Hardware Repaired a 6.2 3DS. Stay or update to 9.2?

[Harsky]

By chance I got a super cheap 3DS with a 6.2 firmware from ebay and in the end, the problem was just a sticky button which was fixed by a quick clean.

I'm still out of loop with 3DS hacking but is 6.2 pointless and I would be better off using my Smash Bros cart and upgrading it to 9.2? After that, do I still have to purchase anything else?

 

[jaksy]

If you upgrade from such an old FW with a smash cart alone it's possible to lock yourself out of browserhax, in which case you'd need to pay for a cartridge game entry point, or use the gateway launcher dat tool to downgrade again to around 6.2 so you could use an mset exploit.

If you have a dsmode flashcart I believe you can install rxtoolscfw through the gateway launcher dat tool without needing any other special tools other than the dscart to install an mset exploit link, as being at FW 6.x you should already have a low enough mset version to use the mset profile exploit.

I can link you to this guide, but be careful as it's an extremely convoluted process and easy to mess up on if you don't pay attention.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-installing-rxtools-custom-firmware-3ds-and-2ds.390867/

Afterwards you can worry about updating your sysnand to 9.2 so you can use homemenuhax to launch CtrBootManager which will boot you into a CFW of your choosing.

Edit: 9.2's only real advantage is it can run homemenuhax, one of the better entry point exploits.

 

[Ruby Gloom]

No real reason at all to update...
as said above; HomeMenuHax is the only thing that changes and it's still kinda pointless.
You should stay and get a CFW going.

 

[Harsky]

No real reason at all to update...
as said above; HomeMenuHax is the only thing that changes and it's still kinda pointless.
You should stay and get a CFW going.

Is there a recommended CFW? My main aim is to get the CIAs installed.

 

[Ruby Gloom]

Is there a recommended CFW? My main aim is to get the CIAs installed.

I use RxTools. It works for your needs and supports 10.3 I think. I'm at 9.9. I don't see the need to update.
EDIT: I mean EmuNand! Lol. Don't update past your FW unless you're using the EmuNand.

 

[jaksy]

Is there a recommended CFW? My main aim is to get the CIAs installed.

If you're on an old 3ds, rxtools would probably be your best bet. The tutorial for rxtool installation is the guide I linked up there.

 

[Apache Thunder]

I have not heard of 9.2 browserhax being blocked. Thought that was a 9.8+ thing. Either way you can downgrade MSET first to make sure you have an entry point. THEN update to 9.2 (just be sure to exclude the CIA for MSET). Themehax is best hax. There's no reason to stay on 6.x.

 

[jaksy]

I have not heard of 9.2 browserhax being blocked. Thought that was a 9.8+ thing. Either way you can downgrade MSET first to make sure you have an entry point. THEN update to 9.2 (just be sure to exclude the CIA for MSET). Themehax is best hax. There's no reason to stay on 6.x.

It's not that it's blocked, it's that the browser would stay at the 6.x FW browser and not update with the cart FW update, meaning you'd be on 9.2 with a 6.0 FW browser, unable to utilize sliderhax as that's only compatible with 9.0+FW browsers.

I believe this is an old issue grandfathered in from spiderhax, as people were reporting unhackable fw/browser combos for early AC spiderhax. But this issue is now not well known, as it's progressively less common to have a 6.x FW 3ds that's never been updated over the internet and is getting pushed to 9.2 with a cart.

 

[Apache Thunder]

Oh I see. 6.x MSET is still exploitable though (MSET entry point didn't get patched out till 7.x). You should be able to boot rxTools (be sure to use devmode! Don't use sysupdater in anything else! Do NOT use DevMenu to install system CIAs!) and upgrade to full 9.2 using sysupdater. This assumes you have a DS mode flashcart of some kind like a DSTwo. You just have to find the CIAs which are available on a certain site you have to google to find. (Nintendo pulled old firmware files off their NUS servers so you can't download it from them anymore).