Safe 360 modding?

[Bob7k]

Ive got a 360 sitting here, and I cant afford Live, so I was wondering, If I were to flash my drive, while keeping a backup of the original firmware, could I still play, get achievements, and function normally, then when I do want to play live, reflash the original firmware, and play online?

[hailrazer]

Ive got a 360 sitting here, and I cant afford Live, so I was wondering, If I were to flash my drive, while keeping a backup of the original firmware, could I still play, get achievements, and function normally, then when I do want to play live, reflash the original firmware, and play online?

No once flashed it will always be detectable that it was flashed.

[humakabula1]

there is such thing as an "unbanable jtag"
lets you play whatever you want in terms of burnt games and what not but you can still play live.
i know a guy who can do it but he isn't on the internet, check out this site, a guy called jester knows.
http://www.se7ensins.com

[hailrazer]

there is such thing as an "unbanable jtag"
lets you play whatever you want in terms of burnt games and what not but you can still play live.
i know a guy who can do it but he isn't on the internet, check out this site, a guy called jester knows.
http://www.se7ensins.com

He got banned.

There's no such thing as an unbannable Xbox 360.

[Zero_D]

Ive got a 360 sitting here, and I cant afford Live, so I was wondering, If I were to flash my drive, while keeping a backup of the original firmware, could I still play, get achievements, and function normally, then when I do want to play live, reflash the original firmware, and play online?

No once flashed it will always be detectable that it was flashed.

Not necessarily true. At the moment MS is focusing on checking the discs themselves, and not the firmware off the drive (because of LT and LT+). Although its definitely possible for them to find a flaw in the LT firmware that allows them to identify it easier, currently all signs point to them checking the burnt disc itself for errors and implementing more security disc-wise (hence the implementation of Anti-Piracy 2.5 on some newer games). Its just much easier for them to flag and ban people who run games with invalid security, play games early, play reviewer copies/leaks, run AP 2.5 games on older firmware, etc.

As for Bob's question, there really is no point in constantly flashing from a custom firmware to stock just for online play. If you play a disc with bad security information, even if offline, it can still be logged to your console. Just flash LT+ on the drive, and make sure you check all your games with ABGX360, don't play games before release, keep updated with latest news in terms of new securities and custom firmwares, etc. Pretty much, use common sense and you should be ok, but nothing is guaranteed. Its a risk you've got to be willing to take if you mod your drive.

Alternatively, just buy a cheap used 360 with no cables and use one console for Live with originals, and mod the other one and use it strictly offline for backups. As long as the 2nd one doesn't get flagged offline (usually from an AP 2.5 violation, but if you use the LT+ firmware you'll be protected from that), you can use your hard drive/profile on both consoles without worrying about getting banned on your online console.

[hailrazer]

Nope. Once flashed it is detectable even if you never put in a burned game again. Many people have tried it and been banned.

[Zero_D]

Nope. Once flashed it is detectable even if you never put in a burned game again. Many people have tried it and been banned.

Uhh...no it isn't. Did you read my post entirely?

Before there was certain distinctions that allowed Microsoft to tell apart the stock firmware from a custom firmware, such as the angles bug in firmwares below Ixtreme 1.4, or how they found a way to run a check during the dashboard update process last year (many people were able to avoid 09's ban wave by flashing to stock fw and THEN flashing their custom fw afterwards).However, the creation of the LT firmware fixed this and made it appear the same as the stock firmware in theory. Nowadays, like I said in my previous post, MS checks the discs itself for the correct security information, and there is currently no evidence to support the idea that they found a flaw in eithier LT or the very recently released LT+ firmware.

Please, read up on everything I'm mentioning rather than just saying I'm wrong and not providing any evidence besides "Many people have tried it and been banned". I'm quite familiar with the subject, but if you happen to be a Microsoft insider and know something no one else in the scene does, please warn us so we can prepare accordingly. Even so, as long as Bob goes with the spare 360 idea I mentioned in my last post, he should be more than fine.

[hailrazer]

Well if you go to come forums, people have flashed their 360's, with the latest so called "undetectable" Lt+ firmware and not used burned games on or off Live and they've been banned again.
To me that means it's not a guarantee. If you seem to think it is, then good for you. But I am not going to mislead someone and say it will work , when it hasn't for some people.

*edit* After looking a bit into it , it seems some of those people may not have been the brightest bulbs on the shelf.

I would still say if you want to be sure, don't flash and play on Live.

[Zero_D]

I'm not misleading anybody, I'm simply stating the facts. Like I said, there is no guarantee and its a risk you have to be willing to take because no one knows what future security may or may not be implemented. However, I did state what is currently known at this moment in time, and nothing points towards them finding flaws in the fw itself. If they did, don't you think they would be doing offline bans/flags, like with the AP 2.5 protection? (this would also be reflected in the x-value visible in the dashboard)

Also, please link me to what forums has verified members of the community talking about a confirmed 2010 ban wave, because I check regularly and haven't seen any news related to such a ban wave (yet), and if it does exist, link me to the posts that say they are reading a flaw in the firmware itself, and not the discs.

EDIT: Just saw the edit to your last post, and I agree. If you want to be safer, its always better to get a dedicated box with a flashed drive and keep it offline, although you still need to use proper security on the discs and watch out for offline bans from AP 2.5.