Microsoft Disables Hard Drives on Banned Xbox 360 Consoles (Update with Video)

Xbox 360According to this explanation, Microsoft not only bans a modified Xbox 360 console from Xbox Live if it is found to be modified, the console manufacturer actively disables the hard drive and Windows Media Center functionality as a consequence of modifying the console.

Read More for the full message being sent to Xbox 360 users with banned consoles.

Update: There are two new updates to the original story below the main article.

- 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/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/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.

Consumer advocacy issues notwithstanding, this demonstrates how far Microsoft is willing to go to keep people from using their console, usually claiming that it is fighting piracy and cheating in online games when there is no substantial proof of the activity.

Update: Below is a video found demonstrate how to check if the console has been banned:

Update 2: Reports (1, 2) are now surfacing that Xbox 360 owners that have not modified their consoles in anyway have been affected by the latest ban wave, with Microsoft customer service actively refusing assistance on the grounds that the system for detecting pirates and players that cheat as “foolproof”.

Update 3: Another report has surfaced regarding the increased availability of “used” modified consoles on Craigslist for as low as $90, with the caveat that Microsoft is refusing to extend the warranty to used consoles that have been modified and subsequently banned, leaving customers that unknowingly purchase a modified console on their own in terms of help.

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  • 80 Comments on “Microsoft Disables Hard Drives on Banned Xbox 360 Consoles (Update with Video)”

    Thomas on November 9th, 2009, 11:01 am  

    So class action lawsuit? Where is a good website for gamers rights? This is scary stuff.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 9th, 2009, 11:06 am  

    I'm down, just let me write another post explaining what people can do about
    this. It'll be below the post which I have marked as a sticky.

    alan72 on November 9th, 2009, 7:44 pm  

    my systems banned will my hard drive or memory stick and gamertag work on a new system?

    Humberto Saabedra on November 9th, 2009, 7:45 pm  

    Nope. If you try to recover your account on a new system with banned
    hardware, it will get corrupted and banned again.

    mike dubs on November 9th, 2009, 10:04 pm  

    yes you can use ur harddrive on another console you just have to deleate any corrupt data…. meaning game saves then your deleate ur profile… dont worry ur dlc will still b there ,,, then recover the profile and there u have ur live back you just need another console hahahha…… i barrowed a friends

    Humberto Saabedra on November 9th, 2009, 10:05 pm  

    Ah, I forgot about that. Long day. :)

    disposition on November 10th, 2009, 8:52 am  

    Hello. I have a question. I have a banned Console/HDD. My question is, does the HDD install capability altogether get removed? What I mean by that is, am I able to slap my HDD into another console after making a backup everything that is needed (Game saves, etc) can I get important game updates (HELLO BORDERLANDS CO-OP)? I don't care about connecting to XBL. But I do want to get important game updates. My plan was to take my HDD, make a backup of the saves, Delete the XBL profile. Slap the HDD into another console, have someone recover their gametag on that HDD and connect to XBL to get the game update?

    And will putting my HDD into another console immediately corrupt everything (game saves, gamertag) even if I don't access the game saves? Basically. Can I get game updates somehow? Will the HDD accept the update if I can get it to work? Thank you.

    disposition on November 10th, 2009, 9:02 am  

    test

    Humberto Saabedra on November 10th, 2009, 9:07 am  

    I have comments set to approval before appearing on the site. I got your
    comment, and as one of the commenters below stated, you have to delete the
    corrupted profile before you can use the hard drive on the unbanned system
    and them recover it again. If you don't do this, using the hard drive or
    memory unit with the corrupted and banned profile data will result in
    getting the new system banned.

    disposition on November 10th, 2009, 10:50 am  

    Thank you for the information. My apologies for the double post. Alright. I'll delete the corrupted profile. Put the HDD into another Xbox to get the game update. Then put it back into the original banned Xbox, recover my gamertag and I'll be good to go after starting a new game? Using the game with the update. Am I understanding the process correct? My goal isn't to get my Xbox back on XBL. Just to update a game with a game breaking bug.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 10th, 2009, 11:06 am  

    Delete the corrupted profile/corrupted save data. Put the HDD into another
    Xbox to get the game update, recover the gamertag, then put it back into the
    original banned Xbox and you'll be good to go after starting a new game,
    using the game with the update.

