Dean Takahashi's analysis of X360 design flaws

Dean Takahashi has just published an extensive article about the factors leading up to the incredible failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles. 

But the evidence for the quality debacle was there to see evenbefore Microsoft shipped any machines. In August, 2005, as Microsoftwas gearing up production, an engineer raised a hand and said, “Stop.You have to shut down the line.” This wasn’t just a brief moment. Theengineer spoke up repeatedly.
That engineer, who asked not to be identified, had deep experiencein manufacturing. When production results were really off kilter,stopping a line and tracing a problem back to its roots was the answer.But the higher-ranking engineers, managers and executives chose to riskgoing forward. There wasn’t a universal backlash from the engineeringranks, according to one engineering source.
Nobody listened to that engineer — who spoke on condition ofanonymity — apparently because console launches are always hurriedaffairs. Yields — the percentage of working products in a given batchof total products produced — generally start low. As the manufacturersconduct statistical analysis and tight controls on every step inassembly, they learn how to drive the yields up.
Still, the picture wasn’t pretty. The defect rate for the machineswas an abysmal 68 percent at that point, according to several sources.That meant for every 100 machines that Microsoft’s contractmanufacturers, Flextronics and Wistron,made at their factories in China, 68 didn’t work. At the recent dinner,Bach denied that there was a big concern about defects at that point intime.
At that point, it is likely true that the engineers weren’t raisingenough red flags for the executives to pay attention. Early yields onelectronic goods are almost always lousy. Those veteran engineersfigured that they would be able to debug the problems and bring theyields up quickly. But the expected rapid improvement in quality justdidn’t happen. The communication between upper management and theengineers wasn’t clear. Nor was the strategy aligned between marketingand customer support.
There were plenty of warning signs. Early reports on the problemswere myriad. In an Aug. 30, 2005 memo, the team reported overheatinggraphics chip, cracking heat sinks, cosmetic issues with the hard diskdrive and the front of the box, under-performing graphics memory chipsfrom Infineon (now Qimonda), aproblem with the DVD drive, and other things. At that point, thecontract manufacturers were behind schedule and had only built hundredsof units. They were supposed to have been in high gear, makingthousands every week.

Takahashi has done articles before on the 360's teething problemsbefore, they've always been entertaining, and really thoroughlyresearched. He gets information above and beyond what someone will findsimply trolling the net.

The line worker in question actually came out with this info a while ago, but It didn't really take off beyond the Xbox forum and blogospheres. It probably had something to do with the fact that the article was really poorly written, more like a local news column on gaming than anything else.

I'm so f-ing tired of this "news".  360 console reliability SUCKS!  We all know that.  I understand that some people REALLY like to beat a dead horse, but c'mon now.

yeah I agree, this article is useless to me, but then I think about how stupid the rest of the world is.

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

It was probably in someone's annual goals in MS for the 360 to achieve worldwide launch by end of 2005 - and they cut a whole of corners to get there - but strategically the idea to launch as soon as possible was sound as they had to build up a market presence before Sony got the PS3 out. They just took far too long to resolve the problems though.

I'm so f-ing tired of this "news".  360 console reliability SUCKS!  Weall know that.  I understand that some people REALLY like to beat adead horse, but c'mon now.
As far as I'm concerned, this guy didn't "uncover" or "discover"anything that isn't common sense.  Of course they pushed them out thedoor too early.  Of course, people knew about it, and some probablyspoke up.  Of course, we can all attribute it to greed.  Unless therewas some corporate espionage envolved, I'm done with it.

We all knew what went wrong with Atari and Sega, but people are still making documentaries.

360s break? WTF?

Ha!  Did you fools even read the article?  Clearly it contains a lot more specific information about the shot callers and the specific manufacturers of various components than just restating the obvious.  It's an in-depth analysis and timeline, which I'm willing to wager can't be found in anyone's post history here.

I'm willing to wager can't be found in anyone's post history here.

I'm willing to wager that Kotaku has posted something similar to this every week since the whole mishap began.

You know what guys I'm starting to believe that Microsoft's Xbox 360 might have some reliablitiy issues.

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

Kotaku...  shit, what can I say.  You can't argue with Kotaku's journalistic integrity.

The best part of that site are the posts about Mini-bash. Other than that, I avoid it like the plague.

Zoy, I'm not saying that the article doesn't include some newly revealed information.  I'm sayin' the information contained therein is on a subject that is stale and of no practical use to me.  Some people may still find it interesting; I mean, you did, but I'd rather read a speculative article on the forthcoming Xbox.  Yeah, I said it!  I'd RATHER read SPECULATION!

I hear ya.  Hell, I still enjoy reading articles about the development of the earliest consoles.

