Used Xbox nearly burns down my home and kills me

[Matt Young 0]

Today, I picked up a used Xbox from GameCrazy. That store has always sold me great products and I had never had a single problem with anything I'd purchased there... until now.

 

I got the first of their 2 Xbox systems this morning and brought it home. I tried 5 different brand new games on it. It would not read any of the discs. Frustrated, I went back to the store to exchange it.

 

The clerk tested out the other unit for me in the store to make sure that it was in working order, and things seemed fine. Happy in the knowledge that I would soon be experiencing many hours of gaming excitement, I amde the trip back home.

 

I plugged in the console and popped in ESPN NBA 2K5. I heard a slight popping/fizzling noise, but it stopped as abruptly as it began, so I thought nothing of it. Shortly thereafter, the Xbox shut off for no apparent reason. I checked the cords, turned the power back on, and I both saw and heard a spark on the inside of the system, which was followed up by a puff of smoke arising from the 'Box.

 

I quickly unplugged the unit and placed an angry call to the store, where the clerk acted 100% nonchalant about the whole ordeal. My home could have burned to the ground! They say they test these systems, but that is obviously not the case. After getting my money back, I will never again shop at that GameCrazy, and if possible, I will make a strong complaint (or hopefully something more effective) to their corporate headquarters.

 

Has anyone else ever experienced this type of event, or even so much as heard of it?

[The Mandarin 0]

Consider yourself lucky, I had a Gamecube rape my wife and pillage my neighbourhood.

[The Mandarin 0]

Did I mention the Atari 2600 ate my cat?

[snuffbox 0]

Super Nintendo got three fingers in my BUTT without lube...real bad times.

[Guest Shutterspeed]

The only way you could be killed in that situation is if you watched the homicidal console (or your homicidal wiring) start the fire and sat/stood there while it engulfed you, which would take long enough to give you plenty of time to have lunch, jerk off and then crawl out of the house.

 

And that would just be stupid.

[Guest El Satanico]

Your incident doesn't prove the unit was never tested, so you don't have much of a complaint. You even said the clerk tested it before you left the store and it worked fine. You noticed no problem at the store, so the unit was working fine prior to your incident.

[Youth N Asia 0]

My grandmother was beaten to death my a Ms. Pac Man arcade machine.

 

Seriously, Bill Gates hates you and you home.

 

Even more seriously, I don't think you can fault the store too much if they tried it out before hand. I guess you just gotta write it off as a freak accident.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

The only way you could be killed in that situation is if you watched the homicidal console (or your homicidal wiring) start the fire and sat/stood there while it engulfed you, which would take long enough to give you plenty of time to have lunch, jerk off and then crawl out of the house.

 

And that would just be stupid.

Of course it would. Wait until your house burns down, then wait for a sympathetic girl to give you the hand job. What's the point of your house burning down if you don't get a little something out of it?

[Guest Shutterspeed]

I was referring to letting the flames engulf you.

 

The necrophilia joke's coming, so someone make it already.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

Riiiiiight. Ok, then. Ignore that post....

[Slayer 0]

Sparks and smoke from XBox = House nearly burning down

 

Someone's wearing their exaggerating helmet tonight

 

Also, Super Mario used to take my lunch money

[jimmy no nose 0]

As far as near death experiences go this one was pretty weak. I was expecting a better story than "Dude there was a spark I almost died"

[Guest MikeSC]

My old Sega CD used to eat kittens.

-=Mike

[The Czech Republic 0]

Neo-Geos ripped my flesh!

 

 

Rzzz!

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Seriously though I never had any problems with Gamecrazy, in fact I prefer them over all the Gamestops, EBgames, etc of the world.

[Guest MikeSC]

Seriously though I never had any problems with Gamecrazy, in fact I prefer them over all the Gamestops, EBgames, etc of the world.

I had a GameCrazy here --- but they became GameHomicidalManiac and the staff there just looks a little funny when you walk by.

 

That and all of the blood on the carpet makes shopping disconcerting.

-=Mike

[Youth N Asia 0]

My Sega Master System molested my NES and tried to blame it on the Atari 5200

[Red Baron 0]

I was playing my SNES regularly, and my NES got jealous. The next day I saw my SNES in the river bed.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

My PS2 gave me AIDS.

 

And get a job and buy a new Xbox, hippie...

[Youth N Asia 0]

My TurboGrafx 16 and Sega Genesis commited duel suicide because I would not support their gay love for one another.

 

This is getting bad...

[Guest MikeSC]

My Intellivison killed 3 orpans and a prostitute. And, lord, my 3D0 used to decapitate people while praising Trip Hawkins the whole time.

 

Creepy.

-=Mike

[Red Baron 0]

It is, but its still more reliable than the PS2.

[Guest MikeSC]

It is, but its still more reliable than the PS2.

I'm not sure a system exists LESS reliable than a PS2.

 

And way to go, Sony, by eliminating hard drive support in the new PS2 versions. I'm sure the FF11 fanatics won't mind that at all.

-=Mike

[Youth N Asia 0]

As far as durability X-Play did a feature about dropping machines from high places and banging them them sledges and whatnot...

 

The Gamecube outlasted the X-Box and PS2.

 

And Morgan Webb was soooo friggin hot in the bit.

[Guest LooneyTune]

I was inter-racially gang-raped by my Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance.

[Guest MikeSC]

I was inter-racially gang-raped by my Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance.

My Sega Nomad put your Game Boys up to it. That thing was diabolical.

-=Mike

...Oh, and my Atari Lynx committed genocide...

[DerangedHermit 0]

My Game Gear and 32X kick puppies. However, the Dreamcast does not.

[The Mandarin 0]

I'm glad they're banned now, because a bootleg N64 family were burning crosses in the backyard next door.

[Ced 0]

The N-Gage vandalized a local synagogue with vulgar epithets.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I just had to punish my virtual boy...it was in the corner jacking off to the May 1996 issue of Nintendo Power