game scratches and disc read error

[poboy11]

i bought my xbox 360 on 1-1-06 and purchased three games: dead or alive, perfect dark zero and madden 06. i have my xbox 360 laying down in the horizontal position and have never moved my xbox while it has been on or while a game has been in the console. about a week after playing my xbox it scratched madden completely ruining the game and also scratched perfect dark. i contacted customer support and they sent me a new console along with a new perfect dark. i had to ship madden 06 at my own expense to EA and they replaced madden. i shipped the system around jan. 13 and recieved it approx. a week later. after recieving my new console it again scratched perfect dark and have also had several disc read errors with madden which is completely brand new with no scratches, smudges ect. i recently contacted customer support again for a second time and am again sending my console back to be replaced, the manufactures date on my new system was: 1-12-2006. my console is on top of my entertainment center so that it is in an open area and laying down horizontal. i am just curious if anyone else out there is experiencing these problems? and to find any suggestions as to anything i can do differently to help resolve this problem, i.e. does the system run better horizontal or vertical? i have not experimented with my console because once these problems have occured i have not used my 360 in fear of further damaging (scratching) any games. i have been impressed with the gameplay of the 360 just a little frustrated with the problems i have been experiencing (and having to send not one but two systems back for repair) and wondering if anyone else is having these same problems or any feedback that may be helpful.

[Shmo]

No probs with mine so far. As far as i have heard it is best to keep it in the horizontal position. I feel for you man, i really do.

[citizen X]

yea im sorry to hear that...i've had mine for about three weeks now and i havent gotten any probs with disk cratches either...im sorry

[psuedohippy]

I actually plug mine in and juggle with it and two playstations and no scratches so far. Im just lucky I guess, mine has never frozen up or scratched a disk the way my playstations have. Sorry man.

[Rawdog81]

Yep, had mine since Jan.15 and have never had a problem.

[paymon]

mine works as clear as day

[taylor410]

Mine works fine... by the sounds of it you are doing something wrong. One console scratching is a coincidence, two is not. Perhaps your xbox is shaking somehow?

[360rulz]

do you have big speakers near you tv center? cuz they could beshaking it, from what i hear those just need to be backed off al few inches

[taylor410]

OR an unshielded subwoofer or even some speakers or other electronics could be messing with the drive... i dont know how that would cause scratches though.

[poboy11]

i'm not sure, i've got my sub on the ground next to the entertainment center but i have the bass setting turned off , my left front surround sound speaker is next to the system and is a few inches away from the system itself, but even then it doesn't put out any bass just background sound so it doesn't vibrate...pretty sure i'm not the one causing the damage to the systems but thanks for all the input maybe on this next system i will place the system completely away from all speakers (at least a couple feet away??)...maybe i've just had bad luck so far because i read somewhere (can't remember where) that microsoft was having problems with the dvd/cd drive that they are using...don't know if thats true though might be hearsay...anyways thanks for the suggestions...

[paymon]

i wish i had a surroundsound system ill get 1 for my bday (in like 20- days)

[chubbs45]

Originally Posted by paymon

i wish i had a surroundsound system ill get 1 for my bday (in like 20- days)

lol, thats totally random

[Jay2984]

I borrowed NBA 2K6 from my brother and played it for the first time lastnight. Before I put any game in my system I look at them and blow and dust off of it that I might see. Well I put the game in and start playing and after about 30 minutes an error comes up on the screen saying game disk is dirty or damaged. I took it out and there was these half inch long scratches about halfway around the disk. I was like oh crap Im dead, anyway i lightly rubbed it with my finger and one came off. They looked like they were deap in the disk but the scratch was a perfect circl on the disk and there was more than one. I used some liquid cleaning solution and cleaning clothe and they came right off. This is the first time it has ever happened to me and I know they werent on there before i put the game in because like I mentioned I always look at the disks before I put them in. I just felt this was weird and wanted to share.

[poboy11]

so that cleaner stuff actually works on scratches? i was a little skeptical about that stuff but sounds like it might work, maybe that's all i need...good to hear i'm not the only one experiencing these problems( sorry you had to go through this too...) is there a specific brand to use i mean i know they make all kinds of cleaners for games but whats the kind you used sounds like it's good stuff

[NVR 20]

mine works fine but mine is vertical. for some reason i feel vertical is better

[paymon]

duh, nvr.............. but it can go both ways + it rele dont matter - air flow should be better verticle though :/

[taylor410]

not really... theyre the same. Maybe better cooling, but not better airflow.

[DeadOneWalking]

Well, the design was for a horizontal airflow. You can check that because the side that is made to be on the bottom when it stands up is actually an intake. Also, that's where the CPU and GPU are located. There is less going on to cycle air if it's horizontal.

[Eilujin]

try setting it vertical. I was always under the impression that is better for the system. Was in many conversations about that when the machine was launched. At that time it seemed the consensus was the same.