Xbox 360 – Still Feeling Gamed?

This is a quote given in 2007 by the president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, Robbie Bach, regarding the famed ‘Red Ring of Death’: “The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one.”

And this is a quote posted yesterday on Microsoft’s Help and Support site, regarding the increasingly famous E74 error message: “While the majority of Xbox 360 owners continue to have a great experience with their console, we are aware that a very small percentage of our customers have reported receiving an error that displays ‘E74’ on their screen.”

A quick search on FixYa reveals that due to these two common problems, as well as many other potential issues, the majority of Xbox 360 owners aren’t having such a great experience with their console. On FixYa’s new Recommendations section, you can see that the Xbox is far from being considered the Best Video Game Console, with only 187 recommendations, vs. 703 for the PS2. When advising FixYa’s users on whether or not to purchase an Xbox, Experts cite the many ways that the Xbox can break down.

But there is a glimmer of hope- though they may not yet have a fix for the E74 error, Microsoft announced yesterday that they have extended their warranty to three years for general hardware failures indicated by the E74 error message. This is similar to when they originally extended their warranty to three years back in July 2007, in order to cover the notorious ‘Red Ring of Death.’

According to the announcement, Microsoft will refund to customers the amount paid for an out-of-warranty repair due to the hardware failures associated with the E74 error message. These customers should automatically receive the refund within 4-12 weeks, without taking any additional action. However, if a customer has not received a refund by July 1, 2009, they should visit www.xbox.com/support before November 1, 2009 for information on how to place a claim. For additional information about this error, Microsoft recommends viewing this article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.