    Only problem is that the ban disables hard drive installs on banned consoles
    and corrupts gamesaves, so you'll have to make sure you don't try to install
    it to the hard drive, unless you want to deal with HDD corruption all over
    again..

    —– Original Message —–

    disposition on November 10th, 2009, 11:45 am  

    Thank you for the response. Alright. I will Format the HDD. Put it into an un-banned Xbox. Get the New Xbox Experience Dashboard and game update, then recover the Gamertag I removed, and put it back into my banned Xbox. That should work, correct sir?

    The HDD install removal doesn't effect me personally because I just play on burnt discs of games I rent. So the HDD corruption won't happen again, I wouldn't think.

    Thank you very much for this information, me and my brother were wondering these things.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 10th, 2009, 11:46 am  

    You got it. Good luck. :)

    mike on November 10th, 2009, 12:36 pm  

    Hello heres a couple of quick questions for you guys, my console just got banned for moding….any way i can still get back on live? i have a couple of friends who would let me borrow their 360 if it can be fixed. Is my console or my hard drive banned? Can i buy a arcade 360 and slap in my hard drive and continue to play on live with my gamertag?….or from what im reading do i have to create a new gamertag and delete my old data etc saves and stuff?

    Hank on November 10th, 2009, 4:22 pm  

    Dude this question is on a must need to know basis…I have to cd-rom's and since serial number is on the cd-rom will my console get unbanned if i switched the cd-rom's or will it just ban the new serial number plz respond…my email is lilhankkillinit@yahoo.com

    Trevor on November 10th, 2009, 10:50 pm  

    So my 360 got banned. If i buy a E74 error xbox from a friend for like 70 bucks, fix it, and use my old harddrive, (The one from the banned 360) can I recover the profile on the HDD from the legit/fixed xbox and be able to play modern warfare 2 on XBL with mis amigos??

    nick7411 on November 11th, 2009, 2:21 am  

    Sorry mate if you have already answer this, i've been banned too and i would like to know if i get a second hand unmodded console, format my hard drive slap it on and recover my gamertag would i get banned again or should i cancel that account and get a new one

    robin34 on November 11th, 2009, 6:41 am  

    i got banned for having a flashed xbox, all my game save and profile data is still there. im going to buy a new xbox but i want to know if i can recover my account onto my new hard drive and if using my old hard drive will ban my new xbox system?

    Humberto Saabedra on November 11th, 2009, 1:00 pm  

    Do not use your old hard drive with the corrupted data on the new system.
    Delete the corrupted data on the old hard drive on the banned system and
    then recover it on the new system.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 11th, 2009, 1:05 pm  

    Again, delete the corrupt save/profile data on the hard drive on the banned
    Xbox, then recover everything on the new Xbox. To everyone else, your
    Gamertags themselves were not banned, the consoles were. The
    gamertagprofile and save data was corrupted, so delete that on the old
    console before moving to another one.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 11th, 2009, 1:05 pm  

    It will ban the new console again.

    pete681 on November 11th, 2009, 4:01 pm  

    Being of the older generation i apologise but i am not quite grasping your comments. My grandson has just got banned and due to a further accident the machine is now broken. Reading your comments is it not possible for him to buy a new machine and connect to xbox live and recover his gamertag and carry on as normal.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 11th, 2009, 4:23 pm  

    Once a console is banned, the Xbox Live profile data and associated game
    save data stored on the hard drive and/or memory unit is corrupted and must
    be deleted before moving them to a new console. The Xbox Live account
    itself is not banned in most cases.

    I will repeat again:

    In order to continue using the hard drive or memory unit from the banned
    console, you have to delete the corrupted profile and save data before
    moving the hard drive/memory unit to a new console to recover the Xbox Live
    profile data and continue as normal. The ban does not extend to or affect
    hard drives and memory units otherwise after following instructions, only
    consoles.

