As we continue to hear from more and more brand new Xbox One owners who say their disc drives donât work, Microsoftâs solution remains the same: contact customer service.
Thatâs unfortunate news for affected gamers who thought there could be a DIY fix for what weâre calling, for lack of a catchier name, the âDisc Drive of Doom,â which prevents Xbox One Blu-ray drives from reading discs. People with faulty units have found themselves greeted by a horrid grinding noise when they attempt to insert games or movies.
One YouTuber rounded up some videos to demonstrate the problem:
I first wrote about the issue yesterday morning, and over the past two days, Iâve received roughly 150 e-mails from people who say their systems were affected. Some sent videos; others just echoed what weâve been seeing since the console launched on Friday. Some complained that theyâd had to spend hours on the phone waiting for someone from Microsoft customer service to answer.
We have no way of verifying all of these accounts, but hereâs a slice of what my inbox looks like right now:
(Iâve received about 150 e-mails in two daysâfor context, last week after the PS4 launch, Stephen asked anyone affected by hardware failure to reach out to him, and he received a few dozen e-mails in two days.)
On top of that, three different staff at gaming outlets have run into the issue: one from IGN, one from Polygon, and one from GamesRadar. As of today, nobody at Kotaku had received a defective unit.
Letâs put this in context: Microsoft says theyâve sold a million Xbox Ones. Even if just 1% of consumers had issues, thatâd be 10,000 faulty unitsâand we donât even know if the count is that high. Plus, launch consoles tend to come in hot. Massive hardware launches always have their problems. Just ask any brand new PS4 owner faced with the Blue Light of Death. (This isnât a new phenomenon, eitherâI remember lining up for the Wii at midnight back in 2006, only to get home at around 4am with a console that wouldnât function properly. I had to swap it the next day.)
https://lastchance.cc/ps4-blue-light-of-death-has-no-clear-fix-yet-1465979487%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Weâve reached out to Microsoft multiple times over the past two days with questions about this Disc Drive of Doom, but theyâve only repeated a single statement: âThe issue is affecting a very small number of Xbox One customers. Weâre working directly with those affected to get a replacement console to them as soon as possible through our advance exchange program. Rest assured, we are taking care of our customers.â
When pressed further by Kotaku today, a Microsoft spokesperson added this: âCustomers have the option for us to send a replacement console right away without waiting until they have returned their old one. This means a customer only has to wait a matter of days, rather than weeks to get back up and running.â
We have no idea how many people have been affected by this issue, but weâll continue following up on this story over the next few days and weeks.
