked' if I'm using another console?

I've done a few searches and have came to the conclusion that certain stores will let you keep your original HD but this does not apply to every store.


Thanks in advance

 

[Kreeeee]

Buy an xsata and clone your hard drive completely. Your arcade games will be locked though.

It's worth sending back the original HDD as that was what was causing my 360 to throw a wobbly and I had no idea.

 

[Mr_White]

Your arcade games will be locked though.

Any thing your purchase through XBL is linked to your gamertag.

All he has to do is retrieve his gamertag and he'll be able to download everything he bought.

 

[Kreeeee]

Any thing your purchase through XBL is linked to your gamertag.

All he has to do is retrieve his gamertag and he'll be able to download everything he bought.

No, you are wrong, they'll still be locked. As in he can't play them when he is offline as they ARE linked to the console as well as his gamer tag.

 

[Mr_White]

No, you are wrong, they'll still be locked. As in he can't play them when he is offline as they ARE linked to the console as well as his gamer tag.

You're overcomplicating things here.

He asked if they'd be unlocked using a new console, and they will be if he retrieves his gamertag, he'll just have to download them again.

 

[Kreeeee]

You're overcomplicating things here.

He asked if they'd be unlocked using a new console, and they will be if he retrieves his gamertag, he'll just have to download them again.

I assume he meant what I was describing as he quoted 'unlocked'. 'locked down' and 'unlocked' are terms people regularly use when talking about the DRM on Live Arcade games.

 

[Andy298]

I think most stores take the whole package back just incase it's the HDD that's at fault also. Personally I'd buy a memory card and transfer all your saves to that. As for arcade games you should be ok to just download them again, but if you have any other profiles on your machine I don't think they'll be able to access them anymore.

This is all down to Microsoft’s DRM, it sucks!

When you download an Arcade game a licence is assigned to the Gamertag used to download it and another licence is assigned to the console it's saved to. Any profiles on that machine can access this, which is great, but get a new console and one of your licences is gone so only the Gamertag that downloaded the content can access it again.

 

[iGiDK]

Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate your comments.

Indeed, I overlooked the possibility of the HD possibly being at fault so I guess it would be a good idea to return this along with the console.

Cheers for the info regarding the Live Arcade games - there's only one gamertag associated with the console so hopefully there won't be a problem with getting them back when I recover my gamertag on the new console... if I need to be signed in to xbox Live to play the arcade games then that's a slight inconvenience but certainly not a problem.

So I'll definitely be ok to install my HD on a mate's machine and copy the saved game data onto a memory card?

 

[Andy298]

So I'll definitely be ok to install my HD on a mate's machine and copy the saved game data onto a memory card?

Yep, providing it's not the HDD at fault

Can't remember what quads light up for HDD failure?

 

[iGiDK]

Cool, cheers Andy

Fingers crossed that the HD is ok

Thanks again for the feedback fellas, questions answered

Now to start badgering the High St store for a shiny replacement, wish me luck

 

[thedoc46]

You're overcomplicating things here.

He asked if they'd be unlocked using a new console, and they will be if he retrieves his gamertag, he'll just have to download them again.

I'm on my third 360, everytime it goes wrong, i take it to the store i bought it from and swap it for a new one, but also swap out the drive. i've not had any issues whatsoever with any arcade games locked.

hope that helps, however being 11months old they may want you to send it back.

 

[Kreeeee]

Yep, providing it's not the HDD at fault

Can't remember what quads light up for HDD failure?

Easiest way to test the HDD is to see if the 360 locks up/gives red lights when playing wothough the HDD plugged in.

 

[iGiDK]

Easiest way to test the HDD is to see if the 360 locks up/gives red lights when playing wothough the HDD plugged in.

Plan, I'll check that out tonight - cheers

 

[Andy298]

Easiest way to test the HDD is to see if the 360 locks up/gives red lights when playing wothough the HDD plugged in.

Didn't think of that, duh

Anyway, good luck iGiDK. Let us know how you get on.

 

[iGiDK]

Let us know how you get on.

All sorted, cheers once again fellas.

The High St store swapped the console yesterday for a brand new shiny one with no questions asked.

The new one has an Oct06 manufacture date (seems a lot quieter than my broken Feb06 one)

I managed to transfer all my saved games over to the new one via a memory card so that means I may actually get round to finishing GRAW in 2007