Figuring things out

[NeoRio]

Hi Cofree, I'll continue my communications with you here on this nice forum! Thanks for your help so far. However, I still haven't received an answer to my iPrep 101 006 problem...that I posted over on X-Projects.

Where I am right now:

I just bought my first 360 a month ago off of Craig's List. It was more than a year and a half old. Right now it's sitting dormant in my kids room with the RROD. Before it RROD'd on me, I was able to open it many times, try to flash it (couldn't get that done though because of iPrep not responding to it properly)...but had some fun with it. I really was looking forward to backing up games and I know my 14 year old son is looking forward to playing on Live with it as he really got into that with the demo version of American Soldier, the demo version. But reading about all the bans on Live lately, I'm looking for some reassurance that I will be safe on Live.

At this point I feel that the safest way to proceed with the 360 would be to have 2, one modded for playing backups (but never connected to the net)...and the other connected playing originals only. Furthermore it would be nice to be able to play multiplayer games here in the house with the 2 boxes (if I end up getting 2)...can you play network games between 2 boxes, even if one of them in banned from Live (in the event that the 2nd box gets banned because we have it connected to the network/internet)?

On the upside, it's inspiring to hear of the many (of you) who have managed to get by the ban...and if I knew the recipe for making that happen for me, it would take a lot of worry away from how to proceed from here!

Thanks,
Nathan

[sadalius]

Hi Nathan, and welcome to cofree's place. Sounds like you've had an interesting ride with your 360 thus far. RROD, you've no idea how much that term plagues me. Not so much personally, but I've read and seen first hand a lot of people with this problem. But, this problem can be fixed. Generally, since Microsoft extended warranty services to 3 years specifically on RROD, I recommend trying that route, and I do understand that there maybe reasons you can't go this route. But, if your like me, when I got my first 360, there was only one year flat out warranty, and mine RROD'd just shortly after that and MS didn't extend the warranty till a little while later, so there was a point where this particular 360 was not warranted, so, being the curious type that I am, I opened her up and tinkered around. I found a guide by someone that goes by RBJTech called xclamp replacement. I followed this guide and it worked. I've had this 360 since the February after launch date and it still to this day works great. So there is hope for the 360 that you have.

I know a lot of people that do just what your talking about. Run two 360's, one modded and not connected to the internet and the other not modded and connected to the internet with their XBL account. Absolutely nothing wrong with that and it does keep the XBL account from being banned thats for sure. But two 360's in my book takes too much out of the budget, but it may not for you so that could be a viable option.

If you decide that you want to try and resurrect your 360 we'll help you out as much as we can and then through the modding process if you would like.

We're here to help and welcome to the site!!

[CoFree]

Sadalius is right

the one thing i would add is
you can link 2 360s together one modded the other stock.
on Saturday night we link 8-16 together to all play.some modded so orig.
if you have the money the 2 360 is great.my daughter and i play linked all the time.her on one tv me on the other.

if you have any needs just let us know
well do what we can.

[NeoRio]

Wow, thanks guys...those were very nice welcomes, I do appreciate it!!

OK, so here's where I'm at: I just spent the last 30 minutes putting the Microsoft sticker back on my 360. It has a little over a year worth of the 3 year RROD warranty and since it won't turn on at all right now, I want to send it back. I used tweezers and a hair dryer. I think it went very well...it looks *exactly* like it did before I took it off. However, after looking at pictures on eBay of people selling the warranty stickers, I'm a bit concerned. My sticker has the "splotchy" look, sort of like checkered silver...where it's not all plain silver like the pictures I'm seeing on eBay. I can only imagine that the box I have (which is nearing the 2 year mark) had a different (checkered) style sticker, or the previous owner might have taken the sticker off before? I was about to call Microsoft right now to ask for the box to send it back. If you could answer on this one as soon as possible, I'd appreciate it!

Cofree, please tell me a bit more how to "link" multiple 360s together to play multiplayer games...and if you can do that even with a banned 360. BTW, have you all managed to escape the recent ban wave by MS?--if so, how?

Thanks again!
Nathan

[CoFree]

there is no secret to not getting banned.
the one thing that maybe different about me and some of the guys here is we have never played a downloaded game.

if your sticker is a silver one it has to look like a mirror or it wont work.
there is a different warr sticker ive heard about.it looks like the windows sticker on a computer.
ive never had one in front of me.

to link games you just need a switch not a router.
any of the super store have them walmart,best buy.
then each game is different how you link together.

youll have to work that out.

when they ban you console you should still be able to link.all there doing is banning your console from live.thats it

[NeoRio]

Thanks for the speedy reply. I guess what you're saying is that my warranty sticker is no good then?--that the "checkered" or "splotchy" silver look on the sticker means it has been compromised? I just received another answer from an individual I wrote about the sticker issue, he said that it should be fine as is.

[CoFree]

i dont know
the thing is if it not the 3 lights RROD
then the 3 year warr does not apply.

if you do send it in and it dont work they will make you pay for the shipping back and wont fix it.

[NeoRio]

I'm attaching a picture of my warranty sticker...after I just put it back on. I'm 90% sure this is exactly what it looked like 30 days ago when I took it off...which could mean that the previous owner had taken it off already?

Sadalius, you mentioned the X-Clamp...in the event that my sticker won't pass MS's inspection, I wonder how much it would cost me to buy the X-clamp package? I want to weigh the differences in price that taking my chances with MS and getting charged the return shipping (if the sticker doesn't pass)...as opposed to how much I'd pay for the X-clamp kit. I'm pretty sure I could install the X-clamp myself, I've assembled many computers.

Thanks

warranty..jpg

[CoFree]

nope that wont pass M$ check.that sticker should look like a mirror.

the x-clamp cost about 5.00usd is not bad.
he trying to get a guide up that works great.as soon as sadalius heres from the guy we will post something up.
you can google x clamp and it will pull it up

[sadalius]

Here is the x-clamp replacement guide that I'm working on bringing here. It costs between $5-$10 dollars depending on where you by the parts at. I've always been able to find the parts at Lowe's, although, any place that sells metric based hardware should have this stuff. I've even bought it a a little hardware store called True Value before.

But cofree's right. That sticker won't pass. But look at what I found on Ebay!

At the time I posted this that auction had a little over 13 hours left. I actually found another auction for another warranty sticker, but it was way more expensive. The choice is yours which way you decide to go though.

But you know, after thinking about it, I've heard of people sending their consoles in with totally missing warranty stickers, so, who knows. It may work. It might especially work if the console itself is not marred up from opening it. Like I said though, it's a decision thats going to have to be yours to make.

[NeoRio]

So the X-clamp is not a "kit" that someone sells...but it is pieces that you buy at a hardware store? Is it the tutorial that you are preparing to post?--or the kit for purchase? I've seen other tutorials when I Google.

Thanks again

[CoFree]

the xclamp is just a way of trying to fix the RROD on a 360

the guide is for the how to and the parts you need.
we are working on getting that guide up.
you can google it
we are trying to get the

RBJtech guide
this is a link to it.
http://rbjtech.bulldoghome.com/pages/rb ... ampIII.htm

[sadalius]

It's not a kit. It tells you what you need to go to Lowe's or other hardware store and buy. They aren't the most popular of items, but I've never had a problem finding them at my Lowe's.