I got the red ring of death on my XBOX 360.?

On the ring of light a bright red light flashes in the bottom right section and a faint red in the upper right and lower left sections. The error is E 74 and I have tried unplugging my XBOX 360 and removing the hard drive. Nothing has worked. I don’t want to send my XBOX in and don’t want to spend money. But I’d rather buy a guide instead of sending it in and not getting it back for two months. Do you know any methods of fixing it? (Please don’t tell me the towel method.) Thank you for your help.
Believe it or not I got my XBOX last Christmas and got the red ring this Christmas. Is that bad luck?