MS Ban Hammer - 10.30.09

thats incorrect, i was banned on wednesday and my account is silver, was playing halo odst campaign when it happened, only the console was banned, gamertag is ok

 

Has anyone else heard anything else about this ban only lasting until Nov 13th? If you wanna side step the trouble with your HDD during the banning just use a non-modded xbox and memory card to either load your profile to it or to create a new one month membership onto it and use it to login on the modded xbox. When it gets banned you can then go back to using your normal HDD and profile without the consequences. We tested it earlier. Once the xbox is banned, the xbox won't affect other HDD and profiles put on it, only the memory card and profile that was on it when it was banned. Hope this helps. I am still a survivor!!

 

Hmm that's interesting... My motherboard in my Xbox was changeed to the new one in May 2009. Xbox wasn't flashed back then though... I wonder if repaired consoles also are banned.

 

Can anyone foresee a hot fix for the HD-Install problem on banned XBOX 360s in the recent future? Figured someone would have figured out the cause by now.

 

Other than dumping the NAND before a ban occurs (which is a pre-emptive measure rather than a proper fix), I don't think there'll be a fix. If it's some kind of flag that gets triggered in the dash then someone would have to figure out a way to dump the dash, modify the code, then reinstall it on a console. Modders had several reasons why they might want to modify the dashboard before this new ban wave, but AFAIK, it's never been done so I can't see it being done now.

 

Just wanted to post here with some information about my system and games.

I was banned today while playing Forza 3, which I dl'd. I only used disc 1 and checked with ABGX at level 2. Stealth passed and everything verified. I also re-checked the burned disc just now, and everything verified.

This morning, I was playing NHL 10 online.

I have dl'd and played ODST, Brutal Legend, Borderland, Operation Flashpoint and Dirt 2 as of lately. All checked via ABGX and burned on Verbatim discs. All discs have been checked today in ABGX.

One of the games... can't remember now which one though... did not verify but passed stealth. So I ran it through ABGX on level 3 to patch it. I then checked the patched ISO with ABGX again and it all verified.

My console has a BenQ which replaced a Hitachi. The Hitachi was on it's way out, so I got a guy to replace it with a Benq and flash the Benq with 1.6. The Hitachi was flashed with 1.51 previously.

I did not play any games early. Today was the first day I tried Forza 3.

As I said, I always double check all of my games with ABGX.

Obviously nobody knows for sure, but it would seem just being "safe" is not safe enough any more. I don't think everyone on here is lying about whether they played games early or unverified. What would be the point in that?

I know it's a risk whether your safe or not though. I'm dissapointed considering Modern Warfare 2 is coming out, and I can't really afford a new console + game. But oh well... cry me a river.

But I just want everyone to keep an open mind here. Nobody really knows how M$ is catching people. Some have good theories, but in the end, it's just a theory. Speculation. They could very well be detecting firmware. Or maybe they have other things they look for.

It says on the M$ site they only ban people if there is overwhelming evidence that tampering has occured. This supports the multiple flag theory.

But considering the claims I read here, I think you can assume they are catching us even though we are being "safe".

There is no way of knowing, but Forza 3 makes me suspicious. I was fine until I tried that game. It would not be a new thing for a software company to release software that is flagged to catch pirates. It has happened before and there are companies who can be hired to do this. I don't think M$ would do this directly, but it can be done of course. Corporate spying is also "illegal" yet businesses do it all the time. I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but it's something to think about.

 

Some people don't want to own up to doing silly things. People are constantly told to avoid playing games early or if they're not verified, but many do it anyway. Also, it's entirely possible that MS employees post false info in order to ruin anyone's chance of spotting a pattern - not that I'm accusing anyone here of working for MS, lol, but I'm sure that kind of thing occurs.

I read a post elsewhere from a guy that claimed to have bought a 360 about 3 weeks ago and he flashed it, but he hadn't played a single game on it and he's still been banned. Not a single game - no originals either. Why would you buy a 360, flash it, then not play any games for 3 weeks? It's quite obvious that a tiny minority aren't being 100% honest.

 

Still not banned.

