Homebrew Problem hacking 3DS - was never prompted to create essential files backup

Searcher17

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I attempted to hack a New 3DS XL today following 3ds.hacks.guide. This isn't the first 3DS I've hacked.

Everything went fine until I got to the point where I needed to access GodMode9, which I couldn't get to come up on screen. Looking through the forums I can see this is a known issue, but I didn't realize that then. I tried several times to boot in to Godmode9 by holding Start+Power, but I kept getting black screens (with the power light on). Unsure what to do, I would hold down the power button to turn it off, then try again. I think I may have hit the A button or some other face button at some point as well. Eventually I got the idea to put a second .firm into the /luma/payloads folder to bring up the chainloader, which it seems is indeed the current preferred workaround. Through the chainloader I was able to access GodMode9 and proceed with the guide. One irregularity was that I wasn't prompted to create an essential files backup, but since the guide said only to worry about it "if prompted", I didn't give it much thought.

Now I'm at the point where ordinarily I would copy the backup files to my PC, but when I connect my 3DS's sdcard I find that <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin and <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin.sha are nowhere to be found (boot9.bin and essential.exefs are where they're supposed to be, though).

I'm worried I may have successfully "blindly" booted into GodMode9 during my earlier attempts, but without seeing anything onscreen somehow disabled the ability or missed my chance to back up essential files. Is there any way I can still get them, or am I just totally screwed?
 

lone_wolf323

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I attempted to hack a New 3DS XL today following 3ds.hacks.guide. This isn't the first 3DS I've hacked.

Everything went fine until I got to the point where I needed to access GodMode9, which I couldn't get to come up on screen. Looking through the forums I can see this is a known issue, but I didn't realize that then. I tried several times to boot in to Godmode9 by holding Start+Power, but I kept getting black screens (with the power light on). Unsure what to do, I would hold down the power button to turn it off, then try again. I think I may have hit the A button or some other face button at some point as well. Eventually I got the idea to put a second .firm into the /luma/payloads folder to bring up the chainloader, which it seems is indeed the current preferred workaround. Through the chainloader I was able to access GodMode9 and proceed with the guide. One irregularity was that I wasn't prompted to create an essential files backup, but since the guide said only to worry about it "if prompted", I didn't give it much thought.

Now I'm at the point where ordinarily I would copy the backup files to my PC, but when I connect my 3DS's sdcard I find that <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin and <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin.sha are nowhere to be found (boot9.bin and essential.exefs are where they're supposed to be, though).

I'm worried I may have successfully "blindly" booted into GodMode9 during my earlier attempts, but without seeing anything onscreen somehow disabled the ability or missed my chance to back up essential files. Is there any way I can still get them, or am I just totally screwed?
add a second .firm and chainload gm9. it is a known issue. You can create the backups at any time. theres no worries about it during that one point.
 
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zoogie

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From Readme:

Embed an essential backup right into a NAND dump: This is available in the A button menu for NAND dumps. Essential backups contain NAND header, movable.sed, LocalFriendCodeSeed_B, SecureInfo_A, NAND CID and OTP. If your local SysNAND does not contain an embedded backup, you will be asked to do one at startup. To update the essential SysNAND backup at a later point in time, press A on S:/nand.bin and select NAND image options... -> Update embedded backup.
 

KleinesSinchen

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[…]
I'm worried I may have successfully "blindly" booted into GodMode9 during my earlier attempts, but without seeing anything onscreen somehow disabled the ability or missed my chance to back up essential files. Is there any way I can still get them, or am I just totally screwed?
Sounds plausible. Seems GodMode9 starts almost invisible and when the questions about the essential backup appeared you probably have pressed (A) to confirm. To make extra sure try updating embedded backup like zoogie suggested (I guess it will say that no update is needed for essentials.exefs)
Plausible because of:
I had the same problem. GodMode9 is so dark that it's barely visible. After booting GodMode9 (it will be so dark that it will look like a black screen), close the lid and reopen it. It should return GodMode9 back to normal.

Edit: If you bring up the chainloading menu beforehand by having more than one payload in the folder, that should also fix the problem, according to the links posted below.
 

KokoseiJ

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Sounds plausible. Seems GodMode9 starts *almost invisible* and when the questions about the essential backup appeared you probably have pressed (A) to confirm. To make extra sure try updating embedded backup like zoogie suggested (I guess it will say that no update is needed for essentials.exefs)
Plausible because of:

Oh, so It does start up but just invisible? I thought it just crashes and turns the console off while booting.
 

Searcher17

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From Readme:

To make extra sure try updating embedded backup like zoogie suggested (I guess it will say that no update is needed for essentials.exefs)

I tried backing it up as described, but simply got a "Backup update: not required" message. <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin and <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin.sha still don't show up in the sdcard. I tried deleting essentials.exefs from /gm9/out/ to see if it would change anything, but I still can't get godmode9 to make a new backup.
 

Searcher17

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GodMode9 → [S:] SYSNAND VIRTUAL/essential.exefs → press (A) → Copy to 0:/gm9/out.
essential.exefs isn't the problem. I deleted it from my sdcard because I'd already backed it up to my computer, in an attempt to get godemode9 to recognize stuff was missing and re-create all the back up materials including <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin and <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin.sha, which is what I'm actually missing.
 
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essential.exefs isn't the problem. I deleted it from my sdcard because I'd already backed it up to my computer, in an attempt to get godemode9 to recognize stuff was missing and re-create all the back up materials including <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin and <date>_<serialnumber>_sysnand_###.bin.sha, which is what I'm actually missing.
-or-
  • Method (B) - NANDManager | <X> Backup SysNAND
    • sdmc:/gm9/scripts/NANDManager.gm9
 
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