Hacking Homebrew CFW 3DS is no longer powering on

[DocOmiely]

My 3DS with CFW powers on for a second then the blue light fades out almost immediately. I cant use the safe start, and I cant launch through gm9.

I feel like I've tried everything at this point. I've tried updating the luma files and replacing boot.firm. I've tried formatting the sd card and putting my backup files into it and even going as far as getting new files entirely. I've tried putting armloader9hax into the root of the sd card. I've watched countless videos and roamed many forums looking for someone who solved this issue.

The problem started when I would get random crash dumps. They increasingly became more common up until the point where it finally just crash dumped for the last time. I appreciate any help that comes my way.

 

[Hayato213]

replace Luma3DS boot.firm.

https://github.com/LumaTeam/Luma3DS/releases/tag/v11.0

 

[DocOmiely]

Thanks for the quick reply. I just tried it and still the same result. The light blinks for a quick second then powers off.

 

[Hayato213]

Thanks for the quick reply. I just tried it and still the same result. The light blinks for a quick second then powers off.

Reading from your post, are you still on Arm9loaderhax?

 

[DocOmiely]

Reading from your post, are you still on Arm9loaderhax?

yeah. A few forums said that not having it might be the issue

 

[Hayato213]

yeah. A few forums said that not having it might be the issue

https://github.com/LumaTeam/Luma3DS/tree/v7.0.5

This version was the last version that supported A9LH, so you can give that a try, if that work then you can proceed with updating to B9S.

 

[DocOmiely]

This version was the last version that supported A9LH, so you can give that a try, if that work then you can proceed with updating to B9S.

Didn't work. I used a more recent version of luma so putting the A9LH file in was more of a last resort to see if it might have booted.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Didn't work. I used a more recent version of luma so putting the A9LH file in was more of a last resort to see if it might have booted.

Either one or the other. Do you remember what Luma3DS version you have been using while the console worked? That should answer the question which file to try now.

Watch the blue LED. Does is fade off, or get dark instantly? Abrupt turning off instead of fading indicates hardware problems.

 

[DocOmiely]

Either one or the other. Do you remember what Luma3DS version you have been using while the console worked? That should answer the question which file to try now.

The last version I used was 10.3 before it stopped working.

Watch the blue LED. Does is fade off, or get dark instantly? Abrupt turning off instead of fading indicates hardware problems.

The LED turns on then slowly fades out in about 2 seconds.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

The last version I used was 10.3 before it stopped working.

So you can omit anything with older Luma3DS versions and just focus on v11.0. It is either

• v7.0.5 for A9LH – or –
• v7.1 for B9S 1.0 – or –
• or latest version

The LED turns on then slowly fades out in about 2 seconds.

That should be B9S turning off because of not finding a valid FIRM. Did you try without SD? Sometimes problems with the SD and/or the reader can cause this even if there is a boot.firm on CTRNAND (like it should be the case).

Try a different, FAT32 formatted and checked SD containing nothing else but boot.firm.

 

[DocOmiely]

So you can omit anything with older Luma3DS versions and just focus on v11.0. It is either

• v7.0.5 for A9LH – or –
• v7.1 for B9S 1.0 – or –
• or latest version

Where would I find a newer version of B9S?

That should be B9S turning off because of not finding a valid FIRM. Did you try without SD? Sometimes problems with the SD and/or the reader can cause this even if there is a boot.firm on CTRNAND (like it should be the case).

Try a different, FAT32 formatted and checked SD containing nothing else but boot.firm.

Does the same thing even without an SD in. Tried a different SD card with less space but still had the same result.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Where would I find a newer version of B9S?

You won't need any new version now (and it probably wouldn't work, since your SD gets ignored).
However, the process is described here:
https://3ds.hacks.guide/updating-b9s

Does the same thing even without an SD in. Tried a different SD card with less space but still had the same result.

That either means no copy of boot.firm is on CTRNAND (bad, did you install custom firmware with some bad video instead of 3ds.hack.guide?) or something more serious/problematic is going on.

If you are absolutely sure multiple good SDs, correctly formatted and checked failed, it might be the console SD reader being bad. Hard to tell.

 

[DocOmiely]

That either means no copy of boot.firm is on CTRNAND (bad, did you install custom firmware with some bad video instead of 3ds.hack.guide?) or something more serious/problematic is going on.

I used sthetix's video to install cfw.

If you are absolutely sure multiple good SDs, correctly formatted and checked failed, it might be the console SD reader being bad. Hard to tell.

I used a program to read both sd cards and make absolutely sure that nothing was wrong and they both ended up being fine. I am using an sd card reader since my pc case doesnt come with a slot. That couldnt be the issue could it?

Post automatically merged: Dec 19, 2022

Something new came up. I followed the steps to install B9S which went well up until the end where the 3ds now does this.

 

[CoolMe]

Sounds like a hardware issue.. I would start with the sd card reader, get a new replacement and test again.

 

[DocOmiely]

Sounds like a hardware issue.. I would start with the sd card reader, get a new replacement and test again.

I'm pretty sure the sd card slot works because I was able to see all the files on boot up. I got the 3ds to boot up to the safeB9S screen but now I have a new problem. (See Video above)

 

[CoolMe]

I got the 3ds to boot up to the safeB9S screen but now I have a new problem. (See Video above)

What step on the a9lh to b9s guide you stopped at?

 

[DocOmiely]

What step on the a9lh to b9s guide you stopped at?

The updating luma3ds step 5

 

[CoolMe]

The updating luma3ds step 5

Wait, you're on A9lh and you're updating b9s itself to the latest version? You need to update from A9lh to b9s first.

 

[DocOmiely]

Wait, you're on A9lh and you're updating b9s itself to the latest version? You need to update from A9lh to b9s first.

All right. Ill try that and let you know how it goes.

 

[CoolMe]

All right. Ill try that and let you know how it goes.

Again, you're sure you're on A9lh and not b9s right? If you had Luma v7.0.5 or lower then it is, otherwise no.