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Tutorial How to Fix E-74 Error and RRoD (Red Ring of Death)

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No pennies will be wasted.
The main purpose of this tutorial is for the E-74 error, and how to fix it yourself. All of this information was gathered from the internet and also my own trial and error. I will also review the RRoD repair with some custom tweaks. I have already completed the X-Clamp fix on my machine, so some parts may be improvised. Keep in mind, there is no permanent fix, therefore you may need to do this more than once, depending how much you play, one repair should last 1 month. Once the initial repair has been made, any instances to follow can be repaired very quickly (5 minutes). I will also show how to 're-fix' E-74, in case you experience another error later on. At your own risk.


How to fix E74 & RRoD
vvSTRIDEvv


e74035.jpg


e74001.jpg


Items Needed:

  • 12 5mm flat stainless washers
  • 20 5mm plastic washers
  • 8 M5 x .8 x 16mm machine screws
  • Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste (Radio Shack)
  • Thread lock Super Glue
  • Foam furniture disc (optional)

Tools:

  • T10 and T8, T6 Torx (Auto Zone in the Allen key style, cheapest way to get all the sizes)
  • Pliers
  • Phillips screwdriver
  • 1/4 inch socket
  • Tin Snips
  • Generic Heat Gun

Tutorials for opening the case:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj2A7mGGjuY[/ame]

Once you have your case open:


  • Remove the gold T bolts, and ring of light board to release motherboard.

  • Completely remove motherboard from chassis.

e74002.jpg



  • Next you will need to drill the original x-clamp holes on the chassis, so that your screws will fit.
e74003.jpg


  • Now superglue two plastic washers on each of the 8 holes on the inside of chassis, use the screws to hold in place till dry. Now the washers will not move. This is also a good time to glue the foam disc to the GFX (left) side of the chassis, as depicted.

  • Glue them down.
e74005.jpg



  • Hold with bolts till dry.

e74007.jpg



  • Remove bolts.

e74010.jpg


  • Now, if you ever need to do this again, you will NOT need to remove the motherboard. Since the bolts are on the outside of the chassis.

  • Now remove the original feet from the heat sinks, with the 1/4 ratchet, and throw them and the x-clamps in the trash.
e74020.jpg



  • Clean all excess paste from the sinks and the chips. You want the chips to be legible, and mirror finish. I use a q-tip with a little alcohol.

Dirty:
e74012.jpg


Clean:

e74014.jpg



  • Now that your chips are clean.

  • Next, you will need to 're-flow' the board with your heat gun, in the areas outlined in the diagram below. Start with the bottom of the motherboard, and make sure the board is sitting level. Heat gun on high for 3-4 minutes in circular motion. Watch this video for shielding and patterns.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Eyz0sOKR4[/ame]

Once cool you can re-install your motherboard

  • Put your washers on all the bolts, and push the first four through on the CPU (right) side.

  • Put more washers on the inside on top of the motherboard.
Should look like so:

e74024.jpg



  • Add the thermal paste to the top of the CPU chip, not too much:

e74023.jpg


  • Now you will need to carefully thread the heat sink on to the screws.

  • Tighten screws hand tight, then torque one 1/4 turn.

  • Don't forget the washer first. You should have one stainless washer at the head of the bolt against the outside of the chassis, and then the glued plastic ones, then one stainless on the board before the CPU heatsink. So, 2 loose washers per screw.


  • Now you can go ahead and put the other 4 bolts through on the GFX side (left).

  • Use the remaining 4 PLASTIC washers, and glue them CAREFULLY to the board. You only need a tiny drop.
e74025.jpg


IMPORTANT.

  • Take our snips and cut a piece of the metal heat shield off from the top of your plastic box case, it will pop right off the case top. You want a small piece that resembles the assembly of your graphics chip set.
e74.jpg


  • This piece will go over both chips and allow for more direct pressure.

e74016.jpg


  • To fit these chips.

e74019.jpg



  • Add thermal paste to chips, and put the metal piece you cut on top, then put more paste on top of the metal piece.

  • DO NOT PUT THE 2nd HEAT SINK ON YET.

  • Now you can plug your xbox in (power and AV cable), WITHOUT 2ND HEAT SINK, and turn it on. This will cause an instant 2 red light error (overheat).
e74032.jpg



  • Unplug everything, and now you can install the 2ND heat sink. Same thing, just hand tight, and then a 1/4 turn. Don't forget the washers, they should be glued down.

