Hacking Files missing from SD card, 3DS won't boot

[DuoDynamo]

So I just bought a new 128gb Sandisk SD card for my modded (Luma3DS) Old 3DS XL. I formatted it with Guiformat as necessary and moved all of my files from my old SD card to the new one. Thing is; for some reason, everything that was inside of a folder has vanished during the transfer. Nothing, zero, nada. Only the files and folders that were in the card's root survived.

The only folders that still have their contents intact are the "3ds" and "ci-install-temp-0004000000111b00-6af045ca" folders.

Now my 3DS won't turn on, with or without an SD card inserted. The blue light turns on for a second then immediately fades away. I'm trying to redo the modding process to get my 3DS to work again, but one of the steps requires checking the name of the 32-letter folder inside of the Nintendo 3DS folder. And this 32-letter folder no longer exists.

I don't even care much about saves and whatnot, I just want to get my thing working again.

I did backup the NAND, but that was like 8 years ago and I can't for the life of me find it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Hayato213]

https://github.com/LumaTeam/Luma3DS/releases

put boot.firm on the root of your SD card see if it boot.

 

[DuoDynamo]

put boot.firm on the root of your SD card see if it boot.

I tried that. I also tried redownloading Godmode9, but that didn't work either.
Power+Start, Power+Select and recovery mode also do not work.

 

[Hayato213]

I tried that. I also tried redownloading Godmode9, but that didn't work either.
Power+Start, Power+Select and recovery mode also do not work.

Do you know if you are on arm9loaderhax or boot9strap?

 

[DuoDynamo]

Do you know if you are on arm9loaderhax or boot9strap?

I BELIEVE I'm on boot9strap.

 

[Hayato213]

I BELIEVE I'm on boot9strap.

if you have boot9strap if you put boot.firm and boot.3dsx on the root of the sd card and hold down select while pressing the power button you would get to the luma 3ds configuration menu.

 

[DuoDynamo]

if you have boot9strap if you put boot.firm and boot.3dsx on the root of the sd card and hold down select while pressing the power button you would get to the luma 3ds configuration menu.

Yeah, that's not working. It was working before the SD exchange though.

As a heads-up: I'm currently running a recovery tool on my old SD card and it seems I'll be able to recover my files. For one thing, it seems that 32-letter folder has been recovered, at least. I'll update once the recovery tool finishes working.

 

[CoolMe]

Now my 3DS won't turn on, with or without an SD card inserted. The blue light turns on for a second then immediately fades away.

Ok, first thing i'd do in your situation is to backup your sd card data somewhere safe, then empty the sdcard completely and run h2testw to make sure it's not faulty or dying. Run the test with the "read and verify" setting. It will tell you if it's faulty. Do not proceed with it if it fails the test.
----
Also, do you know what firmware you're on? If you're on the latest fw, get the latest Luma3DS (v.12.0.1) from the link above and copy boot.firm to the root of the sd card and test again.

I'm trying to redo the modding process to get my 3DS to work again,

If you have cfw installed (Luma3DS), you don't need to redo it.

but one of the steps requires checking the name of the 32-letter folder inside of the Nintendo 3DS folder. And this 32-letter folder no longer exists.

You don't need that folder, that only contains stuff like your installed games, saves etc. You can follow the guide here to get the necessary homebrew apps instead.

Post automatically merged: Apr 20, 2023

I'd try putting Luma3DS v.7.0.5 on the root of the sdcard and test again, as it sounds like you might be on a9lh (instead of b9s).

 

[DuoDynamo]

Also, do you know what firmware you're on? If you're on the latest fw, get the latest Luma3DS (v.12.0.1) from the link above and copy boot.firm to the root of the sd card and test again.

I'm on the latest firmware; I updated last week.
I did try downloading the latest Luma3DS and copying boot.firm to the root folder, but nothing changed. Same thing when downloading the latest Godmode9 build.

I'll try h2testw, but if it turns out the card I just bought is busted I'm gonna be sad.

 

[CoolMe]

I'm on the latest firmware; I updated last week.

Ok, then you're on b9s.

I did try downloading the latest Luma3DS and copying boot.firm to the root folder, but nothing changed. Same thing when downloading the latest Godmode9 build.

First check the sd card for errors with h2testw (as i described above), after that make sure it's formatted as Fat32 32kb cluster size, copy the latest Luma3DS into the root of the sdcard and test again.
Also what 3ds model do you have? If you have an old 3ds (or xl), check the lock slider on the sd card, make sure it's unlocked, or try with a different one altogether.

