Microsoft releases fix for Fall Update problems
Since our article yesterday on Xbox 360s spontaneously dying completely after applying the Fall update, Microsoft has now come out fair&square admitting the problems, and states that a fix is already being distributed over Xbox Live.
Major Nelson took some time to inform the troubled folks and posted some information while parked at a rest stop:
An updated version of the Fall Update is now available on Xbox Live which has elminated issues relating to new or refurbished consoles failing after applying the Fall Update. Users who have already applied the Fall Update and are seeing an error message should call their local Xbox Support telephone number. If you already have the update, you will not be prompted for another update.
Reading between the lines this means: if your update got stuck, the new update will fix it. If your 360 got bricked, you’re screwed and you need to call support. Regrettably no technical information on what went wrong is supplied, so the cause of all this will remain subject of a guessing game for some time to come. The Community team at Gamerscore Blog supposedly also have information on the subject, and they’re usually more detailed than Major Nelson’s site, but their site is down at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, our commenters below are also reporting the ‘fix’ does not get them out of the update loop yet. We’ll keep you posted as news becomes available.
Problems seem to be hitting Xbox.com too at the moment, since Major also reports Xbox.com is down for scheduled maintenance which is “expected to last until 0600 PT”. In our dictionary, previously unannounced spontaneous maintenance is usually not scheduled, but alright. What it was supposed to fix: no one knows and we highly doubt anyone ever will.
So considering we’ll probably never know any of the true reasons behind all these woes, feel free to speculate below how many people are now looking for a new job over all this. Microsoft sure could’ve used better news coverage in the final weeks before PS3 and Wii launches.
So they have released a fix, but xboxlive is down so we cant get it anyway?!?!?!
I have been without my 360 for 2 days now due to the perpetual “Update needed, downlaod update,,update failed” loop.!!
Live is available again supposedly.
its good that they admit that there was a problem and fixed it right away
Xbox Live works, xbox.com is down.
This article needs correcting
Corrected, thanks. Didn’t have a 360 at hand right now to check
Must have big hands to hold a 360 in one of them…
a fix to fix the eh?!?
thats so poetic.
Still keeps me in the update-loop though
Glad they’ve done something about it…
Live is back up now anyway
No credit for me?
WHY WHY WHY does everyone here keep forgetting me :’(?
You have to remember that Curry does start to right his article at some point, rather than watching the News Queue to see how many people post. You submitted way after he wrote it, or at least started to write it. And there were also many people who submitted from various sites, we can’t please everyone. Please keep submitting, you’re time will come!
Actually there was only one submit when I started writing, and that was from Chris Benoit23 (=crew).
Sorry about that, but keep up the good work
GLENN
You have to understand curry and the likes are sometimes busy and forget to give some people the credit they deserve.
No doubt in years to come you will run out of money for gas or food and you will be crossed with gold or silver by a passing tramp in the street. You can then look back and reflect on the time you posted to XBOXIC and realise you have been paid for your troubles.
Does it ask you to download an update if your system has already been updated successfully by the first one?
no mate it dont.
also if your 360 has error code you cant fix it even with a fresh update downloded onto another 360 storage device.
thats cause the update doesn’t go onto the storage device, it goes onto the built in flash memory in the console
microsoft are going to get a few pacels on the door in a mass postage drop due to this update.
and modders who sell their services are rubbing their dirty grubby hands together in the knowledge that all the hacks hey done for people with samsung drives are all showing E66 and a red light. They will charge vast sums of money to fix the problem even though it will only take a matter of 6 mins for the service.
wish i could bloody do it but i got a lap top so cant plug my 360 dvd into it GUTTED.
Ok, its just that (it may be coincidence!) my 360 starting freezing up playing fifa 07, Tiger Woods 07 and Splinter Cell Da, just after i applied the original update…strange tho cos PES 6 and PG3 play perfectly??!!
I was having problems with NFS:Carbon and Mutant Storm Reloaded yesterday too.
I don’t have an error code or red lights of doom etc…..
If you take a look at the last link in the article, you will see that it actually says that the Xbox.com site and it’s forums were down(and still are) for maintenance. Live went down for a short period due to the upgrade of the update, but the Xbox.com site is still down.
You’re absolutely right. I must’ve been hallucinating when I wrote that part :X
in case you guys were wondering why the new&refurb were having problems, its simple they didn’t have the spring update on them and it was causing a problem, seeing how it was assumed that you had the spring update already installed and seemed to require it for the fall update. Well that was the cause of the E71 errors for some. Not sure what the other reasons were, but got the info from someone who’s 360 had that exact issue.
Got his refurb back the day of the update, updated it, and now its briked. But he found out what was causing the problem in some cases..
Leason learned I guess.
“its simple they didn’t have the spring update on them and it was causing a problem” Well, it shouldn’t be a cause for error. Of course they should’ve tested that, even tested with updating from the version before that, and so on.
However, I do believe they did that. There’s must’ve been some other kind of variable they didn’t think of which caused the issues.
The variable seems to be the Samsung M25 firmware from what I’ve gathered.
Have you noticed a difference with the problem as far as it effecting more premiums than cores? Some of my frineds have premiums and have alot of problems and others have the core system and have almost no problem.
well, still having problems downloading the update, and just came off the phone to support and they say that there is still a problem!!!!
I went through 3 360’s yesterday because of this update. At least they’ve acknowledged this now, which was far more then they were doing for the 2 hours I spent on the phone to customer support yesterday.
I’ve picked up my fourth console this morning, but I’m going to wait till Monday before I attempt to play on it - just to be safe.
