After the whole “Red Ring of Death” fiasco, you’d think Microsoft would be a little more forgiving when it comes to Xbox 360 hardware failures. Apparently not, though.

A longtime Xbox fan turned on his 360 unit recently only to be greeted with a single flashing red light and error code on his TV screen. But since the console itself was not displaying three flashing red lights on the power button, as indicated in the extended warranty terms, Microsoft wouldn’t replace it for free. His full letter can be read after the jump.

Microsoft recently extended all warranties to 3 years for all Xbox 360’s dealing with the “Red Ring of Death”. What you have to read in the fine print though, is that the extended warranty only covers the very specific “3 red lights”. No more, no less.

Three days ago my Xbox took a turn for the worst while playing a game of Team Fortress 2. During the match my screen started rapidly flashing green and vertical lines appeared. I figured it was just a glitch so I shutdown the Xbox and restarted, I still had the problem. I tried several different games (Oblivion, Orange Box, Rock Band, GoW, Condemned 2) and every single one of them has lines in the screen. I tried 2 separate LCD TVs and 2 separate video cables. All had the same result, lines in the game-play.. Here are some screenshots.

I then went to turn the Xbox on the following morning and received a flashing red light and an error code on the screen. I looked up the error code online and found this: E74: There is high chance it’s a scaler chip problem (the “ANA” or “HANA” chip near the AV cable connection) it can also be caused by a faulty AV cable so check that first. In some cases it is a problem with the GPU

I believe the problem only occurs in areas of the screen that are being rendered 3D by the on-board video. Its pretty obvious that the video and/or motherboard are malfunctioning in some form. If you have a look at the screenshots you will see that all 2D graphics (in-game HUD, dashboard) are all fine, only 3D rendered graphics have the issue.

I called Tech support and they said the new 3 year warranty will not cover this issue. I thought this was pretty outrageous. The Tech said I would have to pay to have the unit shipped and pay to have it fixed. This is obviously a defect in the Xbox. This is my second box (First one RRoD) and has been working with no issues for just over a year.

So now my wallet in $107.00 lighter, and I will be without my console for a month. I have been nothing but an Xbox 360 fan and evangelist. I was the cornerstone for 5 of my friends purchasing the console, and now I have been let down. They took care of my first console with defects but refuse to take responsibility for an obvious manufacturers defect on my latest box.

I think that when its working the Xbox 360 is a great product, anyone trying to decide which console they should buy should take Service and Support in to consideration. My experience has let me down.

It’s a shame that Microsoft would not replace the unit. Given the described symptoms, clearly something was wrong with one or more of the hardware components inside of the 360.

“Red Light Of Death” Xbox Owner Wants Same Extended Warranty As “Red Ring Of Death” Sufferers [Consumerist]

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