What to do with your Broken Xbox 360

Over the past few months I’ve written about my Xbox 360. I first wrote about how the Unreadable Disc Error popped up, and later how I fixed the error on my 360. It was a long, frustrating road. However, since I spent I lot of time with my Xbox while it wasn’t working at 100% capacity, I learned to enjoy it in many other ways.

I know we all love to hate Microsoft, but there really are many different ways to enjoy your Xbox 360. Of course, the most obvious way is to play those wonderful, $60 discs of gaming joy. But there’s so much more you can do, even with a busted DVD drive.

First, I’ll cover some of the things you can do that involve using your Xbox. After that, I’ll show you some of the other creative ways you can get some use out of the Xbox 360, but possibly not in the ways you’d imagine.

Play Xbox Live Arcade Games

Just because your DVD drive is busted, it doesn’t mean that you can’t play games! There are tons of great games that you can just download and run from your hard drive. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy this feature. Also, the more recent games that have been coming down the pipe feature full multi-player modes, achievement points, you name it.

Play Original Xbox Games

Nostagia is great. Not getting up from the couch is even greater. There are scores of original Xbox games that you can purchase and download to your Xbox 360’s hard drive. It kinda hurts if you’ve bought the games before, but it’s a huge bonus if it’s new to you. And hey, if you bought a game a few years ago for the original Xbox, just consider it a “lazy tax.” Once you purchase and download, you jump straight into a game without moving.

Stream Movies from a Media Center

Got an PC in the house with Media Center installed? You’ve got a whole new toy, my friend. If you’ve never used your Media Center with your 360, you’re really missing something. I can’t tell you how many movies and episodes of Dexter and 24 I’ve streamed through my Xbox.

What made this extra special to me was that my media machine was upstairs, and my nice HDTV and Xbox were downstairs. Can’t find anything on? Fire up the Xbox and watch a few episodes of your favorite series. Bonus points if you decide to watch Battlestar Galactica. So say we all!

Stream Movies and TV from Netflix!

Guys, I’ll be honest. This is really what helped me through my gaming dry-spells. Seriously, if I couldn’t use my Netflix, bad things would happen.

I’m amazed that more people don’t take advantage of Netflix. Not only is Netflix an awesome service, but you can use it in so many ways. You’ve got your movie rentals, no late fees, streaming to your computer, and now you can stream through the Xbox 360! Who would turn down such a service? Especially if you still rent movies the “old fashioned way.” I honestly believe that if everyone knew how great Netflix really is, none of those brick and mortar stores would still be open. Netflix is my favorite way to watch streaming movies at home.

Ok, so you’re totally excited about signing up with Netflix, right? Well, I have a link for you. Check out WatchStreamingMovies.com. These guys have put together a site that lists everything you’ll need.

I want to play my expensive games!

I hear you, friend. There comes a point when nothing but tearing down the streets in GTA will satisfy. So what’s a gamer to do? Well, the choices are obvious, but the way you go about them are many.

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Fix your Broken Xbox

First, there’s the option of fixing your Xbox 360. Yeah, I know, I know… how obvious! But, maybe your Xbox is no longer under warranty. Maybe you don’t have the money on hand to get it fixed. Don’t worry!

Of course, if your Xbox is still under warranty, I don’t know why you’re reading this. You should call Microsoft and set up a repair as soon as possible (1-800-4MY-XBOX). However, if the warranty has run out and you’re strapped for cash, you have a couple of options.

Sell your busted Xbox on eBay

Yes, believe it or not, there are lots of people out there who would like to buy your broken Xbox. Depending on what exactly is broken, you can probably get a good amount of money for it. The people who buy broken Xbox’s are usually good at repairs. They buy your Xbox, disassemble it for parts, and then either sell those parts to other people or use the parts to make their own repairs. That’s why you can still get a fair amount for something that’s broken. Often times you can get enough to buy a used Xbox on Craigs List or other listing on eBay.

Strip your Xbox for Parts

Let’s do a little math. Let’s say your strip down your XBox 360 into 30 separate parts (I’ve seen people bidding on the eject button!). Now, you take those parts and sell them for $8 – $10 each on eBay or Craigs List. Suddenly, your broken Xbox has gone from worthless to a value somewhere around $300. Now you can buy a new Xbox 360 and have a new warranty. It’s a little work and you’ve got to know what you’re doing, but it can be totally worth it. Just search around eBay and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Got any other bright ideas?

That’s all I can pull out of my head at the moment. Do you guys have any other big ideas? If so, leave a comment below. Your fellow gamers will love you for it!

Also read: When to buy a used Xbox