DHL are are one of the few couriers that give a good service, I'm sure you have plenty of horror stories but I always find them a million miles better than the others.




So is the general consensus that 360's are better off vertical ? I guess this would give better ventilation to the underside of the motherboard.

My first one was vertical and it failed. My second (and 2 subsequent ones)was horizontal and it failed. Don't think the orientation makes any difference to be honest. If it's going to fail, it'll fail whatever position you put it in...

Tend to agree with Iain (shocker! :D) If you've got a dodgy machine (ie most of us!) it's gonna throw a wobbler at some point regardless.

There does seem to be a thinking that having the unit vertical does offer more reliability - but I dont think it can be down to ventilation as the bottom of the console has air vents on it which get blocked off - the side doesnt have any vents, which suggest better reliability (or cooling) if the unit was horizontal.

When I rang MS over a previous failure, I was asked which way up I had the console, and it was suggested I swapped it to see if it worked then - WTF? are some of the components sensitive to orientation?

The reason mention better mainboard cooling is that I heard that many of the problems are because of the BGU pins becoming broken away from the mainboard, perhaps due to excessive heat. With the console vertical heat could dissipate more easily from the underside than if it were placed down on a hard surface.

Don't you mean heat will escape through the top?

For what its worth, if I have the console horizontal, it's on an AV rack, and thats when its failed twice. When its been vertical sat on the carpet it hasnt failed.

I know the newer units are going to have an additional heat sink inside, but unless the case gets a slight redesign (ie more vents) the heat is still inside the unit with no where to go.

I have ended up putting my desk fan behind the xbox now - to add extra cooling.
Only time will tell

I'm really not convinced that cooling is the problem. My 2nd two 360s both went wrong whilst having two desk fans pointing directly at them and it didn't stop them from failing. My current one (4th) is working fine (touch wood) and I've gotten rid of all the additional cooling I had.

. . . from the underside, which would be the side if vertical. I don't mean heat escaping via holes, but naturally through the side casing which would be cooler if there's nothing pressed against it as it would be when horizontal. When horizontal, the bottom can get very hot if placed on a hard surface.

Personally, I think it is caused by heat, but more from the effect of frequently heating (when on) and then cooling (when off) causing damage to connections, rather than simply overheating.

Possibly, but I think that the only reason that the heat might be a problem is because the unit wasn't manufactured properly in the first place. Build em cheap, ship em quick....

Agreed. High heat, then cooling produces cold solder joints which don't conduct. If the component cooling was sufficient then you wouldn't get the problem.

More fans and heatsinks please Bill :D

I still think the thing isnt ventilated properly there are too few ventilation holes as it is and it needs more. If its out of warranty, might be worth taking a drill to it!

Odd how MS were taking the michael out of Sony when the PS3 dev kits kept failing due to heat build up, now its a "we dont comment on that" answer when MS are questioned about it. The whole thing was thrown together too quickly simply to beat the PS3 out of the door, they should have known Sony would have suffered the delays it did, and took a little longer to test it a bit more thoroughly.

Does anyone know that if you get a replacement machine from MS you'll get one with the redesigned heat sink from now on?

According to reports I read they were. Mine should be due back soon, so I'll try and find out.