Xbox 360: Error E74
So yes... yesterday I got the error message e74 on my xbox. For those of you that don't know what that is... it is when the bottom left quadrant of the ring lights up red. It is not that "Red Ring of Death". But I called microsoft... and after being told to unplug and plug back in all the cords a couple times... they told me that my warrenty was up and that I would have to pay $100 to get it fixed. To put that into persepctive... you can get a "slightly used" xbox WITH the harddrive for $125. Pretty stupid huh?
I first decided that I wasn't going to pay that much money to wait a month (or more) to get my xbox fixed. So instead I decided to do a little research... youtube research that is. Apparently this is a fixable issue. So I learned how to take my xbox apart. Then one of my friends told me that sometimes that error message will go away after leaving your xbox alone for an hour. Kinda unlikely but I decided that I would put it back together and see if it worked. It didn't. Then I took it apart again. Only about half way into it... I stripped one of the screws... f***.
I guess, before I start to try and get that screw out again, I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if they have been able to fix it. As much information as you can give me would be great. Thanks.
I first decided that I wasn't going to pay that much money to wait a month (or more) to get my xbox fixed. So instead I decided to do a little research... youtube research that is. Apparently this is a fixable issue. So I learned how to take my xbox apart. Then one of my friends told me that sometimes that error message will go away after leaving your xbox alone for an hour. Kinda unlikely but I decided that I would put it back together and see if it worked. It didn't. Then I took it apart again. Only about half way into it... I stripped one of the screws... f***.
I guess, before I start to try and get that screw out again, I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if they have been able to fix it. As much information as you can give me would be great. Thanks.
Replies
sucks to hear man.
Notman: I heard somewhere that getting the arcade/core and putting a hdd on it increased your chances of the "red ring of death"
i would love to take mine appart but he's still running well
give it a shot, if you mess up, your just back where you started.
its just like a pc, its just in another housing,
maybe buy another cheap used 360, tear it appart and get jiggy with it
do it!
edit: only do it ... when all hope is lost, dont random impulse screw everything open like i do XD
http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/Hardware/Warranty/Warranty/ProductWarrantyNew.aspx
Don't listen to them if they say your out of warranty or whatever, look into it yourself and find out when exactly you bought it and how you are covered. You may be covered by local laws.
In my country the product must last a reasonable amount of time even without warranty (years), but they will still try tell you otherwise on the phone. Make sure all your legal avenues are expended. You also may need to kick up a fuss to get it sorted out also. They will try to get money out of you no matter what.
good luck.
Glad it's my brother's and not mine then
Funny, because if that is true, they sell that 'starter kit', which includes a hdd to add on. The only difference is that it's the 60GB, but either way, I'm not clear why that would cause RROD.
Carlo: That's only for the RROD
It is ridiculous!
Mine died yesterday-- within a month of warranty. Too much to pay for a piece of shit that lasts barely one year with moderate use.
I'll probably buy a Triple now. At least the old Playstations lasted longer than a year.
plus, xbox live is the only thing i do and no way playstation can compete with that
let me know how the progress is going, and mabe a nice picforproof!
God, MP sucked on live from what I played.
[edit]
I can believe it is worse on the PS3 though
Graphically, I see no difference. The game libraries are almost identical now. I think you just want to hate on the PS3 Talbot. Personally, I own both systems, and probably the only thing I'd agree on would be the controllers (I like the 360's controllers more). And I like the 360's marketplace better (although I'm really not digging the new system's organization too much).
Either way. I'm not trying to convince you to get a PS3. Just throwing it out there as a thought now that the PS3 game library has grown.
-caseyjones
There is a good chance that later tonight I will have a solution all typed out.
After a couple of hours googling and such, I have learned that the E74 code is an AV cable error. It is recommended that you try a different AV cable. If that doesn't work then there is a 90% chance that it is a failing scaler chip (also known as the "ANA" or "HANA" chip that is directly connected to the AV outlet on the motherboard.
I'm curious, for the people who have received the E74 error code, how are you connecting your 360 to your screen? HDMI, VGA, or the regular HD componant?
Anywho, I will be trying my friends cable tomorrow and I will let you guys know what happened.
