Seems the time came for my Halo 3 special edition Xbox 360 to forever hit the hay.

So, I turned it on to see if there was something worth checking out. I'm sittin' there, scrolling through the list on the dashboard, when suddenly it just freezes. I hit the power button and it instantly turned off, indicating that it had crashed. "Why does it crash on the dashboard, of all places?" So, I turn it back on, and something weird happens. The noise of the thing running gets louder for a split second, three times, then sounded like it gave up whatever it was doing and displayed three red lights on the ring of lights. I checked the error code on it, and it seems it was error code 0102. This was seen via the sync button + tray button trick. And this happens just when I felt like finally playing again. Dang. I'm unlikely to send it in for repair or to get a new one (bit tight on money these days), and I lack the sufficient knowledge to try to repair it myself. Oh well.

Here's a tech explanation I found for it:
"Though it's most likely GPU related, it means the console does not know what is wrong. Possibly a short or cold solder joint somewhere. So far there is 1 major theory for what causes most of these errors is that the RAM, CPU, or GPU are not soldered properly to the mother board due either to poor manufacturing or excessive heat up and cool down cycles that stress, weaken and eventually break the soldered connection. "

This video shows what I mean by the error code thing. (This video is dark, but the sound the 360 is making and the light patterns are all that needs to be seen/heard. Oh and I say "well this sucks" after I cycle the lights, so, if you don't want to hear those naughty words, you may want stop or mute the video before then.)

Last words: Well, it was fun while it lasted.
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Edited by: Miles, Nov 17th, 2011 @ 2:36 am

Mine died a few weeks ago. Completely destroyed my copy of Modern Warfare 2 as well >: (

Rats. That really stinks. I guess it isn't under warranty either, right?

I've never had a game system die before, though then again I've never had an Xbox...

Nope - the warranty expired, so sending it in for repair would cost 100 dollars. As for the never having any game console die on you, well you could say that this system is particularly prone to dying.
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Edited by: Miles, Nov 17th, 2011 @ 5:01 pm

Youch. Though if you feel the need to take out your frustrations... try this.