Warning for Xbox live players with a modded xbox

Consumer Electronics
#1

First of all : Read the disclaimer at the bottom of this post as well!

As of 8 November 2004 Microsoft has been updating their XBOX Live configuration. This resulted in a global ban sweep of a lot of XBOX Live accounts.

The troubles have been discussed over and over on the various l33t forums around the internet and they all come to the fairly same conclusions:

Your account WILL get banned if one of the following is active/installed :

  • Another harddisk than the original
  • Another EEPROM(flash) than the original
  • Enabled modchip/eeprom

The main focus here is the check between harddisk and eeprom.

Your account WILL NOT get banned if you apply ALL of the following

  • Original unmodified harddisk
  • Original unmodified EEPROM
  • Modchip disabled/stealthed

The XBOX Live banning has NOTHING to do with Halo2. People who don’t even have Halo2 get banned while playing Rainbow Six or other games as well.

Halo2 however does have internal scanning programs inside it’s default.xbe file. A hex edit of the file shows the following information:

0x0041158C, “XboxHardwareInfo”
0x00411594, “XboxKrnlVersion”
0x00411770, “HalDiskSerialNumber”
0x00411774, “HalDiskModelNumber”
etc

I got banned, now what?

Rumors have it that neither your xbox serial or your xbox live account is banned, but the check between internal eeprom plus the harddisk is the reason for bannning. If you manage to obtain another eeprom, you’re still fucked, since it doesn’t cohabitate with your harddisk.
You would need to get a harddisk and an eeprom alltogether. Until ‘someone’ comes up with a nifty checking/crack it now means buying another xbox.

I want the best of both worlds while i’m still not banned

What you could do is purchase a modchip that can be stealthed/disabled and then purchase a IDE flatcable with FOUR connectors on it. Connect BOTH your original and your upgraded harddisk on it and use a Y-splitter (http://www.ct-systemen.nl/images/y-splitter.jpg) to give them both bower. After that you apply a power switch on the Y-splitter so that you can give either your original harddisk or your upgraded harddisk some power.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

Be noted that these conclusions are NOT 100% confirmed facts, so if your xbox still gets banned after you applied the above rules, don’t whine at me.

#2

ou don’t know if you’ve been banned? Do the test:

1.Turn off your modchip and go to the Xbox Dashboard.
2.Click on the Xbox Live Tab.
3.Go to Network Connections.
4.Wait for the Green Lights (or red X’es depending on your setup) to load.
5.Once they load highlight the help button.
6.Over the help button press the Y button.
7.An X code a Y code and a Z code will come up along with more packet data including upload and download speed.
8.Take note of these Numbers.

Example results:

A good (unbanned and good connected) xbox shows:
X: 0000-F021
Y: 00A8-4840
Z: 0000-0000

Xbox, banned, manual IP settings:

X: 0000 - 000D
Y: 00A8 - 6800
Z: 8015 - 190D

Xbox, banned, with auto IP settings:

X: 0000 - F009
Y: 00A8 - 6820
Z: 8015 - 190D

If your Y code contains a 6 in the first digit of the second part, you are BANNED.

Note: It’s no use to get another EEPROM. It will change your XYZ codes, but since it doesn’t match with your harddisk, your new EEPROM will also be banned and a 6 will be written.

#3

Rumor 1:

It seems that when you first signed up for live, a checksum is made with both your eeprom and your current harddisk.

This could mean that your relatively safe if you already modded your xbox, put in a new drive and after that signed up for Xbox Live

Rumor 2:

Some anonymous XBox people claim that the new Xbox Live update will scan your entire harddrive and/or c partition to check for weird .xbe files. If they find something that they don’t like, your banned.

#4

As I never bothered with Live I can mod my Xbox to hell and M$ wont know a thing :iagree: :bigsmile:

VH
:smiley:

#5

@VirusHack
I luv that movie :slight_smile:

oh yea I have been reading this on the l33t forums too.

