Death of an Xbox 360 Fanboy?
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
Well, it finally happened. Instead of seeing a green quarter light up when I turn on my Xbox 360, I get a red one. Just one, which apparently is worse than the infamous 3 red lights of death. It happened last night just after Deanna got home from work. I was all excited about the E3 trailers that hit the Marketplace and was dying to show her the Xbox Live Arcade montage as it featured sequels to a couple games she was really into. As the video was nearing the end, a band of pixellated noise stretched across the middle of the screen from edge to edge. I let out a little shreak as I pointed at the TV while covering my mouth. I quickly turned it off, let it sit for about 10 seconds while I shat my pants, then turned it back on. To my dismay, the bottom right quarter lit up red and error code E74 appeared on screen.
What Does This All Mean?
Surprisingly enough, I didn’t freak out right away. But I did run down to my office in the basement and Google the error. I found it amongst a list formed by the community at Xbox-Scene and it didn’t sound good.
E74: 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 so check that first. In rare cases it is a problem with the GPU.
Obviously, the first thing I did was try a different AV cable. No dice. I continued to read different articles that mentioned the error until I came across one that mentioned this error was corrected by swapping the power supply. Luckily, I have a second console that I use to capture screenshots for DashboardThemes.com, so I was able to try this out. Unfortunately, it didn’t make a difference.
Time to Call Xbox Support
I knew this was going to suck, but I picked up the phone at 11pm (they’re actually open until 1am) and called anyway. After sitting on hold for 45 minutes, I ended up speaking to a very cheerful woman who proceeded to get all of my info and register my console - I thought I had done that online when I first bought it, but apparently I didn’t. Once she had my info down, she started asking about my console. I started chuckling as I knew the serial number question was coming - this is funny because I painted my Xbox 360 black just after I bought it (in March 2006) and covered the entire back panel which displays all the console information. I know I should have masked it, but I literally thought about it as I was making my first pass with the paint. Anyway, this is when I told her that I had removed the case to paint it nearly a year and a half ago. Turns out there’s another spot where the serial number is located (inside the front USB port door) and that was that.
Once the console was registered, she started looking into the error. When she wasn’t able to find E74 in the database, I knew it was trouble. I was put on hold for about 10 minutes and asked to try a few obvious things when she returned - remove the HDD, try a different cable, all things I had done before calling. When the result never changed, she told me that I’d have to send in my console. As she’s explaining the process, she stops abruptly and I hear her speaking with someone else in the background. Her return was accompanied by a completely different attitude. All of the sudden she was stern and calling me sir. She then proceeds to tell me that Microsoft cannot repair my console because I opened the case myself. At the time, I totally lost it. Being somewhat of an Xbox 360 fanboy, I pretty much took this as a direct insult. She mentioned it’s their policy to reject any consoles that have been “tampered with”, and yes, it’s right there in the warranty manual. Of course, I didn’t bother to read that before hand and figured I had simply voided my warranty when I opened the case. Had I known I would have no official support what-so-ever, I doubt I would have followed through with the painting.
No Help From Microsoft, Now What?
By the time I got off the phone with Microsoft, it was nearly 12:30am. But I knew I wasn’t going to sleep if I tried without some sort of resolution. After a quick search, I found a company that does out of warranty Xbox 360 repairs. I emailed them to see if they had encountered error E74 before, to which I received the following reply early this morning…
That sounds like a motherboard level repair. Board level repairs are rarely possible with the Xbox 360. New motherboards are not cheap, right around $249 + GST installed, (when we have them available). Fell free to submit it for a free, no obligation estimate.
OK, now I’m fucked.
At this point, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do. Well, I do know that I’m going to send my console in and have them look at it. There’s still a couple things it could be, and that’s a better option than just buying a new one out-right. Knowing my track record with ATi, it’s probably the GPU. I’m actually hoping that it is the GPU as that’s probably a minor fix compared to the scaler chip or the motherboard itself.
Now I Wait
I’m going to ship my console off in the next few days and will have to wait until they can give it a look before I know the fate of it. If it’s bitched, Old School Gamer will buy it off me for parts and I’ll have to pick up a new Xbox 360. Which apparently is a whole other issue in itself. It seems that the Xbox 360 Elite is as rare as a Nintendo Wii these days. I haven’t been able to find a single Canadian retailer that has them in stock. So if it comes down to that, simply getting a replacement console is going to be a whole new adventure.
