No, you're definitely right.  I hadn't even thought to do that.  But I saw so few instances of anyone having this happen (literally there was less than a page of Google links with anyone even talking about this) that I didn't even think about RRoD.  Fortunately I had the perfect sized box in the garage and MS e mailed me the shipping label today, so I just took it over to UPS and sent it out.  I figured the sooner I get it in the pipeline the sooner I'll have it back. 

Incidentally, does anyone know how to check and see if you have a Jasper model?  They're supposed to be on the market now, right?  If they just send me a brand new console (I've heard of that happening) the first thing I'm going to do is check and make sure it's at least a Falcon model, but it would be really cool if it was a Jasper.

hmm getting jasper its a better idea, but no info have been posted abou that yet, i am playing on getting a jasper.

by numbers meaning it should go to around 5% failure rate but there isn't test about it yet.

falcon was estimated around 10% from previous 16%.

Well, things could be worse. Will I get to play Fable 2 the day it drops? No. But I do have the following games for my PC that I haven't finished:

Gears of War
The Witcher
Lost Planet
World in Conflict
GRAW 2

Heck, two of these I can play with my 360 controller. I actually have a WAY bigger PC library than 360 library, so I have plenty of games to keep me occupied while my 360 is away.

Well you did say don't say get a ps3 so i thought i'd try!

The Witcher is brilliant, just keep playing the Best Polish Game ever, and you wont need Fable II (for a while)

My kids' console have similar problem. It's not RROD, but rather bad video output chip. It seems Falcon suffer from this problem more than RROD, reading the tracking on NeoGaf site there were several instances of this video chip failure.

*sigh* at Microsoft and their horrible hardware. I understand they want to maker profit but constantly using cheap ass contractors to get the lowest bid.

ive never heard of this issue before

It's the E74 error. It doesn't freeze or crash your machine like RROD, not at first anyway. It just give weird artifact one the screen. Eventually it will flash one red light or give you E74 when you try to restart the 360.

It seems to be more common with 360 from late 2007.

There's a thread on NeoGaf that track dead 360 and several of them have this same problem. Though in general since the release of Falcon the 360 failure report is down significantly. And I am surprise at how courteous and fast MS service is. They don't ask me silly stupid questions and quickly got the repair service set up.  My console is already back.

While I would rather not have to deal with hardware issue but I have to give a prop to MS for making it fast and painless.

Whats fast exactly? A friend of mine just had his PS3 crash (his own fault btw, but I suggested him to make a little white lie too) and they send a shiiping order by mail immidiatly and he had his PS3 back within a week. Ps3's might not have the huge failurerate that 360's do, but they also don't have the massive repaircenters that Ms needs to have. I only remember both my 360's being gone for 2 weeks at a time.

How long has it taken your 360 to return to be fast and painless in your book?

Zenfolder is saying his took 7 or 8 business days to come back. I'm hoping my experience is similar or shorter. I know this sounds pathetic, but I can't believe how much I miss my 360. I have all these games to play on my PC, but all the air has gone out of the balloon. Fable 2 comes out tomorrow and I can't play it. All I can do is look at my hard drive, wireless adapter, and cables sitting on my entertainment center not connected to anything.

Ah well, I'm still going to go to Gamestop tomorrow and get the game. Maybe I'll even pretend to be excited to get home and play it.