Hacking Is installing A9LH on an O3DS via GW really this simple? (a few questions before I make the install)

[TinyBilbo]

Hi,

I haven't updated my daughter's (O)3DS-XL for over a year, for the simple reason that it works fine for her use, and she hasn't been playing much on it since the last Pokemon...

However I now want to get it updated and put a few newer games on it, so I downloaded the latest GW firmware (GW_4.0b), and saw that I can now install A9LH, which I gather is a kind of BootMii, as well allowing the 3DS to directly boot into GW (EmuNand I assume...).

I am currently on SysNand 4.3 & EmuNand 8.xx or 9.xx (I forget which).

As far as I can make from the readme supplied with the firmware.

Spoiler: GW_4.0b ReadMe

Pre Setup:
Copy the contents of the “Console SD” folder on to root of your consoles SD card.
Copy the contents of the “Red Card uSD” folder on to root of your GW Red Card uSD.

How to setup (O3DS):
Make sure you have WiFi configured and working.
GATEWAY 3DS based entrypoint:
Boot into GATEWAY 3DS sysNAND mode (Force GW Menu by holding down L during boot, hold B while pressing A to boot)
Bring up the OSD, select GATEWAY Time Machine, select 2.x downgrade
Homebrew based entrypoint:
Boot GW_TIMEMACHINE.3DSX using your favourite homebrew entrypoint
In the GATEWAY Time Machine menu select the 2.x downgrade
Delete/rename the “Nintendo 3DS” folder on your console’s SD card.
Boot your O3DS into 2.x
Open up the web browser and surf to http://go.gateway-3ds.com/
After a short wait, the GATEWAY Menu should appear, go into the A9LH Installer
A9LH will be installed & sysNAND will be restored from NAND.bin
Reboot your console and enjoy GATEWAY A9LH on your O3DS!

All I need to do is;

1) Copy of the “Console SD” contents to root of console SD card
& Copy “Red Card uSD” contents to root of your GW Red Card uSD

2) Backup my Current SD

3) Enable Wifi & check it works

4) Boot into the O3DS's real nand (SysNand) (Force GW Menu by holding down L during boot, hold B while pressing A to boot)

5) Bring up the OSD, select GATEWAY Time Machine, select 2.x downgrade

6) Delete/rename the “Nintendo 3DS” folder on your console’s SD card.

7) Boot the O3DS into 2.x

8) Open web browser and surf to http://go.gateway-3ds.com/ & after a short wait, the GATEWAY Menu should appear, then go into the A9LH Installer & install. (A9LH will be installed & sysNAND will be restored from NAND.bin)

9) Reboot the console and enjoy GATEWAY A9LH on the O3DS!

Have I read the procedure correctly? (This is effectively forcing a downgrade to a 2.xx firmware, then installing A9LH via a webexploit, and then reinstalling my current SysNand (4.3).

Should I copy “Console SD” contents to a fresh SD or use the current one (with the EmuNand installed)? How much space would it need to have free (if it makes a SysNand dump)?

Also I'm a little unsure about steps 4&5 (I've never used the GW menu or OSD) - doesn't the O3DS always boot into the SysNand when you power it on? How can I check that I'm on the SysNand if I'm in the GW Menu?

Finally... are there any pitfalls that I should be aware of?

(Sorry One final question, indirectly related, after I have it installed can I update the EmuNand to the latest firmware?)

Thanks for any help/guidance...

 

[Nyap]

no
use this
https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki
then use the arm9loaderhax.bin that gateway provided for this

 

[Apache Thunder]

If you're objective is to use Gateway, then yes. But if you don't have a gateway or intend to use other A9L payloads. Do NOT install Gateway's version of A9L. You can downgrade to 2.x with this though but use something else to install A9L so you can use Luma3DS or other CFWs. Also don't use Gateway's time machine thing on n3DS. Not sure about beta 2, but beta 1 will brick because they didn't even crypto fix ctr nand partition after downgrading it.

 

[Temptress Cerise]

Even if you want GW-A9LH, it's still a risky procedure to use GW's Installer. Yes, they've made improvements from Private Beta A to Private Beta B, but those risks, and those corners they cut, are still there.

Also, I'd like to point out the following disclaimer you can find on their openly public Private Beta Program page:
"DISCLAIMER: Files on this page should be treated with extreme care and only used by advanced users who have access to a way to restore their 3DS NAND. Users should have a valid/known good copy of their NAND before proceeding! Use at your own risk!"