I must say, I’m feeling pretty fucked over at the moment. Yes, I opened the case. No, I didn’t break the console. This is not my fault. With a failure rate of 30% (that’s almost 1 in 3!) and the headline, “Microsoft Admits *ALL* Xbox360’s Are Defective” hitting the front page of Digg tonight, I’m having a hard time stomaching all of this. I love my Xbox 360 and I’ll defend it in any conversation as being the best gaming platform out there. But I’m really not stoked on the position I’m in and I wonder if I would even be willing to continue to support Microsoft if there was another option out there that even came close. Luckily for them, there’s not.
Even With a New Console, I’m Not in the Clear
If OSG comes back and tells me my console is dead in the water. I’m going to pick up another Xbox 360, if I can find an Elite that is. But I will still have a significant battle on my hands - getting all of my XBLA games, themes and gamer pics working for all profiles on the new console. I’ve written about this at length before, and a comment was made by a reader explaining a process to bypass the bullshit DRM that Microsoft has forced on us. But it’s one that takes weeks to complete and will result in many phone calls to Xbox Support.
I really hope that I can keep my spirits somewhat out of the gutter while I go try and get myself back up and running. Time will tell.
29 people have had something to contribute so far.
Dude, that sucks and sounds like a hellish ride…hope you find an Elite.
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It’s official. I deem the 360 to have a 100% failure rate. You’re the last person of about 10 360 owners I know to have their console die on them.
Good luck getting your console fixed. With a little luck, maybe just a solder point broke or something.
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I know that this was a problem. Fuck. Everybody have problems with their 360. This is just wrong and it’s just a matter of time now.
I hope that everything works out Matt, you are my 360 guru.
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That really sucks…
Ironically, I’ve seen dozens of Elite 360s sitting in south Texas.
Anyway, I don’t know if anyone feels like this, but reading against the black background really tires my eyes. Is it just me? Maybe increasing the line space a little bit would do.
Good luck with your xbox!
Greetings from Mexico
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Dude, I have been there before. Have you tried the towel fix? I have heard it works.. sure its crazy, but worth a shot.
360 Towel Trick (Engadget)
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Matt could you swap your body with the body of an unpainted 360? I know that sounds stupid, but what do u have to lose?
At least you have a reason to get the Elite.
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Sorry to hear about your issues bro, hope it isn’t totally dead in the water.
My best friends died on him last week… luckily the replacement process was really smooth.
My has a freeze issue that as of now I have been able to look past, but it is really starting to get under my skin.
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My DVD drive busted last night, this would be the third time my Xbox 360’s going back for repair. Getting really tired of this shit now. If I wasn’t a sucker for so many of the games, I’d drop the entire platform because of my crappy experiences.
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Let me just add another “that sucks” to the pile. If you have a spare 360, I’d say hold out until the Halo 3 edition 360 is released, but that only comes with the 20 gig harddrive for some strange reason, so Elite would be the way to go.
Bummer!
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I still have my Atari 2600 and it still works!
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Sorry to hear your pain I’m going through a similar problem apart from the opening the case issue, with my not so trusty powerbook g4 it’s about to have it’s 4th motherboard fitted wtf!!
I find it a funny rule that you can’t open the case, which is odd as you have brought the machine if you want to open the case shouldn’t it be your right. Of course then if you screw it Ms can just investigate and report their findings and then deny repair, it seems lazy and mistrustful of the user to dismiss out of hand.
I can remember a house I was living in we got a playstation 2 which was brought brand new then died due to a well known laser problem, but we feel into the same trap as you as an idiot we were living with opening the case without consent or knowledge of the owner.
I can remember the horror of finding him with the guts of the ps2 out and him looking pleased that he might be able to repair it, idiot!!
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I had my first 360 crap out on me in less than 3 weeks…DVD drive decided to stop reading discs. So far my current 360 is doing fine it seems…but sadly, its a matter of when (not if) it will break
I would call up MS support and just keep asking for the supervisor, than their supervisor, etc. Get as high as you can then explain that you painted your console black before hearing about the Elite. Basically, play the pity party card, and tell them they they will find NO evidence of the console being tampered with internally, you simply painted the outside of the casing…
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Thanks for the words of support. Much appreciated. If I didn’t have the back-up console, I’d truly be up shit creek. I just have to refrain from buying anything until I get this all sorted out.
Picked up a box and some bubble wrap to send it off in. Going to ship it this evening.
@Ronald: Seriously. I don’t know many people that have had an Xbox 360 for a decent amount of time that haven’t had a problem with it.
