Xbox 360 burns house down
Fire fighters blame console's power brick
An Xbox 360 has allegedly caused over $100,000 (£50,000/€62,000) worth of damage to an US gamer’s house, after the console’s power brick caught fire.
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Firefighters called to the blaze in Little Rock, Arkansas told local reporters that the console’s power brick was the blaze's cause. The console owner's house has been reduced to a near shack-like state following the fire, local TV station THV reports.
Although the gamer wasn’t at home when the fire broke out, a fire department spokesman said the console’s power brick was stored on one side and close to a wall – which he claimed could exacerbate potential fire risks.
The Xbox blaze caused over $100,000 worth of damage.
Images courtesy todaysthv.com
Microsoft has already recalled thousands of power bricks worldwide because of worries over a potential fire risk. But the company claims gamers can minimise the risks by unplugging the console and avoiding bending the power brick’s cord.
Microsoft has also previously admitted that the Wireless Racing Wheel has a power-supply flaw that may cause it to overheat and smoke – although no problems have been reported yet.
In 2005, an Anglesey woman was pulled unconscious from her house after succumbing to smoke emitted by a faulty first-generation Xbox, which had been left on standby.
COMMENTS
Recall
"Microsoft has already recalled thousands of power bricks worldwide because of worries over a potential fire risk. But the company claims gamers can minimise the risks by unplugging the console and avoiding bending the power brick’s cord."
Nope, that was the XBOX and the recall of the power lead
At last!
With their shoddy products, M$ are finally able to put people in real danger. How we've longed for this day!
C'mon XBox users, get abusing those power bricks. A few more like this and we'll be able to class-action M$ into oblivion!
Multifunctional
and I thought it got hot so I could cook my breakfast whilst gaming!
* Preheat Xbox360 for 1 hour whilst playing favourite game.
* Make a little tray out of tinfoil.
* Place on top of power brick and add a little olive oil.
* Crack open egg and pour contents into foil tray.
* Continue playing game for around 10 minutes.
* Serve up in a butty.
Yum!
Power supples should have thermal safety
They should be designed for stupid users, being accidentally covered or the cat shedding on them. etc. Designing for safety is pretty simple. Polyfuses (resettable fuse thingies) can be used to kill power within the unit when it reaches, say, 80 deg.
What I want to know though was if the person was running pirated games? Perhaps this was a new form of DRM.
Re: Power bricks should be built to be abused.
I'll go with you on that one, if you market a power brick separate to the console, you can hardly blame people for wanting to hide it out of the way as it looks ugly as sin. Although who knows what he had stuck on top of it which may have held the heat in more.
Still at least his console won't suffer the RROD now. :)