As for speculation, I heard the Xbox 720 is gonna have a dollar bill slot and you've gotta feed in 5s, 10s and 20s every few days to keep it working.  And somehow it teleports them to Bill Gates's lap.

Zoy


I hear ya.  Hell, I still enjoy reading articles about the development of the earliest consoles.

As for speculation, I heard the Xbox 720 is gonna have a dollar bill slot and you've gotta feed in 5s, 10s and 20s every few days to keep it working.  And somehow it teleports them to Bill Gates's lap.

Until some modder reverse engineers it, then MS will be on the warpath after a rich 12 year old.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

Better make sure Nintendo doesn't get the rights to the phrase "It prints money!!!"

Nintendo: IT MAKES MONEY!
Sony: IT EATS MONEY!
MS: IT....

mastachefbkw


Nintendo: IT MAKES MONEY!
Sony: IT EATS MONEY!
MS: IT....

MS: It has games, you just gotta hope they dont kill your console.

If you see this chef, get on CoD4, I keep getting your voicemail on your cell.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

UPDATE

Microsoft just fired the tester for going public with design flaws.

Eddie_the_Hated


UPDATE

Microsoft just fired the tester for going public with design flaws.

The funny part is, in response to possibly getting sued by MS, he says: "Bring it on."

WTF? Does he not realize MS has possibly the best law team in the world?

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

He will die being an hero!

Evilkiller


He will die being an hero!

No, he will die poor and unemployed. Unless just for spite Apple hires him.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

WTF? Does he not realize MS has possibly the best law team in the world?

It doesn't matter how good their corporate litigators are, because they'll never bring them out in full force.

Microsoft want this issue swept under the carpet as cleanly as possible. They won't drag it out in a long, public court hearing.

he obviously just wants publicity and money

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

The bottom line is that Microsoft is handling the problem in their own way; by spending millions replacing defective consoles (or was it billions?)  Everyone is fully aware of the piss-poor reliability.  EVERYONE!  So this guy lost his job, and will probably get sued, for what?  For some moral stand-point, which helps no one?  Microsoft will continue to do their thing, people will continue to buy 360s, knowing full well the problems they are inheriting, and this guy's gonna get what's coming to him for being an idiot by violating his NDA and, AND allowing his name to be used.  He got fired for going public, with public knowledge.  What a twit!

That engineer wich told them to stop the lines, only did his job...
When a engineer discovered that 68% of the consoles beeing manufactured didn't work, he told them to stop.

They chose not to, they delivered a product on the market to the consumers where over half of them didn't work.
True, launch-products often suffers bigger problems than products wich have been in production for a while, however, in this case they knew the failure rate were way over acceptable limits.
Launch-360 should have been in a recall-program now, not just under extended warranty, if it suffers rrod. :-/

That engineer isn't a twit for breaking his NDA, he has to suffer for beeing part of a team wich knowingly produced crap, he will need to try to get a new job in the future, since I doub't that he is receiving licensing money for Windows.

If you had to hire a engineer to build something for you, and you received two applicants for the job.
One person had that he were on the team that built the Wii in his CV, and the other had that he were on the team who built 360 on his CV.
You'd probably be laughing manically as you threw the CV of the 360-engineer in the thrashcan, thinking on how lucky you were when you dodged that bullet.

However, it's not the engineer who were fired for breaking his NDA in the media, it's a game's tester wich worked for Bungie.
He gave alot of good advices on how to be most secure, i.e. explained how Nyco-intercooler, and similar might not be a good idea, if you pulled power from the console.
I'd reccomend you to read it, if you were interested in protecting your console.
He just do the job that Microsoft support isn't allowed to do, since PR/Marketing department calls the shots at MS - ie. it were probably not the engineers who decided if what they engineered were good enough quality. :)

What a twit!

More like "What a twist!"

ie. it were probably not the engineers who decided if what they engineered were good enough quality. :)

It were probably so :)

That engineer isn't a twit for breaking his NDA, he has to suffer forbeeing part of a team wich knowingly produced crap, he will need to tryto get a new job in the future, since I doub't that he is receiving licensing money for Windows.

He violated a contractual agreement, and got dismissed because of it. He has no personal gain from outing Microsoft, short of a few weeks of internet metafame, if that. It didn't make a bit of sense for him to do this, though, from what I've read, he's a temp worker, so it's not like he had that much to lose in the first place.

He's just another nub that got pwned.  And who the hell is going to buy that crappy book?  Anyone intrested with an ounce of sense knows everything there is to know about it.  The only thing going for it is the publicity it's getting, and I still don't see people with a reason for buying it.  Both guys are huge losers.

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."