@Raz: Apparently, Elites are easy to find just about anywhere in the States. Haven’t seen one here for weeks. But with all this talk of the “fixed” consoles rolling out soon and the possibility of a price drop in the next few weeks, I think I’m going to wait it out.
@Colin: Yeah, I remember the towel trick. It’s supposed to be a temporary fix for the ring of death, but that’s not what I have. Just one light which indicates a specific hardware failure.
@Russ: Possibly, but I wouldn’t want to risk blowing the warranty and support for my other console.
@Joonas: Funny how this works, eh? I mean, if Xbox 360 wasn’t kicking so much ass right now, we would have all abandoned it. But knowing that you’re going to be missing out on so many great games… we’re just not ready to do that.
@Tony: Man, that Halo 3 console is ugggly! I like the scorch effects, but man, green, gold and orange. *barf*
@Dustin: Yeah, I had thought of that. I probably could fight it. But we all know how long and how frustrating that process will be. As much as I want my console working, I also want to keep my love for the Xbox 360 in tact. I really don’t want it spoiled by this whole experience, any more than it already has been anyway.
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So Matt,
I know your going to get an Elite if you can actually find one but surely your personal experience must show that you can’t actually recommend the 360 highly.
Im not a 360 user so please feel free to jump at me with an iron fist but can the gaming on the 360 make up for its renowned breaking down.
Microsoft eh?… More problems than a bucket with holes.
Keep your chin up man.
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@Gavin: The fact that I’m willing to go out and buy a brand new console (the most expensive bundle at that) should answer your questions. The hardware problems are definitely a downer, but everything else out-weighs them. And since they’ve extended the warranty, reimbursed everyone that’s ever paid for a repair (caused by the ring of death failure) and reportedly found the cause of the problems and fixed it, there’s really no good reason I shouldn’t recommend the Xbox 360.
I watched the Microsoft E3 conference last night and I’m even more assured that Xbox 360 is the way to go at the moment. Almost
every game that’s been showcased is available this year. Where as Sony has a couple big title available this year - GTA IV (which of course is not exclusive) and Unreal Tournament 3 (coming to Xbox 360 early 2008). There’s quite literally nothing in the near future coming out for the PS3 that’s worth getting that console for over the Xbox 360.
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So moral of the story…don’t paint your system
All kidding aside, once you get your elite, you have 3 years protecting you from the red rings (nothing else sadly) so keep that in mind.
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That really sucks Matt. Hopefully everything works out and you get an elite.
I’m on my third console since launch.
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@Matt:
Fair play, i’ve not really been a Playstation fan since the PS One, the lack in quality of the games being produced for it could never out way my feelings. (Im a PC Gamer at heart).
However I’ve just read that the 360 Elite will be out in Europe (Im from the UK) on August 24th, day before my birthday so we shall be seeing what happens with that.
Apparently because Europe isn’t getting the price drop we are going to be getting extra items bundled although we’re guaranteed to have the lower end games being bundled rather than the better ones.
Lets just wait and see.
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That sucks.
If it’s any help, you may want to read this:
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Microsoft_Surprisingly_Admits_That_ALL_Xbox_360s_Are_Defective_07002.html
Good luck finding an elite.
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elites are hard to come by in the durham region. I’m in south ajax.
I’ve only ever seen them at two places futureshop in the durham center (harwood and 2) and at wallymart over at brock and the 401 EB games in the area are worse off with the one in whitby telling me last week that they dont even carry the elite and to try pickering.
sucks for sure but hopefully the availability increases or heck take the trip to the USA since our dollar is so mighty right now.
cheers
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You know there’s something seriously wrong with your console when you need to resort to towels in order to fix them.
On a more serious note, it’s a damn shame that Microsoft still hasn’t “fixed” it’s console indefinitely. Regardless of the games, and the excellent online network, buying a hardware as unreliable as the 360 just isn’t a good investment in my opinion.
I know six people with the console, four of them have had it shipped for repairs (one of them has had it repaired twice now if I’m not mistaken).
Another one has to resort to the “towel fix” from time to time to play some games. The final one avoids playing the console too much, specially in hot days because he’s afraid it will break down.
The way I see it, the 360 is very similar to any major Windows release. At first it’s unstable and very fragile, but after a couple of years of patches and tweaks it finally becomes a decent or great product.
I think that you’re making a right decision in waiting out for the new models with the cooler processors, but I’d still rather invest my money in a more stable product.
