WARNING MS Banning XBox with Hack HD

[TenzoR]

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=303762



Ever since Xbox Live came out officially, people who accessed Xbox Live with their modchip on were banned. Live detected the modified BIOS that was loaded, and the Xbox's EEPROM (the unique identity of each Xbox) was banned. However, their Xbox Live account was still safe. So, these banned users got a different EEPROM from various sources, and they were back onto Xbox Live.

That has been the way for a long time, and was the way to get banned, unless you used a Xbox Live cheat or was a disruptive gamer.

However, until recently, it seems MS is taking extreme measures to stop people with modified Xboxes from accessing Xbox Live, even with their modchip off. It appears now that MS is banning modders who changed their HD from the way it was when their XBox was stock, to a larger HD or whatever. MS is detecting a change in the HD, and thus banning the Xbox. However, again, the modder's gamertag is fine, just that their Xbox is banned.

Any way around this? Well, as always, the best way to avoid a Xbox ban from Xbox Live is to get a new Xbox just for Xbox Live.

That is the current state of Xbox Live, as I have gathered from the mounds of threads here.

Here is what I think MS is still NOT doing:
- MS is not scanning HDs for what is on the HD. So, I assume a stock HD, even though the XBox is modded, will still work fine on Xbox Live. Just, as always, access Live with the modchip off.
- MS is not banning Xboxes with a replaced DVDROM. So, if you swapped a Thomson with a Samsung, you will still be fine.

If anyone feels I missed something, or whatever, please PM me and tell me so. BTW, this thread will always be closed.


there is more to it ...if you are interested read the rest of the posting and the forum

My main warning is for people buying modded or used Xbox, because the banning will make a lot of ppl start selling their "banned" Xbox, which the buyers will not know about other then that ..just FYI

[Qube]

Again, the word 'hack' :confused: . Just a peeve of mine :| Good warning. Pertains to those not using 'stock' non-altered XBOX hard drives

[swifferman]

Looks to be just a backlog of people getting banned due to changed eeproms and such. A Warning won't do much seeing as you're screwed either way of
a) not being able to use Live

b) getting banned on Live

French Leaked Halo Saves, Changed Eeproms seem to be the main reasons.

[Carnage]

Modded xbox's have always been banned from Xbox live.

As many tricks there are out there to get around it the only sure fire way to go on live is to have a "clean" xbox.

I actually just picked up a new crystal xbox. So I've got 1 modded xbox, and 1 clean box for xbox live. I figure it's worth the extra money.

[ABOVEtheRIM]

haha this is OLD news...

here is what you have to do:
1. Lock your hard drive so m$ cant scan it
2. Just incase, use the bios that prevents you from connecting to xbox live, so you dont accidently try to connect with your mod chip on

ive been playing with my hacked xbox for a year now, and nothing has happened

[Degenerate]

welcome to last last year

[othy]

Wow, almost a month after my post:

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/showpost.php?p=1032530&postcount=81

;)

And no, it doesn't matter if you lock your hard drive. MS CAN tell if you are using a non-stock HD, regardless of whether or not it is locked. Read the original post more carefully. So just because you haven't been booted from live YET, doesn't mean you won't be.. Just lucky so far..

[McLaren]

Wow, almost a month after my post:

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/showpost.php?p=1032530&postcount=81

;)

And no, it doesn't matter if you lock your hard drive. MS CAN tell if you are using a non-stock HD, regardless of whether or not it is locked. Read the original post more carefully. So just because you haven't been booted from live YET, doesn't mean you won't be.. Just lucky so far..


haha hey othy, your avatar rocks! Only one cure for this... i need more COWBELL!!

[sfu_lifer]

welcome to last last year
No. It's more like welcome to this month.
MS is now detecting non-stock HD's whether it's locked or not (reports also of even stock HD's that have non-"normal" files will get banned).
I've been waitiing for this measure for some time but they're finally doing it.
Good on 'em.

[Carnage]

From what I understand the Halo2 leak really pissed them off. Right after that was when they started really going after modded boxes on live.

Banning based on hard drive, not just the eeprom. Even somewhat blacklisting your accoutn and credit card(although this is uncofirmed).

It used to be that if you got banned you could get a new eeprom and get back on, but it seems now that if you get banned you need new hardware and a new account.

Not worth it IMHO. That's why I bought a new xbox. My modded one can handle all the media playing, and whatever else I want to do,ec. While the cyrstal xbox is for playing on xbox live.

[Xboxgp]

For those too lazy to read the whole post:

Current reason for the banning is probably this:
If you go on XBL with a hard drive, it has to stay the same hard drive after that. So if you plan on modding your xbox with a bigger HD, do it BEFORE you ever go on Live with your xbox.

This isn't confirmed, but seems to be the case.

So if you had the stock hard drive in when you first went on Live, and upgraded after, you're probably screwed. For those that upgraded THEN went on Live, you're most likely safe.

Also, if you get banned, the only way to go back on Live with the xbox is to change both the EEPROM and HDD! (They aren't sure about this either)

[othy]

For those too lazy to read the whole post:

Current reason for the banning is probably this:
If you go on XBL with a hard drive, it has to stay the same hard drive after that. So if you plan on modding your xbox with a bigger HD, do it BEFORE you ever go on Live with your xbox.

This isn't confirmed, but seems to be the case.

So if you had the stock hard drive in when you first went on Live, and upgraded after, you're probably screwed. For those that upgraded THEN went on Live, you're most likely safe.

Also, if you get banned, the only way to go back on Live with the xbox is to change both the EEPROM and HDD! (They aren't sure about this either)

Wrong.

They just look for a non-stock HD. Doesn't matter if you swapped it before you went on Live or after.

