Update: The below does not work! Do not attempt to follow these steps! Go to this page where I discuss how these steps do not work.
I had totally given up hope on Chill Penguin when I wrote yesterday’s post. I checked the Xbox LIVE forums one last time and found someone who was willing to help me. We spoke on the forums, AIM and through the 360′s private chat. After about 20 minutes of work, Chill Penguin was alive and kicking on my 360!
I can’t thank IoN Saiyaman enough for his help. His very unusual method works 100% of the time for those who get the “Xbox Live signup currently unavailable. Please try again later.” error. Below is his solution:
- Make sure your Passport is already created and linked to the Gamertag you are trying to transfer. That means everything from your pic to you gamer zone. Do this on your computer before starting this process.
- Make an offline profile on your 360 (call it ionsayaman).
- Once the profile is created go to sign up for LIVE. It will start searching to see of the Gamertag is available; it will say that the Gamertag is already taken.
- It will give you an option to either create a new Gamertag or recover one; choose recover.
- It will tell you that the Gamertag already has a profile on your system with the same name and will ask you if you want to replace it; choose yes.
- It will tell you that “The Gamertag ionsayaman does not exsist on LIVE. If you have a linked Gamertag you can use passport to recover it.” It will give you 2 options: OK and Use Passport Network; choose Use Passport Network.
- Enter your Passport information (email and password). After you put in all your Passport info, it will go straight to the “Transferring Information” screen, not the screen that asks you to accept the TOS of LIVE like it normally does. It will search and BAM your Gamertag is now transferred over to your 360.
IoN’s instructions stated that you can use any Gamertag that you know is in use. I tried that, but it did not work out for me. Using his Gamertag did work though, so I altered the instructions to use his name. His original thread can be found here (you need to be logged into your Passport account to view it).
When I first tried this, I used currently active Gamertags. The Gamertag IoN specified in his instructions has been expired – according to MS’ policy, expired Gamertags are no longer available for selection by anyone, even the original owner. This might have something to do with why IoN’s method exposes the “Use Passport Network” option to recover an account, an option I never saw all those times I tried to migrate my account.
Edit: The above does not work! I know this is extremely late in posting, but the above didn’t do anything. I was forced to create a new Windows Live account and attach that to my Gamertag. This update comes because of a reader who tried it and found that it doesn’t do anything. I’m sorry for giving your hopes up.
first of all. wow, you really are a nerd. but thats ok, i still love you. with that said….i have heard nothing but bad things concerning the release of the 360. everything from getting screwed out of one to managing to get one only to discover that the thing works about as well as windows millenium. im glad you had at least one good experience with yours. perhaps there is hope. as for me….i stick to playing with my etch-a-sketch. i find it to be the most reliable thing i own…
You gave me hope, but it didn’t work for me.
Cheers – I was just about to cry like a little girl when I thought the only hope was to format the HD.
Nice one Will & Nad.
it didn’t work for me, it brought me to the TOS of live screen like you said it wouldn’t. idk how it worked for you, lucky
This does not work. If it did work, it is pure coincidence. This is an error due to a bad connection with the recovery server. If this fixed the problem, it was purely circumstantial……
hi guys i had a problem with gamertag recovery but i stuck with it and got it back but it now looks like i have lost some of my saved games info. anyone know if i can get it back or is it lost for good. the only games i seem to have lost are PGR4 and FORZA MOTORSPORT 2 i have lost all info but it still shows on my gamerscore as i have the achievments.
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this is absolute bollocks,i i was a mug n did it 4 or 5 times. U no it doesn’t work bt u jus got sum friends 2 say that it did 2 make it look a good idea. u gt my fukin hopes up, ur a fukin arsehole
This Joint worked for me even though i had to try it twice