I'm shortly going live, and just wanted some tips on how not to get banned. Are there any games that will store info while you're using the mod, or simillar?

I remember reading something about the star wars battlefront demo that came with the trilogy. How did that cause the box to get banned?

Thanks

Turn the chip off is a good starting point Not playing Halo2 on live is a no-no if you have a different hard drive. Always be cautious whenver a game has a patch applied to it, monitor forums to see if the patch affects modded boxes.

Have one normal xbox and one modded is the best answer.

PS. above information is supplied from various chats on live and is NOT FACT

Basically if you're going to mod your box then do it before first signing up for live.

Yep, got that.
Come again? Do you mean 'playing Halo2 on live is a no-no'? I have a different hard drive. If I play Halo2, will it automatically ban me when I next go on live, or only if I play 'it' on live?
I've never tried to patch a game. Are patches normally something you download and write to disk, or do they come with magazines etc?

Why's that gthom? My box has been modded, but I'm wondering what to avoid doing now.

Thanks

when you sign up to live they note your eeprom serial and HD serial so that if you alter one in the future they know. That's the theory that many people go by anyway - I play Halo 2 ok on my box whick was modded prior to signing up on live with an X2.6 and a 120gb HD

That's reassuring, thanks

My xbox has an uprated HD and just about everything else done to it that can be. Been using Live for Months including hours a week on Halo 2 every week no problems.

As Ghthom said the recent problems have been due to a change they made to spot boxes that had been modded after the unit had been signed up to live.

Its amazingly easy for them to spot apparently. So if you have been on live already you cant get your xbox modded, otherwise a ban is likely.

You have to patch the games as and when required otherwise you cant use them on live. Patching games has nothing to do with the bans, they get all the information they need for this everytime you sign into live anyway.

Does anyone know what was happening witht the star wars battlefront demo getting people banned?

Thanks for info - I was basically thinking if a ban is now guaranteed, due to new checks in games, I would consider getting a new box in one of the special offers (toys are us were doing them for ?90, with some games you could trade in for >?10, and obviously a controller etc - bargain) but I'll see if I can not get banned in the first place.

The star wars demo would auto connect to xbox live and i think dloads an update - does all this without any warning so make sure you arent connected to broadband when playing the demo. Also note the demo is very very poor - its from an early beta version - graphics are very bad (blurry textures crap view distance) frame rate is poor, controls are different (you guns have Alt fire modes). The Full game is far better looking with solid frame rate, higher res textures, much better view distance etc. Very amazed that Lucasarts used such a poor demo to advertise the game - its put alot of poeple off.

Anyone with a modded xbox is taking a huge risk going on xbox live.
People seem to be banned for all kinds of things and no one can really point a figner at the reason why the box's are being banned.

Some can be online for weeks while others will get banned within hours.

Safest way to go is either wait until there is clear proof on how you can avoid a ban or get yourself a unmodded xbox.

Drphibes

The way I see it is that it's hardly a risk as if you get banned you can then just buy a box for live and keep your existing one for other stuff. This is exactly the same as one of your suggestions so the way I see it is that you may as well stick with the one box until you (if you ever do) get banned. Remember it's the box itself that gets banned not the live account. If I get banned then i'll probably just sell the modded box and buy a new one as to be honest I don't really need a modded box anyway.

Well this is not correct. The recent spate of bans have been for the reasons already discussed. The other main reason for bans is going into live with a mod chips enabled Yes it happens.

I know loads of people who have been using live since its launch with modded xboxs. I have been using Live with a modded xbox myself for well over a year on and off with no problems. Basically unless you are stupid and dont follow the well documented advice on this topic there shouldnt be a problem.

If you do get banned as gthom said you can always sell your banned xbox on ebay and buy another one. They are only ?90 these days !

A quick look on xbox scene does not really give anyone a 100% accurate explanation on why xbox's are being banned.

Some punters have been playing for weeks with modded box's , yet others can get a ban withing hours.

Drphibes

Yes but I have been playing for over a year without any problems !

The random banning seems to have come into force only in the last month or so , before this you where fine playing on xbox live with a modded box aslong as you switched the chip off.

All I am s 3890 aying is I think it is a bit misleading to say you will be fine using a modded box on xbox live.

Drphibes

Have you any idea why Russel? Could you have left the mod chip on when going live, or
could you have been playing a live enabled game with the mod chip on, while you weren't on live (and thus it made a note of the fact your box was modded)?

No, never. My power button is chip on, eject is off, I only used live when I pressed eject.

Not sure how it happenend, its only a ?100 for a new one, and I wanted a second joypad anyway. The only thing which annoys me is the lack of high-def on the unmodded.

My box was modded before I signed up for X Box live, it worked fine for about a month (I only play SF Anniversary and Mortal Kombat Deception) until I was banned last week for modified hardware.

I now have two xboxes.

It really shouldnt be an issue if you follow the points already mentioned but as gthom said, its a bit of a no brainer anyway. If you already have a modded box you have nothing to loose. If you want a modded box but want to play on live, if you do end up getting banned you can always get another box for ?90 or less.

I dont know anyone who has been banned yet (Touch wood ) and I know alot of people on Live with modded xboxs.

Others experiences ( i read through the thread(s) fully on xbox scene before signing up for live) all point to -

- People being banned when they have modified their box after signing up for live and

- this having an effect after the update to Live 2.0 which I think was around March.

I do agree that we can't know 100% if this is the only reason people are banned though. But the way I see it, decision whether to use a modded box on life is pretty easy.

- If you want a modded box and you want to use live then get it modded and then sign up to live. If you get banned then you need another box for live and you can keep your first one for the modded uses.

- If you want a modded box and don't want to go on live then just get it modded. If you choose to go on live in the future then it should still be ok.

- If you have a modded box and you want to go on live but no longer want the modded aspects of the box you can a) unmod 2D40 it, b) go on live with it modded, sell it if you get banned and buy a virgin box for live with the proceeds or c) just sell it now and get a new one anyway.

At about ?90 with free games (which you can flog on ebay)and if you use one of the promo codes that many shops have around christmas, then you can get a new box for peanuts.