The Xbox Returneth
I received my refurbished Xbox 360 back from Microsoft today, right on schedule. It was manufactured in early September, 2006 (so much for August…I guess I can’t count) and includes all three of the improvements one can reasonably expect from a 360 replacement these days:
- It has the new GPU heatsink, which will hopefully prevent future failures.
- It has the BENQ VAD6038 DVD drive, the newest and quietest of the lot.
- It has the new fans that run much quieter.
It also, to my satisfaction, didn’t look beat to hell, as some people’s replacement consoles do when they arrive. (One guy reported that his refurb was covered with sticky residue left over from the ridiculous amount of stickers the former owner had tacked onto it.) Microsoft also included a 1-month Xbox Live Gift Card to make up for the downtime. Not bad!
I’ve got my hard drive reattached, network and media connection reconfigured, and the new MAC address entered in the router’s MAC filter. All appears to be well — and so, this evening, it’ll be game time!
Incidentally, today delivered a double dose of excitement: We also recieved the Garmin nüvi 350 GPS that we ordered. We’ve only played with it a little bit while standing in the driveway, but so far it looks easy and fun to use. I wonder if I can resist sticking it to the windshield and going somewhere for no reason later tonight? Hmm, I know…I could go down to Gamestop and put some more money down on Halo 3 for the Xbox. How apropos!
Categorized as Games/Console, Games
Hey… I just got my serial number changed online as well… I’m curious to find out if I am getting a new console or a refurb… Judging from what I’ve seen on other sites It seems I may be getting a new one. The last 5 digits are 73707… What do you think?
Hey there, sounds like you might be getting a new console. That serial number equals a build date of week 37, 2007. The final “07″ in the serial indicates plant #7 as the point of manufacture, which is the new factory (I think it’s in China) that Microsoft brought online sometime after the console’s initial introduction.
Typically, the serial number shown online is the machine’s original serial number, not the date of refurbishment, so if I had to guess I’d say that you’re getting a new one. Congrats!