Originally posted by SHAMONE82:

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Its definatly the firm ware that they are detecting ive not played any 4 wave games,never played early releases and i download and patch all my own games. just got home from work with an original copy of cod mw2 and as soon as my console connected to xbox live i got banned gutted. to help my friends out does anyone no if you dont go online from now till you get this new firmware installed on your xbox will you be alright or is it time for a new xbox lol

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Originally posted by Faridk89:

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question..is this a way to check if your xbox is banned without logging in....

go to xbox live website and request a repair...i got this

Error

This service is temporarily unavailable. Please try back again later

does this mean im banned? any1 else thats not banned wanna try this

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Originally posted by Mik3h:

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Originally posted by ton312:

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Do you think they recovered my data then? System hasnt been online for the whole ban wave. But the system I ran test on seems to be working perfectly fine and still no ban. I wonder if calling brought on attention and got me banned lol anyway good test atleast i can truly keep a system for offline play and achievements. Thanks

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Nah they don't recover anything. Once you're flagged to be banned, it'll be noted on the system that the employees use. No problem, I recommend to anyone that isn't yet banned to do this. You don't ask if you are banned, you just "inquire as to whether or not your console is eligible for repair. If it is, then say thanks, and just end the conversation there, if it's not, they will tell you, "No you cannot get it repaired because it says here it has violated the terms and conditions"

If you do this, you've got yourself an offline console to play games early on with the same profile you use for Live, and can keep the achievements rather than end up with corrupt data when you move it to another Xbox.

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Originally posted by g_slide:

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Let's not fool ourselves thinking they are not smart enough to check this... of course with some people it can also be the games... maybe it's both.

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Originally posted by BryanNH_3:

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Originally posted by Toaster68:

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hey BryanNH_3

lets not forget the multi billion $ industry that is M$ and the fact they have monopolised the PC OS market forever, overcharging the likes of me and you for something that no one else could provide. Hence people take umbridge against it and choose to take an alternative option.

my heart bleeds to mr Gill Bates who obviously is a bit hard up due to the modding fraternity, if he'd kept the market prices down in the 1st place then maybe this sector of modding would not of arisen?? it's the old chicken and egg scenario i feel

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Ok, so, a guy creates a business, it is successful. The guy has NO competition, the competition that attempts to step up to the plate cannot nearly compete as well, and he is call a monopolizer? I call it good business strategy!! If you had a product that started out for a niche market and then the market exploded to become fully mainstream and you were able to ride the wave and stay at the top of the market simply because your product was the most widely used due to being there at the beginning, then would you call your business and product a monopoly? Of course not! Microsoft lets anyone use any compatible windows software available, they do not restrict you uninstalling and windows and using Linux, you can disable any of the included features ... how are they monopolizing?? When there's an actual product around that threatens M$, then yes, monopolizing ... until then, they are simply a successful business!

The point is, back to topic, sort of, M$ has lots of $$< we all know that, but it doesn't justify stealing from them and making it necessary or the xbox team to have a full security staff, which then increases the cost per game, per console, etc!

I'm not going to win in here, I'm not going to have any fans, I'm not expecting to .. just think its funny to see everyone wasting so much time on ripping games, checking them to make sure they are stealth patched, buying new xbox's when old ones get banned ... between the time and frustration, you're probably already spending the same amount as waiting 6 months after the game was released and buying it used!

What people are doing on here is no different than a bunch of theives with black masks on having a convention discussing why the alarm company was able to catch then in the act ... its very comical =)

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Originally posted by bludd:

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Originally posted by g_slide:

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Let's not fool ourselves thinking they are not smart enough to check this... of course with some people it can also be the games... maybe it's both.

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Microsoft is also a corporation running a business and if it's only affecting a small portion of their operations then they might not see it as good business sense to put resources in closing that gap. Like their initial design flaw that lead to the RRods, it wasn't until it hit their revenue stream that they had to put action into it.

So if they wanted to add more control into our systems to prevent whatever, I'm sure if they put the money into it then it can be closed up but it won't happen until they consider it worth their time.

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Originally posted by chumped23:

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Mik3h, so according to this, with my unbanned console, i can jump back and forth with the same HDD, and update my live gamerscore, with no reprecussion by using an unmodded xbox?

Yes, that's exactly it. They only thing is, if you're playing games early, it will show on your gamertag, so you may get a gamertag ban for playing games early. It's a grey area, since technically they can't prove you're running illegal copies of the game, but you're still playing it early.


the reason im asking is because I have an elite unbanned as of yet, stopped logging into XBL, hoping that they ban at random with random server checks, so i have not been flagged yet.

Your best bet is to phone up about whether or not you can get your XB repaired or not, you will find out if you are flagged or not that way.

Can i borrow my friends untouched elite, and buy Modern WF2 and play on his box with my HDD (not yet banned), but there are saves on there from backups that come from my modded elite.

That should be fine.

Or should i just use his HDD and recover my gamertag on it.

If you earn achievements offline, they will disappear when you recover your gamertag online, since the system did not update your gamertag's achievements since you didn't sign online.

My main concern is not to put his box in any jeopardy, since his is brand new and he is just doing a friend a favor to play a new game.

If his Xbox is not modded, it's not in danger of getting banned.

Any response would be great.

