Homebrew Help Downgrading (repeated softbricks)

[msinclair]

I'm having some problems downgrading my EUR N3DS. I've tried three times so far on 10.3, 10.6 and 10.7 and every time sysupdater says it's successful but I get the "error has occured" message when booting and am forced to go into recovery mode and update (hence the different firmware attempts).

I've done a bit of googling and apparently some N3DS models just refuse to downgrade properly without formatting them first. I really don't want to format mine as I'd rather not lose the unrecoverable data. Has anyone managed to get around this problem without formatting? Or has the root cause been discovered to attempt to bypass it?

Some background info on my N3DS to, hopefully, pinpoint what's holding up the downgrade process:

• Launch edition N3DS.
• System transferred from ambassador O3DS.
• Ambassador GBA VC titles and a few DSi titles installed.

 

[RealityNinja]

I'm having some problems downgrading my EUR N3DS. I've tried three times so far on 10.3, 10.6 and 10.7 and every time sysupdater says it's successful but I get the "error has occured" message when booting and am forced to go into recovery mode and update (hence the different firmware attempts).

I've done a bit of googling and apparently some N3DS models just refuse to downgrade properly without formatting them first. I really don't want to format mine as I'd rather not lose the unrecoverable data. Has anyone managed to get around this problem without formatting? Or has the root cause been discovered to attempt to bypass it?

Some background info on my N3DS to, hopefully, pinpoint what's holding up the downgrade process:

• Launch edition N3DS.
• System transferred from ambassador O3DS.
• Ambassador GBA VC titles and a few DSi titles installed.

I was in the exact same situation as you: N3DS with ambassador titles, system transferred from ambassador O3DS, etc. Repeated softbricks. After formatting, first try, it worked! Yeah, I lost Mii Plaza data and data log, but i used svdt to backup digital game saves. To avoid formatting, try this: Use another N3DS to transfer your Data, downgrade your N3DS, and retransfer your data.

 

[msinclair]

Thanks for the advice. I did think about doing a transfer then formatting, but I don't think you can transfer from a N3DS to O3DS so I'd have to get another N3DS - at which point I might as well just format that one.

Is there some way to back mii plaza/streetpass/activity log data before I format?

Edit: It is interesting that you also had ambassador titles. Could that maybe be what's causing the problem?

 

[D.Loro5]

I feel the same and that is why so I have not yet tried in 10.5 (if you need to upgrade, I can forget the HBL since I have no other entrypoint). Here we have talked about it several users ... https://gbatemp.net/threads/downgrade-without-formatting.418733/

 

[RealityNinja]

Edit: It is interesting that you also had ambassador titles. Could that maybe be what's causing the problem?

Yep, I think we should create a poll in order to know if people with downgrading issues have also transferred their ambassador titles on N3DS...

 

[msinclair]

The only thing is I can't think why transferring from an ambassador O3DS would make a difference. The difference should be something that's installed on our sysnands that isn't on other 3DS units, but all the ambassador stuff is saved to SD. DSiware is installed to sysnand but I moved that to SD, tried again and still got the error message.

 

[Zyrmkel]

Try this, use svdt to backup your saves delete your ambassador and dsi data, and try using safesysupdater.

 

[RealityNinja]

Try this, use svdt to backup your saves delete your ambassador and dsi data, and try using safesysupdater.

But svdt can't save dsi and gba data, right?

 

[Zyrmkel]

But svdt can't save dsi and gba data, right?

Idk never used it before

 

[RealityNinja]

Idk never used it before

So i will answer for you: svdt can't save these datas. Svdt only works with 3ds apps.

 

[Zyrmkel]

So i will answer for you: svdt can't save these datas. Svdt only works with 3ds apps.

Ah

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Op keep running sysupdater and let us know if it keeps failing on the same cia

 

[RealityNinja]

And... Do you think it's the system transfer that cause the downgrading repeated softbrick?

 

[Zyrmkel]

And... Do you think it's the system transfer that cause the downgrading repeated softbrick?

