Xbox banned with X3 please help!!!

[Cassius]

I apologise beforehand if this is the wrong place to post but my questions seemed to cover a range of things......

I have just been banned from Live after playing for 3 weeks with X3 off and after reading many posts the only conclusion i can come up with is that the reason i got banned is i let my friend who has flagged gamertag sign into my xbox (which has upgraded HDD).

Anyway I have now acquired a new eeprom...

My questions are:

1. To flash the xbox with the new eeprom is it as simple as placing this new eeprom in the the EEPROM folder in Admin and then selecting restore xbox eeprom from x3, or should i be doing this with configMagic which i hear mentioned a fair bit.

2. Do i need to unlock my HDD with current banned eeprom before flashing with the new one to ultimately lock it again??

3. Are eeproms versions specific ie if my xbox is version 1.6 do i need to get a 1.6 virgin eeprom??

4. Is it at all possible to use my current banned HDD on live again?? ie is there someway of changing the serial number?? or do i need to get new HDD if intending to go on live again??

Please any advice will be greatly appreciated

 

[itsmee128]

1. yes
2. YES, or youll never be able to use the hdd again
3.1.6 eeproms are diffrent then 1.0-1.5
4.and yes, once you unlock and relock th hddwith new eeprom you should be up and running again.

 

[NJayaranjan]

You my friend i belivee need an entirely new hdd as well. As MS has been recording Eeprom information and HDD serial numbers and "marrying them" together.

As a result your original EEprom was married to your current HDD serial. So even if you just changed the EEprom, MS would know that the HDD serial in your box currently belongs to another EEprom. Thus you would be banned again.

So you need a new EEprom, and HDD to avoid being banned again.

 

[Cassius]

OK thanks...

Although there were 2 differing opinions there...

I have read about the "Marriage Theory" and understand about matching the eeprom to a HDD serial....

I was just curious as to whether there was any way possible to change that serial without getting a new HDD....

So simply locking HDD with new eeprom as itsmee128 suggested will not stop me from getting banned??

Another question is there anything else i must do before flashing the new eeprom?? i read things about video regions and DVD Kits or will this all be taken care of by x3 config live??

 

[Floppy Mohawk]

The Marriage Theory locks the hard drive and eeprom info together. So Njay was right telling you to replace the hard drive. if one is change then the other one has to be changed also.

The new eeprom has to never have been on xbox live. YOU need to make sure of this when you purchase it. If it was on xbox live already you will be banned again.
You should also have specified, at least should have been asked by the seller, if you needed a PAL or NTSC eeprom. The seller may have just assumed NTSC.

I don't know about X3 but Configmagic can change these settings on the fly.

Floppy

 

[PhatheadWRX]

You will also need a new GT if you get a new larger HD other wise you will just be banned like you were before since your current GT is now banned.

So you have two options now...
1) New EEPROM, New HD, New GT

2) Keep flagged GT, New EEPROM, Install a Stock HD (that has not been banned) and run Dual HDs

Dual HDs are a pain because not all Large drives like to work with the stock HD on an Extended IDE (llamma has a kit). I have had luck with Samsung drives. You will also have to find a place to fit the Stock HD.

Also if you do do dual drives I would leave your Large drive Unlocked (so you cannot get on unmodded) and also remove the Live account from the large drive.

 

[Cassius]

Ok thats really helpful....

Just to clarify the eeprom is a file called eeprom.bin thats 256k in size right??

I've actually just extracted this file from a friends xbox (who isnt going to use xblive) instead of buying it.... So hopefully that guarantees that the eeprom has never been used on live..... i guess i will have to get that new HDD then as there doesn't seem to be a way to hack the firmware of HDD unless xecuter adds this as new feature to new bios but i'll leave this discussion for another day.

 

[PhatheadWRX]

Yep, eeprom.bin

You can view the info of the EEPROM with a program called LiveInfo on yor PC.

Also remember that if you decide not to do the Dual Drives you need to cancel your current XBLive accound by calling MS and then go set up a new one on your Xbox. I would get a 2 mothn trial to be sure you are ok before you drop the $50.

<--- was banned by friend's flagged GT and now runs dual drives

 

[Cassius]

Final Clarification before i attempt to reflash with new eeprom....

I am definitely better off copying new eeprom to Admin/EEPROM folder then using the restore eeprom feature of x3 Config Live than Config Magic??

Is there any way of telling whether an eeprom has actually ever been used???

 

[cpubugs]

I read somewhere of a utility to give a HDD upgrade the same SN as the OEM HDD. It would involve I assume hacking the bios on the HDD, but that has never been really hard. Any one know what the utility is or if such a creature exists? Also. For this question, couldn't you just sign up for a new account?

 

[Cassius]

If u do find out the name of that utility i would be very interested to find out.... I was hoping to avoid getting a new HDD if possible....

And i wish it was as easy as signing up for a new account