Xbox 360 woes

Well, my launch era 360 bit the dust.  It may have had a little help..but thats all unconfirmed rumor.

Anyway, I exchanged it for the 360 arcade with my BB rplacement plan.

I like the arcade for a couple reasons:

My old system was a core as that was my only choice during the launch shortage.

I like the white dvd tray and eject button over the chrome on on the premiums.

5 free games and the memory unit are things I will actually use rather than ebay all the extraneous parts that come with a premium.

So when it was all said and done, I got a new box and a $20 refund (my core was $299)

Looks good on paper right?  not so much.

After unboxing it and plugging it into my already threaded throught the wall vga cable, I notice it takes quite awhile to get to the boot logo...like 45 seconds long.  The old one was easily less than 10.

So it finally is up and in the dashboard and I get it all set up and go online and play some halo mp...only to suffer the worst lag I have ever seen.  completely unplayable.  rubberbanding all over the place and getting disconected from my game.  I suspected the new box but really wasnt sure so I quit for awhile to get some work done in the front yard.  After awhile I came back for a break and fire up the box...nothin...no video no sound.  All the green lights seem to work and it recognizes my controller, but nada.  So I try to shut it down using the controller as thats pretty easy to do blind.  Nothing.

After some fiddleing I take it back to BB and get another.  Get home and repeat the process again.  The boot screen is slow again but it comes alive and I play late into the night on MP with some coworkers no problem..no lag nothing.  This morning I wake up and turn it on.  Again I get a blank screen.  This time I think it must be something I did so I spend much more time fiddleing before calling Bombay (xbox support).  She walkes me through some stuff before saying I need to send it in.  So back to BB I go and get my 3rd in 2 days...sheesh...my launch unit one worked flawlessly for almost 2 years..kinda wish it wouldnt have crapped out on me.  Im a sucker for that stupid hdmi port I guess.

Anyway, I get the new one home and plug it in and everything looks to be working normally.  Fast boot up screen and all...put in Halo..everything is looking good.  So I break out my new HDMI cable to get that up and running.  Nothing.  Blank screen and no sound.  I swap out my vga cable no problem.  Old dust covered S-video cable I had laying around works too.  So I fiddle with the HDMI for about an hour.  I had just listened to the Major Nelson podcast with E bitching about getting his tv to recognize the hdmi from his ps3 so Im thinking I have something similar.  I try with the tv on first.  With the xbox on first.  With game in and game out.  Nothing is working.  So I call my tv support number.  He says something must be wrong with the xbox.  Xbox says its the tv..of course although it may be the cable.  So I go exchange my cable for a new one one the off chance its that.  Bingo!

So Im up and running!  except the sound is jacked up.  I have static in the background.  Crap.  I go through all my menu's on both the tv and the surround turning various things on and off trying to clear up the signal.  Nothing.  So back to the TV support number.  I happen to get a fellow xbox gamer and he quickly surmises that Im not a total noob and we actually have a pretty in depth conversation about where the signal get converted from digital to analog and where my problem could be.  He of course blames the xbox and/or the cable, so not much help there...but he at least skipped the whole schpeel about verifying the plugs are in and all that crap.

So during my talk with xbox they volunteer to send me the hdmi package free of charge.  So Im waiting for that to arrive and Ill just use the optical audio dongle that comes with it.  I tried hacking my old s-video cable to just use the optical out like I saw on the web but that didnt work so Im just going to live with it till my package arrives.

Anyway, that was my day...driving back and forth all day and waiting in return lines..fun fun fun.