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Surge protectors break 360s?
By Kat | July 8, 2007
Mark over at Law of the Game has posted that his 2nd Xbox 360 died. When he called Microsoft support, they told him to not use a surge protector. Surge protectors are almost givens these days, especially with expensive electronics. This is the explanation the MS rep gave:
“The Xbox 360 is highly sensitive to reductions in power, and even the slightest cut in power can cause things like the fans and even the DVD laser to malfunction. Surge protectors can cause this, and probably 90% of the consoles they see have all failed in 6-12 months of being plugged into a surge protector.”
Mark also mentioned a Microsoft Knowledgebase article that says to plug the 360 directly into the wall. So it looks like our choices are, fry the 360 when a surge hits your old and ailing power lines, or fry it trying to protect it from them.
Topics: XBOX 360 |
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Comment by Paul Munn — July 8, 2007 @ 8:01 am
You’ll get voltage dips when things power on on the same circuit. Things like, oh I don’t know, the TV set you absolutely have to have to play a console?
How many people have enough wall plugs behind their entertainment center to plug everything in? Nobody I know, that’s for sure.
Comment by Stephen — July 8, 2007 @ 8:50 am
Exactly. The electrical system in your home is going to fluctuate. Power supplies are designed to tolerate that within reason. A quality UPS or surge protector is going to keep that to a minimum, not make it worse. This has to be inaccurate from one side or the other.
Comment by Andrew — July 8, 2007 @ 9:50 am
Seems to me like the KnowledgeBase article was a trouble shooting thing; more for consumers that have PEBKAC issues than us l33t folks.
I call “shenanigans” on the MS rep that claims that a power strip is going to make power fluctuations WORSE. What does he plug his gear into, a portable nuclear pile in his backyard?
More “blame the customer” from Microsoft- shocking!
A.
Comment by brent Kailbourn — July 8, 2007 @ 10:41 am
I blew out my entire entertainment system a few years back when lightning hit the antennae up on the roof of my trailer. Even fried my ‘Astro Invaders’ game I had in my intellivision that I was playing at the time.