RRoD question

VinLieger

Okay this morning i got one red light on my console, and E74 error which is hardware related. However this error is only covered by the 1 year warranty which expired about 6 months ago.
So my question is does anyone know how i can force an RRoD so i can get it repaired under the 3 year warranty? cus i dont have 80 quid to spare at the moment.
Diet: Just heard off a friend that if i quote The Sales of Goods and Supply of Services act at them they have to do it for free is this true?

h8red

Hop it off the wall a few times?

Nedved85

Hi, i had this aswell, exact same situation, 1 1/2 years old, Ring M$ and they will tell you what you need to do to get it fixed, theres a 2 year guarantee for that error 74. Got mine fixed for free under this guarantee so happy days.

animaX

This **** is microsoft's fault. Happened to me too. E74's have been on the rise lately apparently due to the big dashboard update. Only problem is: their million-euro lawyers vs. us quoting a law we don't understand, there's only going to be one winner!

VinLieger

Nedved85 wrote: »

Hi, i had this aswell, exact same situation, 1 1/2 years old, Ring M$ and they will tell you what you need to do to get it fixed, theres a 2 year guarantee for that error 74. Got mine fixed for free under this guarantee so happy days.

Are you sure about this? They told me thats its only covered under the 1 year gurantee

Karmafaerie

There is no 1 year warantee for electronic items in Europe.
That's accross the board from PC's to toasters.

In Ireland there is the SOGSOS Act as stated, which states that all electronic goods have to be of satisfactory working condition for 2 years after point of sale.

This isn't the case outside of the EU, so MS have a one year warrantee.
They try and tow the line with EU customers, as do every other company, but if you're wise to the law you'll get it fixed for free.


THis has happened for me with Dell, Komplet, Curry's, and MS.

AS soon as you point out the law, it gets resolved straight away.

VinLieger

Just rang them up went through the whole process and asked them if it was under warranty. They said it wasnt, i then quoted the SOGSOS and they basically told me to **** off and then the prick wouldnt connect me to his supervisor and hung up

TheMooseInNam

animaX wrote: »

This **** is microsoft's fault. Happened to me too. E74's have been on the rise lately apparently due to the big dashboard update. Only problem is: their million-euro lawyers vs. us quoting a law we don't understand, there's only going to be one winner!

I've been following this on JoyStiq Xbox http://xbox.joystiq.com/ and it does definitely seem to be on the increase since NXE's launch. MS certainly don't want another RROD fiasco and expecting the customer to pay for a fault mainly caused by their Nov update isn't going to be acceptable. JoyStiq seem to be championing us, the consumer, on this issue. They have a strong voice in the games industry and are probably our best bet at getting MS to acknowledge their design fault and offer an extended warranty.

Unfortuantely, it's too early in the process and anyone suffering E74 now that's out of current warranty will probably have to front some money to get it fixed quickly. There do seem to be a few quick fixes on the net for some of the related E74 faults so I'd do a bit of research first before sending the console back to MS (if they are going to charge you). Just remember when applying any of those fixes, MS will probably eventually offer extended warranty so don't do anything to your console that will give them an excuse to nulify it.

As a side note, it seems that some of the E74 faults are related to the cables ports at the back of the console. A number of people who seem to be constantly plugging cables in and out have weakened some connection just inside one of the ports, can't quite remember the details but I'm sure you can google it. Just remember if you have to handle these consoles, do it with care, attention and very careful hands

VinLieger

Karmafaerie wrote: »

There is no 1 year warantee for electronic items in Europe.
That's accross the board from PC's to toasters.

In Ireland there is the SOGSOS Act as stated, which states that all electronic goods have to be of satisfactory working condition for 2 years after point of sale.

This isn't the case outside of the EU, so MS have a one year warrantee.
They try and tow the line with EU customers, as do every other company, but if you're wise to the law you'll get it fixed for free.


THis has happened for me with Dell, Komplet, Curry's, and MS.

AS soon as you point out the law, it gets resolved straight away.

God this gets more confusing the deeper you delve into the law.
Just rang the National Consumer Agency and they said i should be arguing with the store Under the SOGSOS i bought it from and not MS.

Y2J_MUFC

This trick got me from a freezing 360 with scrambled colours to RROD. I thought it was fluke first, but its worked twice for me, and worked for two people I suggested it to. You'll have to pay for fixing scrambled colours or freezing, bit pay nothing for RROD.

When the problem pops up. Turn it off, pull the power cable and the av cable, take off the hard drive, leave it for about 10 seconds. Put the power supply and av cables back in, but leave the hard drive off.

Start it, and hopefully you'll see the RROD. Its worked for me twice, and two people who have had a freezing 360. I dont know if it will work for this E74 thing as its probably a different type of failure.

I'll be the first to admit it sounds bizarre, but then again, so does the towel trick. Worth a try anyways. Hope it works.

Karmafaerie

I'd say you got through to the infamous Egyptian call center.
MS have a number of centers, and the Egyptian one is terrible.
I once had to wait three months for my xbox to be returned after a RROD!

The secret is to get through to the German or Estonian center.

When you're on hold, listen out for La Femme D'Argent by Air as the hold music.
That's what you should hear if it's one of the European centers.
They've always been very good for me.

Absolam

Karmafaerie wrote: »

There is no 1 year warantee for electronic items in Europe.
That's accross the board from PC's to toasters.

In Ireland there is the SOGSOS Act as stated, which states that all electronic goods have to be of satisfactory working condition for 2 years after point of sale.

This isn't the case outside of the EU, so MS have a one year warrantee.
They try and tow the line with EU customers, as do every other company, but if you're wise to the law you'll get it fixed for free.