    The ones that are having problems with this in the comments are the ones not
    reading the instructions clearly spelled out in the article.

    yungdumbmodder on November 11th, 2009, 4:33 pm  

    Hi. You seem to be quite knowledgeable, so I thought I'd ask if, but using the hd transfer kit that comes in the MS 120gb hd kit, would I then be able to “update” gamerscore points (one time I would guess) to a new MS 120 hd kit, recover my profile on a new xbox and keep my offline earned gamer points? Im gettin another one for xmas and wanna know if i should wait or get one now.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 11th, 2009, 4:37 pm  

    As long as the original profile or game saves aren't corrupted by a console
    ban, you should be able to do it with no problem. If they are, you can't do
    it without getting the new console banned again.

    Jason on November 11th, 2009, 6:18 pm  

    Above it says '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.'.

    That clearly states that i can use my HDD from the banned console on an unbanned one and that i do NOT need to reformat it. Doesn't that mean i won't have to delete my precious saved game data as you have specified to do? i am confused.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 11th, 2009, 6:21 pm  

    The save and profile data is corrupted when the other console is banned
    though, so trying to use the same data on a new console ends up in the new
    console being banned.

    jess on November 12th, 2009, 5:57 am  

    If your account has been banned and you have NOT modified it (or bought one that was modified) immediately take it to court. You can take it to small claims for the price of the console. Microsoft is allowed to ban you from xbox live for any reason it chooses…it is their site. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you are not entitled to a refund. Unless they can prove your console was modified, they must provide a refund. The methods that they are using are hardly foolproof. Most likely, the case would not get to court and they would a.) reinstate or account or b.) provide a refund when you ship the system to them. The small claims fee is usually $150 or less. Send a letter with a copy of the POTENTIAL lawsuit detailing that this is the last demand for a refund or these papers will be filed. I can almost guarantee you a complete refund in 2 weeks. Also include in the letter that if the papers are filed, the filing fee will also be included in your lawsuit.

    Tony on November 12th, 2009, 7:31 am  

    hi, sorry if this is a double post man, i don't really care for x-box live anymore, or my old saves data, my x-box just got banned, but the only thing i miss is the ability to install games on the hard drive, thats the only thing i want back, is there anyway at all around this on a banned box?

    maax on November 12th, 2009, 8:17 am  

    My flashed console was banned. I was using the trial period of Live. I am not interested in using Live or playing online again. Will my saved games be ok as they are? I only had the console for a short period of time and I am not very far into any particular games, should I format the hard drive to be on the safe side in case any saved game data is corrupt and might fail in future or can i just carry on as normal in the knowledge I will never go online again with this console?

    many thanks

    Humberto Saabedra on November 12th, 2009, 8:40 am  

    You can try using them but they will be corrupted on trying to load the save
    data again on the banned console.

    Humberto Saabedra on November 12th, 2009, 8:41 am  

    Nope. Read the article again.

    Linkmeup on November 12th, 2009, 6:41 pm  

    READ ME! Ok, I just plugged in my 360 to the internet, had no game in the tray, I only play stealth copies, and I just got banned from live when I tried to sign in. I read somewhere that even if you violate the terms of use offline that it is stored in non-volatile system data (nvram), not the HD. So, I have a Jasper Xbox 360 Arcade that was manufactured on 1/7/2009 with a Lite-on disk drive, flashed with iXtreme 6.1 firmware. I have been doing this for the life of the xbox (about a year). I was forced to upgrade firmware from 5.1 to 6.1 about 2 weeks ago to play the new wave 4 games with the activate.ISO boot disc. Everything was fine until today. I never used the activate.ISO disc online. I haven't checked my game saves on the HD but luckily my xbox has 256MB of internal memory (like a mem card) that I kept most of my saves on and it is fine. You can still copy and play games off of your HD on your banned console (at least I can). When you have the game saved to the HD, you must have the disc inserted in the tray to play it from the HD. When I first tried it it said “This game can only be played on the console and hard drive it was originally installed on. To play on this console, delete and reinstall the game.” This is what you have to do. Save the game to the HD or if it is already on there it's fine. Eject the game disc you just copied and select Play from Hard Drive in Game Library. It will say ! Disc Required Insert the “whatever game” game disc. Simply insert the game disc while on the ! Disc Required screen and it should start automatically. Do not hit cancel. It worked for me. I hope this helps somebody out. Please post back and let me know if this is working for others.

