Tutorial written by : shanafan

THIS FAQ DOES NOT TELL YOU HOW TO PLAY ON XBOX LIVE WITH THE MODCHIP ON AND WITH BACKUPS (DVD/HD). WE ARE UNABLE TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW.

Table of Contents
- How to play on Xbox Live with a non-flashable modded Xbox
- How to play on Xbox Live with a flashable modded Xbox
- How to play on Xbox Live with a X2 LITE modded Xbox
- How to play on Live with an upgraded HD and running an EvolutionX CD
- How to get back onto Live if you were banned
- How to get your account back if you lost it
- Final Notes
- Rumors

Ok, so you got your Xbox modded and want to play the top games on Xbox Live. But, you heard that you can't play a modded Xbox on Live. What should you do? Well, here is your answer.

How to play on Xbox Live with a non-flashable modded Xbox
The most important thing to know is that your MS dash must be named xboxdash.xbe. When you first run Xbox Live, it will update that file with the new MS dash with the Live tab. So, you may ask "What about EvolutionX?" Well, sorry guys, but you will have to run EvolutionX off a CD.

So now that you know that your MS dash has to be xboxdash.xbe, you will have to install a switch on your modchip. The switch will disable it, or enable the modchip.

The most important thing when playing on Live with a modded Xbox is that you must always have the modchip off when playing on Live. Turn your modchip off, and then power on Xbox. It is always best to have the modchip off, even when you are installing Live for the first time.

Now, if you want to play backups, turn your modchip on and power on Xbox. You can boot your EvolutionX CD and load your backups off the HD, or you can boot your backup CDs. However, you must make sure you DO NOT access any Live-oriented tabs within the game. DO NOT select "Download Content", "Play Live", etc. tabs in a game. When doing so, your Xbox will connect to Live, and MS will detect a modified BIOS, and you will then soon be banned.

How to play on Xbox Live with a flashable modded Xbox
So, you have the best field of modchips out there, so you have better options. The first thing you want to do is flash your modchip with a BIOS that boots a file another than xboxdash.xbe. For example, flash with a BIOS that will load evoxdash.xbe first. You can store your EvolutionX dash on your HD, and have it be evoxdash.xbe. But, be sure you keep your MS dash as xboxdash.xbe. That file will be updated when you first install Live and having the MS dash as xboxdash.xbe will make it a good update.

If you have a X2.0L, you will have to install a switch on your modchip. Refer to the above instructions on how to run Live with a modchip with a switch.

For those of you with the Matrix, you will set your Matrix in mode 3. How mode 3 works is, your flashed BIOS will load when the XBox is powered on. This means the modchip is on, and you can check that by looking inside the Xbox at the modchip and it will have a green LED. But, for those who want a nice, put together Xbox, I recommend getting a BIOS that is a colormod. So, when your Xbox boots, your Xbox logo will be blue for example meaning the modchip is on.

For newer modchip just search in the instructions of your modchip how you can disable your modchip (boot from onboard bios).

So, you are now at your EvolutionX dash or MS dash with the modchip on. You will then run a game (an original or a backup) or even a homebrewed program, and when the game is running, press the big eject button. Your Xbox will reboot and the original BIOS will load. The normal green Xbox logo will show and this means the modchip is off. Also, the modchip will now show the red LED.

As I said above, you must make sure you DO NOT access any Live-oriented tabs within the game when the modchip is on. DO NOT select "Download Content", "Play Live", etc. tabs in a game. When doing so, your Xbox will connect to Live, and MS will detect a modified BIOS, and you will then soon be banned.

How to play on Xbox Live with a X2 LITE modded Xbox
The X2 Lite comes with a preflashed BIOS which loads evoxdash.xbe as the first file when you boot your Xbox. If there is no evoxdash.xbe, it will try to load nexgen.xbe, and if there is no nexgen.xbe file, finally, it will load xboxdash.xbe.

But, since it will first try to load evoxdash.xbe, you can have your EvolutionX dash as evoxdash.xbe. And then have your MS dash as xboxdash.xbe

So, to play on Live then, turn modchip off by using an installed switch, and your Xbox will boot to your MS dash. You can then play on Live.

How to play on Live with an upgraded HD and running an EvolutionX CD
Playing on Live is easy with an upgraded HD. It must always be locked. The original MS BIOS, when the modchip is off, demands a locked HD or else your Xbox won't boot. You may ask if a locked HD is ok to do with the modchip on. Yes, it's okay.

Relating to the xboxdash.xbe file, this must be in the root of C:

As a quick note, if you are in a situation where you must run the EvolutionX CD, you can keep all your EvolutionX files (skins folder, evox.ini, etc) in their usual places on the HD, as you just will need default.xbe (EvolutionX dash) on the CD.

How to get back onto Live if you were banned
So, you made a mistake. Your "little brother" selected a Live tab with the modchip on and now you are banned. Well, you can get back on Live. Xbox Live just bans your Xbox's HD key. Not your gamer account.

To get back onto Live, you MUST obtain an unbanned EEPROM. These are not posted at the usual places, you must get it from a friend who has a modded Xbox and doesn't plan to go on Xbox Live. To update your Xbox's EEPROM with a unbanned EEPROM, download Configmagic and use that program. The program is easy to use and it is all menu driven.

Here are some key notes for using Configmagic
- Your HD has to be unlocked for the update to occur, but relock it when it is done
- If you do get a PAL EEPROM for any reason, here is what you should do:

Go to "on-the-fly" edit command and change the region from "PAL, Region 4" to "NTSC, Region 1". That's it! Now you have a NTSC EEPROM. But, you will have to go to your MS dash and update the clock.

For more information on Configmagic, check out www.team-assembly.com
YOU CAN NOT DOWNLOAD IT FROM THERE

How to get your account back if you lost it
If you upgraded your Xbox HD by installing a new HD into your Xbox, you will lose your Xbox Live account. HOWEVER, it is easily to get it back. You have two options:

1) BEFORE you install your new HD, copy your Xbox Live account to a memory unit by using the memory manager in the MS dash. Then, install the new HD, format it for Xbox use. Finally, transfer account back to your Xbox using the memory unit.

2) If you already installed your new HD and didn't do the above option, you can either hook up your old HD and follow option 1, or log into Xbox Live and select "Account Recovery" option. Fill in required fields, and you will get your account back.

The reason your Xbox Live account does not carry over from a backup of E: is that your account is hard-coded into the FatX table of your Xbox HD.

Final Notes
These are just some quick tips again
- DO NOT select any Live-oriented tabs within a game or on the MS dash when then modchip is on.
- Your HD has to be locked to play on Xbox Live.
- You can use the MS dash all you want with the modchip on, just DO NOT select the Xbox Live tab.
- You can use an upgraded HD with Xbox Live.
- Some new Xboxes already have the Live selection on the MS dashboard. No worries, you can still install your modchip just fine.
- ONLY original games work on Xbox Live, backups do not.
- HD swapping with an unbanned Xbox does not work.
- PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME FOR ANY PROGRAMS OR FILES.

Rumors
- There has been some instances of people accidently connecting to Live with the modchip on, and not being banned. Again, I must highly stress that I would take this as a grain of salt. Just be careful with accessing the Live tabs. In other words, don't!

Check for new versions of this FAQ. As I wrote this in like 20 minutes, I may have missed extra information. If you feel I did, let me know!