Nope, I had a system transfered n3ds and I downgraded no problem

 

[Safo]

I have a theory, can you try using a different sd card, initialize db and theme cache on it.. downgrade.. then swap back to your old sd card. Not sure if this'll work

 

[axemurderer]

I have a theory, can you try using a different sd card, initialize db and theme cache on it.. downgrade.. then swap back to your old sd card. Not sure if this'll work

I have this problem and no, that does not work.

The best option (no data loss) would be to hardmod and take a sysnand backup that way. that is what I'm doing tomorrow.

 

[Lumince]

It does suck, but anyone that has had this problem, formatting fixes it for 9/10 of the people and they downgrade first try after formatting. It seems that it may be something to do with transfering something from the o3ds and the downgrade files dont correspond correctly with them. It could be the Ambassador games, or just something that transfered over from the o3ds that haults the downgrade process. I would suggest trying what @Safo said and see if that works. If not, then formatting may be the only shot at the downgrade.

 

[Safo]

Also would help to compile a list of currently installed apps to help pin-point the application thats causing the error.
I have 3 different N3DSXLs that soft bricked after trying to downgrade them, formatting without a doubt will fix them.

Thing is people are saying that version 9.6+ encrypted apps will cause this issue, well I downgraded my Fates Edition n3dsxl without having to format and it had alot of apps with 9.6 encryption (Triforce Heroes, Binding of Isaac are a few)
however, it did not have any legit cias installed, because my other 3 N3DSXLs have legit cias installed, it could be the issue.

 

[jagerstaffel]

Well, if it helps pinpoint the problem, I might as well share what I know.

I have 2 o3DS' that I have downgraded, one needed to format and the other did not. This system repeatedly failed to downgrade. At first, I thought it was because I had pending streetpasses in several games. I cleared those, even removing the games from Streetpass management, proceeded to downgrade and "An error has occurred". This system saw extensive NNID use online and was updated regularly, friend list was full, Streetpass puzzles nearly complete, hundreds/thousands of Mii's, Find Mii upgraded to Find Mii 2 and nearly complete, though it had very little installed games (like the free eshop ones like Ironfall wink wink). It took a format for the downgrade to work on the first try afterwards.

On the other o3DS, it saw very light use, was rarely online, Friend list empty, and the NNID was probably not signed in for months prior to the downgrade. It had very little installed games, and the firmware was kept at 9.9 until the downgrade was revealed, which it was then updated to 10.3 for the downgrade. First try downgrade successful.

The same SD card and files were used on both systems, so that's out of the picture. I had long suspected that it was the frequency of which the system changed (updated regularly, NNID always signed in, etc) since the last format. It was almost a year since the failed system last formatted, yet less than 6 months the last time the 2nd system was formatted.

During this time any number of things could be the culprit. Is it because of Streetpass Mii plaza? Is it because the friend list is full? In my observations for the past couple of months, those who wished to hold onto their Streetpass mii plaza progress and keep their friend code were very likely to have a softbrick, as I can also add myself to those list of people. Menuhax isn't the culprit as both system used it to downgrade. The wifi being on or off also didn't matter. Unfortunately, I could have tested it further, but I had softbricked so much, when it was said that a format would solve the problem I jumped on it before I could see if: a) Removing the NNID b) deleting all friends or c) completely resetting Streetpass Mii plaza would have been the culprit. In a way I wanted to see if leaving a system in a nearly empty, non-formatted state would have helped.

And, that's all for my observations for now

 

[msinclair]

Well, if it helps pinpoint the problem, I might as well share what I know.

I have 2 o3DS' that I have downgraded, one needed to format and the other did not. This system repeatedly failed to downgrade. At first, I thought it was because I had pending streetpasses in several games. I cleared those, even removing the games from Streetpass management, proceeded to downgrade and "An error has occurred". This system saw extensive NNID use online and was updated regularly, friend list was full, Streetpass puzzles nearly complete, hundreds/thousands of Mii's, Find Mii upgraded to Find Mii 2 and nearly complete, though it had very little installed games (like the free eshop ones like Ironfall wink wink). It took a format for the downgrade to work on the first try afterwards.