The Beta is only intended for users with hardmods or those that understand the risks they are taking.

If you don't care for being locked down to GW-A9LH, then wait for a more polished installer.

Also, GW-A9LH is heavily locked down. Lose your Red Card? You are now the proud owner of a useless 3DS, please go buy another Red Card to use it again! Want to use another CFW? Nope! Not possible with GW-A9LH! Want access to tools like Decrypt9//Hourglass9, EmuNAND9, and so on? Ha, what are those things with GW-A9LH!

 

[TinyBilbo]

If you're objective is to use Gateway, then yes. But if you don't have a gateway or intend to use other A9L payloads. Do NOT install Gateway's version of A9L. You can downgrade to 2.x with this though but use something else to install A9L so you can use Luma3DS or other CFWs. Also don't use Gateway's time machine thing on n3DS. Not sure about beta 2, but beta 1 will brick because they didn't even crypto fix ctr nand partition after downgrading it.

Hi Apache Thunder,

Thanks for the quick reply... :-)

I'm actually looking for the simplest option here, since it's for my daughter, I have an O3DS-XL which has always been on SysNand 4.3 (never higher) and EmuNand 8.xx or 9.xx.

I also have a Gateway which is currently used the old way (re-running the hack from every cold boot).

I doubt I will use it any other way than to have it cold boot directly into the EmuNand and run roms the way it currently does...
I know it can do more, but I have to trade time spent working out what could be achieved against what a 10yr girl really needs in order to play the odd game.

Out of curiosity, why should I not install GW's version of A9L, is it simply that it's not compatible with other CFW's?

Thanks again for your help :-)

 

[Temptress Cerise]

Apart from being completely locked down, it's a pretty unsafe way to install A9LH.

They cut a lot of corners to get you to A9LH. You are taking a big risk if you use their installer.

Here is that disclaimer again:
"DISCLAIMER: Files on this page should be treated with extreme care and only used by advanced users who have access to a way to restore their 3DS NAND. Users should have a valid/known good copy of their NAND before proceeding! Use at your own risk!"

Either wait for them to polish up their installer, or install Standard A9LH as per the guide found here:
Link: https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki

Or stay with your current setup. If your daughter knows how to use the current setup, there's no need to change it. Just update your Launcher.dat to the latest version, and update the EmuNAND safely to 11.0.0-33, and forget about GW-A9LH, don't even think about it.

 

[Quantumcat]

Out of curiosity, why should I not install GW's version of A9L, is it simply that it's not compatible with other CFW's?

• Gateway's A9LH installation is incredibly unsafe as it skips important safety steps from Plailect's method (which they copied and screwed up)
• It is known to brick N3DS consoles
• You become wedded to Gateway (if you ever want to sell or trade in your console, you can't. If you ever lose your Gateway card or it stops working, your console is useless and is as good as a brick, you can't even start it up)
• You can't use tools like Decrypt9 and others. Basically, these are the REASON people think it's a good idea to install A9LH - they allow you to restore from a backup without needing a hardmod.
• If you use Gateway 4.0b, you need to use an emuNAND, you don;t get that other benefit of A9LH - which is running from sysNAND. Running from emuNAND means you're always worried about updating sysNAND but with A9LH you don't need to worry. In Gateway's A9LH, updating will not only lose you your hack, it will also brick your console.

Basically, Gateway have removed every single good reasn for uwsing A9LH and made it even worse than just using the DS profile exploit which is what you're using now.

If you don't want to follow Plailect's guide (I don't see why, it is really easy and step-by-step, if you have an IQ over 80 and can follow basic instructions you'll have no trouble. And if you do have trouble, there's hundreds of people on the boards waiting to answer your questions), I would recommend updating to 9.2 and using menuhax to autoboot emuNAND, as a slight improvement over the DS profile exploit. But don't use Gateway's method!!!! If you were trying to light a fire, the DS profile exploit would be a flint, menuhax would be a match, proper a9lh is one of those gas lighter things with a trigger that makes a little flame come out the end, and Gateway's A9LH is a firecracker that will explode if you touch the wrong thing, or if you drop it, and sometimes just randomly, killing you.

 

[TinyBilbo]

Even if you want GW-A9LH, it's still a risky procedure to use GW's Installer. Yes, they've made improvements from Private Beta A to Private Beta B, but those risks, and those corners they cut, are still there.

