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To: Heavyrunner
As soon as you drop a hacked BIOS on it, you are in violation of federal law, and will be prosecuted if caught.

Is this right, though? The BIOS chips are removable EEPROMs that can be replaced, no? I've replaced BIOS chips in my comps all the time, but does a proprietary BIOS on a proprietarily run board mean that you can't pop out the BIOS and replace it with, say, an Award or Phoenix BIOS? If the board boots, it's ok, right?

I'd imagine if you popped the BIOS EEPROM out, put it into a reader and re-engineered the BIOS AROUND the proprietary system, then you'd be in violation.

In this case, I believe the "mod chip" they're talking about is something that has to be soldered onto the mainboard and circumvents certain registered media protections to allow burned games to be played. That is illegal, I believe, but I contend the BIOS switchout wouldn't be. Any thoughts?

15 posted on 12/21/2005 10:11:09 AM PST by rarestia ("One man with a gun can control 100 without one." - Lenin / Molwn Labe!)
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To: rarestia

You are correct in that a BIOS switchout is not illegal in and of itself. The BIOS itself is Microsoft intellectual property, and has been reverse-engineered and modified to support the altered XBox. As you stated, this is what makes it illegal.


20 posted on 12/21/2005 10:52:50 AM PST by Heavyrunner (Socialize this.)
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