All Discussion on the bannings go in this topic:

That includes speculation, theories, and discoveries (bet lets keep it reasonable plse)


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Has anyone considered this could be a MAC address ban and not a "serial number" ban? Is there a way to spoof a MAC address to find this out?

it is not a MAC address ban. they can be easily spoofed and your MAC address is different between a wired connection and a wireless connection. i also believe you can manually set your MAC address through your network settings. it IS a console ID ban. nothing more, nothing less

So, this number is stored somewhere right?

I cant believe in 2 years there wasnt found a way to somehow rewrite that number to a customly generated one.

Because it is stored in the encryptped CPU which we have no access to.... We don't even know what the number is or the format.... its just a unique identifier.

Speculation 'eh?

I'm betting that Microsoft are primarily banning consoles that are doing something illegal...


...


What? That not speculative enough?

When Does the ban actually happen

If you have a live account?
cause even if you dont have a live account it still connects to the live systems to get updates and you can message etc.

Whats it ban you from? playing on live or the whole live system?

It bans your whole system

Im not sure if this is the right thread to ask this but if someone somehow managed to sell their banned console and got a clean one would Kreon games work on it? Do you need any modding to get the Kreon games to work?

As long as the banned console was still modified with an iXtreme firmware then backups can be played offline.

yeah but can games made with kreon work on just a normal 360 straight out of the box?

no, the firmware has to be flashed

So no one still doesnt know how the banning happens?

Is there anyone that has had a hacked firmware on and then put an original backup firmware in then been banned? It could be a footprint.

We do know... its backups mode improperly and not reporting the correct DMI and PFI sectors to the console.

If you backup your own games using the proper tools it is essentially a non-issue for now.. (util MS changes the security again)

gday guys,

i've read through most of the posts on this but haven't found the answers to one question:

Q) can you be banned from live if you have modified firmware but DON'T PLAY ONLINE. for instance, if i were to download an update or a demo from live with no backup disc in the drive, or from playing a backup single-player but with live connected in the background.

thanks for your help, i hope i have put this in the right forum.

The answer is YES you can be but as far as we know MS is not checking the firmware itself right now.

If MS figures out a way to reliably detect the firmware they will check your system when you connect to live... They could also check when you are offline as well.

(note they are not doing this yet.. (we dont think) but they may in the future)

If you modify your system you give up your warranty and there is ALWAYS a small risk of being banned in the future.

So if you were to keep a copy of your original firmware and restore it every time you went on Live, would you still run the risk of being banned?

if you have a banned box can you still play original copies out of the store offline?

are firmware flashers which external molex psu connecters safer than ones which operate off the 360 psu?

talking about something like

Possibly if MS decided to do offline checks.



Yes.. being banned does not affect its operation.. you just can no longer connect to the Live network.

It probably doesn't matter how you power the box.. but using an external connect with prevent any error logging... (if any exists..)

My understanding is that there have been no reports of BenQ dive 360s being banned. One thing I read a while back was that the BenQ drive can not detect the size of a DVD (IE when the request for the size of the dvd is sent to the drive, it returns an error). This leads me to the possibility that Xbox live is requesting the size of the dvd and when it receives the wrong answer, it bans the box. Since the BenQ can not answer the request it cant be banned.

I have 2 questions... has anyone seen any discussions along this line... and is there anyway to determine the size of the DVD once it is on the disc? (without the original image)


Some one sent me this post in an email, but i dont have access to the forum it came from.

"~ I think it's something to do with the 7.05GB releases. I have tried stealth checks with 7.05GB and 7.29GB image files in the new schtrom 360xtract v3.4. Every game i checked that was 7.05GB was missing "video layer 1 blank" and "video layer 1 on layer 1". Every game that was 7.29GB (splitvid), passed every stealth field and video layer 1 was present. Just a thought. I think M$ is doing basically the same kind of check. ~"

Its pretty well known that people were banned because of invalid SS, PFI and DMI data. Discs that are not made by your own hand may not provide the right info, and thats how people get banned. The stealth checking tools do not address this issue at all and offer no protection.