But lets stop the console war.
It looks like I wasn't able to fix the xbox. So I'm bidding on ebay at the moment for a premium that doesn't include the hdd.
The opposite is true...if you get an arcade with the newest revisions. That's why I waited until recently to buy one. And the HDMI is great. The new systems have improved hardware, and use less voltage. That's how you determine if they're new. If my system RROD's then Microsoft is hopeless. Good thing innovative developers are giving the system some value. Buying the games at discount and half price really makes it worth buying.
Well I can tell you it wasn't the AV cables as running either component, or HDMI resulted in the same error. It did however work after the first time I got the error. Worked for 2 minutes and the graphics started to glitch and would never boot up again. Ever...
This I think is on the Falcon? Motherboard
I had a "talk" with Xbox Customer service on how the 3 year warranty only pertains to only 3 red rings and not one red ring, and talk down the repair bill to %50 off. Still I shouldn't be paying for faulty hardware.
So far all the people I know to have a 360, any revision needed to send their xbox back. At least they had the 3 red rings or was still under 1 year, so they didn't have to pay for their repairs.
Sent my Xbox mid Jan. Haven't heard anything back yet, and xbox.com/support hasn't updated my status. Getting annoyed by it.
In my experience and the other people that I work with you gt a VERY fast turnaround. I think mine was 4 days from sending it off to getting it back.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_1_4?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=xbox+360+console&x=0&y=0&sprefix=xbox
fairly reasonable stuff. Be sure to scroll down for more used ones.
Gonna remember to do that if/when mine craps out!
I'll be sure to take full advantage of that as soon as I become a game dev... first step... high school :P
If you need more information let me know.
if it does crap out atleast I have a spare because Microsoft randomly sent me another one after I got my 1st replacement back......suckers :P
I think the drive is more likely to go out too if its standing up. Great design feature...
okkun, probably the disc drive going out?
But I fixed it anyway! And I was just playing Gears of War 2
My email adress that I used to make my account was set for like thailand or ukraine or something, so now I cannot redeem point cards or add xbox live time to my main account.
It's annoying.
And, guess what? There is absolutely no way to fix it other than make a new profile whcih isn't that big of a deal but i'd love to have my gamerscores combined.
haah.
In case you guys didn't see this, MS has now agreed to cover this error too: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/04/microsoft-owns-up-to-e74-360-errors-expands-warranty.ars
But I was able to fix it... so no complaining here.
I wrote this in an email to someone a couple weeks ago.
The e74 error is said to be a error with either the AV cable, ana chip, or graphics chip. So before you go and open your xbox... you need to try a new AV cable (or someone else's). If that doesn't work... then try this. On the back of the xbox motherboard there are two xclamps that hold the heatsinks down on the graphics chip and processor. I would strongly suggest that you replace these with 8 screws. Once you take the xclamps off... they will be hard to put back on tight enough to hold the heatsinks on evenly. So once you've taken the heatsinks off, clean and replace the thermal paste very carefully. If you don't know how to do this, it is the samething you a computer and a tutorial is just a google search away.
Now this is the hard part but also the most important. What you are going to need to do is something called a solder reflow. It is simple when you heat up the on the motherboard and barely melt the solder and let it cool. It is supposed to fix any connection errors there might be. So what you are going to need is a heatgun (not a blowtorch and not a hairdryer. Then on the front of the motherboard locate the ana chip and the graphics chip. Then flip the board over and locate where those chips are the backside. Take your heatgun and carefully (3 inches away) point the gun (medium heat setting) at the chips moving the gun back and forth between them. Never stop moving the gun. After 3 min, switch the gun to high heat and continue heating for another 2 min. If you see any really noticeble burning going on... stop and figure out what is happening. When you are done there maybe a slight golden tint to some places... but only very slightly. Let it cool for 20-40 min. Put it back together and start it up. Make sure that the heatsinks are on and not moving. Also make sure that all of the screws are evenly screwed to insure a flat surface. If you didn't put the heatsinks on correctly... you will either get the 3 red lights... or 2 lights. 2 lights means that it is overheating. If you did everything correctly it should work again. If it doesn't... repeat the reflow steps.