So this is the error definition per our pages and a couple other sites.

E68: Hard Drive Error... It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it, This can also be caused by a Hard Drive Eprom Error. Some also believe this might be caused by a problem with the fans.

Internal connection would be what exactly, loose ribbon cable?

HDD eprom, I have no clue what this statement means.

Problem with the fans? I had an intercooler on there. No browning of the plastic. Removed it and see how it goes.

This is the 2nd time I have gotten this error. I turned off the console and flipped it right back on and in each instance it worked fine.


Any input experience? MS wants $140 to repair it. I don't know anyone with a drive I can try out even if it did do it every single startup.

I purchased a mem card to load my gamesaves on if the drive goes bad. Do I need to worry about my arcade games or can I just put a new HDD in load my profile from live and bam I can re-download all the content and arcade games again at no cost?

I was having the same problem as you. Every once in awhile i would get an E68 error on my refurb 360, i would shut it off turn it on an everything was fine. Go spend $40.00 on Xport. Take a close look at the garbage on partion 1. Mine had all kinds of corrupt files with strange dates like 2010 and file sizes that were way off the chart. It's pretty easy to see stuff that doesn't belong there. Once i deleted the bad files the xbox boots up so much faster and haven't had any error's w/ the hard drive. Good luck ! I wouldn't waste 100.00 on a new hard drive.

Will the cahe cleaning method remove those?

I'm pretty sure the cache cleaning method removes everything, gamesaves profiles etc. So yes that probably would work if you want to start over. The xport lets you go in and just remove the stuff that shouldn't be there. If your having the same problem as i was all of the corrupt files are in the first partition. The xbox 360 drive has a total of 3 partitions. went you hook the drive up to your computer you see them labeled 1,2,3 when you open up the 1st one you can see all the bad files i'm talking about. just deleted them and pop the drive back on the 360 and you should be fine. I should say that i just did this friday afternoon and have probably started the 360 5 or 6 times since then so i guess i could still get the E68 error but it sure does boot up quick. Probably since it doesn't have to go through all the bad files before it boots. And i'm thinking that every once in awhile it just gave an error and hung up on all that crap.

Sounds good. i will give it a try.

We should bump this thread in a week or 2 with an update since from my research on Google yielded no info on how to fix this. If the drives have no errors after a few weeks they should put your post as a sticky on a how to fix.

Sounds good. Still no errors to report. I'm going to check the drive again and see if any new corrupt files have shown up. But so far so good.. Well i just checked it and about 5 new files had shown up. And for some reason there are about 10 that just won't deleted period. I'm going to try and take a pic of the screen and post it. These files are 1025 MB and bigger w/ Dates that are 2010, 2016, 2020. Very weird

heres a pic of the files that won't delete

Wow, thats really weird.

Very weird, And yesterday i got the good ole E68 error, shut it down restarted just fine. But i guess it's back to square one. I did copy the hard drive to my pc. I may reformat the drive and see if that fixes it.

Ok, here is an update. I removed my intercooler for awhile after the 2nd update. Alot of Syphone Filter and Gears, no issues.

This may be a coincidence, but I plug the Intercooler back in, 1st start up with it back on boom E68.

Remove it I'm fine. I also installed 8 LEDs in the intercooler. Not much more power drain IMO but maybe alltogether that is giving a power drain enough to throw that E68 error since it is DVD or HDD related per MS.

It's probably worth looking into. It would be interesting to hear from anyone else who is getting a hard drive error and running an intercooler. I'll try removing mine and see what happens.

hmm very interesting I have been getting that error as well, and wouldnt you know it I have the intercooler.

I've been switching the intercooler off using the switch during startup and then after i'm signed into live, i switch it back on. It's been over a month now and i haven't seen the E68 error yet. So i'm almost positive that the power the intercooler steals during startup was causing the error.

yea who ever invented the intercooler didnt do a good job. 1st of all dont use the ones that go on the back of the 360 all you are doing is putting a fan on another fan and that makes cooling very inefficient. it makes alot of noise and if your 360 stuffs up and you tell microsoft you had one one they will sometimes tell you that modifying the way the 360 keeps it self cool voids the warranty. also there is no way that the fans can drain enough power to create an error its the wiring in side the intercooler. they didnt use proper wires and copper conector to carry the current, well thats what i found out from my own expererments.

yeah, i have the intercooler and i also have that problem......

I've had an intercooler on mine for about 2 months now without a problem.. Been playing the HALO 3 beta through Crackdown like mad for the last couple of weeks and within the last couple days have been getting the E68 on first boot after the unit has been off for several hours.

Powering OFF and then back on fixes it and any subsequent power up's within a couple of hours is fine as well.

Thanks to all for the info.. I was going nuts trying to figure out what the problem could be and was dreading the thought of having to send this, 3rd unit since December, back for service.

Looks like I'll have to add a toggle switch to my intercooler. I've got one of the ones that has no switch..

OH BTW.. MY 360 is not modded or opened at all.. Fully stock.. I also always have a Game Disc in the drive as well.. I've also noticed that when this E68 happens the there is a louder than normal noise coming from the Intercooler. It goes away on the normal boot up..
I'm wondering if one of the fans on the intercooler is getting worn and is putting an extra strain on the consoles power on a cold boot.

Sorry for the extr post. Couldn't edit my post for some reason

Update..


When I booted tonight without a disc in the tray it came up perfectly fine.

Just another instance of it looking like the power draw of the Hard Drive, DVD attempting to scan a disc and the Intercooler pulling power all at the moment of initial power is causing the E68 in my case.

Final update.. I took my intercooler apart and as I suspected one of the 3 fans is no longer spinning as freely as the other two.

So it would seem that the extra draw from this failing fan is what is causing the strain on the system that causes the Hard Drive to not spin up properly and results in the E68 error on cold boot.