How can you tell if a used X-Box 360 is good or not?

Question

Please help! My son wants an XBox 360 for his birthday and we cannot afford to buy a new one, so I am on the hunt for an affordable used one. Does anyone have any tips about this? - I am terrified of the "ring of death"! If an XBox is broken - is there any way someone can scam me and make it work for just a few minutes when I test it out? - This is a lot of money and I don't want to get burned! Is there a way to tell how old it is? Is there any particular sign of a GOOD Xbox?Thanks!

Answer 1

The xbox 360 is one of the best systems in my opinion. If you are going to buy a used one check on the label (back bottom) and it has a date. If it says october 5 2005 or something near that. (its in 2005) Then look for another one. That one is a first gen. Also I got a refurbished xbox 360 and its been 5 months, its great no problems and yeah I am scared of the Ring OF Death too. I dont know if xbox games work , maybe you need to download a path or buy an adaptor...

Answer 2

On an older xbox, there's no good way to tell if its really good or not. Before they actually get the RROD, they'll start acting funny for a while, like freezing and whatnot.

If the 360 you're looking at does NOT have an HDMI port on the back, then its one of the first models. Personally, i wouldnt bother buying a first-generation 360 used. The failure rate on these first-gen machines is around the 33% mark.

Honestly, the 360 is the one of the only items that I'd ever buy and actually recommend that people get the extended warranty from the store. The 360 is a great system, it just horrible as reliability goes.