Been playing bad rips of tekken 6 / smackdown 2010 / MW2 offline (not going back online until the game is rls'd and there is a proper verified release)

Maybe they are waiting 'till Christmas day for me or something. lol

 

Like above i played Forza3 and WAW and while playing online my console RRODd. As mentioned earlier i almost shipped the console back to MS for repairs as they confirmed it under warranty a week back but when i called them up yesterdy to tell them im' shpping it the support guy told me it will not be fixed due to being showing as a tampered with console. So luckily i dropped it off in the same white box carton at the guy's place who did the fw update on the consoles. Incidently he also fixes RROD. So i will basically hv an almost banned console for all offline games and buy an elcheapo arcade for online games.

 

That's definitely true; people don't like to man up to things. But in this case... I just don't see the logic in going out of your way to cry on a forum when you know that it's your fault (well, it's your fault either way, but you know what I mean).

I guess some folks are just weird like that. But I personally would not have registered and posted here if I knew I was playing unverified games or playing games early.

And I guess there are always the people who don't even know they are being stupid.

But I followed all the safety measures I learned from everyone. Always double checking in ABGX, burning on Verbatims at 2.4x and never EVER playing games early, online or off.
I went through about 10 game discs today and re-checked in ABGX, and all passed.

So, there is something up with this whole thing.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. And I'll probably do it again.

 

I know. I'm not accusing everyone who is claiming to have only played verified rips after the release date of lying. I'm saying that some people do lie though, that guy who claimed to have played no games at all for example.

 

Oh yes, definitely. If you are playing unverified rips online then you have flagged yourself almost indefinitely. And it's been seen on the forums all the people acting as if they were innocently banned.

 

Out of curiosity, how would he prove that? I agree, it's probably unlikely, but how would you actually prove beyond any doubt that they could not check FW? Not trying to be a jerk, but I'm sincerely curious. If it is indeed ruled out as a possibility, then I won't think about it any more.

That is great that the iXtreme creator is running some tests. I just hope that they wont be unfruitful because the ban wave has already come and gone. If that's the case, his experiments might take a full year to produce any results.
His tests not producing results doesn't really prove anything when taking the time frame M$ seems to work on.

M$ certainly has done a good job of making it difficult for everyone to track them down.

Then there is always the things that go along with flashing the FW. Many have suggested that the system could detect booting up the drive with the SATA cable unplugged. However, this alone does not seem like "overwhelming evidence" to me even if they could detect it.

So that leaves... the games. So perhaps there is something everyone is overlooking with games being verified by ABGX.

 

I have a BENQ with 1.61 on it. I have only played 2 games online..UFC (origional copy) and MV vs DC (verified backup) and I just got the ban. No, I havent played anything else unverified or before the release date, on or off line. Dont know how they are doing it...but sure am curious to find out..

 

They must of had everyone flagged since before last month because I tested 2 xboxs that were broke over a week of game testing (playing a few copies like left 4 dead and call of duty 4) and left them off for a month while they kept getting rrod and they both got banned yesterday after having my friends banned xbox plugged into my internet, when I powered them on along with my Jasper which I powered on just after testing them. It could be to do with the same ip having a banned console one after the other plugged into it or just a coincidence that they banned them all.

 

I have to disagree here. My bedroom 360 has been flashed for about 9 months, and has not had a single backup or retail game played on it. I flashed it because I flash all my consoles, but we really only bought it to stream videos and use Netflix. It really isn't that strange a thing to do.

 

Hi i'm not sure if anyone else has had this in their home.......

we have 3 xbox's rigged up in our house:

1/ Mine (dad) lite-on 7 series @ 10months old on 1.6fw - downstairs

2/ Sons lite-on 7 series @ last xmas on 1.6fw - in bedroom

3/ Sons Hitachi 59 in a 2008 chassis on 1.51fw - in bedroom

now here's the thing, i've modded all 3 on the same pc using the same CK3 unit and we all play the same backed up games either verified at source or by me after making a 2nd gen copy. Also no games have been played before release (i make sure of that)

my lads xboxs were both banned yesterday yet mine remains ok? They are all networked through a set of homeplugs and all use the same single entry into the router, so all use the same ports to access live.

 

Honestly, I'd bet your lads were bragging or telling various others on Live about how they play all their games as free copies, and enough other users reported them to set up red flags. That's the kinda thing kids do.