Hacking Luma3DS: After backup, reformat, and copy of SD card, can't apply FIRM patch

internisus

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I had a working Luma installation on my New 3DS XL that I installed a while back pretty much just for the Dai Gyakuten Saiban fan translation. A couple days ago, I was prompted to update the official firmware and did so; afterward, I got the "failed to apply 1 firm patch" message. Did my research, downloaded Luma3DSv9.1, replaced the firm.boot on my card, and everything was fine.

A few hours later, I noticed that my theme was resetting after every boot. Did research again and discovered that I had originally formatted my SD card with the wrong cluster allocation size. So I figured I'd fix that. I copied all the contents of the card to a backup folder, quick formatted the card to exFAT with a 32 KB cluster size, and copied all the contents back.

But then I got the "failed to apply 1 firm patch" message again, and now I can't get past it. I don't understand what I did wrong; the contents of the card should be exactly the same, right? I copied the 9.1 firm.boot onto the card again to make sure. I noticed that the configuration screen when I hold select while pressing power says that it's for Luma version 8.1.1, so I tried replacing firm.boot with the file from that version, but that didn't work, either. When I go into God Mode, there are fewer options than there should be; if I press Home, there's no Scripts option, for example.

What are my options here? I don't really remember the details of my initial Luma installation process very well, but I'm sure I followed all of the instructions with care. I still have the .bin and .bin.sha files from the recommended backup. (Though I've definitely bought new eshop games since then and would hate to lose them...) Should I be redoing parts of the Luma installation in order to repair it? I really don't know. Please help!
 
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lone_wolf323

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I had a working Luma installation on my New 3DS XL that I installed a while back pretty much just for the Dai Gyakuten Saiban fan translation. A couple days ago, I was prompted to update the official firmware and did so; afterward, I got the "failed to apply 1 firm patch" message. Did my research, downloaded Luma3DSv9.1, replaced the firm.boot on my card, and everything was fine.

A few hours later, I noticed that my theme was resetting after every boot. Did research again and discovered that I had originally formatted my SD card with the wrong cluster allocation size. So I figured I'd fix that. I copied all the contents of the card to a backup folder, quick formatted the card to exFAT with a 32 KB cluster size, and copied all the contents back.

But then I got the "failed to apply 1 firm patch" message again, and now I can't get past it. I don't understand what I did wrong; the contents of the card should be exactly the same, right? I copied the 9.1 firm.boot onto the card again to make sure. I noticed that the configuration screen when I hold select while pressing power says that it's for Luma version 8.1.1, so I tried replacing firm.boot with the file from that version, but that didn't work, either. When I go into God Mode, there are fewer options than there should be; if I press Home, there's no Scripts option, for example.

What are my options here? I don't really remember the details of my initial Luma installation process very well, but I'm sure I followed all of the instructions with care. I still have the .bin and .bin.sha files from the recommended backup. (Though I've definitely bought new eshop games since then and would hate to lose them...) Should I be redoing parts of the Luma installation in order to repair it? I really don't know. Please help!
from what i see. You want Fat32 and 32kb. not the exfat format that you done.
 

Ryccardo

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Yeah, 3DS doesn't support fat64/exfat, so it's using the boot.firm that you copied to ctrnand (which by coincidence is an older and 11.8+ incompatible version of Luma)
 

internisus

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Oh! When I went to format, the only options were NTFS and exFAT, so I didn't realize. A quick search just now tells me that I should be able to do it in FAT32 with the Disk Management tool or even third-party software if it comes to that, so I'll reformat and then copy the files back again. Relieved to hear this isn't a big deal! Thanks!

In the meantime, while I have the ear of you helpful folks, could you tell me how to copy the new firm.boot to CTRNAND? It sounds like that's the responsible thing to do so that the system is usable in case something happens to my SD card, and I'm sure I went through that process back when I followed the initial setup instructions. But now I find that there is no Script option to do it when I load GodMode. Have I missed a trick?
 

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A quick search just now tells me that I should be able to do it in FAT32 with the Disk Management tool
No (unless you mean Windows 2000 or older, where this artificial restriction meant to encourage the use of patented filesystems didn't exist), you will need 3rd party tools such as fat32format (or the ones bundled with most non-Windows operating systems)

In the meantime, while I have the ear of you helpful folks, could you tell me how to copy the new firm.boot to CTRNAND? It sounds like that's the responsible thing to do so that the system is usable in case something happens to my SD card, and I'm sure I went through that process back when I followed the initial setup instructions. But now I find that there is no Script option to do it when I load GodMode. Have I missed a trick?
You can load whichever scripts you want on the SD - not that you need one, to copy and paste boot.firm from SD to CTRNAND :)
 

internisus

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You can load whichever scripts you want on the SD - not that you need one, to copy and paste boot.firm from SD to CTRNAND :)

Ah, I see! I thought I needed a script, but I found instructions to just copy it using GodMode.

And you're right: I'll need a third-party solution for FAT32. Annoying, but no big deal. I'll post an update when I've got it done.
 

internisus

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Okay, everything is working now that the card is correctly formatted. Boot speed seems a lot faster, and themes don't reset any longer. I was also able to update firm.boot in CTRNAND using GodMode. Mission successful; thanks much for the help!
 
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The Real Jdbye

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Okay, everything is working now that the card is correctly formatted. Boot speed seems a lot faster, and themes don't reset any longer. I was also able to update firm.boot in CTRNAND using GodMode. Mission successful; thanks much for the help!
For the record Luma3DS Updater can update boot.firm in CTRNAND.
 

emuashui

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Recently I deleted boot.firm in CTRNAND, as i read from somewhere that in rare case boot.firm in CTRNAND is corrupted, the console might still refuse to boot from sdcard and try to boot from corrupted boot.firm in CTRNAND but always failed. And there is no easy solution.
 
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Zaphod77

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I'v never heard of this. sdcard is ALWAYS preferred as far as I know, and with no boot.firm on ctrnand, boot without sdcard is always impossible.
 

KleinesSinchen

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Recently I deleted boot.firm in CTRNAND, as i read from somewhere that in rare case boot.firm in CTRNAND is corrupted, the console
Somewhere is not really helpful. Do you still know the source? And if files on CTRNAND start randomly corrupting your 3DS is in big, big trouble - with or without boot.firm on the NAND.
I'v never heard of this. sdcard is ALWAYS preferred as far as I know, and with no boot.firm on ctrnand, boot without sdcard is always impossible.
Yes this is true:
https://github.com/SciresM/boot9strap/blob/master/stage2/arm9/source/main.c
Look at the function void main(void). It first tries the SD. If this fails it tries CTRNAND. And if this also fails: mcuPowerOff();
 

emuashui

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Somewhere is not really helpful. Do you still know the source? And if files on CTRNAND start randomly corrupting your 3DS is in big, big trouble - with or without boot.firm on the NAND.

Yes I should have described better with source.
" ...Basically what I would need is a way to access ctrnand and remove Luma from it so it can boot from SD instead. And all this on a system stuck behind and error screen with no ability to chainload anything. "
https://gbatemp.net/threads/i-think-i-just-bricked-my-3ds-any-suggestions.516130/
 

Zaphod77

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That's not his problem. his problem is he has al9h instead of boot9strap, and thus no new enough version of luma is supported.
 

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