The banning process isn't 100% automated, so if for whatever reason someone hasn't been banned, it is just sheer luck of the draw so far. Apparently the first weekend they started doing it, they kicked *5,000* people off of Live. This is all stuff I have heard directly from a guy who works in the MS Live group. He also says they have a few other things up their sleeves as well.. I don't think they are going to mess up people's boxes, but the days of modders playing on Live are definitely coming to an end..

[actyper]

What do you mean wrong, nothing has been confirmed yet. The guy is correct saying if you changed your hdd before going on live, then most likely you are safe, so far. They are not just looking for a stock hdd, they are looking for changes in your hdd.

[Carnage]

The thing is I've read so many conflicting reports.

I don't think there is a set standard being used.

The fact is that no matter how you do it, if you connect to live with a modded xbox you are at risk of being banned. Even if it's worked up till now there's no guarantee that starting the next day they'll start some new check which will get you banned.

[YLSF]

Hmm.. I imagine most of those modders won't buy a new xbox just to play on live. Likely they will just focus on playing System link games through xb connect or KAi. So, since you always needed to own the original game to play on LIVE, the game makers will just loose out on revenue since they are more likely to just pirate the game now...

I have never used Live before, I would have considered using it, but no more now..(heck, my xbox may already be banned for live as far as I know.. I accidently hit a "xbox live" connection in one game and turned it off right away.. but it might have been long enough to get banned)

[Xboxgp]

Wrong.

They just look for a non-stock HD. Doesn't matter if you swapped it before you went on Live or after.

The banning process isn't 100% automated, so if for whatever reason someone hasn't been banned, it is just sheer luck of the draw so far. Apparently the first weekend they started doing it, they kicked *5,000* people off of Live. This is all stuff I have heard directly from a guy who works in the MS Live group. He also says they have a few other things up their sleeves as well.. I don't think they are going to mess up people's boxes, but the days of modders playing on Live are definitely coming to an end..

Well, I might be wrong, but I'm just telling the lazy folks what was said in the HUGE post at Xbox-Scene. However it does make a lot of sense. When you first go on Live, their servers take note of your xbox's identity (the EEPROM) and then look at your hard drive. If they see anything different from when you first logged on, now they're banning. So really, if you had the upgraded hard drive the first time you went on live, it's as if your xbox is normal. But like I mentioned on my original post, none of those are confirmed reasons, just speculation.

[Beradon]

This is always the danger when you rely on server for your online gaming. Why aren't there more games that are written with peer to peer gaming in mind? If these companies or servers go down, so does your ability to play online.

[Carnage]

This is always the danger when you rely on server for your online gaming. Why aren't there more games that are written with peer to peer gaming in mind? If these companies or servers go down, so does your ability to play online.

Well unless you're talking about 1 on 1 peer to peer wouldn't really work. When you have 16 player games you pretty much have to have a server to co-ordinate the whole thing.

And plus doing it that way will make the game much more playable. If you completely rely on your opponent you'll run into lag and bandwidth issues.

Like you could play Halo through Xbconnect which basically fools the system into making a system link game over the internet. That would probably be considered a peer to peer type solution. However it creates crazy lag whenever I tried it. And to play in the first place you have to have a blazing fast connection. Being a host you needed pretty much like 128K-256K upload per player.

Doing it through xbox live is a much better option IMHO.

[chdude3]

So it would seem that the most effective solution is to just not mod your Xbox if you plan on using Live?

[Carnage]

So it would seem that the most effective solution is to just not mod your Xbox if you plan on using Live?

Definetly.

Think of it as the abstinence, or "just say no" way. ;)

[Beradon]

Well unless you're talking about 1 on 1 peer to peer wouldn't really work.Depends on the game. I know of one game syphon filter: the omega strain for the ps2 that supports peer to peer play with up to 4 players. There's no problem at all playing this but I can only imagine the extra coding work they did to pull it off.


When you have 16 player games you pretty much have to have a server to co-ordinate the whole thing.Yeah I can imagine that being a problem but they should provide some way to allow for a private server setup using a PC.


Like you could play Halo through Xbconnect which basically fools the system into making a system link game over the internet. That would probably be considered a peer to peer type solution. However it creates crazy lag whenever I tried it. And to play in the first place you have to have a blazing fast connection. Being a host you needed pretty much like 128K-256K upload per player.
If PC games can be played online without going thru a server, console developers can optimize their games in a similar fashion. There are still some ps2 games that don't charge for online play but I think they depend on the developer's game servers.

[Carnage]

If PC games can be played online without going thru a server, console developers can optimize their games in a similar fashion. There are still some ps2 games that don't charge for online play but I think they depend on the developer's game servers.

Consoles aren't PC's, as much as people like to argue that Xbox is basically just a PC.

A PC has a much more robust OS, and has much more tools at it's disposal.

Connecting a console over the internet isn't the same as connecting PCs together.

And pesronally I think the Xbox live idea works just fine. You get what you pay for.

[othy]

Well, I might be wrong, but I'm just telling the lazy folks what was said in the HUGE post at Xbox-Scene. However it does make a lot of sense. When you first go on Live, their servers take note of your xbox's identity (the EEPROM) and then look at your hard drive. If they see anything different from when you first logged on, now they're banning. So really, if you had the upgraded hard drive the first time you went on live, it's as if your xbox is normal. But like I mentioned on my original post, none of those are confirmed reasons, just speculation.

You are halfway right, they look at the hard drive but they compare its serial number (yes, they can do that) and ones with the non-standard drives are outta there. This is confirmed by someone who actually is a part of the banning process. Not idle speculation!

Try and edumcate some people and they just ignore ya.. typical..