Microsoft Responds to Kinect ‘RROD’ Claims

Matt Wingler 47 Comments

Over the past few days, a few different publications around the web have been claiming the Kinect will cause Xbox 360s to get the infamous Red Ring of Death. Microsoft has now responded to these allegations and, surprise surprise, they claim there’s no link.

Speaking to BBC, this is what Microsoft had to say:

“There is no correlation between the three flashing red lights error and Kinect. Any new instances of the three flashing red lights error are merely coincidental.”

Personally, such correlations sounds like gibberish to me.  I put claims like this in the same boat as those that say every firmware update Sony has ever released causes your PS3 to brick.

Like all consoles, 360s fail and there doesn’t always have to be a reason outside of known hardware issues. And how connecting a camera can influence the integrity of soldering points between a CPU and GPU, I have no idea.

Source: BBC

Tags: ,

Related stories from TSA

Avowed on PS5 – Making the wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 a little less painful
New Xbox boss says “The plan’s the plan until it’s not the plan”
Hero to Net Zero – What is Phil Spencer’s legacy at Xbox?
Phil Spencer retires from Xbox with CoreAI exec Asha Sharma taking over as Microsoft Gaming CEO

47 Comments

  1. It’s classic human misinterpretation of coincidence as causality. “I plugged in my kinect, my xbox broke, therefore kinect broke my xbox”

    • Comment of the month.

    • Works for me. My first YLOD had me drinking the Schweppes Lemonade at the time. Never again. Fizzy-drink bastards!

      • My first YLOD happened right after answering your YLOD poll. Never again!

    • I always thought console failures were down to the majority of gamers being male (yes I know there are some females too!) and that it’s a proven scientific fact (at least according to Aleisha Dixon) that men never clean the dust from their vents!
      I’m pretty sure that’s why my original PS3 became a very expensive door-stop :-)

      I have ensured that my new slim will not be following the same path by ensuring I remind my wife to dust it regularly*

      This is a joke. I never tell my wife what to do :-)

  2. Almost half of all Xbox’s fail anyway

  3. Could be the old models right?

    • It can only be the old models as they removed the red lights from the slim.

      Did anyone find out how the slims indicate the RROD error?

      • You get RDoD, Red Dot of Death. It seems to be just as common on the Slims as it is on the Phats. I’m not sure why a company like Microsoft have never been able to resolve the issue even after redesigning the console.

      • Root Ginger i’ve often thought about this myself,i could only guess that something fundamental needed altering thus creating software compatibility issues between old and newer models.Thinking it’s ‘just’ a heat problem doesn’t rub this far into it’s lifespan.

      • Heat IS still a problem, especially after lead was banned in solder. The pins of the GPU are exposed to extreme changes in temperature and, over a period of time, dry joints can form between the PCB and GPU pins. I have re-heated these and some consoles have worked afterwards and others have not. It’s pot-luck I’m afraid.

      • lead is not banned in solder.

        im a plumber, and even though the use of lead solder is banned when it comes to potable water supplys, some of the oldschool guys still use the leaded stuff.

  4. well Kinect or not, the consoles still got the RROD! That happened to me twice, when I first bought one, and another time m motherboard bent due to overheating… which considering is was standing vertically, alone, on an open shelf in my room which is permenantl cold, I refuse to accept resonsibility for!

    • I have had 5 xbox’s due to the RRoD. I have a friend who has had 11 – still like my xbox but I know that the build quality is obviously poor….

      • I’ve had 2 microsoft phones die, 3 pc’s, 1 xbox 360 and regularly our train ticket machine has the blue screen of death. I am completely sick of MS products as I have a 100% death rate with nothing lasting longer than 6 months.

        I replaced my phone with iphone (now lasted 2 years without problem), macbook (still going but newish), PS3 (2.5 years and counting) and I now cycle to work (never crashed once!).
        What does it take for you to stay clear of a company that obviously makes cheap cr%p for profit?
        And as much as I soun like a M$ hater, I did spend thousands of £ on M$ products first before I cracked.

      • @Stonyk
        I have a ps3 also and I admit I do play it a lot more than my 360 (used to be the other way around until the decent games started coming out on the PS3)
        Microsoft ain’t that bad when it comes to Windows 7 (my all time fav OS at current) and I’m not a Mac or linux hater, I just prefer Windows (for the main reason of my games play on it).
        Microsoft have tried to rectify the xbox issues, but what did annoy me was how long it took them to admit there was an issue with the RRoD a while back. I suspect, IF there is a connection with the Kinect and xbox failures, it’ll be a while until Microsoft even consider confirming it.

      • I’m just one of those people who will boycott a product once I get burnt. I’m sure if I had problems with apple or sony I would do the same.
        Interestingly I have been told the Mac’s can run Windows operating systems along side its own to allow Windows games to be used and supposedly can run the OS better than most PC’s. Haven’t done it myself so don’t know how true this is.

  5. How many of these xboxes were turned off for months before getting a kinect?

    • 6

      • Mine is still gathering dust, having not been drawn into knackering myself out to look like one of the goons in the Kinnect advert. I’d far prefer to knacker myself out looking like a goon running around a local park.

  6. I can only assume that Kinect performs alot of complex calculations, putting an extra strain on the cpu, possibly generating more heat, causing old xbox 360s to finally fail.

    • Thats what some people are saying, they why they blame Kinect

  7. Xboxes just fail more than other consoles then? Is that what microsoft is saying?

    • It’s a smart move to edit the truth. Mention that there’s no link but don’t actually mention the bit that reads “sadly, it’s just breaking a lot because of the old problems we all know and hate”.

  8. Glad its all bs! Just got one yesterday, great fun & better than I thought it would be & great that you have multiplayer straight out of the box.

  9. My Xbox gets a RROD if it is a full moon

  10. for once i think ms are probably right.
    xboxes are breaking all the time, unless there’s a significant increase i’d say it is just a coincidence.

Comments are now closed for this post.