XBOX 360 - The Nightmare from Micro$oft

I'm (Jason) playing Call of Duty - Modern Warfare2 when out of the blue, the graphics begin to look degraded, almost like it's in the 16 bit gaming world (Super Nintendo)... it flickers back and forth and I didn't think TOO much about it. The next day, I look up the symptoms online and come to find out my GPU (Graphics Processor Unit) is going out.

The next day I go to turn on my XBOX and there's no video. I try different cables, only to find out I have the typical issue that plagues the XBOX of "Audio but no video." I look up information about warranty service and Micro$oft has extended the warranty of their XBOX 360s to 3 years for certain issues. I have read many people's comments about them getting this fixed under the extended warranty. I bought this XBOX October of 2007 (which was my 2nd XBOX due to disk read errors), so I should be good until October of 2010 on the 3 year extended warranty.

I first contact M$ through email. After 4 "run around" emails telling me it's my TV or my cables, I decide to call customer support. I must say, I was VERY pleased to speak to an American that can speak English clearly. After 10 minutes on the phone with this northern sounding lady, she tells me this is not covered under the extended warranty. Grudgingly, I thanked her for her time and hung up.

While I'm contemplating my options, someone on an airsoft forum I belong to PMed (Private Message) me to inquire about an airsoft gun I have for sale, asking if I would accept trades. I reply to him and tell him that yes, I would accept trades, especially an XBOX360 since mine has recently fried. In his reply, he says "That's exactly what I want to trade."

So 4 days after my XBOX went out, I was able to get one by trading an airsoft gun that was worth far less than even repairing my "paper weight."

So, now I contemplate many avenues of resolution for the ol' troubled XBOX... one of which includes taking the XBOX apart (which is the most likely option).

UPDATE: I was able to fix it using the "X clamp mod" that's floating around the interwebz... $14 later. Nice.