I'm sure many other topics talk about the same thing but unfortunately i tried the search and it didnt work ... says it found results but doesnt display any ...

Now say i get an xbox 360 elite that has never been connected to live ... mod it by flashing the drive with the latest firmware possible of ixtreme ... and i get on live using only the original games also making sure of not having a backup in the drive when I'm in the dashboard and connected to the network ... and backups are only played offline ... I've tried to google it but all the results I'm getting are since may 2007 ... if anyone knows whether i would be banned or not for just playing originals on live .. and stealthed backups offline ... what are the chances of a ban ??

thanx to all who reply ... and sorry again for creating a new topic ...

theres no guaranteed percentage.. It doesn't matter the situation soon as you connect to Live you take a chance at being banned just having a modified console.

Yeah, you can play your backups that are fully stealthed on the 360 with no ethernet connections supplied but once you get on Live, you wanna have no disc in the drive or an Original version. Your still not safe though, but you are covered a good bit as long as your backups are true and Stealthed

Id say the odds are 50/50 of recieving a ban while on Live with a modified console.. You get banned thats the end of Live for you with that psecific console, only resolution would be flashing back to original firmware and not worrying about being modified and or purchasing a new console and leaving It unmodified for Live

Well IIRC ... The bans are not in waves anymore .. they ban from day to day .. is that correct ??

If so is there anyone who uses a modded xbox 360 right now on live and hasnt been banned ??

also ... is it better if i just mod it without going onto live and banning it untill they figure out a way to prevent the ban ?? ... because if i get banned i would have to buy a new xbox 360 ...

so:

1. Does live ban day to day ?
2. Are there any modders out there who havent been banned? and what percautions do they take ?
3. Is it better to wait for a 100% sure way to prevent the ban .. if it ever comes ?

Couldn't figure out how to edit the post so sorry for the double post ...

Just wanted to ask ... IIRC ... live was withdrawing bans since drive lenses may give random data which used to cause a ban ... now live isn't banning consoles from information given by the disc ... is that true ?

If so the risk of a ban is the same on an original as on a backup ... is that right ?

thank you to all readers and posters ... appreciate it

I think that MS discovered that drives can give back random data when the laser gets old or worn out. See, what had happened was when MS was doing one of their ban "waves" they noticed that some people were getting banned even if their console was unmodified. They then discover that some lasers can give back bad data regardless of being modded or not. Thus, they cannot ban based solely on the drive giving back weird data anymore.

just wanted to say, that i use backups while connected to live and over live, i take no precautions except for making sure my backups are stealthed. i did that with my old ms25 xbox for a year, and been doing it with my benq 360 for 6 months. i have not had a single problem with bans so far, but i do this at my own risk and am willing to face a ban when it happens

There will never be a 100% sure way to prevent the ban. MS doesn't, for obvious reasons, publicize the methods it is using to detect backups, and you will never know what they are working on that could make the latest firmware obsolete. You could never get banned or there could be a year with no bans followed by every single person with the firmware getting banned, there is just no way to know. The best thing you can do is use iExtreme 1.4, which will only play properly stealthed backups, and only play said backups with your ethernet unplugged, but this is still no guarantee.

If you flash, you're just going to have to live with the possibility of being banned.

I see you have posted this in other threads as well. This suggests to me you are not really happy taking the risk. Don't chance it unless you can say "So they banned me, I don't care"
The risk is always there and nobody knows when the next bans will hit or what technique will then be employed

So say I flash with the iXtreme 1.4 firmware, and only play stealthed backups offline. If I decide to flash back to the original firmware and play retail games on LIVE, is it still possible to get banned?

the possiblity is still there as you may be logged while offline, no one knows

it would be too much of a hassle to re-flash it every time you want to go on live

So if offline is logged, it isnt any safer to play offline than online?

Thank you guys ... i guess ill just play originals on live for now with ixtreme 1.4 ... appreciate the help ... tho i think M$ claims to want to protect live experience when all it cares about is people buying a second xbox for online gaming ... who knows .. they might even release the easier way to move the keyvault themselves just so that even more xboxes get bought for the keyvault and get banned again for being copied onto a modded one having everyone buy yet a third xbox ... they're just after the money ... I like xbox more ... but ps3 really is gr8 with ps3 network and no need to subscribe unlike live .. when i think most people buy the xbox instead since it would be cheaper to get it modded and buy pirated games which is the wrong thing to do .. but now if M$ stopped all that .. the ps3 would be the choice .. anyway .. thank you all for your help .. appreciate it ...

No one knows. Most say no data is logged in offline, and testing seems to confirm that, but in this field there really are no absolutes. If you're looking for absolutely for sure answers on an anything related to bans, you're just not going to find them. Most play backups offline only to be safe, but again, there is no way to know if that prevents anything or not.

Ambiguity is the rule in this area, really.

Most do seem to think though that there is no detecting of the firmware itself over Live, only of bad backups, so reflashing every time is probably not going to help, and also may hurt, as drives can only accept so many flashes before being bricked.

It is always possible to get banned. Always.

For now, I decided not to flash my xbox 360 and just buy the games that are really good and worth the money. Once XBMC makes its way on xbox 360, then I will probably mod...but who knows if that will ever happen.

Thanks for the info.

Now im thinking about buying a falcon .. modding it with the latest ixtreme firmware .. playing stealthed backups offline .. and maybe online .. i could risk it .. and originals online .. im willing to face a ban .. as long as there is a chance that i can play online without getting banned on day 1 .. id just enjoy it while i can .. mm sure hope it lasts long .. any advice ?

Everyone has already given you your advice.. I don't know what there is more to tell you.

Ms can ban and change the rules ANYTIME. You probably won't get banned if you are carefull.

1. Only play backups you have made yourself using the proper tools.

2. Never use backups online (Its against the Terms of Service for Live anyway, and therefore is shunned upon on this forum as we keep everything legal to the best of our ability)

There is an excellent chance you wont get banned on day 1, but there is always a chance.

If you mod your console you have to assume the risk. But there is risk in everything, driving to work or school puts people at great risk of a car accident. Doesn't stop people from doing it.

Not following 1 and 2 rasies this risk.

I have a modded elite and I play LIVE. It works fine. Here are some precautions you can take:
1. Don't play modded games before the release date.
2. Don't tell people over LIVE you have a modded 360.

That's basically it. If you keep it on the DL you probably will be able to play LIVE without and problems.

I have a samsung and had it flashed with the latest firmware at the time. I also only played originals on live, and only backups offline. I even went so far as to disconnect my ethernet cord every time that the console was connected to live. On top of that, I kept all of my backup saves on a seperate memory device (512 memory card) and made sure that the card wasnt in when i was connected to live and that the harddrive and the card were never in at the same time. Even with all of those precautions, I still got slapped on the forehead w/ a ban in Dec 07 with the last wave. My opinion, they're eventually going to catch you and your probably going to have to suck it up and by another console to play with on live if thats your thing. Hopefully a price drop will be coming soon in US