Expert: Octane - 11/27/2008

Question
hi, my boyfriend has had his xbox for about 2 or 3 months, and as with most new consoles you get, we have been playing it quite a lot, probably around 6 to maybe 10 hours a day. Recently it has frozen when in game play, the wireless controller switches itself off, and our controllers dont seem to be charging properly when we plug in the lead, is this a fault maybe leading to the 3 red lights or are we just playing it too much? I hope you can help me, as we havent really had it long and i wouldnt have thought there would be problems already!

Answer
Gday Emma,

If it is just purchased new it probably would be still under warranty if it is only a few months old.  I would definitely look into that and get it fixed or replaced before the warranty expires.

Freezing up in game mode does happen with modern consoles unless it is happening all the time but say it happens once every week (With the amount of game play it has) I would not be too worried about it.

It sounds like the wireless controllers batteries are failing or not charging properly. I would check the leads to make sure they are not broken or cracked.  (If you have pets check for chew marks, my cat loves wires). This may cause them not to charge properly.  Most rechargeable batteries over time do run down and in the end will not hold a charge.  But I would not expect them to be run down that quickly.  They probably need to be checked and replaced.

I would definitely check into the warranty situation first.  (Get it fixed under that if possible)

I hope this is a help to you.

Octane