Hardware Stock 3DS Softbricked Itself?

[Magical Sheep]

My friend came to me with an issue with her 3ds. She told me that it had her do the initial setup again, and then she told me the screens wouldn't work.
I have the system with me now, and when I try to boot it, the blue led turns on, and the screens initialize, but that's it. I can access the recovery mode on it, but updating does nothing because the system was already on the latest update before something went wrong.
I followed the relevant troubleshooting steps on the guide, and now I'm stuck. I suppose I could fix it once ntrboothax comes out, but that may not happen for awhile.
Any help would be extremely appreciated.

3DS info:
New 3DS XL
Latest system version
Entirely stock. (No B9S, A9LH. Only used the Homebrew launcher once or twice.)

 

[BARNWEY]

Entirely stock, and it's softbricked? The only thing I would say to do is to buy a hardmod, and CTRTransfer down to 9.2. Then you can choose to install CFW if you want, to prevent future incidents like this from happening. If the CTRTransfer doesn't work, you're screwed...

 

[Magical Sheep]

Entirely stock, and it's softbricked? The only thing I would say to do is to buy a hardmod, and CTRTransfer down to 9.2. Then you can choose to install CFW if you want, to prevent future incidents like this from happening. If the CTRTransfer doesn't work, you're screwed...

Yeah, it's quite the oddity. I'll let her know of the hardmod procedures and see if that's something she wants to do. Thanks!
The system really doesn't have many options unfortunately, though it's nice to know that it *can* be fixed.

 

[BARNWEY]

Yeah, it's quite the oddity. I'll let her know of the hardmod procedures and see if that's something she wants to do. Thanks!
The system really doesn't have many options unfortunately, though it's nice to know that it *can* be fixed.

There are people on here, such as @vb_encryption_vb, who are willing to hardmod a system for her for money...

 

[Mark McDonut]

I'm guessing you tried it with the sd card ejected? I have a stock 3ds that was throwing errors on boot until i put a test sd card in preformatted to 32k closters. in my nephews case it was his sd card.

 

[Magical Sheep]

I'm guessing you tried it with the sd card ejected? I have a stock 3ds that was throwing errors on boot until i put a test sd card in preformatted to 32k closters. in my nephews case it was his sd card.

Yep. I took both the SD and game cart out and tried booting. I can try formatting the SD to 32k clusters and trying again though.

 

[BARNWEY]

I'm guessing you tried it with the sd card ejected? I have a stock 3ds that was throwing errors on boot until i put a test sd card in preformatted to 32k closters. in my nephews case it was his sd card.

It's not throwing errors though, it's just not loading the home menu.

Yep. I took both the SD and game cart out and tried booting. I can try formatting the SD to 32k clusters and trying again though.

Also, I just remembered. You can try clearing the home menu cache, but the layout of the home menu will be lost. So, if your friend has a lot of downloaded games, it may be a pain reorganizing it...

 

[Magical Sheep]

It's not throwing errors though, it's just not loading the home menu.

Also, I just remembered. You can try clearing the home menu cache, but the layout of the home menu will be lost. So, if your friend has a lot of downloaded games, it may be a pain reorganizing it...

That's the one thing I didn't try yet, because I didn't think it would do anything since the system doesn't boot regardless of having the SD card in or not. Fortunately just about all of her games were physical copies so data loss isn't an issue.

 

[SomeGamer]

That's the one thing I didn't try yet, because I didn't think it would do anything since the system doesn't boot regardless of having the SD card in or not. Fortunately just about all of her games were physical copies so data loss isn't an issue.

I have the same issue and it didn't help unfortunately.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Entirely stock, and it's softbricked? The only thing I would say to do is to buy a hardmod, and CTRTransfer down to 9.2. Then you can choose to install CFW if you want, to prevent future incidents like this from happening. If the CTRTransfer doesn't work, you're screwed...

