Xbox 360s scrape discs!

[slycat]

When they say on all the warnings and stuff to do with the console, they really do mean it. Do not move the console when there is a disc in the drive, and most certainly do not do this while it's powered on. I was foolishly resting my feet on the Xbox as it's under my computer desk (as I use the monitor for the Xbox too), I felt the urge to scratch one of my feet while a level of Burnout was loading and accidentally tilted the box to one side (it normally sits vertically). When I did this, I heard the most awful noise and quickly righted it. I turned the box off... and then on again to retrieve the disc. The damage had been done. I've got a perfect circular scratch about halfway to the middle of the disc at about a mm in width... Oddly the game still plays but I'm sure I'll get to a bit of the game which relies on data under that scratch, and then I've had it...

So let this be a lesson to you all: Don't be like Sly. Don't use your Xbox as a footrest. And definitley do not move the Xbox while it's on!

Comments

[orona-red.livejournal.com]

I used to use my PC as a footrest. One day I yawned, and streched. My feet pushed out, shoving the computer about six inches across the floor. The monitor cable went completely taut, and pulled the graphics card, which wasn't screwed in, out of the AGP slot.

The PC speaker screamed, and the motherboard died a horrible, horrible death. We both learned valuable lessons through our feet.

[slycat.livejournal.com]

Yep. Expensive computing hardware is not conveniently placed for our feet's pleasure!

[rogerirrelevant.livejournal.com]

Conversely, I've tipped almost a pint of Coca-Cola into my PC in the past by mistake, and it kept going.

And thinking about it, a pint of water down the grille of my old 14" portable TV. The TV never stopped, but didn't have a picture for a few hours whilst it dried out... ;)

[jdjam001.livejournal.com]

O.O

you'd think in this day and age they'd have the technology to hold a disk in place no matter what angle you tilt your box at...

... i mean, hell, look a disk-mans - you can do cartwheels with some of those bloody things and they keep on going.


*shakes finger at Microsoft* nawteh!

[atpaw.livejournal.com]

*waggles a paw* Not quite a fair comparison.

Discmans only spin the disc a little above 1x speed (so they can buffer), where the disc is doing a pretty low RPM and doesn't really have any angular momentum...

By comparison, our computers and gaming consoles are over 52x, and most of the increase in read speed comes from spinning the disc, well, 52x faster. The massively increased angular momentum of the disc makes it want to keep spinning in one plane, like a gyroscope.

Not much we can do about that, sadly. Except make the discs out of a much stiffer material perhaps, so they don't touch the laser lens when you start waving the console around like a wiimote. :)

The PS2 was infamous for scratching discs (as Sly just did with his Xbox) because the PS2 was arguably the first console to be designed to operate normally in either vertical or horizonal configuration. Lots of people were (mid game, apparently) deciding they would prefer the console in the other orientation and scratching the hell out of their discs.

[jdjam001.livejournal.com]

aye, i guess it was a tad unfair in comparison, but still...

[atpaw.livejournal.com]

Mm.

There could be a few ways around it, actually, thinking about it. Discmans tend to have the entire disc and laser assembly mounted on a lightweight shock table. That way, the disc and laser tend to move "as one" for sudden shocks, which reduces the risk of the disc touching the laser.

'course, to do that the drive has to be top-loading like a discman, while the current generation of consoles are all slot or caddy loading, so that's not really an option without going back to something like a Gamecube.

Might also be possible to place a soft velvet or something in the bay for the CD to contact before it strikes the laser lens/bay-surrounds. Hrrm.

I digress. :)

[orona-red.livejournal.com]

Or, potentially, people could just either:
a) LAY THE GODDAMN CONSOLE DOWN ON IT'S SIDE or
b) DON'T MOVE IT.

[jdjam001.livejournal.com]

lol - true that.


... they arn't exactly the most portable of devices anyway :P

[dukefawks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, yours has the hitachi drive then. Well at least now you know you got a drive you can flash unlike the philips and play burned/copied DVDs.

[lazerus101.livejournal.com]

I use my, largely unused, bass speaker as a footrest.

[m-tiger.livejournal.com]

I use my old flatbed scanner as a footrest.

Sorry to hear your game got scratched. That reminds me, I should modify my drive to alleviate that issue, since I opened my 360 anyway.