Just a quickie surrounding the whole banning process - If someone was to right now flash a drive to the most basic of firmware and only play the most stupid of unprotected games, would this person get banned straight off the bat or would be take another banwave? I'm interested in the whole process of it

I think its almost certainly bad pirates that are getting banned (god bless) and people with bad backups. I see no reason that Microsoft can ban on firmware (there was a huge list of reasons in another topic) and a 1-1 backup should be undetectable, but thats a big SHOULD

p.s
personal plee, please don't get this topic shut people!

Can anyone link me to the thread that was created maybe about a week ago or so that explained about the second wave of LIVE bans? I came across it randomly as I was browsing through the forums but I can't find it anywhere at the moment. If not, maybe someone here can answer this question: I'm currently playing on a modded 360 given to me from a friend of mine but I've only been playing retail copies of current games, are the LIVE bans susceptible to firmware/bad backups or both? The other problem here is that I have no idea what firmware nor what type of DVD drive is installed but I will find out soon and hopefully provide this information in the appropriate thread.

Any tips/precautions about circumventing these bans is appreciated. Thanks!

As far as I know, only people playing bad backups have gotten banned. Certainly I've been on for months with a firmware modded drive but only using retail games and have not gotten banned. Of course, that could change but at the moment it doesn't appear to have happened.

Actually there were some early Hitachi firmwares that gave the wrong stealth information. So it is possible to be banned just for have a really old firmware.

Havok you are kickin' ass in this topic!

These bans also include if you suck at games too.

I.E. I knew a guy with -2000 gamerscore, banned right off the bat

Just curious if anyone has pursued the idea that they actually do something locally to break the xbox live layer as opposed to something server side banning your console id. All I know is I can unplug my 360 from my router and if I try to log in it tells me immediately 1 or more profiles could not be logged in (which is the banned message basically) as opposed to before I was banned it would sit there for a minute then tell me connection failed. Just a thought cause then maybe it's an OS thing locally. Probably wrong, but whatever

If you unplug your router it gives you that message even when you are not banned...

hey,
is anyone using good kreon backups on xbl with the new update??
if so have you analysed the update yet? and is there anything dangerous?
i dont want to update then get banned for using my backups.
thanks, much respect,
~Danny~

if you make the backups yourself with the kreon firmware/ 360 drive, scan them to compare the SS details with other kreon users online and burn them on a pio 111/112/212 with verbatim media, you're doing what about 95% of everyone else is doing to pass by without notice from the XBL bans.

however, it's an expensive trial and error process.

Since I posted in a new thread and got no reply so far, and this subject is ban-related, I thought about asking it here:

I have a soft-modded 360 and I was wondering what could happen if I applied Microsoft's compatibility update to play original xbox games (backups).

Please tell me if:

a ) I can get banned from xbox Live by doing so (If they can detect my soft-mod)

b ) The update can mess with my soft-mod

c ) After going through all the trouble to do so, will I still be able to play the original games (given the fact they are backups)

Ok, I have a used 360 which has a manufacturer date of 2006-02. Drive is Samsung. I have updated to the latest dashboard (with divx support) but I have not flashed the drive for backups yet. So if I were to flash to Ixtreme 1.4 I can still play backups right?

Yes you can dude

(not banned yet)

hey guys i have a Hitachi 47DJ with iXtreme 1.4 12x firmware, never previously modded, just wondering if anybody like me has been banned? PM me if so





and Xbox-Scene why did u ban my other account? "electpoopie"

im am trying to set up a account on xbox live and every thing goes good untill i get to were i have to sign in...it tells me xbox live sign up is currently unavailable ...y is that??? if have been tryin to get in 4 about an hour now pm me if you have the answer please

Are there any reports of anyone getting banned after installing ixtreme v1.4? i cant wait to flash my new xbox but im afraid lol, its so hard in my country to get a 0743 LOT# 175W power brick and manu date october 2007...

Microsoft does not ban instanty.. they collect data over a long period of time. It is too soon to tell if any *NEW* boxes flashed to v1.4 will be banned in the future.

