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Microsoft has today responded to a number of misleading stories in the UK's mainstream pressearlier this week regarding alleged 'red ring' problems with the Xbox360 Elite console that have been experienced by numerous UK gamers.
Microsoft has now issued the following official response to these stories, which appeared in the Daily The Mirror and The Daily Telegraph: "Recentreports in the UK media regarding Xbox 360 contain inaccuracies andpure speculation, as well as news that is a year old.
"Promptedby what Microsoft viewed as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox360 consoles, a year ago Microsoft announced an expansion of its Xbox360 warranty. Effective 5 July, 2007, any original retail Xbox 360customer who experiences a general hardware failure indicated by threeflashing red lights is covered by a three year warranty from date ofpurchase, with all other issues remaining covered by the standardone-year warranty."
Why the red ring? Microsoft'sofficial statement also reiterates the company's initial comments fromJuly 2007 that they had "conducted extensive investigations intopotential sources of general hardware failures," and that after"identifying a number of factors which can cause the general hardwarefailures, Microsoft has made improvements to the console."
Sowhat do those evil three red lights actually mean? Many reports seem tothink that they indicate a single overheating problem, but according toMicrosoft, this is not the case.
"The three flashing red lightserror message does not signal a single issue and can be caused by acombination of factors. For competitive reasons, we do not providespecifics about hardware components.
The statement adds: "Weencourage anyone who is experiencing issues with their Xbox 360 consoleto call the customer support centre. Our customer service team is wellequipped to ensure that all Xbox 360 repairs go smoothly."
No endemic problem TechRadarhas contacted The Mirror, The Telegraph and a number of leading UKgames retailers to find out more on the alleged 'numerous problems'with the Xbox Elite.
Both stories quote a 16-year-old Jamie Kingfrom Sussex. If you happen to know or be that James King from Sussex,then please drop us a line to news@techradar.com and tell us more aboutthe problems you have had with your Xbox 360 Elite.