Hacking Remove A9LH CFW Permanently

Maon

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Hello all,

I recently bought a n3ds off craigslist and found out that it has A9LH installed on it. I've been looking all around the forums trying to figure out how to factory reset it and get it back to normal. I don't have any of the backup files, just what's already on the sd card.

Keep in mind, I have no interest in installing CFW on it at anytime in the future, so any FW version will work for me, I just don't want a bricked unit. I also don't know how to use the tools very well, keep it n00b friendly please ><....


Thanks in advance!
 

Maon

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How do I run Safe A9LH Installer?

I've found the Homebrew opener app, but whenever I try and open SafeA9LHInstaller it gets stuck on a blackscreen..
 

osm70

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How do I run Safe A9LH Installer?

I've found the Homebrew opener app, but whenever I try and open SafeA9LHInstaller it gets stuck on a blackscreen..
Put the arm9loaderhax.bin to the root of your SD card and power on the system.
 

Maon

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that file was already in the root of the SD card, a bunch of other files were there too, should it be the only file?

It's booting to the normal start screen.. Do I have to hold down a button on power up?
 

osm70

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that file was already in the root of the SD card, a bunch of other files were there too, should it be the only file?

It's booting to the normal start screen.. Do I have to hold down a button on power up?
Delete the original arm9loaderhax.bin file and replace it with that one.
 

Maon

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the original being the one in the root of the SD card and the replacement coming from where?

Sorry, trying to make sure I'm getting the right files in the right places
 

Maon

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Thanks! I did it and it looks like it passed!

How can I tell that A9LH was actually removed? And can I now safely factory reset and format my SD card?
 

osm70

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Thanks! I did it and it looks like it passed!

How can I tell that A9LH was actually removed? And can I now safely factory reset and format my SD card?
Reboot the system. If the installer starts again, A9LH is still installed.

You can safely update slash factory reset at any time. Do not format the SD until you are sure A9LH is gone.
 

Maon

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Yep it didn't boot up and I can now boot without the SD card as well, it looks like A9LH is removed!!

Thank you so much!!
 

PabloMK7

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Yep it didn't boot up and I can now boot without the SD card as well, it looks like A9LH is removed!!

Thank you so much!!
What you have done is VERY dangerous, you don't know if the person who previously owned the 3ds made a region change, or changed any signed crucial file (such as SecureInfo_A) which would have bricked after removing CFW. Hopefully, that wasn't the case for you. (This warning also goes to @Crystal the Glaceon and @osm70, so you know in the future if someone has the same question ;))
 

The Catboy

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What you have done is VERY dangerous, you don't know if the person who previously owned the 3ds made a region change, or changed any signed crucial file (such as SecureInfo_A) which would have bricked after removing CFW. Hopefully, that wasn't the case for you. (This warning also goes to @Crystal the Glaceon and @osm70, so you know in the future if someone has the same question ;))
Excuse you? I am well aware of these facts.
 

The Catboy

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Well, I pointed that out because you didn't mention anything about it, so I assumed you didn't know lol
I rarely mention it because I am pretty sure this system won't have had the region changed. Mostly because you rarely find anyone doing region changes directly to their sysNAND and normally do it to an emuNAND (that's not always the case, but it's the most common case.) And because really not that common a practice anymore. As well there's almost no chance that they orginial seller would have anything like the TWL/AGB patches down to the NAND, since those have been needed for months now and won't even work with Luma3DS.
Basically your suggestion is likely and should be taken into consideration (so I will and will add it to my list of suggestions,) but not as likely as used to be.
 
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aljpn91

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why would someone even want to remove a9lh in the first place? btw it's already possible to boot a 3ds with a9lh without an sd card inside
 
Last edited by aljpn91,

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