Is 150k fast enough? plus other questions

[Retrovertigo]

First off is 150k connection good enough for Xbox live? I want to switch up to 600k but i only signed on to NTL a couple of weeks ago and it was the £9.99 special offer for the first 3 months. They advised me to make the most of the £9.99 offer and the upgrade after the 3 months is up.

Also, I have a chipped Xbox with a larger hard drive. Now, ignoring anyones moral stance on that, can I get connected to Live? I know I will need to fit a switch to disable my chip. Plus I believe I will need to "lock" my hard drive. How is that done? Before anyone says anything. I have LOTS of old mame games stored on there. Plus my Thopmson drive is awful for DDE's so I run most games off the hard drive.

Lots of questions there, I hope someone can help. Any answers are as alwyas, greatly appreciated.

Yep if your HDD is locked and the modchip can be disabled then go for it

[spacedhopper]

I would post your questions on another site, i don't know whether i can link to it from here, so search google for "xbox scene forum". You will find all the info there. Alternatively you could use one of the xlink tunneling services such as "xlink messenger" or "xbconnect" both of which allow you to play games off the harddrive.

EDIT: To the best of my knowledge, even if your harddrive is locked, you won't be able to play games off the hardrive on xbox live. Your best bet is xlink messenger, you can also play Halo online using that, which is a brucie bonus

[Retrovertigo]

I didn't actually explain myself very well. If need be I will play games just off the DVD drive. I just get problems once in a while with DDE's but I'd rather be "safe" and risk playing off the DVD. AS long as the 150k speed connection is ok? I wouldnt want any lag or whatever to ruin the game for anyone else. Will it cope ok with me using the headset as well?

I found those sites mentioned. Thanks.

If your in the ex c+w area getting BB via STB then you should be okay as that is really 256. Also to add to what I first put you cann't play caugh backup caugh games on xboxlive unless you want banning. Only use genuine dvd's and have modchip switched off

[Dooby]

i played on live for ages with the 'old' 128k connection, although i was on STB so actually got 256k as Defiant said

as far as the mod chip goes, i would find it unlikely that you would be able to use anything other than the games of the dvd as part of the reason for blocking modded xboxes is to prevents hacks/cheats, so i would assume the 'locking' the hard drive goes with that ( surely the modified harddrive wont work without the mod chip on anyway )

one word of caution...dont EVER forget to turn your mod chip off, its a lifetime ban, not just for that session... almost worth getting another xbox if you can find a decent bundle

Originally Posted by Dooby

i
one word of caution...dont EVER forget to turn your mod chip off, its a lifetime ban, not just for that session... almost worth getting another xbox if you can find a decent bundle

No you can get around it without buying a new XBOX but its very long winded. Something I wouldn't like to do anyway

[Tezcatlipoca]

The 150k service is OK, generally, as long as you don't host any games yourself.

As for your modded XBox...

As others have already said, you can only play on XBL with the mod turned off, the HDD locked, & an original DVD.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Dooby

as far as the mod chip goes, i would find it unlikely that you would be able to use anything other than the games of the dvd as part of the reason for blocking modded xboxes is to prevents hacks/cheats, so i would assume the 'locking' the hard drive goes with that

Yep, only original DVDs can be used on Live (& the chip must be off): no imports, no "backups", no HDD games, no modified .XBEs.

M$ have actually said that the main reason for banning modded boxes from XBL is to stop potential cheating.

( surely the modified harddrive wont work without the mod chip on anyway )

Yup. An unlocked HDD will only work with an active chip. If the modchip is turned off, the XBox will not be able to boot at all if the HDD is unlocked. EDIT: You don't need to have the HDD unlocked to use it with a modchip though: the HDD can just stay locked all the time, whether the chip is on or off.