Also, I'd like to point out the following disclaimer you can find on their openly public Private Beta Program page:
"DISCLAIMER: Files on this page should be treated with extreme care and only used by advanced users who have access to a way to restore their 3DS NAND. Users should have a valid/known good copy of their NAND before proceeding! Use at your own risk!"

The Beta is only intended for users with hardmods or those that understand the risks they are taking.

If you don't care for being locked down to GW-A9LH, then wait for a more polished installer.

Also, GW-A9LH is heavily locked down. Lose your Red Card? You are now the proud owner of a useless 3DS, please go buy another Red Card to use it again! Want to use another CFW? Nope! Not possible with GW-A9LH! Want access to tools like Decrypt9//Hourglass9, EmuNAND9, and so on? Ha, what are those things with GW-A9LH!

Thanks for the heads-up on the pitfalls, I didn't actually see that particular disclaimer on their site...
I haven't actually Hardmodded the O3DS yet, although it's not outside of my skill set,
I've been installing chips since the days of the PSX (PS1)
I just try and avoid that stuff now due to time constraints...

I am therefore looking for the simplest way to get it updated, & I don't think I mind it being locked to red card, it rarely comes out anyway, also I doubt I will use "Decrypt9//Hourglass9, EmuNAND9" (although you've given me some reading to do now... :-) ).

If I install a different A9L, can I still use my GW, or do I have to install a CFW like Luma3DS?

Thanks for your help...

 

[Quantumcat]

I am therefore looking for the simplest way to get it updated, & I don't think I mind it being locked to red card, it rarely comes out anyway, also I doubt I will use "Decrypt9//Hourglass9, EmuNAND9" (although you've given me some reading to do now... :-) ).

If you are not interested in these, there is no point in installing a9lh anyway. They are the reason people want it. They provide control over the console like we've never had it before. The console becomes 99.99999% unbrickable. You should stick to menuhax.

If I install a different A9L, can I still use my GW, or do I have to install a CFW like Luma3DS?

Yes!!!!!!!!!!! You can set it up so that holding down on the D-pad (or another key) will boot Gateway and not touching anything will load Luma3DS. OR, if you use liomajor's method, have it autoboot Gateway and only load Luma3DS by holding a key. Just as long as you follow Plailect's guide, which is very safe, not Gateways, which is dangerous and likely to screw you up.

By choosing to use Gateway's method, you are trading a small amount of time for having no choice whatsoever in your life anymore and also likely killing your console. If you were walking to work and it would take you 20 minutes, would you jump on a rickety bus with tyres falling off and oil leaking out and weirdos leering at you with dirt-smeared faces and no teeth, in order to save a few minutes? If you do, you have no control over where you're going and it actually takes you to a human slaughterhouse and you die and you never get to work anyway.

 

[TinyBilbo]

no
use this
https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki
then use the arm9loaderhax.bin that gateway provided for this

• Gateway's A9LH installation is incredibly unsafe as it skips important safety steps from Plailect's method (which they copied and screwed up)
• It is known to brick N3DS consoles
• You become wedded to Gateway (if you ever want to sell or trade in your console, you can't. If you ever lose your Gateway card or it stops working, your console is useless and is as good as a brick, you can't even start it up)
• You can't use tools like Decrypt9 and others. Basically, these are the REASON people think it's a good idea to install A9LH - they allow you to restore from a backup without needing a hardmod.
• If you use Gateway 4.0b, you need to use an emuNAND, you don;t get that other benefit of A9LH - which is running from sysNAND. Running from emuNAND means you're always worried about updating sysNAND but with A9LH you don't need to worry. In Gateway's A9LH, updating will not only lose you your hack, it will also brick your console.

Basically, Gateway have removed every single good reasn for uwsing A9LH and made it even worse than just using the DS profile exploit which is what you're using now.

If you don't want to follow Plailect's guide (I don't see why, it is really easy and step-by-step, if you have an IQ over 80 and can follow basic instructions you'll have no trouble. And if you do have trouble, there's hundreds of people on the boards waiting to answer your questions), I would recommend updating to 9.2 and using menuhax to autoboot emuNAND, as a slight improvement over the DS profile exploit. But don't use Gateway's method!!!! If you were trying to light a fire, the DS profile exploit would be a flint, menuhax would be a match, proper a9lh is one of those gas lighter things with a trigger that makes a little flame come out the end, and Gateway's A9LH is a firecracker that will explode if you touch the wrong thing, or if you drop it, and sometimes just randomly, killing you.

