Xbox 360's class-leading warranty extended again to cover E74 errors
By Tim Stevens 
posted April 14th 2009 7:59AM
posted April 14th 2009 7:59AM
While long warranties are a strong selling point in the automotive world -- a sign of confidence from the manufacturer -- in gadget land bonus repair coverage usually comes along with some chronic problem. Most notable was the Xbox 360's iconic RRoD, and now a new failure is continuing that console's reliability black eye: the E74 message. It's said to be caused by a bogus AV connector or graphics chip, and while the message doesn't necessarily result in the same ring of crimson that caused Microsoft to extend the warranty the first time around, the company has announced it will cover E74-afflicted consoles for that same three year period, and will refund any money already spent by those fixing this issue. It's another classy move by Microsoft, but another worrying failure in an already disconcertingly fragile box.[Via Gamezine.co.uk]
You can guess how much money from each console's price goes to cover these cases ;)
Which is worse? Selling your console above costs and having a high return/repair rate, or selling it below cost and having very few repair issues? Guess it's a matter of personal preference. You get what you pay for.
At least big M is extending the warranty. They could be mean about but they aren't as far as I am concerned that is win. You have gotta crawl before you can walk and you have got to walk before you can run, Microsoft has probably learned a thing or two about quality control and hopefully will put a bit more thought behind behind the Xbox uh... Next??? I have no idea what they are going to call the next xbox.
anyone know the current manufacturing cost of the Jasper Xbox 360?? I was searching around the interwebs and couldn't find anything "recent". I'm just curious how much Microsoft is making off the current model, with the recent Wii manufacturing costs coming in much lower than expected.
@NHAnimator
I don't get what you mean. Microsoft sells the X360 well below cost, and yet has a high return/repair rate. If they charged more, that wouldn't make the return/repair rate any less.
@Tarnation:
"You have gotta crawl before you can walk and you have got to walk before you can run, Microsoft has probably learned a thing or two about quality control and hopefully will put a bit more thought behind behind the Xbox uh... Next???"
I don't recall this many problems with the original Xbox. Seems like quality control took a step backwards. But I am willing to be corrected on that assumption.
@Tonicboy:
"If they charged more, that wouldn't make the return/repair rate any less."
You're correct. Charging more doesn't affect the rate of return. But if they used better parts/QC/R&D, they may not have had these problems. They may have had to charge more for the console which was a decision MS did not opt for.
I really hope they don't start producing cars or commercial aircraft. Anyone want a ticket on Microsoft Airlines
@Ravi Kapoor
They're not making any money. The original estimate by iSuppli had the Xbox Arcade at $340 and $525. Even if they saw a drop in manufacturing costs equal to the Wii - which is unlikely as the Wii used less state-of-the-art components that have better economies of scale - they also cut the price by 33% so overall they have mostly passed along any savings they found.
@Ravi
Ravi, according to Liddell's last earnings call, they are still not making a profit on the Xbox console (hardware), hence the high COGS for E&D. But he wasn't too concerned about it in the long run. But E & D took a US$1.2 BILLION hit the last time they extended the warranty for RROD, so I'm curious to see what charge they take for this one.
shame it happened in the first place. Good they are doing something about it. kudos
yeah kudos for endless 360 hardware problems, great job Microsoft!
well said, kudos for microsoft stepping up to the plate
that said, I have a 360 Halo 3 Special Edition, NXE, that stays on for 12+ hours per day for the last 2 years, and I have yet to have a single problem with it.
So, I guess I am lowest ranked because it's the truth and the xbox 360 fanboys can't handle it.
Don't think that's the reason at all. And if you can't work it out for yourself then there really is no point in trying to explain it.
