Dude, this exact same thing happened to me about a month ago. Got the single red light and E74 error. Called it in, and the damn thing was just a week or two out of the 1 year warranty. Wasn't covered. Well, I did a lot of research on how to get the thing to RROD but wasn't satisfied with any solutions. So in the end, I called it in and just told them it was RROD on me. They said it was covered under the 3 year warranty. I kept waiting for them to send it back to me not fixed or to charge me, but it never happened. Got it back a few weeks ago and everything is fixed, no charge. I really didn't expect it to work but it did.
That's pretty funny. If you get one ring of red, then try to bust your 360 even more to get the full red ring of death so it will be covered under the 360 extended 3 year warranty. If that fails, then lie and say you have the RROD anyway. Whatever works to get it fixed for free.
If I ever get one red ring, I am calling in and saying I have RROD, they don't repair your unit, they just get a refurb off the shelf and send it to you. DD
That isn't true. I marked my Xbox discreetly to test this theory when it went RROD. They sent me mine back. Now, it's possible that they just put my case on a different system, but it was definitely my original case that came back in the mail to me.
Man the turnaround time in Houston is pretty good. Mine broke a few months ago and got it back within a week all fixed up. The only thing is that I am afraid to play for long hours from now on.
