[mekako]

Yes I agree, but the seller also has stated to chuck the disc away if you don't use Windows 98, well we all know why this is, don't we?

I think perhaps he knows his players are hacked, and is trying to avoid the issue, and as you say put the blame on the customer for formatting the player.

It's not good enough to supply hacked players, and because you can't use the thing, you find yourself here asking for help.

Yes! and as you have advised it would be better to try with E Bay and Pay Pal to get some form of compensation, rather than send the player back, only for the seller to say after having inspected the player, that the customer has messed around with the firmware, so I'll null and void your warranty.

It would seem these sellers are getting very clever, and cover their ass very well indeed.