The red rings may have begun to finally die down, but some Xbox 360 users are still reporting errors with the console. The E74 hardware failure error has been mentioned around the net by people who are disgruntled that they are not covered under warranty for a flaw in the system, and up until now Microsoft had brushed aside the complaints. As of today (via Major Nelson) Microsoft will begin covering the E74 errors under the warranty put in place in 2007 for the Red Lights. According to the Xbox Support website:

“We are aware that a very small percentage of our customers have reported receiving an error that displays “E74” on their screen. After investigating the issue, we have determined that the E74 error message can indicate the general hardware failure that is associated with three flashing red lights error on the console. As a result, we have decided to cover repairs related to the E74 error message under our three-year warranty program for certain general hardware failures that was announced in July 2007. We have already made improvements to the console that will reduce the likelihood of an occurrence of this issue.”

Good to hear that Microsoft is continuing to cover any major errors associated with the 360, hopefully next gen we won’t have to deal with a fiasco like this at all.