http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/19/xbox_recall_nofix/[q]After several reports of consoles catching fire, Microsoft urged 14 million console owners to send in their old power leads for a replacement. But hardware experts point out that the power cable was never at root of the problem: it simply made the existing problem worse. The meltdown, and subsequent fire risk was actually caused by wear and tear on the power supply used in early models of the Xbox. The replacement cable featured a trip, which cut down the risk of your house catching fire, but left unfortunate gamers with a fried console. The cord has an interrupter switch that acts like a conventional fuse, tripping power to the unit.[/q]
Just thought it might be a useful heads-up in the unlikely event of anyone being affected..... I always thought the whole power cable situation seemed dodgy.
Strange that they'd let this sort of thing get through QA in the first place, of course.