anyway to recover DSI XL brick?

[duduqaz]

I bought a bricked DSI XL (no boot, error 0000FE00, black top screen and white bottom screen)
The seller doesnt know exactly what happened but he said he tried to mod it with these r4, probably bricked it in the process.
I tried a working wifi board and still same problem

Is this doable or better to just give up?

 

[Deleted member 702243]

this is broken nand or nand corruption

you could see if you can boot into godmode9i with ntrboot, and see if it's still possible to run unlaunch installer and install that despite the corruption

it might not be possible to get into the official dsi menu anymore, since you most certainly wont have a backup to restore, but you could try and see if it can at least run twilight menu and you can get some use out of it that way

 

[duduqaz]

this is broken nand or nand corruption

you could see if you can boot into godmode9i with ntrboot, and see if it's still possible to run unlaunch installer and install that despite the corruption

it might not be possible to get into the official dsi menu anymore, since you most certainly wont have a backup to restore, but you could try and see if it can at least run twilight menu and you can get some use out of it that way

sorry for late reply, i trierd ntrboot but i get a both white screens when i try to launch ntrboot via flashcard (r4igold)


Okay i managed to make godmode launch, but it stucks right away in “mounting drive…” screen (first one), any other try?

 

[Deleted member 702243]

sorry for late reply, i trierd ntrboot but i get a both white screens when i try to launch ntrboot via flashcard (r4igold)


Okay i managed to make godmode launch, but it stucks right away in “mounting drive…” screen (first one), any other try?

you could try taking out the flashcart once gm9i shows up, sometimes having the flashcart in makes it struggle to load in

ntrboot is also weird on dsi and doesn't properly set up all the registers(?) for nand access, so you would need to chain load gm9i before it was able to read nand. for me this wasn't an issue, gm9i loaded in and i was able to re-run boot.nds (gm9i) from the sd card to have proper nand read/write

if godmode fails there, it might be possible to load into twilight menu instead, and then run godmode9i from twilight menu instead

if it loads into twilight menu and doesn't give any crashes or errors, you could see if it's able to run games with nds bootstrap. if that works then you at least have that

 

[duduqaz]

you could try taking out the flashcart once gm9i shows up, sometimes having the flashcart in makes it struggle to load in

ntrboot is also weird on dsi and doesn't properly set up all the registers(?) for nand access, so you would need to chain load gm9i before it was able to read nand. for me this wasn't an issue, gm9i loaded in and i was able to re-run boot.nds (gm9i) from the sd card to have proper nand read/write

if godmode fails there, it might be possible to load into twilight menu instead, and then run godmode9i from twilight menu instead

if it loads into twilight menu and doesn't give any crashes or errors, you could see if it's able to run games with nds bootstrap. if that works then you at least have that

How i load twilightmenu by that way?

 

[Deleted member 702243]

How i load twilightmenu by that way?

rename the boot.nds to ntrboot.nds and then do ntrboot the same way you did with godmode9i, I dont know if that will necessarily work but it's worth a try

 

[k66]

Start godmode9i(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, and start safenandmanager in godmode9i to backup NAND.
Boot NAND using the emulator(e.g.,melonDS)'s DSi mode.
If it can be booted and functions properly.
Then restore NAND：
Start godmode9i(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, and start safenandmanager in godmode9i to restore NAND.

(My English is not good, this reply was translated by translation software)

 

[duduqaz]

Start godmode9i(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, and start safenandmanager in godmode9i to backup NAND.
Boot NAND using the emulator(e.g.,melonDS)'s DSi mode.
If it can be booted and functions properly.
Then restore NAND：
Start godmode9i(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, and start safenandmanager in godmode9i to restore NAND.

(My English is not good, this reply was translated by translation software)

the problem is: godmode9i stucks on “mounting drive…" and never loads up.

Post automatically merged: May 3, 2025

made launch

rename the boot.nds to ntrboot.nds and then do ntrboot the same way you did with godmode9i, I dont know if that will necessarily work but it's worth a try

did it but twilight give a error "there is no sd card inserted. Please insert the sd card containing twilight menu then tgry again

 

[k66]

the problem is: godmode9i stucks on “mounting drive…" and never loads up.

