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[shantyman]

Interesting article on C|Net.

http://news.com.com/2102-1043_3-5449160.html?tag=st.util.print

If old, sorry. This guy is unreal.

Datapusher said he was temporarily able to regain access to Xbox Live after some tinkering Wednesday night, but was banned again shortly after. He vowed not to give in and buy a new Xbox, the route reportedly taken by many hackers eager to join the online "Halo 2" scrum. "I won't give up that easily," he vowed. "Someone will find a way. Microsoft may be clever, but not as much so as the open-source community...there will always be a way around Microsoft security protocols."

 

[RevenantKioku]

I always laugh when the open-source community gets bested.

 

[atomsk]

The service now apparently checks the console's hard drive and boots any machine with storage different than the 8GB or 10GB hard drive originally supplied with the console. Hard drive upgrades are one of the most common hacks for the Xbox, allowing it to serve as a digital media jukebox.

suck it up, and run everything off dvd/cdrw...

thats what i've been doing all along.

 

[Trakball]

I always laugh when the open-source community gets bested.

Why is that funny?

 

[LukeSmith]

Why is that funny?

Why wouldn't it be? Hijack the console's properties, mold it to your own desires and wishes. Modify its inerts and expand its performance. Then meet microsoft's ban stick. Every part of that is funny.
You fuck the man, and the man turns right back round and breaks a broomstick off in your behind. Digitally, speaking.

 

[Trakball]

Why wouldn't it be? Hijack the console's properties, mold it to your own desires and wishes. Modify its inerts and expand its performance. Then meet microsoft's ban stick. Every part of that is funny.
You fuck the man, and the man turns right back round and breaks a broomstick off in your behind. Digitally, speaking.

I guess I wasn't aware that "open-source" = "pirate"

 

[LukeSmith]

I guess I wasn't aware that "open-source" = "pirate"

Because modded xboxes never have games on their Hard Drives. Oh, unless they are there just backing up the copy they rented from Blockbuster, right?

 

[seismologist]

haha Halo 2 = trojan. Hackers Owned.

 

[RevenantKioku]

I guess I wasn't aware that "open-source" = "pirate"

Not necessarily, but most of the open-source people I've run into have been the biggest assholes I've ever met in my life. Especially those who are always "NEW TECHNOLOGY? I MUST MAKE LINUX RUN ON IT."
They just piss me off, so I laugh.

 

[atomsk]

i've yet to be 'owned', but whatever :lol

 

[jedimike]

I guess I wasn't aware that "open-source" = "pirate"

No, but open-source has no business on XBL. It's imperitive to the success of XBL that MS eliminate modded machines. Even if the owner is being totally legitimate when they are on XBL. Just the potential for modified code is reason enough to ban.

If XBL is important to you, spend the extra $150 and get a unmodded Xbox to play on it. If it isn't important to you, keep your modded box off the network. It's that simple.

 

[impirius]

Does "open source" have anything to do with this? That's a software development model. It's like saying.. uh... "Yeah, some guys got busted for street racing. Assembly-liners owned!"

As for me and my modded box, I've had no problems getting onto Live for the past few days. I just cancelled a two-month trial account and may start it back up once I get my preorder of Conker or when Bungie makes Halo 2 optimatch/quickmatch quicker. No worries

 

[Wario64]

If you check the xbox-scene forums, Halo 2 is checking the HDD ID and some other stuff...pretty interesting



New Xbox LIVE Banning
>> 'It's Good To Play Together' ... but not anymore if you modded your Xbox.
From all the reports we get in our Xbox LIVE forum section it's clear Microsoft added new checks on their Xbox Live service.
Here's a quote from shanafan the X-S XLIVE forum moderator:

Ever since Xbox Live came out officially, people who accessed Xbox Live with their modchip on were banned. Live detected the modified BIOS that was loaded, and the Xbox's EEPROM (the unique identity of each Xbox) was banned. However, their Xbox Live account was still safe. So, these banned users got a different EEPROM from various sources, and they were back onto Xbox Live.
That has been the way for a long time, and was the way to get banned, unless you used a Xbox Live cheat or was a disruptive gamer.
However, until recently, it seems MS is taking extreme measures to stop people with modified Xboxes from accessing Xbox Live, even with their modchip off.