 

[DuoDynamo]

First check the sd card for errors with h2testw (as i described above), after that make sure it's formatted as Fat32 32kb cluster size, copy the latest Luma3DS into the root of the sdcard and test again.

I'll test that. It really looks like it's a badly-formatted SD. Especially since I just noticed that the actual size of the files didn't change during transfer, even though they're not showing up.

Also what 3ds model do you have? If you have an old 3ds (or xl), check the lock slider on the sd card, make sure it's unlocked, or try with a different one altogether.

It's an Old XL. The card is unlocked. I tried booting the system with my old (now empty) SD, with my new SD containing the 3DS files, and without an SD card at all. Same result every time; blue led flashes for a second and no boot.

 

[CoolMe]

I tried booting the system with my old (now empty) SD,

The 3ds won't boot without boot.firm on the root of the sdcard.

and without an SD card at all.

That could be because you don't have Luma3DS installed on the ctrnand. Though it is weird 'cause from Luma3DS ver.11 and above, it's supposed to install it automatically. You can install it manually i guess, after you get it to work..

 

[Kwyjor]

The 3ds won't boot without boot.firm on the root of the sdcard.

(Just to be clear: it won't boot without boot.firm on the SD card unless Luma has been installed to the NAND.)

Though it is weird 'cause from Luma3DS ver.11 and above, it's supposed to install it automatically.

We went over that in another thread. It will update the version on the NAND automatically, but it will not install itself to the NAND automatically if it isn't already there.

 

[CoolMe]

We went over that in another thread. It will update the version on the NAND automatically, but it will not install itself to the NAND automatically if it isn't already there.

Oh, didn't know that. So for someone who just just installed cfw on latest fw, does he need to install it on the ctrnand manually or will it do that for him?

 

[DuoDynamo]

I managed to recover all (I think) of my files with the help of Testdisk.
I'm now copying the "Nintendo 3DS" folder to my current SD card to see if that's what was missing. I'll update once I do it.

 

[Kwyjor]

So for someone who just just installed cfw on latest fw, does he need to install it on the ctrnand manually or will it do that for him?

Yes, you would have to install it manually. That's why the relevant instructions are still in the Guide.

I'm now copying the "Nintendo 3DS" folder to my current SD card to see if that's what was missing.

No, if your 3DS isn't booting with an SD card inserted, a missing "Nintendo 3DS" folder will not make a difference. There are many hundreds of people who have come before you with similar problems.

If your 3DS won't boot with an SD card inserted, then either boot.firm is missing or boot.firm can't be read for some reason – usually because the SD card is failing, or is improperly formatted, or (occasionally) because the SD card slot in the 3DS is somehow defective.

 

[DuoDynamo]

If your 3DS won't boot with an SD card inserted, then either boot.firm is missing or boot.firm can't be read for some reason – usually because the SD card is failing, or is improperly formatted, or (occasionally) because the SD card slot in the 3DS is somehow defective.

I have boot.firm in there. I'm starting to think it might be the SD card slot, because my old SD card won't work anymore either.

I'm currently reformatting my old SD card (since it's smaller) in slow mode to test it and see if it changes anything.

Just to be sure; this is what the root of my SD card looks like right now. Am I missing anything?

EDIT: I just checked out this thread and Tobias seems to have the same issue. When I boot while holding START + SELECT + X, the blue led on my 3DS also stays on as long as I hold START.

I REALLY hope it's not the SD card slot.

 

[Kwyjor]

Am I missing anything?

To reiterate: boot.firm is the only file required for booting. If it isn't booting, copying different files will not make any difference.

 

[DuoDynamo]

Yeah, I'm thinking my 3DS's SD slot has gone bad. I've tried 3 different cards and none of them work. And I made sure boot.firm was there.

EDIT: I tried downloading the latest version of Luma again, and this time it worked. I used Godmode9 to format my 128gb SD card and now it's working as well. Thanks to everyone who helped!

EDIT 2: For some reason, .3dsx and .cia files vanish after being put on the 128gb SD card. I'll try formatting the card again in Guiformat in slow mode.

 

[Kwyjor]

Glad you got something working.

Did you test the empty card with h2testw, as suggested? There is no point in trying to do anything with it otherwise.

I should add that since you are using an Old 3DS, you may also consider the possibility that your SD card adapter is faulty, if you are using one of those with a microSD card.