GodMode9i FAQ: hold X while launching GodMode9i to skip NAND mounting.

 

[duduqaz]

GodMode9i FAQ: hold X while launching GodMode9i to skip NAND mounting.

tried alot, still same thing

 

[k66]

tried alot, still same thing

Start dsibiosdumper(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot(quickly move magnet away at boot), dump NAND.
(If it doesn't work, it may be a hardware issue)
(Save several copies of the original NAND before editor)
Manually add no$gba footer:
Open nand.bin with a hex editor,
copy 000FF800 to 000FF830 64 bytes(DSi's CID), add these 64 bytes at the end of the nand.bin.
.
Test in emulator.
.
Restore NAND：
Open nand.bin with a hex editor,
editor no$gba footer's CID: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00.
Put nand.bin in SD card > DT0000000000000000 folder.
Start SafeNandManager(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, Restore NAND.

 

[duduqaz]

Start dsibiosdumper(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot(quickly move magnet away at boot), dump NAND.
(If it doesn't work, it may be a hardware issue)
(Save several copies of the original NAND before editor)
Manually add no$gba footer:
Open nand.bin with a hex editor,
copy 000FF800 to 000FF830 64 bytes(DSi's CID), add these 64 bytes at the end(0F000000 to 0F000030) of the nand.bin(251,658,240bytes -> 251,658,304bytes).
.
Test in emulator.
.
Restore NAND：
Open nand.bin with a hex editor,
editor 0F000010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 (all 00= no CID).
Put nand.bin in SD card > DT0000000000000000 folder.
Start SafeNandManager(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, Restore NAND.

I tried dsibiosdumper too, freezes at first black screen. Ive tried:
- godmode
- dsibiosdumper
- safenandmanager
- twilightmenu

Noone worked, all freezes at first screen except twilight menu than give a error saying theres no sdcard.

 

[k66]

I tried dsibiosdumper too, freezes at first black screen. Ive tried:
- godmode
- dsibiosdumper
- safenandmanager
- twilightmenu

Noone worked, all freezes at first screen except twilight menu than give a error saying theres no sdcard.

Maybe you can try:
start dsibiosdumper(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot (quickly move magnet away at boot)
.
If the backup NAND is successful and emulator can boot, you can install Unlaunch in twilightmenu++ on emulator(or use TWLMagician to install Unlaunch for NAND) ,then restore the NAND.
It's easier to save brick (Non-hardware failures) with Unluanch.
.
If you don't mind installing Unlaunch directly:
Rename unlaunch.dsi to unlaunch.nds, put it to SD card.
Start hbmenu(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start Unlaunch and "install now".show BAD MBR

 

[duduqaz]

Maybe you can try:
start dsibiosdumper(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot (quickly move magnet away at boot)
.
If the backup NAND is successful and emulator can boot, you can install Unlaunch in twilightmenu++ on emulator(or use TWLMagician to install Unlaunch for NAND) ,then restore the NAND.
It's easier to save brick (Non-hardware failures) with Unluanch.
.
If you don't mind installing Unlaunch directly:
Rename unlaunch.dsi to unlaunch.nds, put it to SD card.
Start hbmenu(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start Unlaunch and "install now".

I will try dsibiosdumper again soon, but like i said it doesnt work too, it stucks at first black screen

 

[k66]

I will try dsibiosdumper again soon, but like i said it doesnt work too, it stucks at first black screen

Have you tried hbmenu.
Start hbmenu(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start dsibiosdumper backup NAND.
NAND needs to add no$gba footer (Look #11).
Start hbmenu(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start SafeNandManager restore NAND.
NAND needs to change no$gba footer to no CID (Look #11).
.
I tried this method to start TWiLightMenu++:
Put TWiLightMenu++ files(boot.nds & other),HBmenu,SafeNandManager to SD card.
Start hbmenu(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start boot.nds,
TWiLightMenu++ will boot, then you can use SafeNandManager backup (or restore) NAND.
(install Unlaunch will show BAD MBR)
(NandTitleManager can also boot TWiLightMenu++, rename NTM.dsi to NTM.nds, start hbmenu(ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start NTM.nds Fix FAT copy mismatch "yes", TWiLightMenu++(boot.nds) will boot.)
.
If the backup NAND is successful and emulator can boot, you can install Unlaunch in twilightmenu++ on emulator(or use TWLMagician to install Unlaunch for NAND) ,then restore the NAND.

