Hacking The status of Gateway and A9LH

Kazuma77

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OK thanks, what I did (I had not seen your reply yet) was take payload_stage2.bin and wrote that to 0xB400000 and cleared out any extra data with 00's, and reflashed that back to sysnand.. I then took gw_stage2.bin renamed it to payload_stage2.bin and updated with A9LH safe installer.. So far so good. It is booting GW first and when I hold down A Luma boots.

I don't understand the caveat with hotkey chain loading but will play around and see what is not working now.

Now I don't need to wait on GW anymore, I have exactly what I want now.

Awesome.

Well, the A could interfere with hotkeys, say, if you had cakes on Y, or Decrypt9 on up, for example, holding A and Y or A and up might make it not register correctly. I'm not sure if this will be a problem or not. Just saying it could be an issue, if you're using Luma's chain loader (or Arm9Select) to run ARM9 payloads. But you can get around it via something with a GUI menu like CBM9.
 
Last edited by Kazuma77,

crimpshrine

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Well, the A could interfere with hotkeys, say, if you have Decrypt9 on up for example, if you're using Luma's chain loader to run ARM9 payloads. But you can get around it via something with a GUI menu like CBM9.

Ahh OK, I can deal with that.

This is really great. My kids will be happy to get their units back now.

Thanks again!
 

driverdis

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Since button a or b might collide, you can use this Stage 1 / Stage 2.

Stage 1:

Default = Sector 5C000 = (5C000 * 200 hex) Offset B800000
X + Y = Sector 5A000 = (5A000 * 200 hex) Offset B400000
X + A = Sector 5A100 = (5A100 * 200 hex) Offset B420000

payload_stage2.bin loads arm9loaderhax.bin from \ (root)
payload_stage2-a9lh.bin loads arm9loaderhax.bin from \a9lh (sub)

Example:

GW's Stage 2 is in Sector 5A000 press and hold X + Y to boot GW Mode (launcher.dat)

So, does this allow boot of both GW Mode and CFW or am I just really tired and missed something?
 

Kazuma77

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my hopes are up.
although i want to load gw via my existing a9lh installation, not the other way round like you say

Check back a page. I have an upload you should check out. So far it only works on my N3DS though. I don't know why, but the GW payload only gives me a red screen and shuts off on the O3DS. Completely working on the N3DS though. The only thing left for me to look into is GW's stage1 payload. But I'm not even sure where to start looking for it.

Stage 1 must do something vital on O3DS. Because this stage 2 payload alone would have bricked my system when I had GW A9LH installed if it didn't.

So, does this allow boot of both GW Mode and CFW or am I just really tired and missed something?

I have an upload on the previous page that will allow you to run both. Even gives you a choice of 3 hotkeys. Some hex editing required. For whatever reason, it only seems to work on an N3DS. Feel free to try it and see if it works for you.
 
Last edited by Kazuma77,
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Kazuma77

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the only thing left is to write a n00b-proof tuto on how to do it without bricking on existing (N3DS?) a9lh users without hardmod

This does not need a hard mod. I don't have any hard-modded systems (yet, I bricked the AUS N3DS yesterday so that's about to change -- used the wrong sector file compiling A9LH for it, looks easy though, especially compared to doing a Wii chip without the clip). I'm simply patching the NAND dump in Hex Workshop and restoring it with Decrypt9 (normal, not "Keep A9LH"). Your NAND dump has A9LH. Patching an alternate stage2 payload to it and restoring it will not brick you. Decrypt9 expects the corruption it finds and will restore it without issue.

Also, I'd like to get O3DS working before I write a guide (if it's possible to do on an O3DS -- using D9 to restore the NAND dump that is, not a hard mod, I don't have one of those). This red screen and shutdown (only when using the hotkey mind you, it doesn't break regular functionality) is unacceptable to me. I want it to work for all systems.

The ultimate would be a new A9LH installer that handles alternate stage 2 payloads and has an option to select the hotkey. I'm not a coder, so the payloads will have to suffice for now.
 
