Microsoft extends Xbox 360 warranty to cover E74 failure

[1cooldude]

Just as Microsoft had recovered from the Xbox 360's notorious "Red Ring of Death" fiasco another big hardware error has begun slaughtering its boxes.

The Xbox 360 "E74 error" has become enough of a problem that Microsoft is now covering it under the console's extended three-year warranty reserved for RRoD failures. Redmond is also retroactively covering the issue, reimbursing Customers who've already paid for E74-related repairs.

Gaming sites that have been tracking the error, most notably Joystiq, indicate the E74 error has become increasingly frequent since mid-2008. It's believed most E74-related issues are caused by solder on the Xbox 360's ANA/HANA scaling chip coming loose rather than the RRoD's CPU/GPU problem.

Before the error, the console usually displays graphical glitches such as lines across the screen or static. The box's final death rattle comes as the on-screen E74 error message informing the user in several languages to contact Xbox customer support. There's also typically a single red light lit up at the lower right quadrant on the "ring of light" on the front of the console.
Standard warranty for the Xbox 360 is one year, but Microsoft had extended the warranty for RRoD failures to three years after the error proved a source of an "unacceptable number of repairs." Until today, E74 was only covered by the Xbox 360's normal warranty - so E74 victims footed the repair bill after the year was up.

Microsoft is now including E74 failures in its extended three-year warranty. Customers who already paid for E74-related repairs will also automatically receive a refund within four to 12 weeks, the company said today.
From Microsoft's E74 support page:

http://support.xbox.com/support/en/u...egory=hardware


While the majority of Xbox 360 owners continue to have a great experience with their console, we are aware that a very small percentage of our customers have reported receiving an error that displays “E74” on their screen. After investigating the issue, we have determined that the E74 error message can indicate the general hardware failure that is associated with three flashing red lights error on the console. As a result, we have decided to cover repairs related to the E74 error message under our three-year warranty program for certain general hardware failures that was announced in July 2007. We have already made improvements to the console that will reduce the likelihood of an occurrence of this issue.

Source...

[kollkolen]

I believe that this is part of the result of the manufacturer being in a rush to get product on the market and just good old fashioned bad engineering. The sad part is that the Sony ps3 seems to be performing just as badly in the reliability market. Typical, Price goes up and quality goes down.

[Mels_Smileys45]

I guess at least they did not "Toyota" it. Its good that they are fixing his bad product. I remember how Sony did people who had bad Play Station ones. The tracking mechanism used on the CD drive wore out really fast. If you flipped the thing upside down it would use the other side of the track and the consumers could make their PS work for awhile longer until that side wore out as well. Sony never addressed this issue or at least I never heard about it if they did. I went through two of those POS bricks. I am sure its not an issue anymore...lol I hope. Its a shame that hardly any of those units surviced. I wonder how many people had those units fixed somehow. Oh well, MS sure did put out some crappy work and they just opened the door for Sony ay a VERY critical moment in the video game world market place. Its almost like fate dealt Sony a huge helping hand. The door is open and already Sony's PS numbers are rising beyond 360's!!! This has happened MUCH sooner than I thought it would. I knew it would happen eventually because the PS3 is built for tomorrow and will be a long lived console much like the PS1 enjoyed. The PS2 is still showing a large following and still sells in great numbers. Sony know how to build a console that will be good for tomorrow. And yes Sony, thats a freebe. Feel free to steal that from me. The next time you gots to pay!

Enough rambling. MS, you F'ed UP!