More on LIVE Bans, HDD Crippling, Possible Ban Causes

[t0mbi]

Kushan (our Kushan?) wrote a nice little article summarizing all kinda info we have about the current (still ongoing) Console Live Ban Wave:

- What does this mean for you and what can you do about it?

Firstly, and most obviously, you cannot connect to Xbox Live on this console any more. This means no more game updates (aka title updates), XBLA games, marketplace content, netflix/sky player and so on. There is no way around this, all online capabilities are now disabled PERMANENTLY.

In all likelihood, your gamertag has NOT BEEN BANNED. When your gamertag gets banned, Microsoft sends you an email detailing why, if you have not recieved this email then your profile should be ok, to a certain extent.

Hard Drive installs are now disabled on the banned console. This means any disk-based games you have will no longer play off of the hard drive. If you attempt to play a game, it will tell you that it was installed on a different 360 and needs to be deleted/installed again. When you delete the game and attempt to install it, you are given a message telling you that it is not supported. There is no way to fix this, that functionality is simply gone from the banned 360.

The hard drive itself is left untouched - you can place it in another 360, even an unbanned one, and it will still work just fine. You do NOT need to reformat it to regain any kind of functionality. Any installed games will need to be reinstalled for the console you want to play them on. This is normal behaviour and happens when swapping HDDs on unbanned/legit 360's.

Windows Media Centre functionality is disabled. It is still possible to stream video/music content via the video library.

Your Gamertag may be corrupted. This does not mean your gamertag has been banned, you can recover it using any live-capable 360, however ANY ACHIVEMENTS YOU HAVE EARNED SINCE BEING BANNED WILL BE LOST. Your gamertag will be corrupted EVERY SINGLE TIME it is used on a banned console. This means you cannot use your banned console to play backups offline just to get achievements - it wont work, the second you put your profile back on a good 360, it will be corrupted and all progress lost. There is no way around this.

The same applies to game saves - if you access a game save on a banned 360, it too will be corrupted when accessed on a legit/unbanned 360! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! There is no way around this, either.

Your XBLA games and DLC will still be valid, however to play them on a different 360 you will need to be signed into Xbox Live. This is normal behaviour on unbanned/legit 360's as well. They may be corrupted and have to be re-downloaded if you attempt to access them on a banned 360. You can transfer all of your downloaded content to a new 360 here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemus...ion/default.htm however note that you can only do it once every 12 months.

So, in summary:

Your Banned 360:

* Cannot go on Xbox Live

* Cannot install games to the HDD

* Cannot use Windows Media Centre extender

* Cannot be used to get achievements from backups without corrupting your profile

You cannot do anything about this, short of buying a new 360.

There may be more functionality disabled than mentioned here, things are still being discovered.

- So what caused my ban?

There are MANY theories as to what is causing so many consoles to get banned this time, however as of yet there is nothing concrete, just a lot of circumstantial evidence and speculation. Please do not add to this, a full investigation is under-way.

c4eva, the main guy behind <snipped>, had this to say:

<+c4eva> fw itself not detectable

<+c4eva> suspect they are going hard on warez releases and incorrect use of abgx!

He also added the following:

<+c4eva> just to let you know that im looking into the current ban wave. I am currently running several brand new xboxs on live! These xboxs are in various configs. All are running ixtreme 1.61

<+c4eva> One is running original discs, another is running on xbl (no discs) , another is running a backup from my region!

<+c4eva> until tests are completed, no eta on liteon fw!

When we know more, YOU'LL no more, so please do not ask for updates!

A full transcript is available here - http://pastebin.ca/1660777

Remember, if you really want to blame someone, blame the person that decided to modify your 360 in the first place - most likey, that would be you ;

Interesting...

I hope this isn't breaching any rules...

Edited November 8, 2009 by t0mbi

[Glorious]

Needed somebody from Neowin to shut them all up with a legible document of what they all know so far did it? Kudos Kushan haha. :p

[Spookie]

Might want to pull the IRC channel name and the name of the FW. :x

[acnpt]

They also seem to be banning people who 'play it safe', and use retail copies + abgx etc.

