XBox Power Cable Fire Hazard and Recall 70
hattig writes "According to BBC News Microsoft is to replace 14 million XBox power cables due to a fire hazard. XBoxes made before 23rd October 2003 or 13th January 2004 (Europe) require replacement." From the article: "The company said the move was a "preventative step" after reports of fire hazard problems with the cables."
They knew about the problem,... (Score:4, Insightful)
The PSP has been getting a lot of flack for its problems, but at least it won't burn your house down.
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:3, Informative)
I wouldn't expect anyone on Slashdot to RTFA, but it hasn't burned down any houses:
"In almost all instances, any damage caused by these failures was contained within the console itself or limited to the tip of the power cord at the back of the console."
But in seven cases, customers reported sustaining a minor burn to their hand.
In 23 cases, customers reported smoke damage, or minor damage to a carpet or entertainment centre.
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:3, Informative)
Scorching leads to burning.
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:3, Funny)
Burning leads to fear, fear leads to hate, yada yada dark side yada yada...
Give it a rest, Yoda, we've heard it all before.
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:1)
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:1, Insightful)
Not necessarily. It could be one of any number of things--maybe they changed suppliers after a certain date. Maybe the newer cables were made in a different plant. Game console hardware is revised all the time, and it's probably pretty hard to detect problems that occur less than .01% of the time.
I know Slashdotters hate Microsoft, but throwing around baseless, poorly thought-out accusations diminishes your credibility, not Microsoft's.
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:2)
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:2)
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN (Score:2)
Why bother, look how he spelled "cord", he's already suffered brain damage.
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:1)
I've had to look and the manufacturing date on my Xbox, and it was only a couple of months before I bough it at most. I've got a nice new power cable winging its way to me.
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:2)
Why $10? Because the console costs $150, so I can just pay $40 for it. Besides, I haven't had to pay all the people - some folks ask me to recipricate them and do their deal.
There are usually a few easy offers there where you don't pay anything - you just need to sign up for something and cancel it during the trial period. I did this most recently with the efax o
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:1)
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:2)
Re:They knew about the problem,... (Score:2)
There will then be a great debate over whether or not Microsoft should do this and put traditional suppliers of firewalls at risk.
In the end, those in the know will use thrid-party firewalls due to their superior features, like egress filtering.
Give me a break. (Score:1, Redundant)
Here is the link [xbox.com] to get it repaired.
Re:Give me a break. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Give me a break. (Score:1)
How much money for 14 million power cables plus packing and shipping do you reckon?
Re:Give me a break. (Score:1)
I would bet it would be about $0.25/cable in bulk, and another $0.50 - $1 for shipping.
So $6-10.5 million, if you have every elegible person apply I wanna guess.
Of course this is all just guessing.
Correction to my above post s/10.5/17.5/ ;s/6/10.5 (Score:1)
Even then I still messed up my math...
Any more details? (Score:4, Informative)
If it is something internal, I seriously don't think a new power cord is going to help (unless it has like a fuse inline or something and the console pulls to much when the thing starts to smoke).
Is it just a better connection? Were people having the cord come out slightly and arcing?
Re:Any more details? (Score:1)
I still can't work out where the 'when left on' fire hazard comes from however.
Now to wait for my replacement...
Re:Any more details? (Score:1)
Serves em right for stealing (Score:1)
As usual their tricks have backfired. Instead of trying to pull another Stac or Sendo, they should have just made a deal up front with George Foreman rather than trying to "innovate" his technology into their product.
C'mon it should have been obvious to any one.
LAN party = food + CPUs.
Intel CPUs = heat.
heat + food = grill
The probablility of danger (Score:2)
This sort of thing happens all the time in the motor industry, according to my good friend Jack.
No big deal (Score:2, Informative)
A google search of "electrical cord recall" nets 67,000 hits. On the first page you have Black & Decker, HP, and a petition for Apple to recall its power cord.
So all the MS haters blast away at their "incompetance" and attribute it to a massive anti-consumer rights conspiracy. Whatever. Just get a new cord and be quiet.
Re:No big deal (Score:2)
Re:Doublespeak alert... (Score:2)
[Every damn business in world history] is only trying to make profit, because that's what businesses do, not make/sell/provide a product/service.
Hospitals save lives because health care services bring massive profit margins, not because it saves lives.
People donate to charity so they can feel/act/look like better people and/or pay less on their taxes, not to help the disadvantaged.
I just swatted that fly because it was
Re:Doublespeak alert... (Score:1)
Now, and ONLY now... (Score:2, Funny)
Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.. (Score:2)
Just another day .. (Score:2, Funny)
Daddy: Sure thing, son! Let's just get this power cable here all hooked up an- OH MY GOD!