  • Once you have done that, plug it back in and test it out. Should work. BUT. If by any chance it gives you 3 red lights. Simply adjust the tourque of the bolts a little tighter, and try again. But at least you don't have to pull the board again..lol.
e74033.jpg


  • Now you can put the air duct, dvd drive back in, and the case back together. You should be in good working order.

e74034.jpg


Fast forward a few weeks, another E74. Easy to fix now.

  • Pull the case off.
  • Unscrew / remove the heat sink from the GFX chip set (left side).
  • Plug everything in and turn it on so you get 2 red lights.
  • Put the heat sink back on (re-paste optional).
  • Done.
I personally only put the bottom and right side (for HDD) back on the chassis, as shown in picture above. This allows for more circulation to the gfx sinks, and much easier to fix. Like I said, this will last me a month of playing everyday in all honesty. I am not stating this is a permanent fix, and as far as I know, this is the best way to fix E74.

Digg this thread w/ your Facebook login!!!
 
vvSTRIDEvv

vvSTRIDEvv

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re: How to Fix E-74 & RRoD

I just use it as insurance, and to stop some of the flexing, you can certainly do with out it, as long as you double up the plastic washers.
 
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re: How to Fix E-74 & RRoD

Very nice tutorial :thumbup: You explain things really well and your pictures aid in explaining too. The watermark is a nice plus. Nice job Stride. :smile:
 
Thug Aim

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Great tut, perfect timing as I just got E74 this past weekend. I'll try it this weekend and post results :thumbup:
 
vvSTRIDEvv

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Thug Aim said:
Great tut, perfect timing as I just got E74 this past weekend. I'll try it this weekend and post results :thumbup:

Cool, feel free to ask any questions. I figured that a lot of people will be needing an e74 fix, from spending so much time playing MW2..lol.
 
UnknowingAcorn

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epic tutorial, ive got a RRoD 360 elite sitting right beside me, im just too sketched to ever try this :frown: worried id end up breaking it way more lol
 
IronFalcon92

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I remember when it kept failing on you... and then somehow you had this bright idea to cut off some aluminum from the case to seal the heat sink better.. Great Tut. Keep it up:thumbup:
 
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iChakad said:
where do you get the foam furniture disc?
Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, K-Mart, or the furniture store.
 
Scar

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Good tut but I have never liked this method... As I have received countless RROD consoles with this EXACT method in them (removing that foam disc is a *****) and I can almost always remove this fix, put mine on and they work like new... I do use the metal shim alot, but using the metal shield from the case for it will not work as its not thick enough.
 
Korpsicle

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I used x-clamp fix about 6 months ago and haven't gotten another rrod since. And trust me, it's not because I don't play the damn thing all day everyday. I've never heard of the foam disc or a cut out of the case to put under the 'sink. All in all good tut.
 
vvSTRIDEvv

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Scar said:
Good tut but I have never liked this method... As I have received countless RROD consoles with this EXACT method in them (removing that foam disc is a *****) and I can almost always remove this fix, put mine on and they work like new... I do use the metal shim alot, but using the metal shield from the case for it will not work as its not thick enough.

All methods are temporary, honestly, though RRoD (CPU) fixes last longer. I have 4 consoles, 2 of which were repaired with your method as they DID NOT have an E-74, and it works great. I think the key here is, E-74, and how to maintain a console that has the error. As far as I know, there is no 'one time fix' for E-74. This means that you may need to reset frequently. Well, I got really tired of pulling the motherboard every time. This method allows me to repair the console in under 5 minutes with just a phillips screwdriver.
 
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IxI_DILL_IxI

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i tried this for my e74 and I cannot get it to work whatsoever =\. I have done over 100 rrod fixes all fine but this was my first e74 ;p. I cannot get it to work. Would a heat gun work better for me? O ye my secondary error code is 1022.
 
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ye if the heatsink isnt connected i get the instant overheat hook it all back up it goes back to e74
 
ddxcb

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I got a e74 fix it by adding a 3" 12v fan on top of the GPU its weird.
 
vvSTRIDEvv

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IxI_DILL_IxI said:
ye if the heatsink isnt connected i get the instant overheat hook it all back up it goes back to e74

I would focus on the re-flowing between the gfx and ana chips. That is odd to go back to an E-74 after the overheat. Normally if anything you'll get 3 reds afterward, and a torque adjustment is normally needed. The fact your going back to 74 tells me your solder is wack, and needs re-flowing.

Did your graphics ever go fuzzy? Or did/does it go straight to E-74?
You made sure to clean the chips real well?
 
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I just got 3 rrod, i started doing this method, but i just understand that it was for console that had 1 rrod or e-74 :S ... Would this method work for me ??
 
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