Clicking sound in 360...causes freezes/slowdowns

[Capn Stabby]

I have my 360 in a fairly well ventilated place, with the power brick in the open (and off carpet) as well. I've experienced this clicking sound since purchasing the console over a year ago.

It clicks during the menus in Madden 07, occasionally clicks in Gears of War, and even does so in Fable. In NBA 2k7, it would click during a game, and the announcers would stop speaking but the game would keep going (with no scoreboard on the bottom). It usually comes back, with the announcers not missing a beat but it's pretty distracting when it happens once every quarter.

No red rings yet, but could this be a hard drive problem? It sounds eerily similar to what my external hard drive sounded like after I accidentally kicked it.

 

[Kendal]

Mine has clicked for awhile, but I haven't had any adverse effects. It clicks when I turn it on and while on it clicks everyonce in awhile.

 

[Trakan]

It's gonna make a shit ton of noise while playing Gears, don't worry about that. Everyone's 360 does.

What you're describing though is what happened to me before mine starting scratching discs.

 

[Capn Stabby]

Hmm, so what happened after it started scratching discs? Red rings? or...just scratched discs.

I can't believe I'm hoping for red rings.

 

[Kendal]

My clicking sounds like electrical, not mechanical clicks.

 

[halfbent]

I get clicks too, from the DVD tray sliders most likely - every great once in a while the drive won't open or it'll feed slightly off kilter.

 

[InuFaye]

im getting the same problem, i am thinking about just letting my 360 red ring so i can send it back in.

 

[Trakan]

[quote name='invinceable104']Hmm, so what happened after it started scratching discs? Red rings? or...just scratched discs.

I can't believe I'm hoping for red rings.[/quote]

Just scratched discs.

 

[Capn Stabby]

[quote name='halfbent']I get clicks too, from the DVD tray sliders most likely - every great once in a while the drive won't open or it'll feed slightly off kilter.[/quote]

Yeah, sometimes mine stays shut too..it's odd.

If this doesn't lead to red rings though, I dunno what to do.

 

[dastly75]

My 360 used to scratch discs when it was vertical. Since having put it horizontal, I haven't noticed it scratching discs. I did tinker around with the dvd drive though so that could be it. It still makes clicking noises occasionally.

 

[Capn Stabby]

To the people above: does it cause slowdown/lockups too? When it clicks, a super loud whirring happens (like someone slammed on the drive's brakes, if that makes any sense) and then the clicks would realy pick up for like 30 seconds.

I've never had problems with scratched discs, but it seems like it isn't gonna be too far away.

 

[dastly75]

Since I put my console horizontal(like a couple months ago), gears has only locked up on me once(DRE) but my copy of gears does have a lot of scratches already. The gears menu freezes for half a second when it's first loaded but probably because of the pre-existing scratches.