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Originally posted by LostCry:

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Hey guys! New to this forum! Hoping someone can put my mind at ease!!!

Well, I havent used my xbox for nearly 3 weeks now. Been stashed away in a cupboard due to some annoying circumstances.

Been sitting here on edge reading about this massive ban hammer!

I could whip it out if I really needed to and check it, but to be honest I'm worried about facing the reality that I could be banned!! :P Sad, but true!

But I've been thinking...if I have indeed been banned, is there anyway to get around it becuase I haven't been on live in so long?

Could I say, buy a new console and recover my gamertag on that and continue as normal?

I've read this thread: [url=http://forums.afterdawn.com/t.cfm/f-152/exactly_how_a_ban_affects_your_console-812679/][/url] but to be honest I was a little confused by the explanation relating to your gamertag.

Also, could someone explain simply what happens to your gamerscore? I've barely gained any score from back-up copies, nearly all of it was from games I bought, and I'd like to think it would still be intact if I was able to recover my gamertag on another console.

Many Thanks, hope someone can help me! :]

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Originally posted by Mik3h:

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Originally posted by chumped23:

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Mik3h, so according to this, with my unbanned console, i can jump back and forth with the same HDD, and update my live gamerscore, with no reprecussion by using an unmodded xbox?

Yes, that's exactly it. They only thing is, if you're playing games early, it will show on your gamertag, so you may get a gamertag ban for playing games early. It's a grey area, since technically they can't prove you're running illegal copies of the game, but you're still playing it early.

I havent and will not play early games b/c of that fear, so that shouldnt be a problem


the reason im asking is because I have an elite unbanned as of yet, stopped logging into XBL, hoping that they ban at random with random server checks, so i have not been flagged yet.

Your best bet is to phone up about whether or not you can get your XB repaired or not, you will find out if you are flagged or not that way.

I checked online and my xbox isnt even registered and i registered recently, but i think it fell out of warranty last week, for the first year, so i can call up an ask why my box is not showing up if i registered already, and lead into the repair question, to see if im legitimately banned. thnx

Can i borrow my friends untouched elite, and buy Modern WF2 and play on his box with my HDD (not yet banned), but there are saves on there from backups that come from my modded elite.

That should be fine. sounds good

Or should i just use his HDD and recover my gamertag on it.

If you earn achievements offline, they will disappear when you recover your gamertag online, since the system did not update your gamertag's achievements since you didn't sign online.

There is no real recovering of gamertag, b/c i am swapping HDD back in forth between boxes, so do you still think that my achievements wont rack up offline.


My main concern is not to put his box in any jeopardy, since his is brand new and he is just doing a friend a favor to play a new game.

If his Xbox is not modded, it's not in danger of getting banned.

Thanks that was important, i was thinking since my games from backups are saved on it than they could ban it that way, but i guess not.


Any response would be great.

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Originally posted by dgrandt:

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If all these console bans are in fact true, it should be interesting to see what this does to the secondary market for used consoles. People will be selling XBL banned consoles to completely unsuspecting and not-in-the-know customers, who will in-turn try to use their console as a legitimate console on XBL and be told that they are banned - no further information can be given - and there is no relief for them.

That's like you buying a used car from the lot, and when you try to drive it on the highway the government tells you that you can't because the previous owner had too many DWI's... lolol... But you can still use it in your driveway to listen to the radio.

riiiiiiggghhttt.....

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Originally posted by panispy:

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Originally posted by dgrandt:

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If all these console bans are in fact true, it should be interesting to see what this does to the secondary market for used consoles. People will be selling XBL banned consoles to completely unsuspecting and not-in-the-know customers, who will in-turn try to use their console as a legitimate console on XBL and be told that they are banned - no further information can be given - and there is no relief for them.

That's like you buying a used car from the lot, and when you try to drive it on the highway the government tells you that you can't because the previous owner had too many DWI's... lolol... But you can still use it in your driveway to listen to the radio.

riiiiiiggghhttt.....

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Mate the law is if you buy a stolen car the police take the car from you with no refund or compensation, its the same for checking anything which has been tampered with etc? At least you get an xbox to play copies ;)

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Originally posted by panispy:

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I think the real test is to get a brand new xbox, flash it and dont use a single game with it. Leave that xbox connected to live for days on end and keep logging on and off to see if it gets banned. That will tell all of us if its a firmware detection or software!!

I cant belive this has not been tested by anybody! If it has id love to see results please!!

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Originally posted by panispy:

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Mate the law is if you buy a stolen car the police take the car from you with no refund or compensation, its the same for checking anything which has been tampered with etc? At least you get an xbox to play copies ;)

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Originally posted by g_slide:

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I agree that is a great way to test if it is the FW. I know it has been said before that C4eva is running test on 3 xbox, but I wonder if he is putting games in them too or just testing one of them without a game.

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Originally posted by crazipaki:

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I do not believe its a firmware detection software. I have been playing Halo-3 ODST (Maps Disk) ever since the ban wave started. I have not been banned yet.
The only theory I have is that they are detecting some thing on the game discs to say whether you are running a burned copy. I

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Originally posted by kingofall:

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does any one know if you will still get banned if you revert your console back to its default firmware? gonna restore my drive back to normal. hasnt been turned on in about 2 months. and has only played 2 back ups and both where offline and my own rips.

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