Kudos for stepping up to the plate? Seriously, if they factored in the amount of consoles that people bought just because theirs broke, their sales wouldn't be nearly as good as whats shown. 4/5 people i know have had xbox 360 issues. Some went through a very long process to get theirs repaired, others didn't want to bother with the wait and just bought new ones. KUDOZ 4 HAVIN DA MOZT FAIL3D SYZTEMZ EVER, GJ STAPPIN UP 2 DA PLATZ!!11
Why praise them for finally fixing countless issues that never should have been there in the first place?
@jeesusfreek: 12+ hours a day? Really? How about you turn it off for a bit so the rest of us can have some electricity?
You guys are right, how dare Microsoft support their product like this! They should just tell the people who bought them good luck have fun and I hope you don't mind spending another $100 to get it repaired, AGAIN.
Seriously, how the hell can you be pissed off at Microsoft for admitting there are problems with their console and offering, for FREE, to extend the warranty and fix the problems?
Yes, it is pathetic that the 360 has as many problems as it does, but to attack Microsoft for doing the right thing? Absurd.
TGianni
do you really think that when they ship a warranty console out they count that as a sale?
how many people do you really think went out and BOUGHT a brand new console because of the red ring? rrod you could have gotten fixed for free no matter what pretty much, and drive problems or other stuff would still be cheaper to go thru ms than buying a whole new one.
maybe if your using mommy and daddies credit card to buy your stuff, but i dropped $400 on a 360 (2006 model), it leasted almost 3 years and went out, got a new one for free and havnt had any problems... so in the long run im not complaining since being without my console for a week isnt a big deal.
Sweetness!!!
My friends Xbox just got that error. I told him to hold onto it and not to open it. This is really good timing!!!
yeah, if you're in warranty definitely send it in to MS. but mine finally red ringed 2 months out of warranty (was fine for over three years :( ), so i fixed it myself. if you're out of warranty, look at this: http://copronymous.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/fix-for-the-3rlod.pdf
not sure if it works for the E74 error.
ZuneHD?
at least they're offering free of charge warranty extension
(unlike some company I will refer to as company A that has problems in its build quality but wont even admit it)
Well said
i rather stick with ps3 "Almost never breaks or any sort of problems" over 360 which breaks easily/scratch disc/overheat/noise etc
i don't care about warranty for a a machine with high failure rate cause i wont buy it in the first place, why go through all the trouble
I'd rather stick with the console that is affordable enough to own, that I personally haven't had problem 1 with, that is quiet as a mouse when you download the game to the hdd, that has a far superior controller, and that all my friends have.
My ps3 is for playing blu-ray movies only. It's a neat toy.
Are you talking about Asus? Yeah, their build quality sucks now that they've targeted the mainstream market.
Can you people give up on the noise/overheating 360s? My 360 hardly makes any noise/ never overheats! You guys just enjoy stretching the truth in Sony's favor. The PS3 and 360 are good about keeping the heat down.
You're absolutely right about 'company A'
@ sweet greggo: your whole statement included stipulations.
what's affordable to one, isn't the same for another.
you, 'personally' haven't had any problems. what about the millions who have?
quiet as a mouse, 'when' you download to the hdd. let's download everything, so it doesn't sounds like a jet taking off.
far superior.. according to who? the video game police? the fbi? god?
all your friends? hahaha.. good one..
about fucking time they owned up to their shit!!!
Now with that said can we expect to see them make a BETTER console next go round???
Because something tells me that if MS has another shitty product they wont have so many people willing to ride out thru the bullshit. REGARDLESS of how many games they have. if anything this just means that I will most likely wait 4 years into the next cycle to get the next Xbox instead of the 3 that I have with the 360.
Both Sony & MS need to learn from their mistakes Next Gen and improve. Sony with Software & MS with Hardware
not really. Xbox360 games have nearly been pushing the graphical limits of the xbox for a while. They need to come out with a new console within next 2 years
To be fair at least they're owning up to their mistakes - And for all the problems we've (I've) had with 360s I've still spent more time playing mine than the majority play either of the direct competitors.
Hopefully Microsoft will build for reliability next time, it really is the only thing they got wrong.
not really what???