How did you find customer support? Let me guess, mainly idiots who knew nothing about operating a microwave oven let alone an xbox 360…or maybe u were lucky and got through to the one person employed (outside of the Baltic State) who knew what a games console was.
Well I got the usual thing of running through the troubleshooting which did nothing and then ‘I’m terribly sorry but you’ll have to send the xbox in for repair’, at which point I told them it was useless getting another one as it was the update that was killing the machines, not the fact that they were broken to begin with, and unless the update is fixed I will be endlessly going through machines. This apparently was far to difficult to comprehend and so I asked for my call to be escalated. I was then put on hold for around 10 minutes until the phone was picked up and put down straight away, cutting me off!
I then called again and had to go through the same crap, which then resulted in ’sorry our systems are down for 24 hours and I can’t help you right now’. I said ‘I’d just been on the phone 1 minute ago and they were fine then!’, which then got me put through to the escalation queue again. This time the person came back on and said all the escalation engineers are busy and that I would have to call back in an hour. I called back in an hour and was met with ‘All our systems are down for updating (whatever that means) please call back tomorrow’ - this was even before she had said hello or anthing!
I’m pretty pissed off with MS. If it wasn’t for Gears coming out soon I would have got my money back and re-bought a 360 when Halo3 gets released.
i found customer support to be less use than a chocolate fire guard !! The first person I spoke to said they wasnt even aware of a dashboard update, the 2nd didnt speak a word of comprehensable english, the third said that xbox live was down , even though I had spoke to a friend not less than 5 minutes ealrier who said it was bback up and he was playing on it.
Eventally i got too speak to somebody who seemed to know what they was talking baout, acknowledged that there was aproblem and that they were working onit.
They are still working on the so called “Update-loop” (update available -> download -> update failed -> update available):
[quote]
Major Nelson said:
If you can’t get the update…e.g. caught in a loop of getting it and then not being able to
apply it, that is another issue (as I understand it) and the team is working on that as well. I am travelling back home tomorrow, so I don’t expect to be posting much, but I’ll update as much as I can in between flights.
[/quote]
i havent experienced any error messages with my 360 after the first fall update, does this mean this doesnt apply to me?
XBOX.COM was scheduled for downtime today. Over on the XCDP forum of xbox.com there was a post about the scheduled maintaince last night. Conspiracy theories
Listen Microsoft, SORT YOURSELVES OUT! before you lose a shit load of customers! The 360 has been plagued with problems since its launch, Its ridiculous how many consoles have broken down, mine included. Doesnt bother you though does it Mr Gates, carry on counting your money you jumped up nerd.
I’m sensing much anger in you young padawan, all I can tell you is they arn’t all like it you got unlucky, And your 360’s got a holiday in spain.
Too bad the update hasn’t fixed the problem my 360 has connecting to my PC.
to all the whiners:
this is something that should be expected to have happened at some point. it happens with EVERY product that receives software updates. seeing as how only a small % of consoles were effected, its not like they half-assed it and through it on LIVE.
what really matters is how the company reacts and microsoft has done a great job. most companies would take twice the amount of time to fix such an issue
“its not like they half-assed it and through it on LIVE”
Really, well how come they had to update the update then seing as you know everything?
because they need to update an update does not mean they half assed it. i have done code, server, and update work (basically all related actually) on a much smaller scale but the same rules still apply.
sorry to say but sometimes it happens. there is no way to predict how any software update effects 100% of the userbase 100% of the time.
remember when live was down for a couple days?? not only were they update and maintaining the servers, but they also uploaded the dashboard update and tested it internally.
But this problem was so easy to reproduce. Just get a new console and update it. I’m sorry, but I just can’t accept that they fully tested this update. They rushed it out because the wireless headset went on sale and the update was required to run it.
You can’t defend them, they just shat on their customers.
cut off the rest of my post…
they tested it, that is what im saying.
never said i know everything, but game development and the industry i do know
So is it safe to update now? I just got a new console (My last one was crashing, and I had the replacement warranty). I didn’t want to break my new one, so I’m waiting till this gets 100% fixed.
Gamerscoreblog attributed the problem to “installation code”: “At about 6:30 PM PST, I got word that they replaced the installation code that was causing the majority of the issues that were reported. If you’ve already sucessfully installed the software, you shouldn’t have any problems going forward. If you have any problems with the update, please call your local support line.”
Supposedly, it is safe to update now, at least as far as the E71 error goes. E66 errors and any resulting lockup problems, who knows?
The part of this that is complete bollocks is that they’re making people affected by this pay their own shipping to send the dead consoles in. In a few cases, people are also being told that they have to pay the $139 out of warranty fee to have this issue resolved. Given the admission of the faulty installation code being the cause, I don’t see why either of these charges should be passed on to consumers.
They estimate the number of people affected at “less than 1%”. But 1% of the install base is some 60,000 people, which was approximately the affected number confirmed to me when I called Microsoft’s support line. Considering that it cost me $14 to send my last one to them, that comes to about a $840,000 mistake on Microsoft’s part, with those shipping costs being paid by consumers.
Plus, that “less than 1%” statistic is more telling if you consider that this issue only affected those who connected to Live. I’d love to know what percentage of people connected to Live were affected instead of the percentage of the install base. I’d also like to know how any estimate was reached, considering the number of people who bought new systems, bricked them, returned them to the store for new ones, which were also bricked, etc.
60k is still 60k 1% or not as you quite rightly say, just glad that most of us here wern’t amongst that number.