RIP my Gears Of War disc

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:21 pm

I noticed about a month ago that my disc had a small radial scratch, but none of my other games had scratches and the scratch I had was barely visible so I wasn't worried. I thought maybe I just bumped the 360 while it was spinning or something, since I heard that can scratch it.

Lately though, it's frozen about 3 times the past two weeks, then today while playing co-op campaign I got a disc read error. I took it out to find, to my horror, MASSIVE, DEEP radial scratches, many which go around 3/4 of the disc in one line. Some are in short bursts, almost like dotted lines, and some are solid. I count about 10 of them. I'm kinda freaking out, since I don't know how it happened. I have shelves in my entertainment center and there were a couple times where the shelf above it (with the PS2 on it) would be come unstable and fall onto the 360, but it was just one side of the shelf that would fall and it wouldn't hit it very hard. I moved that though so it wouldn't happen again.

But how the heck did I get these scratches? I don't see them on any of my other discs, but then again I rarely play my other discs for more than an hour a week, I play GoW 95% of the time I play my Xbox 360. Is this a common problem with the system?

Code-Red · Post by **Code-Red** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:53 pm

Same thing happened to my 360... except it didnt scratch my dvd, and it got to the point it would only run the disc like 1/10 times. Oh, and after it would start up, it would freeze at some point during the game.

Solution: Send the 360 in for repairs. Many, many times.

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:59 pm

How much of a bump does it take to scratch a disc while it's playing? I do have a tendency to prop my feet up on the shelf of the entertainment center, which bumps the whole shelving unit a little, but it doesn't shake it and it's not sudden or anything. I wouldn't think it would hurt it...

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:08 pm

Freaky Keneaki wrote:How much of a bump does it take to scratch a disc while it's playing? I do have a tendency to prop my feet up on the shelf of the entertainment center, which bumps the whole shelving unit a little, but it doesn't shake it and it's not sudden or anything. I wouldn't think it would hurt it...

My friend's 360 scratched discs to hell without touching it all. Didn't matter if it was vertical or horizontal. It was apparently random.

Zealous zerotype · Post by **Zealous zerotype** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:45 pm

Did you try toothpasting the disc to repair it? It might atleast let you play the game again :/

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:10 pm

Zealous zerotype wrote:Did you try toothpasting the disc to repair it? It might atleast let you play the game again :/

Not yet, I was about to. Versus mode seems to work fine so far, but I get the disc read error on the same exact section in campaign mode (the last section before reaching the mansion entrance on Act 4). It seems like the exact same spot every time.

politoe · Post by **politoe** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:58 pm

Aren't games under manufacturers warranty for a year?

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:04 pm

politoe wrote:Aren't games under manufacturers warranty for a year?

Is the receipt required? I don't have it anymore. Remember when I said I got a free copy of the game from Microsoft ExpertZone after already buying it from Best Buy? Well I kinda, you know, used the receipt and took that free copy to Best Buy for $50. That's karma for ya.

I just tried putting toothpaste on a cotton swab and buffing the scratches. Didn't seem to help at all.

Who was it here that was selling their CE version of the game for $40? If whoever that was reads this, do you still have it?

politoe · Post by **politoe** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:38 pm

I'm not sure, but I would figure that yeah.

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:03 pm

Heyyyyy, I found the receipt. Apparently the cashier gave me back the original receipt. The print date on it is from the day I first bought the game, and it's untouched (I was afraid that at least Gears Of War would get crossed out or something).

Cid Highwind · Post by **Cid Highwind** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:12 pm

Freaky Keneaki wrote:How much of a bump does it take to scratch a disc while it's playing? I do have a tendency to prop my feet up on the shelf of the entertainment center, which bumps the whole shelving unit a little, but it doesn't shake it and it's not sudden or anything. I wouldn't think it would hurt it...

It's a known and common problem, Microsoft hasn't admitted it's their fault though, but obviously it's the fault of their dvd drives.

It's been in a tv show here, but of course MS denied all responsibility because "their consoles do not damage the discs", as for backing up that statement, they refer to the manual as if it were a holy book stating the ultimate truth of the universe

I'm sorry about your disc man, it's one of the few games I'd buy a 360 for

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:20 pm

Cid Highwind wrote:
Freaky Keneaki wrote:How much of a bump does it take to scratch a disc while it's playing? I do have a tendency to prop my feet up on the shelf of the entertainment center, which bumps the whole shelving unit a little, but it doesn't shake it and it's not sudden or anything. I wouldn't think it would hurt it...
It's a known and common problem, Microsoft hasn't admitted it's their fault though, but obviously it's the fault of their dvd drives.

It's been in a tv show here, but of course MS denied all responsibility because "their consoles do not damage the discs", as for backing up that statement, they refer to the manual as if it were a holy book stating the ultimate truth of the universe

I'm sorry about your disc man, it's one of the few games I'd buy a 360 for

I had heard that it happens, but I thought it only happened if you moved the console around while it's spinning, like turning it horizontal or vertical while playing. I didn't know it would happen just randomly. And GoW was the selected disc, since all the games I've played since GoW received its first scratch are all fine and dandy.

And now that I think about the receipt thing, it probably wouldn't work. There's a barcode on the receipt, they could probably scan it and see that I refunded a copy of the game with that receipt.

politoe · Post by **politoe** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:36 pm

It doesnt hurt to try anyways. For some reason my GoW has received some minor scratches, and I'm the same as you; I mostly just play this game.

royhubbs · Post by **royhubbs** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:14 pm

Who was it here that was selling their CE version of the game for $40? If whoever that was reads this, do you still have it?

I still have the CE copy I think That i listed on here briefly ,id let it go for $40 if you dont have any luck with your receipt exchange

Gmc · Post by **Gmc** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:44 pm

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/syste ... rogram.htm

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:40 am

Gmc wrote:http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/syste ... rogram.htm

I just came across that today. It's a big gimmick to me, you have to pay $20 to get the disc replaced when all you had to do before was call and bitch a little, and pay maybe $5 for shipping. Oh well, I may go along with it if I find nothing else. Or if I get a job offer soon (I've been job hunting lately), I may take royhubbs' offer. I kinda wanted the CE to begin with but wasn't willing to take the risk since I had never played GoW at the time. But if I can get my disc replaced for just the price of shipping I'd rather go with that.

Luriden · Post by **Luriden** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:18 pm

I called again and complained about it. Gave them my serial number on the Xbox 360, got put on hold for awhile while the person on the phone got permission from her supervisor to go along with it, and she said they gave me permission to get a new free copy. I just send my disc and they'll send me a new one, all I pay for is the shipping at the post office. Yayz0rz. I'm glad I didn't have to go along with their new disc replacement plan, which charges you $20 everytime you want a disc replaced. I guess maybe it's because I mentioned that the Xbox drive did it, not me, and I mentioned that I didn't shake or touch the system at all (knowing they would have brought that excuse on me had I not mentioned it).

Calavera · Post by **Calavera** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:25 pm

Glad to hear that worked out for you.

perry · Post by **perry** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:46 am

Uhh, shouldn't you be worried about the new disc getting scratched ? Perhaps they should be repairing the Xbox, not just replacing the disc ?

Calavera · Post by **Calavera** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:36 am

perry wrote:Uhh, shouldn't you be worried about the new disc getting scratched ? Perhaps they should be repairing the Xbox, not just replacing the disc ?

Hmm... Good point