E74 Error. Same root cause as RROD? Different Warranty?

Date: Tuesday, March 24 @ 22:55:17 UTC
Topic: Xbox 360

Hopefully you, like I are one of the fortunate Xbox 360 owners whom have not encountered this Error. But just what is the E74 and what does it mean to you if you encounter this?

Microsoft will only go so far as to describe it as a "General Hardware Failure", also stating that it is "NOT" associated with the RROD failure. The MS quote is "This error is unrelated to the three flashing red lights error and there is not a single root cause".

From the research I have done on fixes that work for the E74 error, It seems that they are indeed very much related.


The RROD error strongly believed to be caused by separation of the contacts on the processors from the MOBO do to something called "Dry Joint". A process that is normal over long periods of time but can occur prematurely by bad soldering at the factory which is what we seem to see with the 360. Fixes being tighter x clamps (helps get the connections back) and over heating (helps to remelt the solder again to get contacts back).

So with this lets take a look at the fixes that have been found by users to overcome the E74 error. The fix for the E74 (although maybe just temporary) involves the GPU (chip under the aluminum heat sink on the left), and either applying more pressure between the chip and MOBO, over heating or a combination. Again this seems very much a connection issue between the MOBO and chip set ie. DRY JOINT.

If this is the case and it seems it is, Then we have a system failure stemming from the same source, Bad soldering at the manufacture.

But here is the Kick in the head! RROD because it got so much bad press has gotten MS to offer a 3 year extended warranty for the RROD problem (DRY JOINT). The E74 error on the other hand is not covered in the extended warranty but rather limited to the 12 month basic warranty.

If you are past your 12 month warranty MS will be glad to fix the error for a cool $100, or that is what I have been reading from people posting on the issue. If it is indeed true that the E74 error and RROD are the same error from the same root cause but just on different chips, it seems a bit like MS is trying to get out of taking responsibility and screwing its customers, A cover-up?



One conspiracy that was going around recently is that MS had updated 360's through NXE that would change its internal programing to report the RROD error with just one red light and the E74 error to save money. This as far as I know has not been confirmed and reports of Xbox's still getting new RROD seems to support that this is just conspiracy. One fact that did seem to fuel the conspiracy are the trends on Google and forums reporting this failure surged in frequency matching the release of the New Xbox Live Experience. These may or may not be related. (see the Joystick.com Poll graph above showing the spike in E74 errors corresponding to the Nov release of NXE).

Some users have reported that the failure is actualy the solder on the ANA/HANA scaling chip apparently comes loose. (this is the small chip between the GPU and the fan, it is located under the fan housing with no sink). People have reported fixing this issue by placing several pennies together on top of each other and placing the stack on top of this chip which seems to help with the connection. Many of these fixes can be fond with an easy Youtube lookup.

Now weather it is the GPU or ANA it seems it all comes down to Dry Joint. MS giving warrenty for dry joint on one chip but not the others. This would be equivalent to a refinery making bad fuel, and will only cover aircraft that have engine failure from their fuel if it occures on a right wing engine but not the left wing!

It is looking very much like (but not confirmed) that MS is screwing the consumer, Its amazing that Xbox sales as well as it does. I personally feel the credit for this goes to the game developers. Take me for instance, I am on my 3rd 360, not because I like MS or the Xbox, but because the games are that good. Just like sometimes you have to take the nasty mother in-law with the hot wife.

I am hopeful that MS will do everything to avoid these problems in the future and the next Console will be solid as a rock!

Please report your E74 experiences or knowledge in our forums! I am by no means an expert on the subject and am sure many of our members would like further input on the issue from those that have experienced this or have better knowledge.

News-Source: Toms Guide
News-Source: Joystick



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