    Linkmeup on November 12th, 2009, 7:01 pm  

    I don't know if this goes straight to you or is posted but the way around not being able to install games on a banned xbox 360 to the HD is to select the installed game without the game disc and leave it on the ! Disc Required screen, then insert the game disc and it will automatically play from the hard drive. I hope some other people try this to verify if it works on all banned consoles. I'm using a small HD 20 gigs I think, If that helps.

    Linkmeup on November 12th, 2009, 8:13 pm  

    As far as I can tell, all of my saved game data from the HD is still working on my banned xbox 360 console. I don't know why this is but it's a plus. I can play installed games using the method I posted earlier. No more updates or Netflix though. Oh well, I guess it could be worse “knock on wood.” Please post if you have a banned 360 and have tried to install and play a game from the HD using the method I posted earlier. I just want to see if it works for others. Thanks.

    dudder on November 12th, 2009, 10:19 pm  

    Hello

    Ok, here's a question and a possible way around this:

    Here's the scenario:
    -You get One NEW console, that you never use online, and mod it, (so it's never been banned because it never got the new update).

    -You get a second NEW console and use this one on xbox live (if you want) completely legit, unmodded.

    - Now You can technically switch back and forth between consoles without any problem, because the modded console is not banned, or ever connected, or has the new MS update (so the data shouldnt be corrupted). Correct?

    And you can get achievements on the offline console and then move it via a memory unit without any problem, because the modded unit wasnt banned, and you're achievement and saves should be no problem. It's just like if you suddenly disconnected the legit console and played offline for a bit, then came back online.

    Thanks

    Humberto Saabedra on November 12th, 2009, 10:31 pm  

    Certainly sounds like a working method, so I don't see how it wouldn't work.

    Linkmeup on November 12th, 2009, 10:37 pm  

    I think it is still playing the game from the disc when you use this method. I can hear the disc spinning and it should be virtually quiet. Sorry.

    Name cybermad on November 13th, 2009, 11:55 am  

    hi i have a quick question, i have 2 x boxs 1 modded 1 not, my modded x box has not not been connected to live for over a week and was not banned when i was on last, if i put my hard drive on my un modded x box and go online with it will that 1 get banned?

    thanks in advance

    Humberto Saabedra on November 13th, 2009, 12:26 pm  

    Nope

    Mike on November 13th, 2009, 3:42 pm  

    Linkedmeup thanks I haven't ever installed any on my drive but I'll try that if I ever buy another drive or have space in this tiny little drive microsoft was stupid enough to ship with these consoles. I'm just playing offline from now on, my xbox live subscription ran out 2 years ago microsoft gets $0 from me.

    mediaevalleech on November 14th, 2009, 6:35 am  

    i have banned 360 swapped hd to unbanned 360 deleted only my profile that was corrupt redownloaded my profile. all my game saves work fine , can any one help me though as my achievment arnt working and i do mean in my umodded 360

    Wouter on November 14th, 2009, 7:07 am  

    oke so here is my story:
    i got 2 xbox's 1 is flashed and the 1 isn't, my flashed one got banned. My gamerprofile is a memory unit btw. Can i still get achievements on my banned one, and later sign in on my unbanned one without having any problems about my achievements? will my achievements be saved on the memory unit, or will my memory unit also be corrupted?

    thanks in advance

    Ghouliath on November 14th, 2009, 8:46 am  

    Before I transfer my data, should I delete my profile then? Then recover it on new console & HD?

