XBOX 360 E: noisy power supply

[cncb]

I recently bought 2 new XBOX 360 E consoles. One has a nearly silent power supply and I have to put my ear a few inches away to even hear the fan running. The other one has a fan that can be heard from 10 feet away all the time. I've tried both power supplies at the same location and console to take this out of the equation. So, do I have to return the whole console with the noisy power supply to Best Buy or will Microsoft send me a replacement power supply for free? Thanks.

[barnabas1969]

Go to Best Buy and ask if they will give you a new supply out of another box. If they will, that's your easiest solution. If they won't, you could return the whole console and power supply... or just buy a new one, swap the supplies, and take it back for a refund.

[IownFIVEechos]

I think over time they will all have that issue from the vibration. The one that is quite is because the case is still holding nicely. I use to put 5 pound weights on top of mine to stop the vibration. I did just what you are going to do and returned it for another. The sales guy thought I was crazy. Normal people use these things to play games in their mind? Why is it a big deal if it makes a small amount of noise right? WRONG! Anyway same thing over time it works its way loose and you will get the noise again. To prove it just hold it down with your hand and you will see it goes away. I even tried using the ties that you use to organize wires. But to no avail. Then I bought the echos and we know how that goeess............

[barnabas1969]

What I would really like to know is, why do the power supplies have a fan anyway? I have several laptop power supplies that put out more wattage than is required by the XBox... and they don't have fans. I know that the laptop supplies won't work with the XBox, but if a laptop supply can put out 150+ watts with no fan, why can't the XBox supply do the same thing?

[cncb]

Thanks. I guess it wouldn't be a problem if playing loud games all the time but it definitely won't work when I can hear it over quiet parts in videos or when watching quietly in the bedroom. In my case it doesn't seem to be vibration - the fan in the noisy one is definitely running much faster than the quiet one. They seem to have some QC issues.

[cncb]

What I would really like to know is, why do the power supplies have a fan anyway? I have several laptop power supplies that put out more wattage than is required by the XBox... and they don't have fans. I know that the laptop supplies won't work with the XBox, but if a laptop supply can put out 150+ watts with no fan, why can't the XBox supply do the same thing?

I was wondering the same thing. Plus I don't know why these have to use 60W when idle. I really wish the Echo wasn't such a debacle.

[barnabas1969]

Plus I don't know why these have to use 60W when idle.

To keep you warm on a cold night?

[slowbiscuit]

I think over time they will all have that issue from the vibration.

Maybe, but I have a couple of 2-year old Slims and neither has the PS fan noise issue. It's really the luck of the draw IMO.

[Sergio526]

Since MCE keeps the console fairly close to idle, I wonder if we could just disable/yank out the fan if we never intend to game on it. It would be nice if some tech site (like IFixIt) would be willing to try it and then keep tabs on the brick's temperature will streaming an HD movie from a PC.

[cncb]

2 of the 4 "E" consoles I have tried have had near silent power supplies while the other 2 were so loud as to be distracting. It could just be a coincidence but the 2 quiet ones were both the bundle with the Kinect sensor included and the loud ones were just the console.