The Top 5 Dangers of Buying Cheap Xbox 360 Consoles

The Top 5 Dangers of Buying Cheap Xbox 360 Consoles
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People Selling Cheap Xbox 360 Consoles

Every now and again you hear stories of people buying cheap Xbox 360 consoles for practically nothing off of someone they know, or more often a ‘friend of a friend’. I have also had the misfortune of hearing the follow-up stories of the Xbox involved not working in some way, and the seller doesn’t want to know about it. Here are some reasons why you should be wary of buying any cheap xbox 360 consoles unless they are from a store where you know they test before reselling.

5. Hard Drive Not Included

Some people think they are getting a sweet deal until they find out there’s no hard drive with the console – for some this won’t matter but if you want to play online you need a hard drive. Most Xbox 360 owners play a lot of multiplayer games like Call of Duty or Battlefield.

For your sake let’s hope it’s so cheap that you don’t mind paying extra for a hard drive, and by extra I mean $129.99.

4.Console is Displaying the Red Ring Of Death

red ring of death

ALWAYS test a second-hand console before you buy from someone, especially if the price is enough for you to stop and stare.

Not testing the console could mean that you find yourself stuck with an Xbox that needs to be repaired, and I’m willing to bet the reason it was for sale is because it’s not in warranty. Having Microsoft repair an out of warranty console costs between $99-$119.99. There is also a chance that the red lights could be indicating melted hardware due to overheating! if this is the case you might find yourself buying a new Xbox altogether.

3.Disk Drive Doesn’t Read Disks

This is possible one of the most frequent of all the Xbox malfunctions.

As before the console is probably being sold because it is out of warranty with Microsoft so be prepared to pay that $99-$119.99 fee for repair. If the console is definitely out of warranty and this is the only problem it is presenting there is a good possibility that opening the console and cleaning it may fix the issue as it is usually caused by dust blocking the laser.

If you do intend on opening an Xbox 360 for cleaning never use water or alcohol to clean inside the console as you could risk damaging it. Always use a dry cloth to remove and dust or dirt from the hardware. Make sure to clean the disk drive thoroughly if the console is not reading disks.

2.Console Scratches Disks

scratched-xbox-360-disc

This is also a very common problem with the Xbox 360 console. This one could be tricky to detect if you do test a console before buying as it may not scratch disks all the time. If the disk slips or moves in the disk tray then it may scratch the disk and render it unreadable. Microsoft does offer a replacement disk programme, but do you really want to be requesting replacement disks for all your favourite games?

To remedy this problem you would have to buy and install a new disk drive for your Xbox 360 console. An Xbox 360 disk drive can usually be purchased online for under $50. They can be difficult to install however so I would highly reccommend having someone experienced install it.

If you do not have someone experienced to install the harddrive by all means try to do it yourself - what do you have to lose seeing as its already out of warranty? Just remeber: if you mess it up you’re looking at rebuying another console.

1.Console is Banned From Xbox Live

xbox-live-ban

This only happens if the previous owner has made numerous Xbox Live Gold accounts and used them to repeatedly break rules or be offensive online. After a while the Xbox team just bans the console from connecting to live so the owner can not continue making accounts.

This is basically impossible to detect if you are testing a pre-owned console, as most people would only check for the obvious issues like red lights, games working etc. If it is possible, check that you can connect and use Xbox Live as the Xbox support team will not unlock consoles under any circumstances no matter how much you beg.

To be honest this is the rarest reason on the list, I have placed it at number one becasue of how difficult it would be to detect. In order to have a console banned from Xbox Live entirely the owner would have to create a myriad of accounts and use all if not most of them to abuse the system in various ways. Considering the amount of time and money this would take there are not a lot of people willing to do this.