Merry fucking Christmas.

Welcome to Micro$oft.

My stepdad got his first 360 last Christmas and now he is on his third console.

Have you tried spraying out the dust? Some times that helps me.

I don't even think there's that much dust, anyway.

I've tried unplugging everything, removing the hard drive, no luck.
All I get is one red light on the bottom left segment, and an E74 screen comes up.

that's just rotten luck. i'm sorry i cannot help.

Well, if you wanted speedier results than Microsoft, I can refer you to my friend Elvis. He has his own business centering around console repair. I'll personally vouch for the guys honesty and integrity, as well as his speed. Plus, he's a fucking genius when it comes to fixing the damned things, and the prices are fair.

I would take you up on that offer, DI, if I had any money to pay for the procedure. Money-wise we're in a tight spot because of Christmas, so we probably wouldn't be able to afford your friend's service. But thanks a lot for the offer, I really appreciate it.

At this moment in time I've unplugged the 360 and left it on the side. I've heard that can sometimes ease the problem a little, and I think I'll try turning it on tomorrow to see if it works or not. And I can ask my sister's boyfriend if he can lend me his A/V cable to see if that's the problem. If all else fails I guess I will have to send it off to be repaired, and I reckon they'll do it for free, not sure.
It's a shame this happened before Christmas, but I can still mess about on some other games if I can't get the Xbox working by then.

Thanks for your sympathy guys, I'm calmer than I was before. Night!

Agh, I know this experience, except with a laptop. Best of luck to you.

This blog wasn't very christmassy at all. I've been had.

You could try the towel method, which I've found successful. For temporary relief of red ring, leave the machine on for an hour or two wrapped in a towel. This re-melts the cracked solder that is the most common problem (due to the constant heating and cooling of use). It is entirely unforgiveable that microsoft did not recall all consoles when the problem was discovered and rearreanged the inside and used better quality solder.

Yeah, I've heard of that method and I might just try it. The problem is that the console is still under warranty for E74 error messages, so if they found out I'd been overheating it with the towel trick there are chances that they won't repair it, and I certainly can't afford a new console. I think I may have to do the towel trick if I want to play about on it over Christmas, then send it for repair a while after.

I've surprisingly never had a red ring of death, and I've had my console for... Two years I think... Then again, I got an "Elite" version, and bought the triple cooler just for safety. Makes a lot of noise, but at least it works.

That's why I won't buy I 360. If you have a problem with hardware, you fix it immediately. This is the worst hardware failure rate I've ever heard of. If it wasn't for that, 360 would be on the top of all the console charts.