*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSH!*
Here's the problem (Score:1, Informative)
The cords are basically safe. Just like any other electrical device, if someone screws with the cord, you can have a problem or issue. If the machine that was winding the wires that make up the power cord, for example, ended up only having 7 strands of wire instead of 8 due to operator error, then the wire can still carry the load, but it may get warm. (GM, for example, had this problem with their new truck
Re:Here's the problem (Score:1)
This is just bad design and might even legally be an issue for them.
Of course they knew (Score:1)
You realize, of course... (Score:2)
They alter the cord... because they get a new, lower-bidding supplier, or because they can make the cord for a few cents cheaper per cord (trust me, it adds up!) a new way.
They alter the PSU, change suppliers on the internal components like the DVD drive, switch to a different variety of internal cabling... it happens all the time.
The fact that only the older cords were changed at some point could be due to any one of a dozen design changes tha
Re:You realize, of course... (Score:1)
Then will you kindly admit (Score:2)
Re:Then will you kindly admit (Score:1)
Open Source Powercords... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Open Source Powercords... (Score:2)
Apparently you can download patch-cable from xboxupdate.microsoft.com to alleviate the problem.
Can we be realistic for a second? (Score:5, Informative)
It's not like there is a humongous danger. Nobody's house was burned down or car exploded, unlike several automobile types where a recall (faulty wiring in the ignition units and steering column pieces) only happened after lives were lost.
The facts are:
- The failure rate on these cords is listed as 1 in 10,000.
- The failure ONLY happens when the unit has been on for a ridiculously long time (read: someone just turned off the power-save feature and let the thing run all day and night).
- Seven people had minor burns from unplugging the cords while they were still hot.
- 23 people smelled smoke or had minor damage (likely plastic melting, which is what you'd expect when the low-grade plastics used in most entertainment centers comes in contact with an overheated wire) to their entertainment centers or carpet (likely synthetic carpet that melted).
I know, there are plenty of little trolls out there who hate MS, but seriously. They're doing the right thing and recalling the cords.
No, the fact that cords after October 23, 2003 aren't susceptible to this isn't an indication they knew about it - it could be a standard part of ongoing redesigns (which they do every few months to lower the production costs anyways). Or it could be that they went to a new vendor, who were making the cords to a higher standard or with a different process anyways.
Or it could simply be that they were investigating the CAUSE of the incidents before they did anything - after all, if the culprit were really the power supply, then replacing the cords wouldn't have done any good.
So come on. They're doing the right thing. Give them credit for doing it, in spite of the fact that the raving MS-hater lunatics are going to be spewing "OMG did yew see the xbox got recalled haha" all over chat boards for the next couple weeks, and move on.
Re:Can we be realistic for a second? (Score:1)
They are lucky no one was killed after falling asleep with the Xbox on.
I think they should have sent a bit extra making sure stuff like that never happened by getting power cords speced for handling a higher load then what they expected to be drawn by the machine.
The internal fuses are whats supposed to die in the event of a short not the power cord.
If it was the cord design... (Score:2)
It's not, though. They've only got 30 instances so far. Their (obviously leaning on the safe-side) estimate of the failure rate is approximately 1 in 10,000. How many Xboxes have been sold again?
More likely, there was some thing in the production line that wasn't quite right, or one of several vendors they'd contracted to make the cords wasn't up to spec. It happens - there are thousands of product recalls a year in the States alone.
I for one wish Sony had recalled the first-gen
Re:If it was the cord design... (Score:1)
I do agree that SONY makes cheap crap for consoles, my PSX wont work unless at a greater then 45 deg. angle (the upside down trick dont work). I know people who have gone through several PS2 units.
Why this isn't on the front page. (Score:2)
Microsoft geo-locates all owners (Score:2, Interesting)
Ah, the beauty of it. All that statistical data, tying the serial number of your xbox to a physical location.
Now those who don't even have xbox live can enjoy data association and aggregation.
Support (Score:5, Funny)
Master Plan (Score:1, Funny)
I wonder.... (Score:3, Interesting)
a) The release of Xbox Next is imminent (i.e. comming fall/winter.) Microsoft may be wanting to collect data for massive marketing or regional statistics.
b) Microsoft may be wanting to collect data to crackdown on modders. With Xbox live, they can determine the serial number of modded Xboxes. Considering that you have to enter the serial number of your Xbox to order your power cord replacement, they might be collecting the addresses of the owners of these Xboxes.
Re:I wonder.... (Score:1)
Then again they may be using the code to find out where the console was constructed so they can rule out the need for a new cable, but how can they be sure when cables can be changed.
oddly form does not work with firefox. (Score:3, Interesting)
i gues it is called firefox for a reason.
This notice is for Canada as well! (Score:1)
Here is a news story about the same issue in Canada as well.
http://www.lesaffaires.com/index.asp [lesaffaires.com] (the linked article is written in french.)
yet another MS bashing story on /. (Score:2)
Only One Recall (Score:1)