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Microsoft Banning Modded Xboxen

Posted by Zonk on from the cry-me-a-river dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Since the release of Halo 2 (ed: and just before), Microsoft has been banning modified Xboxes from Xbox Live. Some have even been banned with their mod-chips turned off. Previously many users had been able to use Xbox Live provided they disabled their mod-chip. There are a few theories floating around as to how MS is doing this: from scanning the hard-drive for non-MS material to being able to check if the DVD-drive/Hard-disk serial number is from stock or not."

4 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Reply to my own post... by numbski · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I know many of you readers (amazingly) aren't terribly familiar with Linux, so I'll explain this the easiest way I can.

    Could someone here with an XBox with an XBox live account, and a broadband sharing device run ethereal on their LAN, begin a capture on the XBox's IP address, then turn on the XBox and log into live, then post the caputure?

    With the slashdot hive-mind as it's so called, we can have an open hacking discussion. I'm not saying it would be obvious, but who knows...perhaps we can see something? I don't own one yet or I'd be doing this myself.

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    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

  2. Re:I can't comment on how they're detecting mods.. by JofCoRe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ok, so disregard my previous post aboot the account getting deactivated.

    Apparently, when they want to ban someone from xbox live, they ban the Xbox's EEPROM id, which is the unique identifier for each xbox.

    I get the idea from this thread and this thread that there's a way to flash your EEPROM so that you can get back on, but I don't know how you'd do that. (I use Xlink Kai for my online gaming :)

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  3. Re:This should come as a surprise to no one. by Zonk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I agree completely.

    You are entirely entitled to do whatever you want to what is indeed your property.

    However, if you sign up for Xbox Live you're signing a service contract that states somewhere in there that modded machines aren't allowed. MS is perfectly within their rights to make that requirement a part of the deal. In fact, I appreciate it. Knowing that a modded cheater isn't going to be gaming with me is a reassurance.

    I get a little frustrated when people decide that just because they bought one piece of a puzzle, they own the whole damn puzzle too.

    Buying an Xbox doesn't mean you get to decide how they run the Live service. Buying Diablo 2 doesn't give you the right to run your own Battle.net server. Read the fine print before you sign on the dotted line.

  4. What happens if I buy a used Xbox and it's banned? by artifex2004 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let's say I go to Gamestop and buy a used unit. If I buy into the Live service, and find out the box is banned, does Gamestop have to replace with another unit? This is assuming that it was used with a removeable mod, of course, and that it was removed before Gamestop accepted it, etc., or that its EEPROM was used to reflash another unit.

    Also, what good is the Live service if I don't play multi-player games? Do they do any kind of software updates, etc., through the service?