Xbox 360 arrival.. and frustration (QUICK HELP PLZ)

[Gothch1ck]

I described it in here:
http://www.techist.com/forums/f16/xbox-360-journey-completion-203168/

however I felt the need to make a new thread, to get quicker support.


My 360 arrived, with Microsoft Sticker in tact, however talkin on the phone (and getting this one serial in my name sadly) reveals it is OUT of warranty and will cost too much to repair.


The box was supposed to have RROD.. it has E74 instead... talkin with the seller on Ebay is going no-where even though they clearly advertised a "Three Blinking Red Lights" description, they feel they are in the clear since they also put "As-Is"

*grrr*

Will the hybrid fix, fix E74? WTF is E74 anyway? I am crying now... why can't things go my way for ONCE?!

E74, by Xboxexperts.com states:
Known fixes:
1)If you soldered anything to the mainboard before it occured, whatever you are powering from this point is drawing too much power so get rid of it.Also get rid of everything that you can see that might bridge anything near the GPU.
2) X-Clamp replacement
3) Reflowing the solder with a heatgun(Concentrate on the GPU and (H)ANA chip


I don't believe option 1) was done, since my 360 has its Microsoft sticker in tact I don't think it's case has been popped (Tee-Hee I got a Virgin 360). I will closely look at the Pop Tab spots for signs of distress from Screwdrivers however, just in case.

There are no seen signs of opening, not one dent or scratch big enough to be it, minor smudges on the white plating only.. remarkable condition really...

There is a sound when I moved it however.. that sounded like a very, very tiny metal fragment (like solder perhaps?) rolling around in there.... perhaps something loose... or something worse...


I need advice.. please... should I break the seal and pop her open? (tee-hee again) The system IS out of warranty.. so I guess the seal means nothing now.... or should I try to send it back to the Ebay seller and get the right one or maybe one not damaged at all?

 

[35g700]

The x-clamp should mod should fix it. YouTube - Xbox 360 E74 fix

I would go ahead and try to fix it. The x-clamp mod has worked for both 360's I have fixed.

 

[Gothch1ck]

Ok.. now that I got some feedback.. it has given me the power to go ahead through with this. Screw that ebay seller, if this doesn't work I'll undo my work and send back the piece and get a replacement. Mwahahaha (and no I wouldn't do this if they would TALK to me instead of automated replies EVERY single email.)

I has the powerrrrrrrrr. Grrrl Power!


Popped her, and she has a Heatpipe system too, must not be "that" old eh?

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

E74, if I recall correctly, is an error involving either the video cord or the analog encoder chip. Since it's probably not the video cord (they wouldn't have sold it broken due to a bad cord), it is probably the analog encoder.

First do the X-clamp mod. Even if your system worked fine, I'd still recommend the X-clamp replacement (or "hybrid x-clamp replacement") because it reduces stress on the board and can therefore keep the RRoD away. However, if that does not fix it, you may try reflowing (heating) the analog encoder chip. This chip, labeled ANA or HANA (depending on whether or not you have an HDMI port, HANA is the HDMI version), is located above the GPU near the video connector. Its function isn't entirely known but it is pretty obvious that this chip is responsible for encoding the digital video stream into various analog signals (composite, component, S-Video, VGA, analog audio, S-PDIF digital audio, and possibly HDMI (only HANA chip), maybe others for non-US regions). If this chip has a bad connection the console will report the E74 error. One fix I saw for this is the "penny trick", similar in theory to the X-Clamp Replacement, it involves using a stack of pennies that are taped together to apply pressure to the top of the ANA chip to repair it. I haven't had any problems with my ANA chip so I'm not sure.

If you have a heatpipe (the one going from the GPU to the extended heatsink in front of the CPU heatsink), you either have a Zephyr (second revision board w/ HDMI) or a refurbished Xenon (Microsoft replaced the old single heatsinks with the extended ones on returned RRoD systems before shipping them as warranty replacements). Less likely you could even have a Falcon board, check the 12V rail to see what the amperage is, if it's 16.5A you have either a Xenon (no HDMI) or Zephyr (HDMI) and if it's 14.2A you have a Falcon (HDMI and newer 65nm CPU). If it's 12.1A you have a Jasper but since those are brand new I highly doubt you have one.

 

[Gothch1ck]

well I don't think it's the actual cable sadly, since I used the component (ok never plugged into a device, but plugged it in to the console) and it had the blinking red, and I have plugged it in fully to my monitor via HDMI and it blinking red light... it's funny... with no cord in for video.. no red light appears.. lol.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Yeah, must be a thing with HDMI consoles...my Xenon console flashes 4 red lights when no cable is connected but my new Jasper doesn't flash any lights, just the green Power light. Must be a thing with the HDMI consoles (probably the HANA chip, since it is in charge of the video cables).