Hacking Help Unbricking a New Nintendo 3DS

[Kokiri]

Hey guys,

Hope you are all well,

I happened to come across and purchase a dirt cheap very good condition "New" Nintendo 3DS on eBay which turned out to be bricked. Seller advertised it as not powering on but I thought I would try my luck considering the price and condition.

Initially the console would simply refuse to turn on. The blue light would come and then fade with no display on either screen.

I had a look at the contents of the SD Card that came with the console and it was completely empty. After doing some reading online I read that placing "arm9loaderhax.bin" on the root of the SD Card should help and it actually did. The console now turns on and what I see on the screen is below. My question is what do I do next and is there anything I can do to unbrick it?

Thank you in advance

 

[Shadow#1]

Hey guys,

Hope you are all well,

I happened to come across and purchase a dirt cheap very good condition "New" Nintendo 3DS on eBay which turned out to be bricked. Seller advertised it as not powering on but I thought I would try my luck considering the price and condition.

Initially the console would simply refuse to turn on. The blue light would come and then fade with no display on either screen.

I had a look at the contents of the SD Card that came with the console and it was completely empty. After doing some reading online I read that placing "arm9loaderhax.bin" on the root of the SD Card should help and it actually did. The console now turns on and what I see on the screen is below. My question is what do I do next and is there anything I can do to unbrick it?

View attachment 155053

Thank you in advance

Just press start from that screen

 

[E1ite007]

Well, it's not even bricked, it's just outdated.
At that screen select the first option (Autoboot SysNAND, that one), then press Start, now you should boot on the Home Menu.
Now follow this guide to update from A9LH to B9S.
Then just update the 3DS firmware to the latest version.

Voila! You should now have your 3DS fully functional.

 

[Hayato213]

Select the first option and the sixth option and do the A9LH update to B9S.

 

[zoogie]

Hey guys,

Hope you are all well,

I happened to come across and purchase a dirt cheap very good condition "New" Nintendo 3DS on eBay which turned out to be bricked. Seller advertised it as not powering on but I thought I would try my luck considering the price and condition.

Initially the console would simply refuse to turn on. The blue light would come and then fade with no display on either screen.

I had a look at the contents of the SD Card that came with the console and it was completely empty. After doing some reading online I read that placing "arm9loaderhax.bin" on the root of the SD Card should help and it actually did. The console now turns on and what I see on the screen is below. My question is what do I do next and is there anything I can do to unbrick it?

View attachment 155053

Thank you in advance

Do this:
https://3ds.hacks.guide/a9lh-to-b9s.html

Then update and you're good to go.

 

[Kokiri]

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions, it is much appreciated.

Pressing Start results in the error "Failed to mount CTRNAND". After having followed the 3ds.hacks guide to update a9lh to b9s, the error has slightly changed to "Unable to mount CTRNAND or load the CTRNAND FIRM", because of the error I have not been able to proceed with all steps of the guide.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions, it is much appreciated.

Pressing Start results in the error "Failed to mount CTRNAND". After having followed the 3ds.hacks guide to update a9lh to b9s, the error has slightly changed to "Unable to mount CTRNAND or load the CTRNAND FIRM", because of the error I have not been able to proceed with all steps of the guide.

1. With the SD card inserted in the n3DS, turn on the system, and hold the (Select) button to access Luma3DS v#.# configuration.

In the top screen, state what version you see. Example: v7.0.5 , v9.1

In the bottom screen, also state where it is booting from:

• Booted from SD via B9S

or

• Booted from CTRNAND via B9S

 

[Kokiri]

1. With the SD card inserted in the n3DS, turn on the system, and hold the (Select) button to access Luma3DS v#.# configuration.

In the top screen, state what version you see. Example: v7.0.5 , v9.1

In the bottom screen, also state where it is booting from:

• Booted from SD via B9S

or

• Booted from CTRNAND via B9S

I see Luma3DS v9.1 on the top screen and Booted from SD via B9S on the bottom screen.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

I see Luma3DS v9.1 on the top screen and Booted from SD via B9S on the bottom screen.

1. Copy everything off your SD card onto a computer.
2. Reformat the card in FAT32 + 32 KB cluster size with Windows File Explorer or guiformat (if bigger than 32 GB).
3. Full Write + Verify test the empty card in H2testw. Do not skip this step.
4. If the card passes the test, delete the *.h2w test files.
   • However, if an error was reported, you may stop the test. Replace the hardware failed card and go back to step 1 or 2.
5. Create a test setup with the starter kit found here. Do not use or copy files from your main setup for the time being.
6. Insert the card into the n3DS, turn the system on, and hold (Select) button to access Luma3DS v9.1 configuration.
   • Use these exact settings:
   • 
7. Press (Start) and hold (Start) to access Luma3DS chainloader → GodMode9.
8. Go into the [1:] SYSNAND CTRNAND directory. Please verify if the following files are present:
   • 1:/private/movable.sed
   • 1:/rw/sys/LocalFriendCodeSeed_B
     • The file can also be named as LocalFriendCodeSeed_A.
   • 1:/rw/sys/SecureInfo_B
     • The file can also be named as SecureInfo_A.

For some reason, I have a suspicion your seller might have been a huge asshole deleting the entire 3DS firmware off that system. These files, especially the movable.sed and SecureInfo_A/B, are unique identifiers to each 3DS system (the LFCS_B are derivable from movable.sed).

If you do see those three (3) files, under no circumstances do you post pictures of their hex view. These contain private data that can be maliciously used against you.

Depending what you find in that drive will determine how to proceed in fixing the 3DS firmware.

 

[Kokiri]

Thank you very much for your quick and detailed response and help thus far.

The SD Card test finished without errors.

I can also confirm that the files you listed are all present within the SYS NAND CTRNAND directory

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Thank you very much for your quick and detailed response and help thus far.

The SD Card test finished without errors.

I can also confirm that the files you listed are all present within the SYS NAND CTRNAND directory

Continuing.

9. Attempt repairing the 3DS firmware by first doing CTRTransfer followed by Recovery Mode.

• If the n3DS is EUR region, use New 3DS or 2DS - 11.5.0 - EUR - CTRTransfer.
• CTRTransfer will bring the firmware to 11.5.0-38E. Recovery Mode will update it to 11.9.0-42E.

If the 3DS still does not boot to HOME Menu or refuses to update to 11.9, continue to step 10.

10. CTRTransfer with Decrypt9WIP followed by Recovery Mode.

• sdmc:/files9/11.5.0-38E_ctrtransfer_n3ds.bin
• sdmc:/files9/11.5.0-38E_ctrtransfer_n3ds.bin.sha
• Decrypt9WIP → SysNAND Options → CTRTransfer... → Auto CTRNAND Transfer → button combo → 11.5.0-38E_ctrtransfer_n3ds.bin → etc.

 

[Kokiri]

I attempted the CTRTransfer in Step 9 but I was not able to get into Recovery Mode. Instead the device boots up and I see: An error has occured: Unable to mount CTRNAND or load the CTRNAND FIRM. Please use an external one."

Edit: As for Step 10 and using Decrypt9WIP....it worked! . Thank you all so much for your help, especially you TurdPooCharger, you Sir are a legend and it is thanks to you that I am now a very happy man and have a huge smile on my face, thank you!

 

[TurdPooCharger]

@Kokiri, you're not done yet.

11. GodMode9 Usage - Creating a NAND Backup
12. Make frequent enough back up of your game saves + extdata with Checkpoint or JKSM.​