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The Xbox 360’s infamous three flashing red lights error has returned to bite Microsoft, with the company now confirming that it’ll cover “E74” errors under its three-year warranty programme.

The "E74" error is now covered under the three-year Xbox warranty

Image courtesy of 8BitJoystick

Microsoft admitted that a “small percentage of gamers” have reported receiving “E74” error messages on their screens and – following an investigation – it’s concluded that the problem can indicate a general hardware failure associated with the three flashing red lights problem.

Back in July 2007 Microsoft extended the Xbox 360’s warranty period out to three years to cover gamers against “certain general hardware failures”. Although it’s fair to say that the three red flashing lights problem – also known as the Red Ring of Death – was the main driving force behind the warranty extension.

By classifying the “E74” error as a general hardware failure, some afflicted gamers will now be able to get their consoles repaired under the three-year warranty programme.

Microsoft will also refund gamers who’ve previously paid for repairs caused by the hardware failure.

Although Microsoft has “made improvements to the console” to help reduce the likelihood of E74 errors occurring in future, the firm hasn’t said what the specific problem is.

But, according to a report by website 8BitJoystick, the error could be caused by hot air from the CPU and GPU flowing over the console’s ANA image scaling chip.

Further information about the three-year warranty programme is available online. ®

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