The experts say it should be safe...

Thanks for the fast reply dude, my other question is, what if i install v1.4 ixtreme and play LIVE using original games? are my chances of getting banned reduced? or same chance of getting banned?

So, would you (pretty) please give us...or point us to a tutorial where we can learn how to make good backups of our own games with the correct SS, PFI and DMI data that would pass scrutiny in the best way? I've spent a lot of money on my kid's original games and the DVDs are starting to get scratched! (And...I guess you are saying that the stealth checking tools (Xbox Backup Creator, Kreon Checker & Mulleter) do not provide accurate or proper results...even though they check the SS, PFI and DMI?)--I remember seeing years ago some protective adhesive plastic stickers that you could put on CDs to keep them from getting scratched...and that would still work on a computer...I wonder if those are still around and if they would work to protect your original DVDs?

Thank you

I have used these and they work great...

http://www.d-skin.com/

As far as tutorials... there are plenty on this site in the tutorial section. We also have a DVD Ripping subforum.

Do you mean THIS PAGE as far as tutorials?--and if so, are these tutorials really up to date? There are regular posts/threads on "Backup Tutorials" like THIS ONE which would you recommend to get the most current tips from?

Last week I remember reading a post on the Team Xecuter forum (I believe) that said after thousands of tests done on copied games, the Kreon backups did not come out as the best copies with the correct speed time, or some numbers that make it easier to detect a copy being played, but that a Samsung method (can't remember the term) came out as a safer way to copy/backup the games.

And lastly...are you saying that checking your backup with Xbox Backup Creator, Mulleter or Kreon Checker is useless?--that none of those programs will give you the vital info needed to know if your backup is safe to play on Live? If not, then how will you know that you backed up your game the very best way possible?

what if i install v1.4 ixtreme and play LIVE using original games? are my chances of getting banned reduced? or same chance of getting banned?

QUESTION:

Im putting a new drive in my XBOX. Im not gonna use hacked firmware. But because its not the drive that came with the XBOX can that get the 360 banned? (Because technically I do hafta spoof the drive)

Does the speed of a drive affects the chances beeing banned?
Example:
If i use original 12x speed do i have less chances beeing banned than using 8x speed?

Naw, although I'm not sure, I highy doubt it dude. bout 99% sure because you still have official fw on the drive and your only running original games (so no checks on or offline will be able to tell the difference.)

And I'm certain that they wouldn't try to ban you in the future because what your doing isn't actually for illegal pursposes. All you want to do is (I think) fix your xbox w/o the warranty.
They don't care if you replace something because then you'll buy more games and purchase xbox live content. many people have broken their drives and manually replaced them with new ones because they didn't have a warranty.

However, If your console was initially banned, then replacing your dvd drive won't do anything, as your whole xbox's serial number was banned.

Hi,
I had my hitachi drive modded a couple motnhs ago but never conneced to live since. However I am planning to update dashboard so that I could play dvix and others. Question is if it is still safe to do so?
Regards.

Yes, just don't play a backup while on Live.

Ello.

Bein a noob, not sure if this is a dumb Q or not, but I couldnt find an answer elsewhere in the forum after searching.

My Xbox 360 is modified to play backup games, but I dont know how- since I purchased it like it; All I know is it works fine.

I would now like to start playing online with it, but I'm unaware of what actually happens if I go online and M/S find out it's modded.

Will I only be banned from using it on Live, or will they somehow make my 360 stop working all together?

Thanks to anyone who can clear this up for me.

Best regards,

FJ

Your box will work fine, you just can't connect to live.
Also you can't update games after being banned. Some of the games will not work without updating.

Hi,

I didnt install any firmwares/Chip on my Xbox360 yet..
Just got few question before doin any of that.

1.Whats the Diff btween the firmware and the mod chip?
2.If i installed a firmware/Chip and play backuped games without logging on Live. and play Original games in Live online ... will i be banned ?
3. If i got a firmware/mod chip installed...i will be able to use live?.. like downloading demo's and friends list.. without playing Online.. i will still get banned ?

Thanks!

Best regards