In my signature are the dates of departure and arrival so you can get your own idea of how long it took. They sent me a completely refurbished unit with the new heat sink in place. I'm assuming all current repairs were made to the unit with the exception of "falcon" upgrades. It is clearly not a "new" unit as it has a manufacture date of June, 2007. I truly don't care if they didn't send back my original unit as I'm hoping that microsoft is refurbing ALL consoles sent in REGARDLESS of the issues on why it was sent in for repair in the first place. This would dramatically reduce future repairs on all pre-falcon consoles.

That said, their communication was pretty weak. I got a different story each time I called. The tech today told me they replaced the DVD drive and sent the same serial number back. When it got here that clearly wasn't the case.

Oh well. I'm good for now and I'll post once it is running and I know how loud it is and if I have any other issues. My previous console was very quiet so I don't know how much quieter it could be other than totally silent.

*Edit* I said clearly not a new unit because June 2007 is the manufacturer date.  Clearly that was a brain cramp and I was thinking 06.  In all likelihood it is a new unit as it would be extremely optimistic to think the unit could have shipped in June 2007 to a warehouse, shipped to a store, sold it at retail, had a failure, and gotten it back in time to refurb and ship to me...

So, it's a newer but refurbished unit, right?

Since your first 360 broke it was... 18 days.

Don't be so harsh on the people at telephonic customer care, I'm pretty sure they are at an outsourcing company, they do the best MS lets them.

I agree -- they are definitely outsourced.  I got a few techs who really tried but apologized that they couldn't give me any other information and others that just seem to tell me whatever they thought I wanted to hear.  I'm happy overall as I bought a 360 knowing there might be an issue but I did it anyway and have enjoyed some great games and I'm about to enjoy some more.  I was actually hoping for refurb with the latest mods so I'm glad the tech on the phone was wrong about replacing only the DVD drive.  Time for you to jump in.  :)

Is it your first broken console?

Yeah. MS outsources the call to people (like many others) that know jack about the X360 - I knew when I called them about mine, they were just reading off questions to ask me from a computer monitor.

But that's the nature of the beast. Atleast you got a new console.

Wait though; how do you know it's a refurb if it's June 2007? If its that new, chances are, it could be a brand new console.

Its probably a brand new console. I know mine was when I got mine back. The refurbs are very easy to spot. The system fans usually have a pit of dust in them and the casing does quite look new.

Well, it is possible it's new and not a refurb. The letter I got said it was a refurb but that may just be their standard form letter because it mentions all serial number changes, extended warranty policies and such. Maybe it was just easier to send that one and not a specific letter. The unit is pristine. Not a piece of dust, scratch or anything so it may be new. It most certainly has the new heat sink -- I can clearly see it with a good flashlight.

It is very quiet. I did notice something interesting last night while playing the Eternal Sonata demo: The fans in the rear of the unit seem to be "variable speed". I stood next to it and could hear them going faster, then slower. I moved the unit farther out into the open and the "higher" speed didn't come on. This may be another improvement in the unit to help combat heat -- I dunno... The DVD is totally silent or so it seems. I just messed around with Halo 2 for about 2 minutes. It was late and I didn't have a whole lot of time to mess with it.

I'll post more impressions of the console soon.

To the poster above, yes this is my first broken console. Ever. I've had everything from Pong, Intellivision, Atari, 3DO, All sega systems, all Nintendo systems, etc. ad nauseum. Other than the "blow in the cartridge issue" with my 64, this is my first ever console failure.

With all this said, I'm very satisfied with the repair. The turnaround was about as fast as it can be (barring a hot-swap of course) and clearly the most recent fixes have all been applied. Kudos for MS for making the effort to fix all consoles the right way instead of being half-assed. If this is their policy for every console, they will have the RROD issues ironed out pretty damn quick.

kn: for most people it seems that the 360 is their first broken console ever. I think people are asking if this is the first 360 that broke on you, since many have already had 2-3 failures.

Yeah, it's the first time I've had a broken console and the first time my 360 has broken. I suspect there won't be another one, though, as mine clearly has all the latest stuff.

I think MS has been sending back new systems. A lot of people that have gotten back refurbs have had reoccurring problems so maybe MS just decided to send brand new ones. I'm almost sure the one I received was brand new.

There were 2 or 3 guys on the IGN forums saying that, starting in September MS is promising to put all new upgrades into replacement 360s. This supposedly would include HDMI & the new 65nm chip.