Most unreliable/problematic video game console you ever owned?

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

So which video game console, computer, or system have you owned that you were so excited to get, add to your collection, and something you have always wanted. Then soon or down the road it turned into a lemon, won't read discs, error messages, won't power on, or overheated. We have all went through it. For me it would be the XBox 360. I bought mine in 2006. I was excited to get one of these rather than paying much more for a PS3. I bought mine new and a few days later it had the red ring of death. I was mad and my system had a warranty that I even purchased the extended two year warranty for the system. I sent it in to be repaired and I got it back a few weeks later. But it was not my console and a refurbished one. 6 months later (Early 2007) it had the Red Ring of Death again. Sent it again to Microsoft then a couple weeks later another system. Then Spring 2007 another Red Ring of Death got it sent AGAIN and another refurbished. August 2007 I got an E74 error, the disc tray wouldn't work, and the laser read games intermittently. I contacted them again got everything squared off and got another system. Then October 2007 is when the straw broke the camel's back. Another red ring of death. I contacted them and a few weeks later they never sent me the box to pack the 360 to send it off as I was under warranty until 2009. After waiting long enough and multiple times contacting them with no package I had enough. I destroyed it and went out to get a Playstation 3. And 8 years later it still works and I have never had a problem with it. So let me hear your stories of some horrible experiences with your systems.

[+save2600]

I've heard more bad stories involving the 360 than any other console ever. Have known a few people with continued RROD just like yours. They get sent somebody else's scummy old system and within months, need to send that one in for another dud! Can't believe Microsoft has such a goofy program like that. I'd be pissed if I sent my cosmetically mint system in, only to get sumguys beater in return. Just one of the many reasons I choose and have chosen to be M$ free all these years.

Guess I've been lucky with optical based game systems and computers for the most part. A few weeks ago though, finally did have a SuperDrive go out on one of my iMacs. Something with the transport... can no longer insert a disc. Oh well, external USB drives are dirt cheap nowadays. At least they're drawer loading and not this slot loading crap. Hate those!

 

All my cartridge based consoles and early computers including the SMS, Genesis, TG-16/PC Engine, Intellivision, Atari's, TI, C64 and Amiga's have all been virtually bulletproof. Even the NES's I've owned throughout the years haven't given me too much trouble. Just need to know how to properly store/clean the edge connector of the games and NOT blow into them is all. Haven't witnessed a lot of blown power supplies either, but then again, have everything on a surge protector and keep them off when not in use.

[Hyperboy]

Same here with the 360, huge pain in my ass!

[privateers69]

Do they still do this with the new console?

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I know the first generation 2005-2009 models were plagued with these problems. I don't know much about the 2010 and later second generation models. I mostly have heard positive reviews about them. And since I have a PS3 they both make roughly the same games except for a few exclusives of course the Halo series.

[copper20]

Either the Nintendo Entertainment System or the Sony PlayStation. My brother had a 360 but we didn't have many problems, and the amount of times I had to clean cartridges just to get them to work on the NES or having to replace the entire PS1 console does not compare.

[Rick Dangerous]

The NES, Jaguar CD, Sega CD and PS3 are all systems i've had intermittent problems with. Of course, most of them can be remedied with a good cleaning or replacing key components.

[CatPix]

Do they still do this with the new console?

Do you mean later Xbox360 models or Xbone/PS4?

 

Either way, the causes for the massive faulire of the first batch of Xbox360 is welll know, and was know to Microsoft 6 months prior to the launch.

Microsoft decided that they'll continue to manufacture the faulty-prone consoles to be ready for planned release, and set up in place a solid replacement program knowing that they'll have a massive return rate.

Early models are affected. Basically, be wary of buying any Xbox 360 without HDMI output.

Of those models, late release might survive (I have a Pro model sans HDMI that I bought used, have been playing on it for 4 years and it's going fine, thanks you).

 

The PS3 had his share of overheating issues too.

 

Basically, FAT PS3 with original hard drive inferior to 80 Go shouldn't be expected to work or should go under a serious revision (replacing the thermal paste).

BTW, All PS3 are easily HDD upgradable unlike the Xbox360, so those days, buying a fat PS3 for cheap and fitting a 500Go/1To hard drive in is a cheap way to get into PS3 gaming, rather than picking up a superslim PS3.

Edited November 9, 2015 by CatPix

[Lentzquest]

My model 1 Sega CD has been nothing but a pain for the number of years I've had it. The thing works, but is extremely prone to freezing mid-game. I've always intended to pick up a model 2, but haven't been able to catch a deal on one in good shape.

[VectorGamer]

ColecoVision

 

Damn power adapters, power switches and RAM chips

[mbd30]

That would be the NES top loader that I ordered that the seller claimed was in very good condition and it didn't even turn on. Thankfully I ordered another one for $100 and it works great.

Edited November 9, 2015 by mbd30

[+Ransom]

Atari 5200. Maintaining it is similar to how I understand it is for high-end European sports car owners. Sure, I have the Best controllers, so they're not a problem. But I still have to tweak the pot occasionally, since some games want different centering values. I also got a diagnostic cart and a controller port jumper board so I could diagnose problems and maintain the console. Helped figure out which chip was bad, one time.

 

Otherwise, my consoles have been aces over the years.

[+GoldenWheels]

I had huge issues with two of the older, fat PS2s. That awful kind of broken where it works just often enough that you keep fooling yourself that you don't need to replace it....then any time you really want to play....."disc read error".

[glazball]

Same here GoldenWheels - I had nothing but trouble with my original phat PS2. I love the system, but eventually got so many Disc Read Errors that I wanted to just throw it out the window. My PS1 also behaved erratically - sometimes I had to leave something heavy on top for it to read discs correctly.

