Quote:Is "E74" the Xbox 360's new Red Ring of Death?
Bloggers unearth worrying trend

By Mike Smith

After declaring the Xbox 360's infamous "Red Ring of Death" hardware failure fixed, Microsoft could be in for a whole new headache.

Video games blog Joystiq.com has been researching an Xbox hardware error that, it claims, appears to have been sharply increasing in prevalence since the so-called New Xbox Experience upgrade -- which overhauled the console's user interface -- debuted in November 2008. The error, which manifests itself as a black screen with the code "E74," is thought to be caused by failing video hardware. Most importantly, it isn't covered by the extended warranty Microsoft introduced after the last round of failures, and afflicted gamers must pay over $100 for a repair.

According to a poll conducted by Joystiq's Justin McElroy, "of those claiming to have gotten the error, only 42 percent said that they had received it before the NXE update. To put that another way, 58 percent of the reported E74s have come in the last 12 percent of the console's life." A poll on general tech blog Engadget, which heard from over 1600 readers reporting E74 errors, was in close agreement with Joystiq's findings. "The obvious conclusion is that the system is being taxed by NXE in such a way that it's more prone to E74," McElroy said.

A Microsoft rep told Joystiq: "E74 is a general hardware error on Xbox 360 indicated by a single red flashing light in the Xbox Ring of Light and an error message visible on the television. This error is unrelated to the three flashing red lights error [or "Red Ring of Death] and there is not a single root cause. We encourage anyone who receives this error to contact Xbox Customer support." Microsoft also pointed out that most Xbox owners don't experience any problem with their consoles.

Clearly unimpressed, McElroy hit back in a blog posting yesterday.

"The company seems to want to rebuild a relationship with hardware consumers after losing the trust of many with the [Red Ring of Death] debacle, but not talking about something that's clearly a widespread problem seems like a terrible way to start," he said.

' Wrote:I'm tempted to not play on my Xbox until they release a fix for this. 100$ is a bit much for someone on a student budget >.>