Hi.
XBox 360 error codes are displayed with flashing lights in the ring of bi-color LEDs located around the start button, like in the picture below:
They are often called lights of death. The technical name from Microsoft is Light codes.
LEDs located around the start button can be green or red. When they get red it means that there is a problem.
When the XBox is operating normally The leds will be green. The number of green segments indicates the number of controllers connected to the Xbox.
Here a working Xbox with one and four controllers connected to the console:
If the lights are red instead of green, then there is a problem. Here the four common error codes:
A: The code in picture A, with only one red segment on and flashing on the fourth quadrant, means that there had been an hardware failure. The internal component failing is often not specified.
The light code is accompained by an error message on display, telling a numeric code that can better address the cause of the fault. The best thing to do is contacting Microsoft to find out the reason for the code. Depending on the code you may also be asked to perform a secondary error code retrieval procedure.
In the Example above E74 means that there is an hardware fault on video connections or GPU.
B: If the first and fourth quadrant LEDs are on, that means that there had been overheating. Internal fans, CPU and board must be tested.
C: General hardware failure. This means that the console detected an internal failure, but no error code is displayed on screen. Call Microsoft to get instructions on detecting secondary code or sending the console for repair.This error code is commonly called Three Lights of Death.
D: The last error means that there is a problem with the AV connection to the monitor or TV. The code is not displayed if you use HDMI connection, in that case you get an on-screen error code. Test using different cables. If that does not fix the problem, this error means that the XBox Gpu is fried. This error code is commonly called Red Ring of Death or RROD.
In the near future I plan to publish a new article explaining how to troubleshoot secondary error codes. In the meanwhile, if you need more support, you can ask a question to our experts or contact Microsoft.
Regards.
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