Recently, a friend of mine lost a PS3 to the YLOD (Yellow Light of Death). I blame dust. He also had a PC crash, which most likely sent the boot drive to hard drive heaven. That got me wondering: Have your entertainment-related electronics failed you?
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I’m careful with my electronics, within reason. About six weeks ago, I noticed a sudden lack of “click” in the power button of my iPhone 4S. Expecting imminent annoyance and eventual failure, by that evening, I exchanged the phone under its warranty for a new one. Before that, I had a Bravia whose HDMI ports dropped from four to one, but a firmware update brought that back to four. Further back, while playing a particularly buggy N7 mission in ‘Mass Effect 2’ that was roughly 15% from the end of the game, my Xbox 360 Elite went down for the count. A week and a half later, Microsoft sent me a refurb. <\/p>\n
Even further back, my launch day Nintendo DS Lite, became considerably temperamental after suffering a fall while in standby mode (mid-game, screen closed, low power mode) during some well meaning horseplay. That DS Lite already had a sad right shoulder button and cracked hinge. Nintendo obliged me with a refurb, and I purchased a black DS Lite that has never had an issue. That just leaves the graphics card in a 17″ Dell that filled with lint before self destructing. That one was, thankfully, still within warranty.<\/p>\n
The most devastating failure, however, had to be a friend’s Xbox. (Yes, the old, ugly brick.) After we carefully replaced the faulty CD-Rom with a new model, which I had lugged around by plane and train from halfway across the world, we both forgot that the Xbox 1 cannot switch voltage. As my friend plugged the console in, I watched as the power supply literally went up in smoke. It had been a late evening the night before, and I just laughed. Still, that was the most devastating incident of its kind that I can recall.<\/p>\n
The focus for this poll is gadgets and other entertainment-related consumer electronics. For example, electronics that can be purchased at Worst Buy, minus appliances. If your washing machine went down during your weekly voodoo washer ritual, feel free to choose ‘Other’.<\/p>\n
Vote for as many options as you’d like in the poll, and be sure to tell us in the Comments which of these failures was the most devastating.<\/p>\n