    KKC on November 14th, 2009, 7:12 pm  

    So, in summary:
    Your Banned 360:
    * Cannot go on Xbox Live
    * CAN INSTALL games to the HDD
    * CAN USE WMC
    * Cannot be used to get achievements from backups without corrupting your profile
    corrupting the profile can bypassed too…check out some “serious” xbox pages…

    kgood2 on November 15th, 2009, 12:32 am  

    I have a modded xbox 360 and i have played modded borderlands on it and a non modded version of mw2. I unplugged my ethernet cable before the mass ban because i heard it was coming. I signed in a WEEK AND A HALF ago to recover my friends gamertag to play borderlands. i removed the ethernet cable immidiatetly after recovering my friends gamertag and I have not plugged it back in. when i signed in (the “WEEK AND A HALF AGO”) there was no ban message, and it DOES NOT say my xbox live account is banned on xbox.com. Is there anyway i just missed the ban? Would i be able to get an arcade and use my 120gb harddrive, or should i delete the saves of borderlands, or mw2, or my gamertag, or all of those to avoid being banned?

    -thanks, sorry for the lengthly post

    someone on November 15th, 2009, 1:47 pm  

    Maybe a noob question
    But how can you see that something is corrupt?
    i,m talking about save files

    Humberto Saabedra on November 15th, 2009, 1:49 pm  

    They won't work on an unbanned console when you try to load them. The saves
    are “locked” to the banned console.

    Brandon on November 18th, 2009, 2:42 am  

    My Elite console was banned on 11/17/09. When it was banned I was in the middle of streaming a movie to it. The movie stopped playing and displayed connecting to xbox live. Then a black screen popped up saying your console has been banned from xbox live. After that I could not see any computers on the network and I could not connect to my media center. I removed the hard drive and restored the console to factory settings. After that I could see my computers and I set up my media center computer with the 360. I have verified it and it has been banned.

    Things a banned console will not do.
    1. connect to xbox live.
    2. play divx movies.

    Things a banned console are still good for.
    1. media center extender
    2. dlna network player
    3. playing games including backups if you were banned for dvd firmware flashing
    4. system link still works
    5. xbconnect still works

    In reality MICROSOFT has done nothing to stop people from playing copied games. The only thing they did was to stop me from subscribing to live gold which my membership just ended (perfect timing) and stop me from buying microsoft points (I spend $25 a month on them). $350 a year is what they are loosing from me. Next thing we all know MICROSOFT will be begging Obama for a hand out because they are falling short because xbox live is $350,000,000 short of sales goal. Who came up with this idea? What a putz.

    oSnapimAzn on November 18th, 2009, 11:20 am  

    So if i recover my gamertag on the new console, would my achievements/gamerscore be safe or will I start from '0' gamerscore?

    Humberto Saabedra on November 18th, 2009, 11:22 am  

    Your tag and score is ok.

    mikethedike on November 18th, 2009, 6:27 pm  

    How can you download games on to your hard drive if your xbox is banned? Is there still a way?

    Humberto Saabedra on November 18th, 2009, 6:28 pm  

    Move it to another console that isn't banned. Your saves won't work though.

    henri on November 21st, 2009, 4:12 pm  

    if a 360 with a flashed drive required an update (dashboard), is there any risk of any of the things mentioned in this article (drive installs, corrupt saves, loss of achievements etc) if I just update it offline via usb key? also don't plan on using xbl so is it still possible for that to happen to the console or does it need to be connected for the update to take action if the console is found to be flashed.

    thanks.

    grinder777 on November 23rd, 2009, 7:07 am  

    so let me get this right if you use a flashed 360 that hasent been online since last month it would work? but what happens if you were online when the ban hit does your hd still corupt the profile for going on a flashed 360 that hasent gone online????

    tara on November 23rd, 2009, 7:45 am  

    I am trying to read all the comments and I read the article – I just have one question that's not quite clear to me -i bought a banned xbox (on purpose) – my boyfriend doesn't have internet so live isn't an issue – i just wanted to replace has ps2 that has finally died :( anyway….. it doesn't have a harddrive so i was wondering can i buy one or a memory stick to save games on like i normally would and can you still get achievements and will they save normally – thankst

    jorgebarcelona on November 23rd, 2009, 11:13 am  
    cbyf on November 24th, 2009, 2:13 pm  

    ok well this is freakin bullcrap i dont have any mods or anything, im just a regular kid who wants to get on live and i cant, havent been on xblox live for like a month, got on a month later and it said i had been banned, does anyone know who i can talk to to even get the console fixed or looked at, i didnt do anything, they cant just take my xbox away from me for no explanation or reasoning behind it, someone give me an explanation!

