Originally posted by mom_of_2:

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Hi, I bought my son a modded xbox and the following week, the picture started messing up. Now when you turn it on, it had a flashing red light (bottom right) and system error e74. I googled it and I get different suggestions. Towel trick, scaler chip, replace motherboard. Which is it? If you guys could help me out, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

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Originally posted by w00ly:

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Sounds like the guy you got it from probably had the issue before and did an overheat method or towel trick to keep it running long enough to sell. I'd try to return it to him if I were you, but failing that try the reflow tutorial in my sig. It usually works but I've found 360s that have been "repaired" with overheating or towel trick methods have their errors come back much much more often than virgin systems.

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Originally posted by leerage:

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Originally posted by w00ly:

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Sounds like the guy you got it from probably had the issue before and did an overheat method or towel trick to keep it running long enough to sell. I'd try to return it to him if I were you, but failing that try the reflow tutorial in my sig. It usually works but I've found 360s that have been "repaired" with overheating or towel trick methods have their errors come back much much more often than virgin systems.

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w00ly, I watched your video and you don't put any insulation around the capacitors. Have you popped any caps by doing that?

I didn't listen to the audio so maybe you said it.. but did you use any flux?

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Originally posted by w00ly:

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And no I haven't used flux. Haven't ever found it to be necessary but I imagine it could help.

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Originally posted by w00ly:

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Originally posted by leerage:

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Originally posted by w00ly:

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Sounds like the guy you got it from probably had the issue before and did an overheat method or towel trick to keep it running long enough to sell. I'd try to return it to him if I were you, but failing that try the reflow tutorial in my sig. It usually works but I've found 360s that have been "repaired" with overheating or towel trick methods have their errors come back much much more often than virgin systems.

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w00ly, I watched your video and you don't put any insulation around the capacitors. Have you popped any caps by doing that?

I didn't listen to the audio so maybe you said it.. but did you use any flux?

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No I dont insulate the caps, I've never had any pop or even bulge in the least. I just focus on the chips in question...the heatgun directs heat surprisingly accurately.

For people doing it the first time it may be good to cover the caps with foil but it can have negative impact by 1) providing a false sense of security, making people think it's ok to heat longer on or near the capacitors 2) making the motherboard sit unevenly.

And no I haven't used flux. Haven't ever found it to be necessary but I imagine it could help. The heatgun reflow rarely doesn't work for me. Others have had less success but it works almost every time for me *shrug*

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Originally posted by Modking30:

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heatgun is a temp fix. I've never seen a heatgun last over a few months.

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Originally posted by Modking30:

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heatgun is a temp fix. I've never seen a heatgun last over a few months.

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