My PC already tears apart Xbox 360 and PS3 test-wise.
I play GTA 4 at 2560x1600 at 60 fps.
We need new consoles yesterday! They're outdated already. I think we'll have them with DX11 onboard.
Typical, my Xbox showed this error last month, and after having it for 13 months! And Microsoft wouldn't do anything about it, so I ended up having to buy a new one!!
So far I am really unhappy with Microsoft and there Xbox customer care and will definitely consider getting a PS3 if it fails again
You heard all the reports of this error popping up, and instead of waiting a bit before you bought a new console you ran out and wasted money. Now you're complaining that you're unhappy?
You can still send in your old console and have it repaired, why don't you do that?
But how should I know how long to wait? The guy on the phone said, its not a common problem and that's the reason why its not covered by the extended warranty, I explained that if you just Google to issue there are hundreds of people reporting the same problem and he just said again "its not a common problem"!!!
So there was no indication that they were going to include this issue a month later, otherwise I would have waited!!!
I think really Microsoft should do the right think and make this extended warranty cover all hardware issues that aren't obviously caused by user misuse!!! Come on Microsoft out your money where your mouth is and start treating your customers fairly.
I'm sorry to inform you, but you're a moron for buying a new one.
Either way, have the warranty repair done would have been cheaper then buying a whole new console. And if/when this issue was covered under the extended warranty it would have been refunded back. Also you still could send in the old one for a free repair and then sell it on ebay or some other way to get some of the money back from buying a new console. Or keep it around as a spare or secondary machine for lan parties or such.
What I am really wondering is wtf are people doing to their machines to cause all of these problems. It has to be something enviromental or frequently moving the system around. I have had 2 360s and neither one of them ever had a problem. The only reason I bought a second one was to get an HDMI model because I had a launch Pro. I sold back my original Pro just before the last price drop and got almost $200 for it. Then bought a new HDMI Pro for roughly $100. Of the dozens of people I personally know with 360s only one has had a RRoD and it was fixed under the extended warranty.
I did the same thing.
Reason being: $100 for a 'fixed' console with a 30 day warranty on it, or $200 for an arcade with full warranty and new processor. With all the problems that have happened, I opted to spend the extra $100 and just swap hard drives and cables. I waited two weeks before doing it and argued on the phone to the tune of "not a common problem."
Now I guess I just get the old one fixed and ebay it as an arcade.
I fixed my friend's E74 using the llamma xclamp fix. $10 and about 1 hour of my time and it is working great now. Even if the shit was warranty'ed i'd still fix it myself because they're still putting xclamps in these things!
Whoop whoop!
£60 refund for Jamesy
I'm still pissed off that the replacement console they sent me after a RROD is louder, the power button doesn't have a button feel, and it took over 4 weeks to get to me (the depot is about 20 minutes away).
I agree, instead of MY console I got back a refurb with some scuffs on it and a flaky power button.
Interesting. I got mine back in a week and it is quieter, cooler, and the button acutally has some feel to it, unlike my original.
I must be extremely lucky as my original 360 purchased in 2005 still works perfectly. I use it every day. Good to know about the new program in case it fails one day.
Good to know! I thought I was the only one who still had a working 2006 release day 360. I haven't had a single problem with mine either.
Mine has also been humming along since release without a single issue. None of this disc scratching issue because I don't riverdance next to the console, no red rings, just lots of gaming enjoyment every night.
i have a release day elite... no issues until the last month... all of a sudden: frequent freezes, pixelation. and when it freezes you get a really loud noise! i'm scared of it damaging my AV receiver.
I got this error yesterday.
I broke the seal and dived in.
I am an idiot.
I had this error a while back. I opened up my box and fixed it. then it happened again. So I'm sure that I'm out of luck. I think that I will try anyway. Why? Because I called up Microsoft and they told me it was out of warranty. So I think that I might be able to fight with them on this. Will not hurt to try though.