Most Unreliable console from your experience ?

[t0yrobo]

I've had pretty good luck with my systems. The only problems I've had is a Thompson DVD drive in a Xbox crapping out, and my Dreamcast died not that long ago (I think it's just the power supply, but I haven't really looked into it). My PS2 and 360 have still yet to have any problems thankfully.

[ZenErik]

I've heard nightmare stories about the 360, but I have no personal experience with the console.

Got a CDX with bad sound and a Turbo Duo with bad sound. Both from eBay and both sent back. But I'd say about half the consoles I have gotten from eBay had issues. All of which were supposed to be working perfectly.

My white Saturn (JPN) from eBay didn't read discs when it arrived. Had to tinker with the laser assembly a bit. Been perfect ever since.

One of my Dreamcasts from eBay started rebooting all the time. Just had to clean some pins apply pressure to get said pins in the right spot. It also initially came with a dead battery. Had to solder some new rechargeables on there. Went with 2 AAA's. No problems since.

My old fat PS2 got disc read errors all the time. Cleaned the lens and did some adjustments. Works perfectly now and has been sold.

2 old NES consoles needed new pins. Also disabled the lockout chips. Both work perfectly now and have been sold.

DS came from eBay with a back left shoulder button. Soldered a new button on the board, and it's been great. Also sold.

There a few more, but my memory is bad. Anyway, every system will need some tweaks sometime, but a lot of the issues that crop up are fixed fairly easily with a minimal amount of knowledge and by treating the systems well.

[ZenErik]

1. PS3 2 broke on me on my 3rd.
2. Dreamcast Keeps on resetting
3. NES Dam you blinking screen (Lifted the pins for a better connection but after 5 or 6 game inserts its back to flashing.)

My 360 rroded on me but such a simple fix. Still rolling with the HDMIless model.
Had a Gamecube break on me. Think the laser went. Would only read Phantasy Star so it was hard for me to complain.

The lens on your dreamcast is failing. You need to open it up and replace it.

There's a good chance it's just the pins that the power supply connects to needing to be cleaned and needing a little pressure one way or the other (depending on whether it is NTSC or PAL) to make better contact.

[BurningDoom]

i pretty much own 70% of home consoles that came out. The one that was most unreliable in terms of break down etc... would be
1- Nes
2- Xbox 360
3- PS2 fat

I'd say the same. But I'd switch the order with PS2 fat at #1, 360 #2, and NES #3. The NES may have that annoying blinking thing going on with it, but at least you can get it to work. When the PS2 laser burns out, that's it, you're done. And personally, I burned through 2 of them before getting my Slimline model.

[ZenErik]

i pretty much own 70% of home consoles that came out. The one that was most unreliable in terms of break down etc... would be
1- Nes
2- Xbox 360
3- PS2 fat

I'd say the same. But I'd switch the order with PS2 fat at #1, 360 #2, and NES #3. The NES may have that annoying blinking thing going on with it, but at least you can get it to work. When the PS2 laser burns out, that's it, you're done. And personally, I burned through 2 of them before getting my Slimline model.

Are you sure they were actually burned out or might the laser assembly just need some adjusting?

[Sideroller]

I didn't realize the fat PS2 was so buggy. Mine has always worked great for me. Weird.

[SwooshBear]

I've never had any bad experiences with my own consoles, but I've heard the most bad from the 360. The majority of my gaming friends have/had 360's and all of the ones that still do have had RROD happen to them. It happened to my cousin twice and she switched to Ps3 after that. I'd say that this generation has the systems with the most problems.

[BurningDoom]

i pretty much own 70% of home consoles that came out. The one that was most unreliable in terms of break down etc... would be
1- Nes
2- Xbox 360
3- PS2 fat

I'd say the same. But I'd switch the order with PS2 fat at #1, 360 #2, and NES #3. The NES may have that annoying blinking thing going on with it, but at least you can get it to work. When the PS2 laser burns out, that's it, you're done. And personally, I burned through 2 of them before getting my Slimline model.

Are you sure they were actually burned out or might the laser assembly just need some adjusting?

Maybe you're right. But I had a local place that sold used PS2s for $30, so for that cheap I just got another one rather than pay for a repair. The symptoms were always the same, they would start to only read certain colored PS2 discs and all PS1 discs. Then eventually only PS1 discs, but they had to be in perfectly unscratched condition.

[ZenErik]

There's a great chance you just needed to open it up and clean the lens as well as adjust the knob at the back of the assembly which will change the laser height. For free your first PS2 could probably still be working. But yea, PS2s are rather cheap anyway.

[Breetai]

In my experience, from worst at the top. Consideration given to age of the system when it broke or if I had the same issue on multiple systems:

X-Box 360 (this should NOT have been breaking so frequently when so new. I am glad I never owned one back then)
PC Engine Super CD-ROM2 (CD Mechanism, another just would not read discs)
Famicom Disk System (belt mechanism)
PS2 (reading discs; multiple consoles. Some worked after adjusting the drive)
Wii (reading discs)
PS3 (reading discs)
PC Engine Duo (sound)
PC Engine Express (sound)
PS1 (reading discs)
Neo Geo CD (reading discs)
Neo Geo AES (yes, I did have one stop reading carts)
Sega Mark III (RF did not work, but the AV was fine)
NES (72-pin connector issue; easy fix)