On the other o3DS, it saw very light use, was rarely online, Friend list empty, and the NNID was probably not signed in for months prior to the downgrade. It had very little installed games, and the firmware was kept at 9.9 until the downgrade was revealed, which it was then updated to 10.3 for the downgrade. First try downgrade successful.

The same SD card and files were used on both systems, so that's out of the picture. I had long suspected that it was the frequency of which the system changed (updated regularly, NNID always signed in, etc) since the last format. It was almost a year since the failed system last formatted, yet less than 6 months the last time the 2nd system was formatted.

During this time any number of things could be the culprit. Is it because of Streetpass Mii plaza? Is it because the friend list is full? In my observations for the past couple of months, those who wished to hold onto their Streetpass mii plaza progress and keep their friend code were very likely to have a softbrick, as I can also add myself to those list of people. Menuhax isn't the culprit as both system used it to downgrade. The wifi being on or off also didn't matter. Unfortunately, I could have tested it further, but I had softbricked so much, when it was said that a format would solve the problem I jumped on it before I could see if: a) Removing the NNID b) deleting all friends or c) completely resetting Streetpass Mii plaza would have been the culprit. In a way I wanted to see if leaving a system in a nearly empty, non-formatted state would have helped.

And, that's all for my observations for now

Very helpful info. I think we can now rule out quite a few possible causes:

• Not related to a full friends list (mine isn't full).
• Not related to Mii Plaza data (I downgraded a 2DS with data on it)
• Not related to Ambassador titles.
• Not caused by internal SD card issues.
• Not obviously related to installed titles.
• Not unique to N3DS.
• Not related to streetpass data.

The only useful possibility I see left is possibly having unconfirmed friends on your list (my N3DS had a few). I really don't see how that could affect it, but it's one thing that hasn't been ruled out yet.

It's looking like you're probably right about it being somehow related to the unit's previous update/usage history. Most likely something leftover from one of the previous updates is getting in the way. Unfortunately that's not going to be an easy fix and would most likely require writing over the section of sysnand concerned - perhaps with a different update .cia? I don't really have the experience to investigate that any further so I'd have to wait for someone else to do so.

If that is the case then I think it's safe to assume the problem originated from a FW somewhere between 9.2 and 10.3. In that case someone could maybe try downgrading to all the FWs inbetween them and, if any succeed, that could be an indication that it was the one that introduced the problem. Though I realise that's obviously not a foolproof way to find the cause, and even it was I don't know how we'd go about fixing it afterwards...

 

[D.Loro5]

Very helpful info. I think we can now rule out quite a few possible causes:

• Not related to a full friends list (mine isn't full).
• Not related to Mii Plaza data (I downgraded a 2DS with data on it)
• Not related to Ambassador titles.
• Not caused by internal SD card issues.
• Not obviously related to installed titles.
• Not unique to N3DS.
• Not related to streetpass data.

The only useful possibility I see left is possibly having unconfirmed friends on your list (my N3DS had a few). I really don't see how that could affect it, but it's one thing that hasn't been ruled out yet.

It's looking like you're probably right about it being somehow related to the unit's previous update/usage history. Most likely something leftover from one of the previous updates is getting in the way. Unfortunately that's not going to be an easy fix and would most likely require writing over the section of sysnand concerned - perhaps with a different update .cia? I don't really have the experience to investigate that any further so I'd have to wait for someone else to do so.

If that is the case then I think it's safe to assume the problem originated from a FW somewhere between 9.2 and 10.3. In that case someone could maybe try downgrading to all the FWs inbetween them and, if any succeed, that could be an indication that it was the one that introduced the problem. Though I realise that's obviously not a foolproof way to find the cause, and even it was I don't know how we'd go about fixing it afterwards...

I do not believe that. In my Old 3DS friends list it is not full and there is no unconfirmed friend, and as I said many times I tried to downgrade 10.3 to 9.2 always gave the error.