The Xbox Live Director of Programming already said a few weeks ago they were working on adding new 'security updates' to LIVE.
At this moment it's unknown what Microsoft is exactly checking when you log-in. There are many things they could check: HDD serial/model, HDD-EEprom match, crc check of xboxdash.xbe, search for specific files on HD (example c:/evoxdash.xbe), specific hacked or modified gamesaves, ...
While the banning does NOT appear to be game specific heinrich found the Halo2 .xbe is also checking kernel and HDD:
0x0041158C, "XboxHardwareInfo"
0x00411594, "XboxKrnlVersion"
0x00411770, "HalDiskSerialNumber"
0x00411774, "HalDiskModelNumber"
etc

It also seems (several days ago already) that many people who got banned previously and changed their EEprom to unban themselves are now banned again. This is probably because MS not bans an Xbox only based on the EEprom, but now probably also based on the HDD info. Team SmartXX proved some months ago MS was already sending HDD info to the LIVE servers during sign-in().
While waiting for more research to be done on these new checks, if you want to make sure you won't get banned best it is best to remove the xbox LIVE account from your modified Xbox console (save it on a memory card first so you can easily restore it).
If you still have your fully unchanged (no F, no homebrew files or modified gamesaves) retail Xbox HD - it *should* be safe to login with it and modchip off ofcourse. That's of course if you never connected to LIFE with your swapped HD 'cause MS might have detected it some weeks or months ago. It's not because they ban now that they only start tracking it now.

Right now it's doesn't seem all modded Xbox consoles are getting banned - but keep in mind they ban with a delay. So if you log-in on LIVE today it's possible you'll only get refused access tomorrow. It also looks like Microsoft only bans actual consoles and not gamertags.

If you want to play Halo 2 or other games against people around the world you can still use tunneling software like XLink Kai(info) and XBConnect(info) of course

More Information About New LIVE Checks: forums.xbox-scene.com (forums are VERY busy atm 'cause several sites are linking to it - so you may want to surf it off peak or tomorrow).

 

[krypt0nian]

Because modded xboxes never have games on their Hard Drives. Oh, unless they are there just backing up the copy they rented from Blockbuster, right?

So ban them all and let god sort it out right? Durrr...

 

[RevenantKioku]

Does "open source" have anything to do with this? That's a software development model. It's like saying.. uh... "Yeah, some guys got busted for street racing. Assembly-liners owned!"

I could be wrong, but I'm sure most Xbox mods involve linux in some way. I know mine does.

And I mean talk to some of these people. They always want their cake and to be able to eat it too. I just think its an unnecessary fight, s'all.

 

[Wario64]

From xbox-scene forum

Hey guys whats up.
While many of us are trying to rearrange files on hdd to avoid being banned by this new xbox live detection, it is serving no purpose.
MS is not checking the hdd, and i believe i have proof of this.
At first, like everyone else, i went on to play halo 2. 120gb hdd locked with an xecuter 3. Played all ngiht, woke up next morning and was banned.
When this happend i felt like doing a little experimenting.
Thanks to blackwolf, he was able to supply me with a few eeproms while i did a little bit of testing.
I used an unmodded hdd. Totally original hdd that came locked with this motherboard. Files were not tampered with in ANY way.
Went on xbox live, modchip disabled of course with this locked original untouched hdd.
After playing for about 10 minutes I noticed the color of my x3 switches changed.
Now for those of you are familiar with the x3, red means disabled, blue means enabled and a purplish color means backupmode.
As i was playing and sitting in a lobby waiting for a new game to start, i noticed the color of my switches changed from red to purplish(x3backupmode).
So my assumption here is that MS is scanning or putting power to certain LPC points to detect chips, thats the only reason why my modchip would turn from off to backupmode all on its own.
Sure enough, after the color change, i went on xbox live about 10 hours later, with the same locked original hdd. I was banned. Got the modified xbox error.

Now for a little more proof...
Many of you may or may not know a guy by the name of Peer.
He has a 160gb hdd loaded up with dashboards, apps, etc.
When halo 2 came out, he locked his hard drive, and took his chip of the LPC points.
He has been playing for 3 days on and off constantly with a 160gb modded locked hdd with no chip with no problems.

With all the above said, i believe it is very safe to say that MS is somehow checking the LPC points.
What this means? Chip revision? possible.
You also can probably take the chip off the points or unplug it everytime you want to play, which may be lame also.
What i was thinking was if you Take a switch for each LPC wire and solder it in between the motherboard and the chip, by switching it off will cut the chip off completely. So this may be an option, but is not tested yet.