 

Everyone also gripes about the Xbox 360. I never owned one but I actually had a Red Screen of Death on my PS3, which is highly uncommon. I was watching a Blu-Ray, and after the movie was over, instead of just stopping and ejecting, I decided to let the credits play out to the end. When it got to the very end, the system glitched and gave me a red screen. My heart was broken, but luckily it was new and Amazon replaced it. Still lost my game saves though

 

No problems (yet) with my PS4!

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

ColecoVision

 

Damn power adapters, power switches and RAM chips

The CV is second in my ranking. Made from cheap off the shelf parts. The power switch is the achilles heel of the system and the lubrication gets all dried up and has to be redone again. The Canadian power supply is the more reliable choice but cost more. Thank goodness for Yurkie on his his work he does in restoring them.

[Keatah]

Had a few problems with overheating Astrocades and Intellivisions back in the day. Had a PC blow its processor and catch fire because of bad capacitors.

[Austin]

When my Timekeeper went bad in my CD-i, that was by far the most problematic system I have owned. As a result, sometimes it wouldn't read discs, sometimes it would force you to the memory manager screen (with no way to exit it), and other times it would crash during games that it did actually read. I'd often have to pull the power from the system for a few minutes, then reconnect it to temporarily fix the problem.

 

As far as systems I still own and play, the Jaguar is probably the one I have trouble with the most. Even when carts are perfectly clean, I still get a ton of red screens upon boot up. I haven't had any other issues with the system, technically speaking, but this one is getting close to NES 72-pin connector issue levels.

 

Speaking of which, I guess I'd have to name the NES as the biggest culprit by default. But, I use a flash cart now that never comes out of the console, so I never have to mess with it anymore.

[ubersaurus]

NESs - I went through several back in the day due to cart slot issues before finally just getting a top loader. I also went through a couple Atari 2600s, if I recall. I've had a few Xbox 360s over the years, currently have a Wii with video issues, just all kinds of fun crap.

[leods]

I had a Brazilian NES clone, never had a Problem. Then an SNES and never had a Problem. After that a PSOne (the small model) and never had a Problem. Now I got a PS2, a mega drive and an xbox 360, no Problems.

 

Game Boy advance, Nintendo DS, PSP Go, Nintendo 3DS. No Problems.

 

I have a crap cellphone, and yeah, it's crap.

 

An HP Notebook I had was garbage, and my Asus is having Problems with the cooling.

 

My electric oven broke. But I think that's not a gaming console is it?

[cimerians]

Modern: Xbox 360

 

Old: NES

 

 

For some reason my Colecovision never gave me too much problems and the fat PS3 I have only did the YLOD once.

 

All of these systems had issues though.

[omegadot]

360. Eventually I just dumped it. I'll never bother to pick up another one again. Other than that I've had great luck.

[HoshiChiri]

My fat PS2 fell victim to the Disc Read Error back in the day. Luckily, this was when Sony was still under court order to repair said error for free, and it's been going along fine since. The only downer was it was out for repair when a gamer cousin I didn't see every often came up for a visit. Not having my (at the time) main system did suck.

 

My first sega CD/genesis combo died on me- but it really wasn't that unexpected. From day one, the genny had rolling static and the CD would stop/freeze constantly, requiring a couple knocks to get things going. Or- I kid you not- spinning the CD by hand before shutting the lid to get it going, like hand-starting a prop plane. I only spent $20 on it, it came with Lunar: Sliver Star and Vay, and I got a discount on the replacement system by telling the shop to keep the hookups/controllers. So I still got my value from it.

 

The one giving me grief these days is my Nintendo 64. I got it just a few months ago for $20 from a thrift shop, with expansion pak- pretty good deal by today's standards. It's a finicky fellow though- if you insert a cart in the standard 'push down firmly' kind of way, it won't run. You have to be gentle about it, and push in just enough to feel the board slide into the system contacts. Once you've got it going though, you're typically fine. (Anybody know what might be up with it? I'm not very familiar with the 64, I don't know if this is a normal issue or not.)

[Eltigro]

Lots of people complaining about the 360, but I've never really had any trouble with mine... well... I did have to replace the power brick... but that's it.

 

My NES however refuses to work. Stupid ZIF connector... of course, after the cat peed on it, there's probably other issues... my top loader still works great though. Fewer moving parts.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I've been through three Lynx consoles. First one, my childhood Lynx got fried when a butty stuck the multitip adapter into the COM Lynx port. Second worked in 2007, dead in 2012. My third works but has audio issues.

 

Every other console I've owned, the original still worked, even second hand. I also had an N64 Power supply go bad. After 20-30 minutes of play, the game would start to reset. I checked the 3.3V signal from the controller port with my multimeter. It would slowly droop as the console warmed up until the CPU crashed around 2.9V. A simple trip to the used game store for an OEM used 1st party power brick and it was trouble free ever since.

 

As for NES, prior to going through several connector replacements until ultimately installing the BLW, back in the day, I just left the Game Genie shoved in 100% of the time and my games worked about 95% with the Genie, 5% without it.

 

Oh yeah, I laughed my ass off with the RROD debacle with Microsoft Xbox 360. Never bought an MS console; never will.

[Jess Ragan]

Yeah, I don't think the Xbox 360 has any serious competition in this department. Even I've had a 360 die on me, although it took about four years to get to that point. I wouldn't trust the early Playstation 3 models, either.

 

Other systems I've had issues with include the Playstation 2 (I had to dink with the gear inside the system to get it to recognize certain discs, but a friend eventually repaired it for me) and the NES (which loves doing that annoying screen flash at the worst possible moments). I had a Fairchild Channel F that never worked properly at all, but in all fairness, the damn thing was nearly as old as I was and I got it used.