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Corrupted Cartridge Fixer Release

  • Thread starter Thread starter skawo
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Hm, not sure. Try one of the earlier versions, maybe? Maybe the latest changes have broken something.
 
skawo said:
Hm, not sure. Try one of the earlier versions, maybe? Maybe the latest changes have broken something.
Click to expand...
Hmmm It was working fine on this same version before my battery died. Now on the exefs verification step it just freezes after some refreshes :/
 
You don't need to add credit to the patch to merge it. I don't want to use my personal GitHub account so I wont be sending any PR.

I think there is likely some benefit to having the entire contents of the cartridge read. This forces the memory controller to access all the cells and could help trigger correction on marginal charges. The LUA script will read the full contents every hour with the verification.
 
What's the purpose behind this change?
1788782900989.png


Makes using GodMode9 really slow in general since I assume it reinitializes the filesystem every frame.
The lua script seems to run fine without it?
 
I just recently started going through all my personal games this past Monday (long process. I have a lot.) and so far, out of 73 carts checked, I have two that are problematic. (There are 3 more carts I have that I know to be bad off but I'm not counting them as I already knew about them.)

I found one of them, SMT IV, before I revisited this thread and saw the addendum on the first post, so I had already started the cart fixer on that one. The second game I found, Mega Man Legacy Collection, I did attempt the home screen sleep mode theory on. I started it at about 5:20PM yesterday my time, and I just checked on it now right at 5:20PM today.

Unfortunately, it still failed verification... however, I think it did help. Yesterday it failed immediately, and today it actually started the countdown timer. I didn't see what percentage it actually made it through though.

Also, not sure if it would be relevant, but I did the sleep mode thing with an unmodded console as I was still using the modded ones to check carts. If I need to try it with a modded console I can do that instead... was just trying to not hold up a modded console so I could continue verifying my games haha.

I still have a lot of games to go through, but I did prioritize titles I've seen listed here and all of my copies of those titles verified no problem (PQ, smash, MK7, pokemon, fire emblem, yokai watch, etc) except for the Mega Man cart that was mentioned on the previous page. MM is actually the title that prompted me to check my games as we had a copy at my store come back stuck on the 3DS splash screen, and I managed to fix it for the customer using the cart fixer program after 3 runs of it.

That does make 2 different copies of MM that I've encountered in about a week and a halfs time though. Might be another title to watch a little more carefully.

Also, the SMT IV cart still fails verification after three runs of the fixer. I'm not opposed to either continuing to run the fixer on it as it does go all the way through the cart and DID show improvement, or I could try the sleep mode method instead. I'm a little more interested in fixing my SMT IV cartridge over MM to be honest haha.
 
Last edited by smtcatboy,
Do try the Sleep Mode thing. So far I've had only two reports about it, and the first said it didn't work at all, so it's interesting you got a change at all.
 
Now we only need a corrupt president fixer, that could be a useful tool.
I hear the current one has NAND corruption at sector 0xD1MW1T
Might be a tough fix.

I'm glad 3DS cards are easier to fix and Switch n Switch2 ones should be immutable

skawo said:
Hm, not sure. Try one of the earlier versions, maybe? Maybe the latest changes have broken something.
Click to expand...
What exactly did they do ?
 
That was added to allow the script to read new cartridges without needing to exit and restart the script. I had originally setup the script to allow changing the cartridge once it finished and it would automatically start the refresh process again. But I ended up not doing that because the scripts don't seem to be able run more than about 24 hours without freezing the console. That change can be removed.
 
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My Pokémon Y was in bad shape. I made a dump with GodMode9 and found the hashes were off. Then I ran verify and it showed me an error almost instantly. I've followed the procedure with the Home menu in sleep mode. After 24 hours, the cartridge is NOT doing better. I am running the fixing function now, so far 68 "unfixable chunks" at only 4% processed... :(
 
skawo said:
Do try the Sleep Mode thing. So far I've had only two reports about it, and the first said it didn't work at all, so it's interesting you got a change at all.
Click to expand...
I tried using the fixer at version 1.5 and it didn't work at all for my FE Echoes cartridge, so fingers crossed on this method or try using 1.9 fixer afterwards.
 
Do you have Luma CFW installed on your 3DS?
If not, first follow https://3ds.hacks.guide/.

If you do, just download the .firm file from the linked page, and put it on the SD card into /luma/payloads, then hold START when powering your console on.
 
skawo said:
Do you have Luma CFW installed on your 3DS?
If not, first follow https://3ds.hacks.guide/.

If you do, just download the .firm file from the linked page, and put it on the SD card into /luma/payloads, then hold START when powering your console on.
Click to expand...

I do have it modded. Any updates if this will ever get added to universal updater by chance?
 
SnakeGS said:
So, I ran all my cartridges through verify just in case.
All of them ran fine, except for Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (European).

This one, works good in game (At least for what I tested), but I cannot verify integrity nor fix cartridge.

When I verify, at 0%:

"C:/000400000F700200_v00.3ds
Content0 (EAF76000@00004000):
Verification failed"

When I try to fix, fails at 0% also:

"C:/000400000F700200_v00.3ds
Content0 (EAF76000@00004000):
Fixing failed"

I already uninstalled updates through the settings app, and it's the same.

Any clue?

Thanks

Edit: I just saw on github this is a know issue. but even on the latest godmode9 (2.2.3), fails
Click to expand...
I have the same problem with Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (Australia). I tried many time to run the Cartridge Fixer (Latest 1.91). When I open the game always stuck. (In the picture)
 

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The verification does not work for N3DSXL carts (some upstream Godmode9 issue).
Just use the fixer directly, not the lua script/verify option.
 
crimsy said:
I’ve been running the fixed on Smash and I accidentally let the battery die during the process. It was around 30-40% done and had probably 4000 unfixable chunks but now every time I rerun the fixed it freezes during the verify extfs step after a few hundred thousand refresh counts. Any ideas why?
Click to expand...

What you're describing is most likely the fixer's retry loop, not an actual freeze, but we need your help to confirm which case it is.

When a chunk can't be read correctly, the fixer retries it in very small blocks and sends a cartridge refresh command on each read. On a damaged ExeFS region this can add up to hundreds of thousands of refreshes, so it looks stuck even though it's still working.

To narrow it down, could you please run these tests and report back:

1. Let it run longer — leave it at the "Verifying EXEFS" screen for at least 15–20 minutes without touching anything. Does the refresh counter keep going up the whole time, or does it stop completely?

2. Try the manual skip — when the refresh counter gets very high, hold Y (the screen should show "500 retries exceeded. Hold Y to skip."). Does it skip the chunk and continue?

3. Try autoskip — start the fixer while holding X (turns on autoskip), so it skips bad chunks automatically. Does it get past the EXEFS step now?

4. Check the counters — while it's running, what do "Unfixable chunks" and "Fixed chunks" show? And if it finishes, what does the final summary say?

Also useful to know:
- Which build/version are you on (the version is shown on the splash screen, e.g. "Cartridge Fixer Fork v1.xx")?
- Does it always stop at the same point, or does the refresh counter keep climbing?
- Is this the same cartridge/dump you used before the battery died, and did the earlier run ever get past EXEFS?

If holding Y or using autoskip gets it moving, that confirms the retry logic is the culprit and we'll adjust it so it can't sit there for so long. If it truly stops with no counter movement at all, that's a different problem and we'll dig further.
 
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I left the MM in sleep mode over the past two nights and it went back to instant failing the verification, so I'm gonna run the fixer on it now I suppose. Haven't come across any more busted carts yet either.
 
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