Well i am latest victim of three rings of death with my xbox. So i figured I would start this thread to show a real time progress of what happens. No xbox bashing I will just delete those replies.

Call yesterday and they are sending me a box via ups to ship my xbox in. Will see how long it takes to get here.

They sent ours pretty fast... no complaints with Xbox customer service...

yeah he was very good on phone so to speak and I could even understand him lol. So impressed so far.

Go pick up a "rental" 360 at Best Buy, and return it when you get your refurb back.

My refurb sucks, noisy as all hell.

I don't like that "we'll send you a box crap" I'd send it UPS Overnight on my own the next day! I wouldn't be able to wait!!

Best Buy will accept the return?

hmm never thought of that Ian.

Actually thought bout purchasing a bare core unit as I already have the hard drive and upgraded components so could save that way.

Paul I've got an Xbox sitting in my closet that ring of death'd. It was a friends and I don't have any receipts or anything. What info did you have to give to get them to send you a box?

Both times I sent my Compaq in the only way they'd take it was in the box they sent, and it went Express Overnight on FedEx...

Microsoft manufactured a defective product and Best Buy sold it to me. It RRoD'd 6 months after I bought it. They had extended the warranty to 3 years by then, but why should I be out a 360 for 30 days?

Would you drive a car that spent 30 days in the shop every 6 months without a rental?

You get the box and all packaging, and you send only the unit with no drive. That allows you to buy a new one from the store, put your drive on it with your Tag and save games, then return it for a refund when your refurb is shipped back.

Basically my name and the serial number of the xbox which can be found behind the usb cover on the front. Just hold the flap up and it is there.

Oh and I agree Ian it is crap but I have had mine for over a year and just now getting the ring of death. I was very glad when they said I got to keep my hard drive.

What did you tell best buy when you returned yours?

Doesn't BB have a 15% restocking fee now on opened electronics returns? Or have they done away with that?

Just letting you know that I just went through this last month (made it damn close to 2 years with it) and the turnaround was a week, week and a half for me. Aww, it was a good productive week for me. With GTA IV coming out next month, my free time is really going to get screwed. I wonder how I'm going to juggle that and the birth of my new kid in April.

Concur. Microsoft extended all warranties to 3 years so they should be able to check your serial number without the need for a receipt

Received my box tonight. Will ship first thing in the morning as the places are closed now.

Xbox delivered to Texas today. See how long it takes

Refurb unit delivered to my door today. Almost positive it is not my original as I don't think the serial numbers match and it has some marks on the casing. Fired it up and immediately got one red light and system failure. Turned off and back on and seems to be working so far but not to sure about it right now.

Quick turn around though/

Now you can be like me, and just hope and pray that it will fail so you might get a better one. My refurb is noisier, and slower loading (CD drive) than my original unit.

In Microsofts eyes, "repair" means "give you one that isn't quite as broken as the one you sent in".

My first Xbox died August 1st 2007. When it died I bought an Elite while I started the repair process. It ended up taking 2 months to get a working unit.

The first Xbox they shipped was brand new. It had a manufacture date from the week before it was shipped to me. It also arrived defective out of the box, no error codes, but also no video output at all.

The second was a true refurb, it had a year old manufacture date, but is also quieter and cooler than my Elite. From info I found online it appears to have a later cooling fin arrangement internally than my elite.

This is also pretty funny. RRoD in Microsoft booth at GDC

Well it has been running good so far barring the initial foul up.

There have been 3 different DVD drives in the 360... is that where the noise is coming from? Or are ya'll talking about the internal fans?

I am not sure now. I hooked my external cooler which is loud in itself so i don't notice any noises the box is making. It to me sounded like the drive not a fan before I put the intercooler on it.

Hacked my Xbox open within 24 hours of it arriving at my house and modded the firmware on the drive, so I don't have the warranty on mine. Been running fine for 2 years tho sitting on a Laptop cooler to circulate air around it. Several friends have been through a few rounds of warranty return until they added cooling. It's an overheating problem plain & simple, don't enclose the unit and stick it on a $15 Laptop cooler, which runs power from the USB. Worked for me and my friends who tried the same thing. Not a perfect solution but better than nothin.

It's the CD drive that's noisy, which is easy to tell when you play an XBLA game which is on the hard drive.