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D

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Can I just point out that there's really no point in using an $80 A9LH system when you have free Luma. If you want easy ROMs, get a Sky3DS+
 
D

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>13
>Childish
More importantly, I'm making a valid point. You don't need to use Gatewait when you can use some other CFW. Just saying..
//FinalComment
 

Nirmonculus

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>13
>Childish
More importantly, I'm making a valid point. You don't need to use Gatewait when you can use some other CFW. Just saying..
//FinalComment
You're in the wrong thread. Nobody cares what you want to say. If you don't want to use Gateway a9lh, then don't. If these people want to use it and are finding ways to make Gateway work with existing cfws and it has nothing to do with you, then keep your 2 cents to yourself.

This thread is made for the status and progress of Gateway and A9LH, for people who want to check and contribute for its development. This is not the "CFW is so much better thread".
 

Temarile

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I'm glad this thread can be kept relatively clean! :D

It looks awfully difficult to use GW A9LH right now. Seeing as I am going on holiday next week, I might as well wait for the official release of GW.

But props to the good guys here that tested it and made the installer already! Keep it up ;)
 

Kazuma77

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Easy Install using safeA9LHinstaller

This allows to have three stage 2 inside nand to load them
using button combinations while powering your console on!

This includes only stage 1/2 files and installer!

You will need your very own private otp.bin and other files.

Details:
Code:
Stage 2                Button    Sector         Offset                            Path   File to load

payload_stage2.bin   = Default = Sector 5C000 = (5C000 * 200 hex) Offset B800000  \      arm9loaderhax.bin
payload_stage2_2.bin = X + Y   = Sector 5A000 = (5A000 * 200 hex) Offset B400000  \      launcher.dat
payload_stage2_3.bin = X + A   = Sector 5A100 = (5A100 * 200 hex) Offset B420000  \a9lh  arm9loaderhax.bin

1. Extract the rar file to your memorycard!
2. Copy the following files A9LH folder: OTP.BIN (your own!) / firm0.bin / firm1.bin / secret_sector.bin
3. Either use your desired entry point to load Homebrew Launcher and start safeA9LH installer or update with included arm9loaderhax.bin
4. Press select to install/update a9lh

Already using a9lh? Use arm9loaderhax.bin to update!

You can swap stage2 files to switch button combinations, but i suggest to boot \arm9loaderhax.bin by default!

Tested and works with my own new3DS XL!

Have Fun

Interesting. Nice custom Safe A9LH Installer. My surviving N3DS is where I want it already, but it will come in handy when I get the other one unbricked. I still like having it on start, myself. Wasn't using that for anything. Oh well, I can easily substitute my own stage 1 payloads. I get what you're doing with the 3rd payload. Good call having an emergency backup that boots Safe A9LH Installer. Anyone that tries to boot GW as the main is likely to need it (I tried swapping payloads earlier, ended up having to put Safe A9LH Installer as arm9loaderhax.bin when it still didn't work and neither did my hotkeys).
 
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20mark

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I want to try this so bad, but I fear to f*** something up.
I have a n3ds with existing a9lh, but I don't remember which fork I used to install.
from what I understand, having an existing a9lh, I need to update using arm9loaderhax.bin and put otp.bin and other files mentioned on the root of microsd and select a stage 2 payload from the 3,right ?
 

cearp

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@liomajor thanks for all the great work, and others who helped too of course!

Can I just point out that there's really no point in using an $80 A9LH system when you have free Luma. If you want easy ROMs, get a Sky3DS+
yeah but if you have gw... good to use it if you want their unique features.
i personally have gw, sky, and a9lh, i don't regret any of them...
you actually don't understand, i have all the things so i feel i can talk about it, unlike some gw hater who just hates lol
 
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Nirmonculus

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I want to try this so bad, but I fear to f*** something up.
I have a n3ds with existing a9lh, but I don't remember which fork I used to install.
from what I understand, having an existing a9lh, I need to update using arm9loaderhax.bin and put otp.bin and other files mentioned on the root of microsd and select a stage 2 payload from the 3,right ?
I also want to try it but I'm not in a hurry. I'm just checking if this is something I can do already, I did a9lh on one of my o3ds and just waiting for a better solution for my new 3ds. Hopefully, a tutorial on how to do it will surface in the future.
 

solress

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I also want to try it but I'm not in a hurry. I'm just checking if this is something I can do already, I did a9lh on one of my o3ds and just waiting for a better solution for my new 3ds. Hopefully, a tutorial on how to do it will surface in the future.
Is there really a better solution? The technique is quite literally the same.
 

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