Xbox 360 - Resetting Family Settings Passcode

Note: If you're looking for a solution to the passcode reset, I posted mine in this this blog, but it's based on your serial number, so it may not work for you. I've put those things in bold as a courtesy to you so you can find them easier.

Another day at the farm, or is it zoo? Actually it's my house with 4 kids 8 and under. One of them decided to mess around with the XBox 360 and turn on some kind of crazy parental lock. Aptly named, because I, the parent, can't unlock the damn thing. Of course, the oldest is really the only one that has a shot at knowingly changing the settings and he's changed a few things lately, including an incredible annoyingly named profile that auto loads named BAAAD BOY. Nice. I, being the deductive parent that I am, naturally blame him. He very adamantly denies that it was him. Maybe he's right, but I keep the pressure on hoping he'll cave. A few tears later I'm convinced that he really didn't do it, but I keep him thinking that I suspect him, just in case.

In reality, it's probably one of the younger ones that did it and that means there's no chance whatsoever that they'll be able to duplicate or remember the passcode.

Well, I'm sure it's easy to reset, so I get in there and try a few passcodes, try the "Reset Question", etc. In truth I'm not positive it wasn't me at this point, so I try all the things I would have used. Now I'm pretty sure it wasn't me. What a relief. Especially after the fierce stare down I gave my son trying to get the answers out of him.

So I jump on the computer and my wife's logged in. She uses Flock as a browser. Although it's Firefox based, a few things are broken with it like searching via Yahoo instead of Google. Anyway, after I fight my way through a couple Yahoo searches and come up empty keyboarded, I actually type in the url for Google. Quick search and I see the answers I didn't expect - call Microsoft, it's the only way.

At this point, I proceed to waste a half hour trying as many combinations of passcodes as possible - probably 150 plus trying the Reset answers. No avail.

Now let me be clear, this isn't a parental lock to block 'naughty' content. This whole situation was brought to my attention when my wife popped Fever Pitch (yes, that TERRIBLE Drew Barrymore movie). That movie's probably PG, tops. There's no chance I'll be able to watch anything decent.

I've been too busy with this P90X thing and all, so it took me a few days to get back to the problem at hand. I decide there's no choice left but to call Microsoft. I asked my wife to do it.

I get home from work and seems that even though she's the one that really wants to watch movies on my Box, I'm the one that needs to call. Understood. I know my place.

Well, I've never called Microsoft about an XBox before, so I'm thinking this should be quick - probably happens all the time.

10 minutes after calling I'm finally on the phone with somebody. Luckily for me they speak English pretty well. After spelling my name no less than 4 times (and my name is spelled just like it sounds - no silent letters or any of that French BS) I finally get to ask her how to solve my problem. She repeats my problem after I explain it in a way that even a baby could understand (probably giving even a baby time to talk, too). I'm thinking that this should be a go now. No way.

She needs my serial number. I know it's in the XBox dashboard somewhere, so I make the mistake of asking the support person instead of just letting her wait as I find it myself. She, of course, wants me to look on the back of my box. Not happening. I'm not in the mood.

Should have just done that. I ask where to find the serial in the XBox dash and she asks me to hold a moment. About 30 seconds after she puts me on hold I find it under Console Settings, then System Info. After about 2 more minutes of holding I start debating whether I should just call back and hope for somebody smarter. After 4 minutes of holding I'm definitely ready to hang up. I decide I'll give 5 minutes. About 4 minutes and 50 seconds later she's back. She has the answer. I have to interrupt her to tell her I've already found it.

Now she proceeds to look for my account with them (which I don't have) and makes me do the slow run through of my address and phone number. Once that's complete I get to hold again. This time only about 4 minutes. She tells me what to try, it doesn't work, and she puts me on hold again. She's very confused that it didn't work (she actually wasn't telling the whole set of instructions). She comes back. I'll summarize the instructions to spare you the agony.

I cannot be responsible for anybody losing their data or damaging their box!!!

1) Remove your hard drive, discs, and memory cards.
2) Go to Console Settings, System Info.
3) Press the following sequence: Left Trigger, Right Trigger, X, Y, Left Bumper, Right Bumper (that much is always the same, it seems, regardless of serial), then Y, DPad Left, Up, Y (those last four seem to vary by serial).
4) When prompted say okay to resetting everything.

After that fix, everything worked, but that's not the end of the call! I then had to wait for her to summarize what we did! After that, I had to wait for some crazy ticket number. Wow. I should have just hung up the second it worked.

Maybe that will help someone, but probably it's just allowing me to vent.