Finding a CPU Design Bug in the Xbox 360

(randomascii.wordpress.com)

49 points | by mariuz 4 days ago

2 comments

  • chasil 54 minutes ago
    It is interesting that IBM dominated this generation of consoles, and was vanquished in the next.

    The high failure rates of the Xbox 360 did not help.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_problems

    • vondur 44 minutes ago
      I thought the design flaws of the Xbox 360 cooling system had more to do with Microsoft than any inherent design flaw by IBM. I assumed that switching to x86 processors let Microsoft leverage their native developer tools from Windows which helped developers.
      • chasil 43 minutes ago
        The main issue was revealed to be solder.

        "Microsoft did not reveal the cause of the issues publicly until 2021, when a 6-part documentary on the history of Xbox was released. The Red Ring issue was caused by the cracking of solder joints inside the GPU flip chip package, connecting the GPU to the substrate interposer, as a result of thermal stress from heating up and cooling back down when the system is power cycled."

        • timw4mail 10 minutes ago
          And there was the same problem with early PS3s, on Nvidia's GPU package...it was a fairly widespread problem at the time.
        • thenthenthen 20 minutes ago
          Sounds like the 2012(?) Macbook Pro after the switch to leadless solder (?). I had to cook my motherboard 3 times in the oven to revive it.
  • jszymborski 58 minutes ago
    Would need "(2018)" in the title.