So I sent my Xbox 360 in to Microsoft for repair. They sent me back a replacement unit. That’s funny, because the unit they replaced was itself a replacement unit.

So the current machine runs fine — it doesn’t freeze while playing Gears of War. That’s a nice feature. However, whenever the DVD drive stops spinning (like when I quit a game up to the dashboard) the 360 lets out a noise uncannily similar to the noise made by a Tusken Raider. A Tusken Raider repeats the noise a few times, but my Xbox 360 just makes the noise once. I’m afraid that one of these days I’m going to press the eject button and a smoldering puddle of plastic that used to be a game disc will pop out. But my fingers are crossed so that won’t happen.