Advice needed please

sharkman

OK , looking to purchase a second hand xbox 360 for my son , just looking for some advice on what to look out for please.

2Mad2BeMad

depends where your buying
if your buying of adverts
well then theirs a few things you need too look out for

Make sure it works, even if you turn it on for a second, ask the person to put in a game or dvd and see how it runs.

ask whether it has been opened or modded, basicly if it has been opened theirs a good chance of it not lasting too long, some people buy broken xbox360s, repair them (not greatly I might add) and sell them as a working console, only for the poor sucker who bought it relises 3months down the line that it breaks.

If he says it has not been opened, its up to you to take his word or not, but if you don't trust his word, ask can you see the "seal" , the seal is basicly what it says on the tin, the only way to open the xbox360 is by breaking this seal, this lets people and shops know if the person their buying of has opened up the console.
If the seal is not broken well then they have not touched the insides.

Make sure every PORT WORKS!!! I fell for this on, I bought an oldish white xbox360, which had a hdmi port and a standard av port, I use HDMI for my tv, but the guy never mentioned he only used standard, so when I got to his house, he said he has no HDMI wire, I said no problem I have one at home, I just want to see if it works, it worked all was fine, I got home and find out the bloody hdmi port is broke, he failed to mention this and lets just say I was banging on his door the next day :L

so basicly, don't buy one if the seal is broken or the xbox has been opened up
make sure the console it self works, turn it on play a game for a few minutes
make sure every single port is working (or at least the ports you plan on using)

if I was you I would buy in a shop though like cex, it may be a little bit more dearer then adverts but you get a guarentee in their I think of a year, not only that they make sure everything is working before they sell it too you and none of the xbox's are opened so they are still sealed

sharkman

Thanks for that 2Mad2BeMad , I've read somewhere about box's being barred from xbox live . Whats that all about ?

Orim

It's pretty much what it says. The xbox has been banned from connecting online due to some action of a previous owner. You can check if it's banned on enforcement.xbox.com

Adding to the above I'd check the manufacturing date on the console. It's on the back with all the serial numbers as the MFR. I would be looking for anything post 2009 as these are the most reliable.

erkifino

Have a look in Tesco, someone picked up the Star Wars kinect bundle for 99€ over in the bargain alerts thread. That is not to say it's nationwide, but might be worth a look.