THis has happened for me with Dell, Komplet, Curry's, and MS.

AS soon as you point out the law, it gets resolved straight away.

Sale of Goods and Services Act says 'reasonable period' not 2 years. The Irish government did not transcribe the new EU legislation requiring a minimum 2 years warranty on white goods on the basis that 'reasonable period' was in some cases a better protection. Which means that (apart from certain exceptional provisions) most retailers still offer a 1 year warranty on consoles, which is backed up by the manufacturers.

Karmafaerie

Absolam wrote: »

Sale of Goods and Services Act says 'reasonable period' not 2 years. The Irish government did not transcribe the new EU legislation requiring a minimum 2 years warranty on white goods on the basis that 'reasonable period' was in some cases a better protection. Which means that (apart from certain exceptional provisions) most retailers still offer a 1 year warranty on consoles, which is backed up by the manufacturers.

The Irish government didnt ammend the law in Ireland, however as EU citizens this is still applicable to us.
Believe me I've had this same argument in the past, and as stated earlier, with Dell/Komplett/Currys and most nitibaly here, MS, I've had it upheld every time.

TheMooseInNam

VinLieger wrote: »

Just rang them up went through the whole process and asked them if it was under warranty. They said it wasnt, i then quoted the SOGSOS and they basically told me to **** off and then the prick wouldnt connect me to his supervisor and hung up

I'd love a challange like this! Here's what to do...

Call them back, have a notepad and pen beside you (you could even tell them that you are recording the conversation for your records if you have that much guts or tech!). Take down the time of the call, who you are speaking to, even ask for a reference number or call log number before you give them any details. He'll then know you mean business. Explain to him that you have the E74 problem, you're aware that normally MS only offer a one year warranty to their US customers but because they MUST COMPLY WITH EU REGULATIONS IN ORDER TO CONTINUE TRADING IN EUROPE that they must extend that offer to two years for all EU customers. It is important that you remain calm and friendly through this process as you're dealing with a person on the other end that gets bit*hed at non-stop everyday. By being genuinely nice to them, you'll become the unusual call of the day and you'll probably find that they'll respond well because of that. If you're not getting anywhere, ask the rep to verify what you've told him with either his superiors or his legal department, adding that one of you has their facts wrong and for his/her sake it's worth making sure that they're not going to be responcible for MS breaking European trade laws and that you'll wait on the phone as long as it takes. However, only demand to speak to their supervisor as a last resort. Nobody likes having someone go over their head as it implys they haven't a clue what they are doing.
If it doesn't work, give it a few minutes and call back again and start from scratch, you'll eventually talk to someone who's in a helpfull mood or who is capable of thinking outside the box and not just from their script.
Oh, this approach works on all call centers, the trick is patience and remaining calm.
Hope this helps...

TheMooseInNam

VinLieger wrote: »

God this gets more confusing the deeper you delve into the law.
Just rang the National Consumer Agency and they said i should be arguing with the store Under the SOGSOS i bought it from and not MS.

Kinda getting the impression that this is a very grey legal area and open to interpretation. What we need in some proof that MS have extended the warranty for some people with the E74 issue already, as that would set a precedent, wouldn't it?

VinLieger

Yup that worked, possibly because i was through to a european office, but i basically quoted that european law required them to provide a 2 year warranty, the dude talked to his superviser and now i just need to e-mail my receipt and hes gonna update my warranty.
Thanks for the help

Karmafaerie

Not for the E74 fault itself, but for a disc tray issue only covered by the 1 year US warrantee but fixed gratis after about 15 months of ownership for me.

Karmafaerie

VinLieger wrote: »

Yup that worked, possibly because i was through to a european office, but i basically quoted that european law required them to provide a 2 year warranty, the dude talked to his superviser and now i just need to e-mail my receipt and hes gonna update my warranty.
Thanks for the help

No worries dude.

Honestly the best bit of advice I can give anyone with problems with MS, is only ever deal with the European centers.
If it's Egypt, hang up.
I went through hell with them!
AS soon as I got onto the European center, it was sorted within minutes, and the xbox was back within a few weeks.

My launch xbox acctually redringed again a month or so ago.
I rang through to the European center at 21:30 on a Monday.
The labels were in my email acc the next morning, and UPS had taken the xbox by 12:00 on the Tuesday.
I got a brand new Xbox delivered by 10:00 on the following Friday.
All in all I was without the box for less than 2 weeks!

Very efficiant.

Nedved85

VinLieger wrote: »

Are you sure about this? They told me thats its only covered under the 1 year gurantee

Yes, i have had mine replaced by Microsoft, it happened about 2 months ago, i rang up, stated what happened, they made me go through all the troubleshooting and then said that it was in fact covered under guarantee even though it was 1 1/2 years old, got it sent off by DHL to Germany at no cost and it arrived back 2 weeks later, working perfectly. If you ring up, make sure you tell them your from Ireland, think UK and Irish guarantee for this might be different

Nedved85

TheMooseInNam wrote: »

Kinda getting the impression that this is a very grey legal area and open to interpretation. What we need in some proof that MS have extended the warranty for some people with the E74 issue already, as that would set a precedent, wouldn't it?

That would be me!

VinLieger

And know me . One question thorugh are they gonna fix the console or replace it cus its a Halo 3 case so id prefer it not to be replaced

TheMooseInNam

Nedved85 wrote: »

That would be me!

Yes it would and I think we can all rest a little easier in the knowledge that although it would be a pain to suffer from E74, it doesn't necessarily mean it'll cost you any more than the inconvenience of a phone call and a few weeks wait.
It will be interesting to see how things develop over the coming months with MS. JoyStiq Xbox have a great weekly podcast and they've been discussing the issue over the last few weeks.