If anyone would care to add, feel free.
Thank You,
pane

 

[Trakball]

Because modded xboxes never have games on their Hard Drives. Oh, unless they are there just backing up the copy they rented from Blockbuster, right?

Again, man, I don't see anything "open source" about what you're saying. It seems to me like you're talking about piracy, not Linux.

 

[Azih]

Well, MS doesn't guarantee any level of service if you void the warranty so....

Plus since turning MS subisdised Xboxes into cheap PC and then not buying games is costing MS money they have a two compelling reasons in stopping mod chips (not just piracy).

 

[shantyman]

He is talking open source because of this quote in the article and my post:

"Someone will find a way. Microsoft may be clever, but not as much so as the open-source community...there will always be a way around Microsoft security protocols."

 

[jedimike]

Thanks Wario, that is my situation. I still have my modded hard drive in, but removed my chip. So far, I haven't been banned. I also deleted all of the files that showed up in memory management. I would have put the original HDD back in, but I think my serial # from this drive got uploaded.

So, I'm afraid that if I put my original HD back in, that MS will see a mismatch and ban my Xbox.

 

[Trakball]

He is talking open source because of this quote in the article and my post:

Oh, okay. Well that's really confusing because it seems like this guy is saying open-source = piracy, but that's not the case. It's like saying merely owning a PC makes you a pirate because you COULD be using your PC in a skalliewaggish manner, arrrrr.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

There's KaiXlink...

XBConnect... More than one way to play Halo 2 online.

 

[Great King Bowser]

So erm, yeah, if I go on Live with Halo 2 and my modded XBox with retail hard drive, will I get banneded?

 

[atomsk]

for those scared of the LPC scan... as i'm reading a bit further in that thread, it seems 1.6 xbox and above would be at risk, because the bios runs through that LPC...

now me? i've got a 1.3 xbox, and an x2.2l+ chip. so there's not much MS can do to detect it, since when the chip is off, it's OFF. (pogopins WOOOOO)

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

At least one of the following activities takes place on every modded Xbox:

playing copied games
playing "abandonware", source ports and emulation
listening to downloaded music
watching downloaded movies

 

[Kon Tiki]

Screw Halo 2, Xbox Media Centre is the real Xbox killer app. Why the hell isn't this part of the MS dash?

 

[Wario64]

for those scared of the LPC scan... as i'm reading a bit further in that thread, it seems 1.6 xbox and above would be at risk, because the bios runs through that LPC...

Guess I should squeeze every minute that I can then :|

 

[DaCocoBrova]

At least one of the following activities takes place on every modded Xbox:

playing copied games
playing "abandonware", source ports and emulation
listening to downloaded music
watching downloaded movies

And... Where are you going w/ this...?

Again, those that hate (modders) are just envious.

 

[Trakball]

What DCB said.

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

And... Where are you going w/ this...?

Again, those that hate (modders) are just envious.

Or have PCs that already do all of the above. Or already own legitimate CDs, Movies, DVD's, and games.

 

[Kon Tiki]

At least one of the following activities takes place on every modded Xbox:

playing copied games
playing "abandonware", source ports and emulation
listening to downloaded music
watching downloaded movies

Playing custom levels (Halo)
Watching streaming movies from gamespot.
Watching Apple trailers.
Listening to Web Radio.
Watch live video streams.
Watching your TiVo shows.
Watching TV streams from around the world.

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

Playing custom levels (Halo)
Watching streams movies from gamespot.
Watching Apple trailers.
Listening to Web Radio.
Watch live video streams.
Watching your TiVo shows.
Watching TV streams from around the world.

Holy shit I can do all that on PC.

 

[Razoric]

Or have PCs that already do all of the above. Or already own legitimate CDs, Movies, DVD's, and games.

Exactly. Let the modders squirm... shouldnt be messing with that shit in the first place (especially if you are taking it online).

 

[Kon Tiki]

Holy shit I can do all that on PC.

Holy Shit you can do that on a $150 Xbox with no PC.

I think most people here have a better audio/video setup for thier Xbo then their PC.

About about watching DVD you own without being forced to buy a remote? :lol

 

[Trakball]

Holy shit I can do all that on PC.

See my post upthread, then come down off your high horse. Everyone in this thread knows your stance on the matter & feels bad for their evil deeds accordingly.

