Microsoft has stopped warranty repair of Xbox consoles in RussiaGames10:06 | April 10, 2023

It is stated in the company’s technical support that Microsoft no longer provides warranty service in the country. This also applies to consoles officially imported into the Russian Federation. The reason is “current situation”. In technical support, owners of set-top boxes are advised to contact the store where they purchased it.

According to one of the users who were denied a repair, its warranty was valid until 2024. As a result, tech support was offered to “brush the dust off the console” and “reboot the device”.

Under the terms of Microsoft’s warranty service, Russia is still not excluded from the list of countries where it is performed, as Anna Sarbukova, General Counsel of the EBR law firm noted. So the company is obliged to make repairs. Rospotrebnadzor said that the seller is responsible for the warranty service of the devices. Several retailers have already confirmed this.

In addition to contacting retailer service centers, Xbox owners also have the option to contact gray companies. According to Ferra.ru editor-in-chief Evgeny Kharitonov, in the absence of authorized service centers, the repair of the Xbox Series X and Series S will continue to be affordable and fast for minor malfunctions, such as replacing switches in the case, power. connectors, etc. Difficulties can arise in the most costly procedures – resolving CPU and GPU chips in case they fail. BGA components on the motherboard can fail due to excessive voltage drops in the mains. Then they will have to wait for orders from abroad. This will extend the repair time to 1.5 – 2 months.

However, the following risks also exist when performing repairs in low-skilled service centers:

1. Using a cheap thermal interface (thermal paste). In such cases, after the repair, the Xbox will start to heat more intensely and run more noisy. The cooling system in the console is designed with a margin, so there is no overheating – only acoustic discomfort.
2. Non-original cables connecting the motherboard to the Wi-Fi module in the case, optical drive and keys. If the cable is of poor quality and starts to lose contact over time, the console will freeze and restart.
3. Non-original parts for repairing game controllers – mainly body parts and buttons. They will work, only the paint on the non-original panels of the gamepad case is less durable, the resource of the keys is reduced. And non-genuine sticks (joysticks used in games to control review and movement) have much lower sensitivity, so the gamepad stops responding to partial pressure or does so with a delay.