NOT retro, but what to look for in an xbox 360 E74 fix??

Well some words here:

1- E73 and E74 are problems with the EDRAM die on the GPU package.
2- Reball is no solution for this problem as the balls that are cracked are part of the GPU itself (the balls that bind the EDRAM package into the organic substrate)
3- Reball might make it work for a short while, but this fault is of the exact same nature as the nVIDIA fiasco of 2008.
4- GPU replacement is the only real fix.
5- This has nothing to do with the ANA/HANA chip.

Stay away from "pseudo fixes" such as bake the board or heatgun.

Send it to a professional repair center if you like it a lot or buy a new one for less headaches in the future.

 

As you've given me a very knowledgeable impression to say the least, I won't argue if you insist on this, but just about everything I've read on the issue earlier actually points out the HANA as the most common culprit. I've also read reports in various forums of people fixing the E74 error by reflowing/reballing the HANA, not even touching the GPU, which could be considered as some kind of proof. Here's the first one I found by googling. In my opinion it would be quite the fluke if a problem with the GPU just fixed itself while you were working with the HANA

 

The information about the meaning of the error codes came from reverse engineering of the XBOX360 kernel. There's no voodoo on that.

And if there were HANA/ANA problems your video would be more like this:


Instead of blank stripes and "static" on pixels which obviously reflect RAM problems. The screenshot came from my 2006 Xenon console which failed in December 2010 (this one WAS a fault on the connection ANA > GPU) and results on the console booting with perfect sound but no video at all. A reball would possibly repair this unit.

 

I guess I stand corrected then. You always learn something new

When you say it, I do agree that it looks like something RAM related on his screenshot, (though it didn't feel all to far off to me that HDMI controller related problems could show similarly looking symptoms), and yes, if there are broken internal connections in the chip itself, there's no way in hell one can repair that with any kind of reliability using the kind of equipment available to your random console repair guy.

 

so, just buy a slim then? do not get this fixed as its not repairable?

 

Depends on how much you like the broken console. The proper repair requires a GPU chip replacement. So it really boils down to how much you're willing to pay to see that unit working again (it won't fix the issue that made it break so it will break again eventually) and it might be better on a economical standpoint buy an more resilient version of the hardware.

My broken Xenon was replaced with a Halo Reach edition slim.

Anyway it works great and should keep working for the next few years.

 

hmm. of course the reballing guy made it sound so simple.
I am in sales as a manager and was sold. how typically ironic.

anyhow, yes he said that a reball of the GPU chip with the leaded solder, faster fan and xclamp adjustment would give me several years more on it.

Oh, if it even matters at all, my proper error code is 1022 which typically means AV Cable, which is bullcrap of course.

 

Ok let's break down that 1022 for you:

Consider that 74 (decimal) is 01001010 in binary ...

The ring of lights has a method to forward a fault code in the event that the video cannot be initialized and each pattern means:

00 = four lights blinking
01 = one light blinking
10 = two lights
11 = three lights blinking

so 1022 breaks down as 01 00 10 10 which converted from 8 bit binary to decimal is 74.

 

thanks. i give up btw.
The 360 is going in a box now. out of sight, out of mind.
I was just getting 6 hours into New Vegas too.

I cannot get a slim now, and i will not set myself up for 2x $100 repairs on the same unit which it sounds like is the path i will take if I do not get things physically replaced.

will be calling M$ (havent used the dollar sign since forever, seems fitting now ha) and telling them to put my live gold account on hold and will get a transfer cable for the HDD if i ever do get that slim.