 

[atomsk]

Guess I should squeeze every minute that I can then :|

have you been banned before? that seems to be a major issue with most of these bannings.

well, that and halo 2.

now me personally, have no desire to play halo 2, because i dont paticularly care for FPS, so whatever update/scan that game is doing isnt going to affect me (until they put the same scan in conker :lol )

but if i do get banned, which i'm still finding highly unlikely, i'll suck it up and buy another xbox. my live account is good until july, and i've got another year card to use past that (from upgrading my DSL... nice freebie).

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

Holy Shit you can do that on a $150 Xbox with no PC.

I think most people here have a better audio/video setup for thier Xbo then their PC.

Modded PC costs more than $150 (with bigger HD, etc). And I'm pretty sure you need a PC to transfer stuff over.

 

[Trakball]

Modded PC costs more than $150 (with bigger HD, etc). And I'm pretty sure you need a PC to transfer stuff over.

but seriously man, where are you going with this? you're making my head spin.

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Playing custom levels (Halo)
Watching streaming movies from gamespot.
Watching Apple trailers.
Listening to Web Radio.
Watch live video streams.
Watching your TiVo shows.
Watching TV streams from around the world.

lol! This is the reason you modded your Xbox?



I think we're all aware that nearly all the people who mod their xboxen use it for emulation and/or pirated software. Anyone that says different is delusional.

 

[Trakball]

I think we're all aware that nearly all the people who mod their xboxen use it for emulation and/or pirated software. Anyone that says different is delusional.

I'm delusional then. XBMC fo' life

 

[Kon Tiki]

Modded PC costs more than $150 (with bigger HD, etc). And I'm pretty sure you need a PC to transfer stuff over.

No. You do not need a bigger HDD for anything I listed.

and I'm pretty sure you need a PC to transfer stuff over.

Only to set it up, after setup it is almost independent.

Playing custom levels (Halo) (PC needed)
Watching streams movies from gamespot.(PC not needed)
Watching Apple trailers.(PC not needed)
Listening to Web Radio.(PC not needed)
Watch live video streams.(PC not needed)
Watching your TiVo shows.(PC not needed)
Watching TV streams from around the world.(PC not needed).

 

[border]

Or have PCs that already do all of the above.

Oh god, you're right! Microsoft should disable your PC's internet access and media player functions if it discovers that you are listening to MP3s!

 

[Kon Tiki]

lol! This is the reason you modded your Xbox?

Yes. I modded for XBMC. Also to take frame buffer dumps.

My Xbox spends more time in XBMC than it does playing games.

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

Oh god, you're right! Microsoft should disable your PC's internet access and media player functions if it discovers that you are listening to MP3s!

PC's are sold with the intention of being multimedia web browsing machines. Xboxen are not.

 

[Trakball]

PC's are sold with the intention of being multimedia web browsing machines. Xboxen are not.

My toaster isn't made with the intention of helping me get better broadcast signals, but I'll be damned if touching the TV antenna to it isn't the only way I can get Fox!

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

My toaster isn't made with the intention of helping me get better broadcast signals, but I'll be damned if touching the TV antenna to it isn't the only way I can get Fox!

Unfortunately for Fox they have no way of disabling your toaster from improving your TV signal. Fortunately for Microsoft, they have means of preventing you from using their product in ways they deem undesirable.

 

[RevenantKioku]

Hey, I'm not saying open-sourcers are necessarily pirates, just mostly assholes.

 

[suikodan]

Am I supposed to be sorry for them?

I know I could run into issues when I modded my Xbox and I was banned at first. But since I could afford another Xbox and I wanted to do so, I have a new virgin Xbox for Live whose DVD drive sucks compared to the modded one, but I can live with that.

 

[impirius]

Revenant, shantyman: Ahhh, a'ight, I see what you're saying. I somehow didn't make the connection between the quote in the article and the quote in here. :lol Still think the guy in the article is wrong, though; if anything, the solution to this will probably be through hardware or just moving files around.

It looks like this thread is turning into the same old argument, so I'm gonna (A) BAIL OUT

 

[Trakball]

Unfortunately for Fox they have no way of disabling your toaster from improving your TV signal. Fortunately for Microsoft, they have means of preventing you from using their product in ways they deem undesirable.

Sounds good to me, anyone who is stupid enough to leave a modded XBox connected to the Internets deserves what they get. XBox +2 in the trakball household.

So you're just getting off on people getting booted from XBox, eh? Interesting. The people of GA really enjoy seeing other people suffer!