 

[gorgyrip]

The nand is dead. You get that error if no emmc is present.
1. dsi modchip. No updates on it. I don't think you will be able to fit in inside the console.
2. replace the emmc with a sd card. I don't know if you can get the keys without an emmc.

 

[duduqaz]

The nand is dead. You get that error if no emmc is present.
1. dsi modchip. No updates on it. I don't think you will be able to fit in inside the console.
2. replace the emmc with a sd card. I don't know if you can get the keys without an emmc.

Its possible to make nand dead just messing with a r4?

Post automatically merged: May 9, 2025

Have you tried hbmenu.
Start hbmenu(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start dsibiosdumper backup NAND.
NAND needs to add no$gba footer (Look #11).
Start hbmenu(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start SafeNandManager restore NAND.
NAND needs to change no$gba footer to no CID (Look #11).
.
I tried this method to start TWiLightMenu++:
Put TWiLightMenu++ files(boot.nds & other),HBmenu,SafeNandManager to SD card.
Start hbmenu(SD>ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start boot.nds,
TWiLightMenu++ will boot, then you can use SafeNandManager backup (or restore) NAND.
(install Unlaunch will show BAD MBR)
(NandTitleManager can also boot TWiLightMenu++, rename NTM.dsi to NTM.nds, start hbmenu(ntrboot.nds) with ntrboot, start NTM.nds Fix FAT copy mismatch "yes", TWiLightMenu++(boot.nds) will boot.)
.
If the backup NAND is successful and emulator can boot, you can install Unlaunch in twilightmenu++ on emulator(or use TWLMagician to install Unlaunch for NAND) ,then restore the NAND.

hbmenu launched!!!
still when i try start twilight it just give two white screen xd, gonna try more apps in hbmenu

 

[gorgyrip]

No. You have to mess with the system files to get that error. Most likely the emmc just died. Like in the wii u consoles. I've started to see it also in dsi. And also one of my o3dsxl got corrupted. My console had a FEFE error, if I remember correctly. Un launch reported bad eemc mbr. gm9i worked, Safenandmanager showed the cid and console id, but also said that one is wrong. I tried to write a random nand file, just so i could read it back and compare the results. But it crashed at block 40: "error writing nand". after that i got FE00. And gm9i hags like in your case. Now i removed the emmc and thinking of a way to find the CID. You won't be able to fix it just with software.
PS: i managed to get a nand dump, before trying anything else.. Archived is about 5 mega, so it was almost dead.

 

[duduqaz]

No. You have to mess with the system files to get that error. Most likely the emmc just died. Like in the wii u consoles. I've started to see it also in dsi. And also one of my o3dsxl got corrupted. My console had a FEFE error, if I remember correctly. Un launch reported bad eemc mbr. gm9i worked, Safenandmanager showed the cid and console id, but also said that one is wrong. I tried to write a random nand file, just so i could read it back and compare the results. But it crashed at block 40: "error writing nand". after that i got FE00. And gm9i hags like in your case. Now i removed the emmc and thinking of a way to find the CID. You won't be able to fix it just with software.
PS: i managed to get a nand dump, before trying anything else.. Archived is about 5 mega, so it was almost dead.

Thank you for explanation, i will keep it just for the screens so lol

 

[gorgyrip]

you can get the console id even if the console has no emmc.
But i can't find any info/tools on how to get the CID. Only that it is found in main ram at 2FFD7BCh. Are there any tools to view/dump the ram?

If i get the CID, i will try to encrypt a donor nand with these keys. Put it on on sd card and solder it in place of the emmc.