    Colt on November 24th, 2009, 5:53 pm  

    I used the offline test to see if my console was banned. It is banned. Can I connect my hard drive to a clean Xbox buy DLC, and place my hard drive back on my banned console without losing my access to the DLC? In other words, will I lose my DLC Rock Band songs?

    Mark on November 25th, 2009, 11:05 am  

    I am one of the newbs who got banned this November.
    I don't realy mind being banned from LIVE.

    The one question I have.

    I hate it that I'n not able to Install/Play Games from my 120g Hard Drive.
    Is there ANYWAY to fix this?
    That would be perfect!

    mrak on November 25th, 2009, 1:21 pm  

    I dont use Live except for updates. Online part doesn't interest me because i don't want to pay for Live service. It is same story for any online game: pay&play. Well, i won't. Majority of X360 games are overpriced and most of the services that Live offers are basically free (game trailers & demos, rent-a-movie, facebook, MSN … ).
    I cant play HALO or COD online. Big deal. I have PC for that. Coop game? Please…. As for media extender, X360 is great! i have DNLA server (tversity, freeNAS, MCE) so this option is really great! And what happens? MS cripples my console because i modified it. It is my device and i will do with it anything that I like. As I said, I don't use Live. I don't need it and I don't want it. So who give them the right to disable any other feature than f*ckn Live? I'm not pissed off because my console is banned (actually, it is not, i keep my x360 offline). I'm pissed off because I can't connect to Internet and get FW updates. And other thing, does MS send a note, email, message or something to inform me that my console have ban status?

    ??? on November 27th, 2009, 4:28 am  

    ok, sorry if this has been asked before but i didn't see this exact question anywhere… i have an unbanned and unmodified xbox and and am looking to buy a banned modified xbox to only play offline with it. will i be able to use the hard drive from my unbanned xbox on the banned xbox to get achievements? there is no corrupted data on the drive, will the data get corrupted even if i play the flashed xbox offline only?

    nickdiaz on December 2nd, 2009, 5:37 pm  

    If your xbox gets banned but you get a new console and keep the same hard drive, can you play on xbox live or is it your hard drive that get banned? help please thank you

    Niick Diaz on December 2nd, 2009, 5:39 pm  

    If your xbox gets banned but you get a new console and keep the same hard drive, can you play on xbox live or is it your hard drive that get banned? help please thank you

    Mike on December 7th, 2009, 4:17 am  

    If you put your unbanned machines HDD onto the banned/modified machine, it will corrupt the gamer tag and will not save any of the achievements, as soon as it goes back onto the unmodified machine you will have to recover the gamertag and you will have lost the achievements.
    I have one modded console and one console for XBL, but I'm not so bothered by my gamerscore

    Mike on December 7th, 2009, 4:24 am  

    You don't have a right to complain about what they disable. You didn't have the right to modify it, you didn't have the right to download/purchase illegal copies of games and save hundreds of dollars. If you'd put the money for the games you stole aside everytime you got one, you'd have enough to buy a new xbox and gold membership.

    Quit your bitching

    FTR – I have a banned and modified console, I'm just not complaining about it

    Kyle on February 2nd, 2010, 12:16 pm  

    @Mike: You’re right. Those are the rules and we all know them, but M$ shouldn’t deactivate other functionality other than Live. NOT ALL PEOPLE modifies their console to steal games… sometimes it’s for using burned back up discs to protect the investment made in original game discs, specially where they have kids. Besides, it’s totally legal to have/make a back up copy of your software.
    Now, here goes the question… The Xbox I bought with MY money: is it mine or M$? If the hardware is mine I can do what ever I goddamn please with it, at the risk of losing my warranty.

    In my country, hackers sell the new FW updates and install them for around US$15.oo, so I won’t need FW updates from XBL ever!