Last weekend I hooked up my Sega Saturn to play Panzer Dragoon and it’s still working perfectly. How many 360 owners will be able to say that twelve years after they bought the console?
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I’ve had my 360 since launch without a problem so I feel lucky. I wouldn’t have the money to get a new one if it broke.
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Really sorry to hear about your 360, Matt. I have 2 friends and one cousin who have had to send their 360s back multiple times. I’m still on my first at this point.
Concerning the cost, I come from a PC gaming background, so the cost for another 360 system when mine dies (not if… I expect it to die) is marginal in comparison with replacing a burned out pc gaming system. If my 8800gts dies, I’m out $300 give or take. Not much difference in price between that and a 360, and that’s just one component.
Probably I’ll buy the Elite and keep the repaired current system as a backup when the red rings of doom show up.
The PS3 is tempting reliability-wise and hardware-wise, but I don’t see anything gaming-wise on the PS3 systems that is attractive except possibly running old PS2 games at 720p w/AA. I want to buy it, but I can’t justify spending the money. Sony really missed their target market in the USA with the PS3.
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Mine did the same a few days ago. It is starting to become apparent that all the xbox360 are failling at the same time with the E74 fault
With the rush to get them out they were rushing the contact gel on the chip. This in turn is drying out after about 18 month use and causing the chip to burn out.
I would say the Xbox 360 is now ticking time bombs waiting to go off.
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[...] hasn’t been a full two weeks since my Xbox 360 kicked it, but now I find myself backed in a corner, just about ready to jump ship entirely. Obviously, it [...]
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so i found the red lights too!!! So i went out into the shop, found a cable and a hook. I then hooked it up to my remote control helicopter and brought it up to about 150 feet.
I then turned the chopper 45* and lets just say that it was alive again!
OOOOOOOH did it come down fast and hard. This is my last product i buy from ms because its not worth the gas in my copper!!!!!
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dude…i know how you feel. REALLY. i got off the phone with microsoft for the three red light error 5 minutes ago, they’ll fix it for free they said….they would send a box right away they said…. they won’t fix it if it’s been tampered with they said….uh-oh. i didn’t say anthing about me like…openenig it up…, and so in a week i’ll get the box…send it…they’ll send it back to me unrepaired………just in time for my halo 3 preorder to arrive…and nothing to play it on. This really sucks. ;(…..boo-hoo…i just hope they’re in a hurry and replace my console straight off…i doubt it though…..looks like i won’t be able to sleep for the next month……and then there’s the wait for halo 3….and my xbox….;(
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Dude, same problems here with exactly the error codes and microsoft “assistance.”
Im not sure if there is a way of buying these parts but what the hell - its buggered anyway I`ll have a bash at fixing it.
Anyone know if theres a place to buy a scaler chip etc ?
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Hey I have had the exact same thing happen. In my case it was the E74 mixed in with the RROD (3 lights).
I opened her up only AFTER it died (having previously treated it like a princess). While I did have the returnoption wiht the RROD I knew that the 1 light E74 that came up was not covered by MS extended ‘admitted fault’ waranty.
So there was no way in hell I was going to pay MS ANY money to fix this problem when it is still as much their fault as the 0102 (3 lights) error is.
I’m absolutely disgusted at how xbox 360 owners have been treated. My box was bought in 2006 so fairly early. It has hitachi drive etc.
I had just over a year of it working with occasional screen corruption (a forewarning of ANA/Scaler or GPU problems to come) but was devastated to read that this INCREASINGLY common fault WASN’T covered under MS’s free repair.
Please everyone who’s been fucked over by MS sign the ‘recall xbox 360′ petition (yeah I know they rarely do any good but we need to vent somewhere).
http://www.petitiononline.com/360recal/petition.html
So I too have wasted £300 + £400 on games and accessories in the year I had the console working (and I never even played it that much).
Never again will I buy an MS piece of hardware because this has been the worst consumer electronics scam that i’ve ever been involved with and MS knew all along there would be faults both with heat, gpu and the stupid ANA chip they liked to brag about so much (Btw this chip was changed in the HDMI version, not sure if they still get E74s).
And for the record, I know 13 people personally who own 360’s and 8 of them have had them die (a few have had repaired ones go on to die again!). This is absolutely disgraceful.
MS conned a lot of gamers this generation and I hope that the ‘decent list of games’ doesn’t blind everyone to how much we’ve been treated as expendable sheep.
http://www.petitiononline.com/360recal/petition.html
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