thanks for your help. i have temporarily given up. i dont have the cash for a copy of mechassault and i dont want to rent it and have it not work and then have wasted the five bucks. luckily i do not have live 2.0 yet. i guess it doesnt really matter though since i dont want to mod MY xbox, just my friends, and i dont have his over here. i wont have ma until i buy a replacement processor. and at that point i will be so busy playing halo pc that i wont have time to do any modding. anyhow, i got ar for my b-day, so i am not out forty bucks, but still, i would like to do this mod now that i have everything except ma. its going to end up costing seventy bucks. if the warranty is void anyway, i probably should have just gone with a chip. i hear that new one with the usb crap is pretty cool! i dont know. if i wasnt so short on money/afraid m$ was going to hunt me down, i would probably just buy a modded one. oh, and im positive my ar works, ive tested legit saves, and nonlegit ones. they work equally well. except for the whole error 21 thing. ah, screw it. i'll just wait to buy a mod chip, even if its 55 bucks. id end up spending 30 anyway on ma. any version #'s i should be worried about on ma if i happen to come across a copy though?