Hacking Is OTPless A9LH Safe?

[vb_encryption_vb]

How could you misunderstood such a simple sentence?
The downgrade is required for anything except Homebrew, it has nothing to do with A9LH install , OPTless or not.
So yes OPTless install is safer than the downgrade to 9.2, it is safer than the 2.1 CTR transfer.

This not from my personal experience but from the people who actually made all the software.

Edit: Oh and safer doesn't mean 100% safe. Just in case someone is wondering. If you don't want to take absolutely no risk, don't even update or do anything that write on your SysNAND.

Its a matter of opinion on weather its safer or not.

 

[zoogie]

*looks at poll*
Well, 28/38 ain't bad.

Wait a minute.... that is actually terrible.

 

[mudassirul]

According to Plailect, the brick percentage is 0.0065%. But I don't know if it is accurate.

It's pretty safe either way. You're talking about like what, 15 bricks out of 1000 installs? That's a pretty good ratio.

0.0065% actually equates 13 out of 200,000 installs

 

[Redferne]

Its a matter of opinion on weather its safer or not.

Well I guess in the end it all depends on if you are willing to take the risk or not, sure.
For some people 1% is too much for others 10% is all right...

 

[Aurora Wright]

The issue with the bricks is that the install should be completely deterministic. (As of the latest version) install A9LH fully (FIRM0 + FIRM1 + stage2), put NAND key1 in place of key2, put a jump to stage1 at a certain offset, reboot. FIRM0 is "corrupted" and leaves stage1 behind, Kernel9 in FIRM1 decrypts to garbage with the second instruction being a jump to the offset I mentioned and the first instruction never being executed, so stage1 executes after the reboot, loads stage2, which loads arm9loaderhax.bin (which is SafeA9LHInstaller again), which uses the OTP hash to make the install permanent with the proper key2.
In my tests I've never encountered any bricks, and I have investigated the possible causes:
- memory corruption in the middle of the reboot? nope. I made a FCRAM and ARM9 memory tester and after a lot of testing by multiple people not a single case was reported.
- failure to init screens or take over the ARM11 due to timing issues or something? nope, put them after the install ends and there were still bricks.
- memory corruption due to a bug in CakeBrah or something? I changed the install method to execute stage1 instead of code left in memory and a brick was reported yesterday.

Yesterday I had another guess and I pushed a new version, if bricks happen with it I'm at a loss.

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

The issue with the bricks is that the install should be completely deterministic. (As of the latest version) install A9LH fully (FIRM0 + FIRM1 + stage2), put NAND key1 in place of key2, put a jump to stage1 at a certain offset, reboot. FIRM0 is "corrupted" and leaves stage1 behind, Kernel9 in FIRM1 decrypts to garbage with the second instruction being a jump to the offset I mentioned and the first instruction never being executed, so stage1 executes after the reboot, loads stage2, which loads arm9loaderhax.bin (which is SafeA9LHInstaller again), which uses the OTP hash to make the install permanent with the proper key2.
In my tests I've never encountered any bricks, and I have investigated the possible causes:
- memory corruption in the middle of the reboot? nope. I made a FCRAM and ARM9 memory tester and after a lot of testing by multiple people not a single case was reported.
- failure to init screens or take over the ARM11 due to timing issues or something? nope, put them after the install ends and there were still bricks.
- memory corruption due to a bug in CakeBrah or something? I changed the install method to execute stage1 instead of code left in memory and a brick was reported yesterday.

Yesterday I had another guess and I pushed a new version, if bricks happen with it I'm at a loss.

My theory has always been a chance of power loss to the console or a power surge.

 

[upfromtheskies]

24% bricking rate? Yeah, that risk is definitely not worth slightly faster boot times and playing GBA VC without installing twice.

 

[GBAFail]

24% bricking rate? Yeah, that risk is definitely not worth slightly faster boot times and playing GBA VC without installing twice.

It's .0065%. This thread is probably attracting people who have bricked. People are more likely to complain then give praise. The poll here needs to taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Deleted-394630]

Then sorry about that. I understand that you means "OTPless doesn't need 9.2 downgrade".
I have a lot to learn in English since it's not my native laungage.

Don't worry, English is my native language, and I understood just what you did.

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I've fixed around 20 bricks or more due to this method, safe? Not really. with that being said , ive fixed about 20 bricks due to DSiWarehax as well. nothing is safe, lol.

Be ready for me to message you next week if it goes wrong.

 

[upfromtheskies]

It's .0065%. This thread is probably attracting people who have bricked. People are more likely to complain then give praise. The poll here needs to taken with a grain of salt.

Where did you get that number from?

Either way, there's 11 reported bricks here with A9LH, while Menuhax has zero bricks. I'll stick with Menuhax until I have no choice but to install A9LH.

 

[xtheman]

I'll stick with Menuhax until I have no choice but to install A9LH.

Have fun with an updated sysnand that can't downgarde.

Sticking with menuhax is basically asking for an accidental sysnand update

 

[upfromtheskies]

Have fun with an updated sysnand that can't downgarde.

Sticking with menuhax is basically asking for an accidental sysnand update

I'm not careless enough to update sysnand, and those who are should probably stay far, far away from A9LH installation.

 

[Deleted-394630]

I'm not careless enough to update sysnand, and those who are should probably stay far, far away from A9LH installation.

That's actually a valid point that I've never thought of.

 

[xtheman]

I'm not stupid enough to update sysnand, and those who are should probably stay far, far away from A9LH installation.

You may not be stupid to do it on purpose but it can happen. Plus more people have been updating sysnand instead of emunand lately. With a9lh you could update sysnand but still use your emunand

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

That's actually a valid point that I've never thought of.

Please don't post here when you update your sysnand instead of emunand in confusion.

 

[Deleted-394630]

You may not be stupid to do it on purpose but it can happen. Plus more people have been updating sysnand instead of emunand lately. With a9lh you could update sysnand but still use your emunand

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Please don't post here when you update your sysnand instead of emunand in confusion.

A9LH Master race all the way, it's just a valid point. Totally not using menuhax, I love my patched sysnand and 9 second boot-up time.

 

[upfromtheskies]

You may not be stupid to do it on purpose but it can happen. Plus more people have been updating sysnand instead of emunand lately. With a9lh you could update sysnand but still use your emunand


Please don't post here when you update your sysnand instead of emunand in confusion.

My sysnand and emunand home screens look completely different, and I also double check the firmware version displayed in settings even if I launch it from emunand, there's no way I'm going to update it.

 

[GBAFail]

Where did you get that number from?

Either way, there's 11 reported bricks here with A9LH, while Menuhax has zero bricks. I'll stick with Menuhax until I have no choice but to install A9LH.

I got that number from the dev.

 

[xtheman]

My sysnand and emunand home screens look completely different, and I also double check the firmware version displayed in settings even if I launch it from emunand, there's no way I'm going to update it.

Ok that is your choice. As I said don't come crying on this site if you update sysnand instead of emunand.

 

[Deleted-394630]

My sysnand and emunand home screens look completely different, and I also double check the firmware version displayed in settings even if I launch it from emunand, there's no way I'm going to update it.

Join the dark side, we have patched sysnands and cookies

 

[Bu2d85]

Where did you get that number from?

Either way, there's 11 reported bricks here with A9LH, while Menuhax has zero bricks. I'll stick with Menuhax until I have no choice but to install A9LH.

There is always a risk when you move to permanent exploits. It all becomes about the risk outweighing the reward. Which everyone has a different answer to that question.