3 Year Warranty Extended to E-74 Error

Microsoft's three year warranty for the Xbox 360 now includes Xboxes that die from the dreaded E-74 error as well as the Red Ring of Death. This was revealed somewhat quietly by Microsoft who has seen an increase in the number of E-74 errors reported. Owners who paid for a repair during their first three years for an E-74 error problem should receive a refund.

Xbox.com describes an E-74 error as a graphics hardware problem.

Sadly, this announcement comes a little too late for me. My first two Xbox 360s both died from E-74, not RROD.

My very first 360 got the E-74 error from time to time but a quick reboot would usually make it go away. Then one day the graphics went weird(after an update to Orange Box). It returned to normal, but it wasn't soon after that my 360 went E-74 for good. It would only go to that error screen.

This happened after my 360 was out of its one year warranty. Microsoft didn't recognize the E-74 as a serious problem then. In fact, the person I talked to on the phone didn't understand what an E-74 error was.

I decided not to send it in and pay for repairs. Instead, I went out and bought an Xbox Arcade system and used my old harddrive and controllers. (I also didn't want to wait for repairs which at the time were a bit longer.)

My Arcade system died from an E-74 error within the first six months. This one I sent in since it was still under its year long warranty.

I am glad to see Microsoft taking the E-74 error seriously.

Xbox 360 Repairs: Day One

My second 360 died. I was playing Friday night, and some lines started appearing in the game. I was worried. My 1st Xbox 360 died from a bad video chip, also known as E-74 error. My 1st 360 had been out of warranty and I didn't want to pay and have to wait for repairs so I had gone out and just bought an Xbox 360 Arcade instead. After I finished my mission, I saved and powered down the system. Maybe it was just the game. Hopefully... I had a LAN party at the house the next day.

LAN party! I test the system. No lines at first, but they seem to come back after a bit, though. One friend is earlier than the others. He wants to play some GTA IV. No problem. Except when I put it in, there are tons of lines everywhere. After a few minutes, we eject it. Check Halo 3, the main fare for the day. Definitely some video interference here, but playable.

Another friend arrives. He suggests turning it off and turning it on. When I power it back on, it goes to the E-74 error page. It so far has not stopped going to that page.

Sunday I didn't call it in. I thought they might be closed. I was wrong, but that was my thought.

Monday I did call it in... at 11:40 pm. I was sick all day so I didn't feel like dealing with the Xbox phone support.

With support, I was able to get through quickly and my support guy was fairly painless. Yes, he had an accent, but he was understandable. I told him simply that they needed to send me a box to send in my 360 for repairs. I had to answer a few questions, but he only tried to get me to self-repair a time or two which I've already done all the "self-repairs."

Self-repairs are simply unplugging everything and then plugging everything back in, including harddrive. They also like it if you try to boot the 360 without the harddrive attached.

Anyway, my "coffin" should be here soon. I'll keep you updated.

My 360 finally died!

I was the last of a dying breed. Those whose original Xbox 360s still worked. Then last night, I was replaying Mass Effect and fighting the boss battle at Peak 15 when the graphics started getting lines through them(like when I updated Half-Life 2). I couldn't see and kept dying. Tried a couple restarts and it would still act up. Powered down and went to bed.

Played some this morning and after a short amount of time the lines came back. But now they were everywhere - Mass Effect, the Dashboard, Beautiful Katamari. Powered it down again.

Went back later and got an E-74 error message. I've gotten the E-74 error from time to time since getting my 360 in January 2006. Usually a quick reset and it's gone. But now my 360 refuses to do anything other than show the E-74 error.

An E-74 error means there is a 90% chance it's a scaler chip problem (the "ANA" or "HANA" chip near the AV cable connection). It can also be caused by a faulty AV cable, but I checked that. In rare cases, it is a problem with the GPU.



I talked to Microsoft, and they made me try a bunch of stuff I already tried on my own(unplugging and plugging back in cables, harddrives, etc). Shockingly, none of it worked this time either. So it needs repairs.

Of course, their system is down right now so they can't take my repair order. I should call back in 2-4 hours. And I asked about costs. Since I'm not under warranty and it's not the 3 Red Rings, it'll cost me around $99. Plus the time away from my 360.

I'm thinking about going out and picking up an Xbox 360 Arcade system and just throwing my harddrive on it.

On a positive note, I like the program who answers the phone for 1-800-4MY-XBOX. I've dealt with a few of these programs recently and Microsoft's seemed the most friendly and realistic. Of course, I still had to repeat most of the information to the real person I eventually talked to.