Red light and E74 problem

[ghost.x74]

Hi

A friend of mine has got one red light showing up on his 360 and an E74 error code. I have done a couple of quick searches through google and there seems to be a whole bunch of different ways of repairing this problem. I have seen methods that involve using towels, heatguns, pennys, clamps etc etc.

I have offered to try and carry out any work that needs doing and he is willing to to spend a small amount of money on some parts if required. I would like to know if there is a solution to this problem that is long lasting or even permanent. My friend lives a good distance away from me so it would not be an ideal situation if I had to repair his 360 every couple of weeks.

If some of you could point me towards some good information/websites to help me solve this problem then that would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[dalecheesy]

Before doing any fix try another AV cable as the E74 can also indicate a faulty one. Technically none of the diy solutions available to fix the problem are permanent. Out of all the fixes I tend to stay away from the towel one though but it's down to a matter of preference.

[ghost.x74]

Thank you for the quick reply dalecheesy.

He is going to bring the console over to my house tomorrow so I will just replace his AV cable with mine first. Hopefully that will do the trick.

I dont fancy doing the towel trick myself, it doesn't look that good and others who have done it dont seem to think that it lasts that long.

[dalecheesy]

Fingers crossed it's just a faulty cable. Yeah out of all of them it's the least likely to work . Either the penny trick of the x-clamp are the preferred methods. I've done a couple of x-clamps and they're still going strong (one 3 month and the other about 5). Its also worth investing in high quality thermal paste .

[ghost.x74]

Where did you get the materiels/kit needed to do the xclamp (just incase I need to take that route)?

I have heard that there are some xclamp kits that are better than others in terms of the quality of the components. I have a good electronics store not to far from me so getting a good thermal paste should not be a problem.

[dalecheesy]

My mate ordered a few off ebay. They were the allen key bolt ones which we managed to tighten up quite securely and didn't require the metal base to be drilled like some do. Think you can also purchase m5 bolts,spring washers etc from a good hardware store but the length would have to be ok. I think they were about 10 to 15 mm or thereabouts in the kit.

[Hackedit]

You can actually go to your local hardware store and pick up the needed hardware for the X-Clamp mod. But yes like he said first thing to try is another set of AV cables. Then the mod, you DO NOT attempt the towel fix.... this will not be any good for the system and will only last no more then an hour or so. Good luck, hopefully its the cables and nothing else. If you have any questions about the hardware needed let me know.

Edit: Ill just tell you what's needed to save time. You will need 8 #10-32 bolts prefferably one with a large head and 3/8 in length anything else will be to short or to long. And 16 nylon washers, you can pick all this up at home depot for under $5.

[ghost.x74]

Hey thanks guys.

I have just ordered a couple of these kits from ebay. They only cost 4 euros each

I figured that even if I dont need to use them this time around, they are bound to come in handy sooner or later.

With the amount of different problems/errors that they seem to fix, it seems that they are a useful kit to have lying around just in case.

[CoFree]

here is a guide on doing the xclamp
viewtopic.php?f=198&t=511" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DarkSide]

The most long lasting fix would be a gut swap.

[ghost.x74]

Thanks Cofree, that is a nice clear tutorial.

Darkside, what is the gut swap?

[Backslash]

Oh no....it will consume you just like it did him!

not something the faint at heart should try

[dalecheesy]

There ya go Darkside that's another unsuspecting sole drafted into your evil minions.

[ghost.x74]

Ha ha

I think im starting to jump the gun a little here.

Hopefully he will just need a new AV cable, if not then hopefully the x-clamp will do the trick.

Its very easy to get carried away when you start reading up on things like this

A few minutes ago I had around 40 web pages opened at once and youtube videos and pdf documents opened up all over the place.

It was just chaos

[jockavelli]

Gutswap.........

Oh



Gutswap............


its calling you.

Thats what i do now, i dont waste my time with RROD now.

MS know all about & WONT fix it so they can get a dud back while i get a new one & keep my hard earned pennies.
End of rant lol