I’m sure most Xbox fans, especially those who go as far back as the Xbox 360, remember the absolute tragedy that was the Red Ring of Death. Millions of Xbox 360 consoles made their way into homes, only to later overheat and fail, leading many owners to come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful DIY fixes.
In the end, it cost Microsoft more than $1.15 billion, though despite the disaster, it didn't stop the Xbox 360 from becoming Xbox's most successful console generation to date. So, how does Valve's new Steam Machine fit into all of this? Well, the Steam Machine has a front-facing LED light bar that serves a variety of purposes, including indicating downloads and hardware status.
Over on the Steam Machine subreddit, though, user me_hill reported what appears to be the system's first "Red Line of Death." According to the user, they were playing No Man's Sky, installed a system update, and the machine was subsequently bricked. According to Valve's own Steam Support page, it appears the user has experienced a GPU failure.
Given that the GPU is soldered to the motherboard, it's not something the average user can repair. To add insult to injury, some Reddit users joked that they were "beta testing" the hardware for everyone else.
Fortunately, this appears to be an isolated incident for now, and hopefully it stays that way. It would be a real shame for Valve's $1,000 mid-powered device to suffer anything resembling the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death fiasco.
Believe it or not, I actually really want a Steam Machine. That said, stories like this make me glad I'm waiting, even if my biggest reservation is still the price. I just can't justify spending $1,000 on the hardware, and while I know it's probably unrealistic, I'd be much more tempted if it were closer to the $500 mark.
Hopefully Valve can get the affected user back up and running with a replacement or repair. With that said, let me know whether stories like this put you off buying a Steam Machine, or if you're still keen to get your hands on one. Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:
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