    @Mrak: M$ won’t send any mail informing you your console was banned. In stead you’ll get a nice black box on screen with some error codes and if you try to test your internet connection you’ll get a different add that reads you can’t connect to live because you are banned and you can test your connection and confirm it works but not get online.

    I hate online gaming and coop game mode, I love playing alone thank you. I agree with Mrak: I won’t pay another dime to play already overpriced games.

    I have a doubt though: Do you get banned even if you never sign up for an Xbox Live account (silver or gold, it doesn’t matter)? I just wanna use the media center feature in my home network, not play online games , connect to XBL or download updates. Somebody could shed some light on the matter please?

    johno on May 21st, 2010, 3:15 am  

    my apologies if this has already been asked guys but her goes………….. i have just got a new xbox ( not flashed ect ) and want to use the hard drive from a machine i have that has been flashed but never been on xbox live with.

    will i get banned on the new machine when i create my live account as it shows gamer achievments ect for flashed games i’ve been playing?

    any help is much appreciated

    Bradley on May 24th, 2010, 5:31 pm  

    theres a guy who has all the mods for games and he host 10th prestige lobbys on modernwarefare 2 and he scamed a bunch of my friends for 1600 microsoft points and i want you to bann him and his gamertag is THE NUBE U LOVE

    Matthew on May 25th, 2010, 5:04 pm  

    So if I take the hard drive from a banned xbox and put it in my legit one and put all my downloads on to that hard drive and put it on the banned xbox to play my offline games and put it back in my legit one will it be corrupted?

    theo on June 7th, 2010, 3:13 am  

    Hey guys,

    here is a qwestion i cant seem to finde the awnser to.

    i bought my xbox modifide, and the old owner told me the xbox is probebly flagd voor a ban, he didn’t connect it to the internet jet neither did i.

    my qwestion is if i buy a new arcade and reconnect that hard drive to it. wil stil my gamer profile be deleted of its achievment? all the games i played on my profile are all bought and 100 % legal.

    becuase after playing xbox offline for a while now i would love to play some of the games online, whitout losing my achievments and save data.

    Greetings theo!

    Polward on June 13th, 2010, 8:23 am  

    I have a very confusing problem, I bought a modded xbox and have played pirated games for a long time now, storing all my achievements and saves in the Hard Drvie. I’ve even used the pirated games to update my xbox (i’m not sure if that affects the hard drive as well)…but then i’ve decided to trade my modded xbox for an original (completely new and unmodded) cuz i want to play online.

    But if i used my hard drive with all the saved info from pirated games to play on my unmodded xbox online, will my microsoft detect and get me banned??? pls help

    Nico on July 5th, 2010, 9:53 am  

    my xbox got banned for nothing i dont have a jtag or chipped xbox and if i did i wouldnt be so annoyed i think the reason for my console ban is because i play call of duty mw2 and i got into a tenth prestige lobby the day after i get banned anyone no if theres anything i can do ?

    joey on July 11th, 2010, 7:30 pm  

    can u just get a new hard drive for it?

    christian on July 15th, 2010, 1:02 pm  

    f**k i got baned 4 no F***ing reson i say FUCK MICROSOFT AND BILL GATES all that money wasted on gay xbox ps3 is so better Fuck microsoft

    logan on August 19th, 2010, 7:15 am  

    I don'tt see how after I paid a $1000 console and all, they can just disable me from playing my own games. What *ssholes.

    Justin on August 21st, 2010, 6:42 pm  

    Then your friends are idiots for wanting to cheat in the first place. your friends should be banned as well.

    Matty on August 26th, 2010, 5:03 am  

    can i put my hardrive from my chipped xbox in to my new xbox and play online without getting banned ?

    Saurabh Kathplaia on September 2nd, 2010, 7:48 am  

    Just a update for people who would live to just get back the Option of Hard disk saves. They can update their xbox dashboard by downloading the new update from XBOX360 site. And wallah the hard disk save feature is back again. I did and got it back

    Trackbacks on September 3rd, 2010, 4:38 am  

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