I myself think it may have something to do with forza 3 or bad abgx data, although thats just me, and as microsoft do it in waves its harder to find out the reason.

[Glorious]

They also seem to be banning people who 'play it safe', and use retail copies + abgx etc.

I myself think it may have something to do with forza 3 or bad abgx data, although thats just me, and as microsoft do it in waves its harder to find out the reason.

Security through obfuscation is the way they certainly do it, if you have a google you will probably find infinite theories within the last week posted onto the internet as to who/why/when/what the criteria is. It makes me laugh.

[M_Lyons10]

Interesting. I'm not a modder (I'm happy with paying for the games I play on my 360), but this is very interesting. I wonder how long until this turns into a "Modding is a good thing" discussion...

[Tech Star]

I am actually not understanding this whole banning thing....I thought everyone used to say "If you play it safe you can't get banned." What happened to that?

[Spookie]

Modding is never safe, if you mod your console you'll always run the risk of being banned.

[Leo Natan]

I am actually not understanding this whole banning thing....I thought everyone used to say "If you play it safe you can't get banned." What happened to that?

Nothing happened, really. Just people being impatient. A new firmware will be eventually released to sort the issues, but people just can't wait anymore, have to play bad releases of games that have not been released and brag about it on the internets. That's what gets them banned.

[Kushan]

Awwwww "our" Kushan, lulz

[Huleboeren]

So, how far are the tests, Kushan? :)

[Kushan]

I couldn't possibly say.

[Ricardo Gil]

A colleague of mine from work got banned this weekend. Forza 3...

[Kushan]

Is discussion of bans allowed on neowin?

[Draken]

Is discussion of bans allowed on neowin?

Last thread got closed (made by AB).

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

*knows the identity of the Kushan in OP* :p

[BoDEAN]

Is discussion of bans allowed on neowin?

Why would it not be allowed? Shesh.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Last thread got closed (made by AB).

Nothing wrong with my topic and it's simple message, it was the tard packs who couldn't keep their hands out of the "HAI GUYZ I PIRATE N GET MY STUFFZ FROM THIS SITE" jar who got it closed.

[Draken]

Nothing wrong with my topic and it's simple message, it was the tard packs who couldn't keep their hands out of the "HAI GUYZ I PIRATE N GET MY STUFFZ FROM THIS SITE" jar who got it closed.

ohhh those buggers always spoiling the informative fun :(

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Looks like ABGX is at fault as nearly every 3rd game isn't stealth (according to their tests).

There's a new firmware in the works also. Apparently the new one will be indistinguishable from the original and there won't be any more bans. But they've said that before :p

[Kushan]

Looks like ABGX is at fault as nearly every 3rd game isn't stealth (according to their tests).

There's a new firmware in the works also. Apparently the new one will be indistinguishable from the original and there won't be any more bans. But they've said that before :p

That's a load of rubbish. What he's saying is they ripped 40 games and 1 in every 3 wasn't in the database. That means nothing, it just means nobody has added that particular pressing to the DB. This is a misunderstanding of how the whole thing works.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Not what I read. Was plain as day the script I seen...

"we tested 40+ NTSC games. at least every 3rd didnt verify. so the db = defn has problems."

[Sn00pY]

Relying on a public database like ABGX is the fault here.

[Kushan]

Not what I read. Was plain as day the script I seen...

"we tested 40+ NTSC games. at least every 3rd didnt verify. so the db = defn has problems."

Yes, from a guy who doesn't actually work with the stealth team. Furthermore, you're right, it IS plain as day - "every 3rd didn't verify". Do you know what that means? 1 in every 3 was never added to the database. Is that a problem? Not really, because ALL games have more than one pressing. Different disc manufacturers give a different pressing and even different times of pressing (some are pressed over a few days, or some "reprints" are done) will require a different rip to be COMPLETELY verified.

But that doesn't matter because as long as one rip of a certain game version is in there, that's all that matters.

Or let me put it this way - if abgx was at fault, why would they be completely rewriting the firmware?

Oh and people have got banned having used only their own personal backups. No abgx invovled there.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

I think you need to calm down and climb down off that horse Kushan. I know how the DB works and I even said in my previous post the fw is to blame as well.