3rd Time ... And More to Come?

The photo you're looking at is of my Xbox 360 in dreaded "Red Rings of Death" mode. These red lights means your system is FUBAR; in Microsoft parlance, you've suffered a hardware failure (according to some retailers, the failure rate is over 30% compared to less than 1% for the playstation 3). It's my third time, lucky me. You call the repair hot line, walk through some pointless troubleshooting, a week or so later you get a box in which to mail the 360 to the service center, and then depending on the backlog, you get an 360 back in two to four weeks. You might receive your actual xbox back or it might be a refurbished unit. Fun. The two prior failures cost me almost two months of down time; the first unit they returned to me failed in one day and had to be sent back! There are legions of unhappy folks out there who have it even worse than me; this guy has gone through the dance 12 times. Microsoft, after denying there was a problem, generously extended warranty coverage for three years. Until the next unit arrives I guess air guitar is going to have to substitute for Guitar Hero - what a rip.