My friend's old 3DS XL won't boot up

[Sea167]

My friend has 3ds that he previously broke but recently repaired it. He lost his original homebrew sd card.
He replaced both screens and camera.
Blue LED and the lower screen turns on and then off after couple of seconds.
When we tried to copy newest Luma to sd card, luma folder was created after powering it up.
His 3DS was lying dead since 2020 and haven't got any updates to anyting.

 

[zekro94]

Try this version of luma https://github.com/LumaTeam/Luma3DS/releases/download/v7.0.5/Luma3DSv7.0.5.7z

If it boots then you need to do this https://3ds.hacks.guide/a9lh-to-b9s

 

[Sea167]

It doesn't work.
The bottom screen's backlight flashes for a second while the top screen's backlight doesn't flash at all.
Does it mean that top screen prevents system from booting?

 

[zekro94]

You said he replaced the screens so it might be, but there's something odd about what you said. Using the latest luma does both screens light up and stay for some seconds? Does it do the same with 7.5?
Usually ds and 3ds won't boot if there's a problem with the upper screen, I would check the ribbon cables and look for tears or somethig

 

[Sea167]

After a complete disassembly it booted up and lower screen says:

Enable loading external FIRMs and
system modules.

This isn't needed in most cases.

Refer to the wiki for instructions.


Booted from CTRNAND via B9S.

The top screen doesn't show anything.

 

[Kwyjor]

So is there anything on the SD card at this point?

Start with https://3ds.guide/checking-for-cfw and https://3ds.guide/restoring-updating-cfw .

 

[Sea167]

We tried luma 10.0.1 it showed the same screen but said that it was doing something from sd. Now my friend is reassembling it so he can hold buttons.

 

[zekro94]

Edit: if nothing is showing on the upper screen then that one is faulty or not properly connected. Here is how it should look

 

[Sea167]

well it works, but the top screen is dead, bad aliexpress, bad
or ribbon cable might be loose