CTRTransfer doesn't work with a hardmod, since the dump has to be encrypted for your console.
The only thing that can potentially save that console is ntrboothax.

 

[BARNWEY]

CTRTransfer doesn't work with a hardmod, since the dump has to be encrypted for your console.
The only thing that can potentially save that console is ntrboothax.

Can hardmods only read the NAND as a whole, instead of what GodMode9 does? If so, then sht. I guess she has to buy an acekard2i or a whole new console...

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That's the one thing I didn't try yet, because I didn't think it would do anything since the system doesn't boot regardless of having the SD card in or not. Fortunately just about all of her games were physical copies so data loss isn't an issue.

You're right, I had a brain-fart there...

 

[Magical Sheep]

Can hardmods only read the NAND as a whole, instead of what GodMode9 does? If so, then sht. I guess she has to buy an acekard2i or a whole new console...

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


You're right, I had a brain-fart there...

Oh yeah, the dump has to be from the system. That's what the guide says, too. (Although I totally mis-read it at first.) I guess we'll be waiting for the confirmed flashcart list.

 

[BARNWEY]

Oh yeah, the dump has to be from the system. That's what the guide says, too. (Although I totally mis-read it at first.) I guess we'll be waiting for the confirmed flashcart list.

Well, the acekard2i is already confirmed to work if you want to pick it up. Though, I was asking if hardmods read the NAND as a whole, instead of the various different parts (like GM9).

 

[Tenshi_Okami]

Have you tried to turn it on without the SD card on it?

 

[Magical Sheep]

Well, the acekard2i is already confirmed to work if you want to pick it up. Though, I was asking if hardmods read the NAND as a whole, instead of the various different parts (like GM9).

Oh, cool. And to the second question: I would guess that it could read the different parts, assuming you were looking in the right place. (I have no idea though.)

Have you tried to turn it on without the SD card on it?

Yes. I did most of the stuff on the troubleshooting section in the guide. Unfortunately, to no avail.

 

[Tenshi_Okami]

And you don't hear anything from the speakers?

 

[Magical Sheep]

And you don't hear anything from the speakers?

Only the little pop they make when they turn on. The yellow led doesn't turn on unless I boot into recovery mode.
It's like the old downgrade softbricks that happened last year, but with no apparent cause.

 

[BARNWEY]

Only the little pop they make when they turn on. The yellow led doesn't turn on unless I boot into recovery mode.
It's like the old downgrade softbricks that happened last year, but with no apparent cause.

I think that it's officially a brick until ntrcardboothax (or sleephax, ntrhax, boothax, flashhax, etc.) comes out. I would probably buy an acekard2i so that you can get them at a reasonable price, because every supported flashcard's price is probably going to go way up after it's dropped. Not to mention, it's a good all-around card...

 

[Magical Sheep]

I think that it's officially a brick until ntrcardboothax (or sleephax, ntrhax, boothax, flashhax, etc.) comes out. I would probably buy an acekard2i so that you can get them at a reasonable price, because every supported flashcard's price is probably going to go way up after it's dropped. Not to mention, it's a good all-around card...

Yep. Rip it. I'm gonna buy the Acekard rather soon because I have been looking for a new cart recently, though I don't have my cfw 3DS with me right now. (Lent it to the friend.) Should work just fine on a DSi though.
If Nintendo had an update for the 3DS, could that unbrick the system? (Just thinking.) Since recovery mode is operational, updating could solve the issue potentially, right?

 

[BARNWEY]

Yep. Rip it. I'm gonna buy the Acekard rather soon because I have been looking for a new cart recently, though I don't have my cfw 3DS with me right now. (Lent it to the friend.) Should work just fine on a DSi though.
If Nintendo had an update for the 3DS, could that unbrick the system? (Just thinking.) Since recovery mode is operational, updating could solve the issue potentially, right?

Potentially, it could unbrick the system. It could just be a corrupted system file or home menu, and a system update could potentially fix that...