Lol...
I'm getting the feeling that I should be using Plailect's guide and install a full a9LH, so thanks guys for the pointers...
I'll read through the guide properly tomorrow, and then I'll have to read up on the various CFW's and see if I should switch to any of them...

 

[Swiftloke]

If you were trying to light a fire, the DS profile exploit would be a flint, menuhax would be a match, proper a9lh is one of those gas lighter things with a trigger that makes a little flame come out the end, and Gateway's A9LH is a firecracker that will explode if you touch the wrong thing, or if you drop it, and sometimes just randomly, killing you.

No, the 'GATEWAY FAST BOOT METHOD' (-_- mfsmh) would be rain. Continuing the analogy, with this method they continue their legacy of Brickway but have evolved: instead they are now Hailway.

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

although you've given me some reading to do now

Good, good! Here's some links to get you started:
http://yifan.lu/2016/04/06/the-3ds-cryptosystem/

Also, could you do us and the temp a favor and not create new threads asking for help? There's a dedicated stickied noob help thread. Thanks!

 

[TinyBilbo]

Also, could you do us and the temp a favor and not create new threads asking for help? There's a dedicated stickied noob help thread. Thanks!

Hmm... I could'nt find the noob post for installing a9LH via Gateway... Could you post a link please?...Thx

 

[Swiftloke]

Hmm... I could'nt find the noob post for installing a9LH via Gateway... Could you post a link please?...Thx

Well a general noob help thread. And of course there won't be a BW a9lh help thread because using that is downright retarded.
http://gbatemp.net/threads/3ds-noob-paradise-ask-questions-here.359035/

 

[TinyBilbo]

Well a general noob help thread. And of course there won't be a BW a9lh help thread because using that is downright retarded.

Ahh... Thanks for that... Shame you didn't post that before the others posted their posts explaining why it wasn't a good idea..
It would've have really cleared things for me and any other folks, who might have seen the Gateway update about updating to (quoting Gateway) "GATEWAY FAST BOOT method also known as A9LH"

 

[Quantumcat]

Ahh... Thanks for that... Shame you didn't post that before the others posted their posts explaining why it wasn't a good idea..
It would've have really cleared things for me and any other folks, who might have seen the Gateway update about updating to (quoting Gateway) "GATEWAY FAST BOOT method also known as A9LH"

Yeah, that is very deceptive, Gateway had zero to do with A9LH, it sounds like they're saying they invented it :-( And all they did was steal very badly. I hope other casual Gateway users are as smart as you, to come asking on this forum before taking Gateway at their word ...

 

[Swiftloke]

Yeah, that is very deceptive, Gateway had zero to do with A9LH, it sounds like they're saying they invented it :-( And all they did was steal very badly. I hope other casual Gateway users are as smart as you, to come asking on this forum before taking Gateway at their word ...

Thisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthisthis
They didn't even steal the code right, it bricks n3ds. And attempting to say they INVENTED is just disrespectful to the people who did, especially because they did it wrong.

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

In fact, soon(TM) I'm going to write an email to them asking for an apology for that. They could probably either admit doing wrong (not happening lmfao they're a piracy company) or say it was a translation error (we've released our public version of a9lh, which we like to call GATEWAY FAST BOOT.)

 

[TinyBilbo]

Yeah, that is very deceptive, Gateway had zero to do with A9LH, it sounds like they're saying they invented it :-( And all they did was steal very badly. I hope other casual Gateway users are as smart as you, to come asking on this forum before taking Gateway at their word ...

Cheers Quantumcat...
That's the exact reason I asked,
I am a casual user (but not a noob), and had seen mention of A9LH here before, but I was a little out the loop, and just needed clarification before I took (or in this case didn't take) the plunge. Hopefully this thread will prove useful to others in the same situation...
BTW having had a quick look around tonight I'm leaning towards SaltCFW due its simplicity...

 

[Dev5359]

You don't need a hardmod to install A9LH the regular (and recomended) way. Upgrading to 9.2 then downgrading to 2.1 is software based and you could use browserhax to do the process since your firmware is low enough. Luma3ds is the best and easiest CFW with no user interaction needed besides the first setup. All you do is copy files over to your SD card after the a9lh process. I think it's a whopping 2 MB or something.

https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki

https://yls8.mtheall.com/3dsbrowserhax.php