Red and Green for Christmas

This was my current rig. Impressive isn't it?


It's actually a bit more neat now. The wires are all neatly tied off, the power brick hides behind the monitor, the power strip is on the floor so it's more hidden. The DVD stand with my games and movies is now closer too, off to the left with my guitars leaning next to it instead of the bookcase.

So Wednesday night I wanted to play some Halo with clan mates. It was a blast, as usual, until I got a little too close to a plasma grenade.

Uh Oh...

So I grab my camera, snap a good picture for posterity, and reboot hoping to get my game on a bit longer. Again with the death, and again...

... with the screen corrupting lockup.

So, after almost two years it's my time is it? I fired the machine up one more time and piddled around in Forge some, half hoping for a RRoD so I could just order a coffin and be done with it before calling it a night.

Last night I fired the machine up again, played a little Rock Band with my wife then went to play some Halo. I drop the disk in, walk away to take care of something and come back to the following sequence:

On the bright side, at least it died fast, and inside the 3 year warranty period. Still, if I wanted red and green lights for Christmas I would have put up a fricken' tree. Still I think I should count myself as lucky. My unit was built on 2005-11-12, purchased on 2005-12-22 and ran almost daily for almost two years before succumbing. I could have done a lot worse. I just hope I get a system with a new board instead of a rehash, referb, or repaired system.

The real pisser? The family got together and bought my little brother a 360 for Christmas since he was the last hold out. Scattered across the country we figured playing games on live would be a fun way to keep in touch more. Mine failure is the second one of the 4 now in the family to blow up in as many weeks. Figures doesn't it.