#6

lol yeah: WOW a 14.4Kb modem and a PCI bus :eek: :stuck_out_tongue:

VH

#7

Could you guys stay on topic please?

#8

I have a hdd and i’m not banned

#9

Like Mr B said about the cable the only thing is that no one has posted any links to any thing

Here is a link to The supplies you will need

http://secure.llamma.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=89

Here is a link to the directions you need to follow

http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Mods/xbox_4_connector_ide_cable_udma_.htm

The customer support here was great for me…When i First did mine i got the ribbon cable with a screw and contacted them about a new one and had a response in an hour.

The only thing that you may have to do is alter some things on the xbox…If you look at where the hard drive sits…i cut out the back part of the bracket it sits on to make room for the switch(on hard drive where ribbon and power plug in…from there back is what i cut off…and of course a place for the ribbon to come outof casing)

Here are some pictures of my xbox so you can see what it looks like…the hard drive on top is the stock hard drive

well iwould put pictures but it keeps giving me an error if you want to see just pm me

#10

They have also been banning people with modded xbox’s for a while now but i have never heard of the other points you bring up…but then again i had my box wired like this before i went live…I guess i better not forget to turn chip off

#11

Yeah, it seems that it is only if you have upgraded your HD since you first got on Live, that it causes problems. I know a guy with a 160GB HD (same HD he has always had since he got on XBL) and his is working just fine. However, the next step may be to simply ban anything but a stock HD. Anyways, there seem to be some really good alternatives to XBL in the works right now. NeXBC alpha version is out and the reports so far are really good. Not anywhere near as much lag as the original XBC, ect. All it really needs are for people to pick it up and use it. :wink:

#12

That the way I understood what Mr B said

#13

Forget it, screw you guys, Microsoft wins

Well , here’s a quick update about my own experiences after a night of Halo2 fun:

Situation : 1 Xbox, 1 DMS3 X-BIT Modchip in stealth mode, 1 original harddisk and two controllers.

Xbox Live accounts : operating since November 10 2004.

As of yesterday November 11 22:30 CEST my xbox was banned from xbox live due to “hardware modification”. I have absolutely no clue how Microsoft found out i have a STEALTHED modchip, but that was the only thing that deviated it from an unmodded xbox. Sadly to say i got the 6 in the Y and the xbox i have is banned for life.

Respect for Microsoft , disrespect for my wallet. I guess i need an additional xbox :frowning:

#14

i guess i may be lucky for now…i havent got banned yet (biteing fingernails) I wonder when it gonna happen to me today… tommorow :confused:

I guess it will be a matter of time for someone to come up with a way to get around that too…but then again we are talking about M$…who knows…Ill give mine a try after work to see if anything has happened today

here are the pics that i said i would give in an earlier post

#15

What’s that thingy on the right, modchip switch?

BTW, Got me a 2nd xbox so i can play Halo2 online again, whee ! :slight_smile:

#16

[QUOTE=Mr. Belvedere]What’s that thingy on the right, modchip switch?QUOTE]

On the right is the xbit(modchip)over there on the left is the switch for the hard drives

#17

You guys are nuts. Why go to such extreme measures just to stay on live when there are alternatives out there. I realize that up until now they really haven’t been quite as good but I have heard really good reports about neXBC and there you don’t have to worry about any of the XBL BS.

#18

So why is MS banning people if their Xbox isn’t pristine?

#19

We love you too.

Why go to such extreme measures just to stay on live when there are alternatives out there.

Becasue i want to play live and not some werid 3rd party implementation which is promoted as if it were the new religion.

I realize that up until now they really haven’t been quite as good but I have heard really good reports about neXBC and there you don’t have to worry about any of the XBL BS.

Seen KaiXlink?

#20

It’s in the EULA of the Xbox Live agreement.
Seems lots of people have been complaining that people who have modded their xbox have an advantage in comparison to people who haven’t modded it.
They hack their savegames and don’t pay for the extra content (Project Gotham Racing 2 for instance).