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... but was delivered this past Tuesday according to FedEx tracking... should I be concerned? Or is that normal?

If you sent it for repair, I would contact the repair place and see if they have it. Sometimes the site doesnt update. Had it happen to me a couple times.

Also, did you insure it when you sent it out? If so, and if it got lost/stolen, you should be reimbursed.

If you sent it for repair, I would contact the repair place and see if they have it. Sometimes the site doesnt update. Had it happen to me a couple times.

Also, did you insure it when you sent it out? If so, and if it got lost/stolen, you should be reimbursed.

I went with MS's standard shipping label. Not sure if that makes it insured or not. Tracking said it was delivered to the correct facility. I suspect that it is at the door and they just haven't scanned it into their system yet. I'll give them until Monday and then give them a call to see what is up. Part of me was being optimistic and hoping that it would just be a refurb exchange type thing and that the 2-3 weeks was being conservative. My optimism is dying....

lol, still. It seemed like the best deal for $99 vs buying a used or new console.

At the same time, I only paid $99 for the console because I bought it during a Thanksgiving deal at WalMart ($200 for XBox Arcade and a $100 Walmart gift card).

After about 5 years the optical drive finally gave out on it.

I went with MS's standard shipping label. Not sure if that makes it insured or not. Tracking said it was delivered to the correct facility. I suspect that it is at the door and they just haven't scanned it into their system yet. I'll give them until Monday and then give them a call to see what is up. Part of me was being optimistic and hoping that it would just be a refurb exchange type thing and that the 2-3 weeks was being conservative. My optimism is dying....

lol, still. It seemed like the best deal for $99 vs buying a used or new console.

At the same time, I only paid $99 for the console because I bought it during a Thanksgiving deal at WalMart ($200 for XBox Arcade and a $100 Walmart gift card).

After about 5 years the optical drive finally gave out on it.

My original XBOX lasted for 6yrs until it died. RROD. Had someone fix it for $30 but that only lasted for 6 months. Got the XBOX slim and never had a problem.

If FedEx marked it as delivered, then you are probably right that it hasnt been processed by the service center yet. Lots of repairs on those old 360 models.

My original XBOX lasted for 6yrs until it died. RROD. Had someone fix it for $30 but that only lasted for 6 months. Got the XBOX slim and never had a problem.

If FedEx marked it as delivered, then you are probably right that it hasnt been processed by the service center yet. Lots of repairs on those old 360 models.

I looked into fixing the optical drive myself, but that's not apparently possible. We're invested in the Gold service, have a bunch of games, and use it for Amazon Prime Instant watch all the time. Hate putting money into fixing it/replacing it with the new XBox right around the corner, so I went with the cheapest option I could find which was the repair service. Otherwise I would have gotten an "upgrade" that would no doubt last a lot longer than the refurb of my model that I'm sure they will send me.

Can't say I'm terribly upset about the optical drive failing considering how much use we've gotten out of it. Still, that was my 3rd XBox 360! First one RRoD in less than a year so MS warrantied it. Second one the video card burned out after about 2 years. It was out of warranty and since it wasn't an RRoD, MS wouldn't fix it for free. That WalMart deal happened just in time for me to pick that third XBox 360 Arcade for a really reasonable price. Now the optical drive has gone bad on that one. Waiting for my 4th XBox from MS (assuming they will just send me a refurb and not repair the one I sent them..but who knows). Meanwhile my SNES still works like it is new :) (not the controllers so much...).

But like I said, I can't be terribly upset about it. Most PC optical drives I've ever had probably only had a life of 5 years. I live in a very dusty region and its bad on those kinds of components. Printers too...

Is this on the slim, or the original white xbox? I know on the original you can replace the optical drive yourself if you can find the part.

This is the original. I was under the impression that the drive was "locked down" (DRM wise) to even the original xbox 360. But if that is correct, I could probably have done the repair for cheaper and quicker. Oh well.

ifixit shows photos of the original xbox 360 with:

The Xbox 360 is designed so that the DVD drive works only with the particular game console it is installed in. Replacing a defective DVD drive with a replacement DVD drive does not work, since the replacement has a different DVD drive key, which the game console won't accept.

Here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+Xbox+360+Optical+Drive+Replacement/3358/1

This is the original. I was under the impression that the drive was "locked down" (DRM wise) to even the original xbox 360.

Oh, that I am not sure about.

Well, I did just find this...

The Xbox 360 has whats called a "DVD key" paired to each motherboard and DVD drive combo. The DVD key on the motherboard must match the DVD key on the drive or the console will not boot games. If you already tried dumping the DVD key from the drive that came with the Xbox and flashing it to your replacement drive (using the correct firmware for the replacement drive as well) and the console still does not boot games (displays "Play DVD" when a game is inserted), you don't have the correct DVD key and the console will never boot a game.

http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/39433/how-do-i-replace-an-xbox-360-dvd-drive-if-the-original-drive-is-broken

So looks like you are right. Never seen this before. But at least the repair job should probably be warrantied for a little time after you get the 360 back. Always a plus.

I'm a little annoyed because I received a "Status Update" email on Tuesday (4/30) that my repair was complete and my console had been shipped back to me, yet the tracking information has been "Information received" with no further info since then. I assume that they printed a tracking label and it is just sitting at the door waiting for someone to actually get FedEx to come pick it up or something like that.

I don't mind the repair taking the full 2 - 3 week repair time. But I don't like getting "jerked around" by these false status updates... The tracking said it would be here yesterday, but I don't think its even left Microsoft's facility in Mexico yet...

Also, the "warranty" of the repair is only 3 months...not a full year. :(

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