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Microsoft Banning Modded Xboxen
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."
you afraid ms bans slashdot too if you refer to xboxes?
and anyways, surely it would have been known for you as a xbox owner, especially owner of a modded one, that the software can scan the hd(and itself, which it should do for the net play anyways, on which they will pin the reason for this to be).
yeah, it kinda sucks that you can't get the most out of your xbox (use it for emulators, xvid playing AND gaming on xbox live, you pretty much knew you would in reality have to choose between the two) - BUT YOU KNEW THAT when you put down the cash for the system anyways.
obvious solutions? don't modify anything on the harddisk by yourself. pretty darn hard for the box to guess by which bios it was last booted with..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
From the start, everyone here has been saying that since they owned the XBox machine, they can mod it however they want.
Great. Go nuts.
But it works both ways. Microsoft owns the Live Network - and if they say "No Modded XBoxes", that's what it means.
They are under no obligation to let you break their rules. Just because some people have gotten away with it up until now means nothing.
...Also, I didn't know Buggalo could fly.
http://www.xbconnect.com/
Xbox connect is supposedly improving constantly and adding a lot of features to make it more new user friendly. My friend has a modded xbox and says that it works fine. I think it lacks the useful interface options and stat tracking of xbox live....however if you do get banned (and I know theres a big percentage of users on this site who have modded xboxs), give it a try
afaik, Sony PS2 uses the DNAS (Dynamic Network Authentication System) to scan whether the game CD is authentic sony product and then checks if the PS2 have been modded..
the result is (at least for me, using Messiah2) is real difficulty in logging in with modchip turned off..
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.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
Source: Urban Dictionary
xboxen
n. pl. The plural form of xbox.
At only $180 for a new Xbox, less for a used one, there's another alternative: buy a second, unmodified Xbox for exclusive use on Xbox Live. If you can afford Xbox Live and a mod chip, then you should be able to afford a second Xbox.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
It doesn't ban based on the mac address. It bans based on a unique number stored in the Xbox's EEPROM. Based on that, you can get someone else who never plans to play on Xbox live to use a utility to get the data out of their EEPROM, send it to you, and you can reflash your xbox with this. This will get you back on Live. Unfortunately, unless you figure out how they banned you in the first place, they'll just ban this new EEPROM. It was a useful trick when the only way to get banned was to forget to switch off your modchip prior to hopping on Live, but no longer.
IP is a Layer 3 protocol. Your (Layer 2) ethernet address isn't transmitted to servers over the internet. Many IP enabled devices don't even use ethernet and thus have no mac address.
Regardless, these machines aren't blocked from connecting to the network. They're allowed to connect, checked and then disconnected.
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
Place sig here.
It looks like Halo 2 checks the model # and serial # of the hard drive. Will someone tell me why Microsoft cares what hard drive you have in the system? Instead, why don't they check the serial # of Halo 2 game itself? That way, they are detecting piracy rather than modded X-boxes. Seems more fair to me.
:-) )
Not that it matters. Now that we know what they check and how, it should be easy to disable the check or to spoof it.
(Next thing you know, they will have a camera checking to see if you have illegal stickers on the side of it. Error: XBOX Banned - GameCube detected in same room.
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?
It seems to me that this is a pretty clear sign Bungie is planning on offering payable downloads. I speculate we'll see Hang 'em High (as well as others) for $5 in the very near future. If they allowed modded boxes onto Live, you'd be able to pull that file off your HD and "share" it with others. By making sure your Xbox is stock, they ensure you actually have to pay for what you get.
Fine by me. As long as they can keep making money by developing new levels, they'll keep churning them out.