Hacking 2DS XL crashing randomly

fyredragon

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Hello again everyone. I'm having another problem with my 2DS XL. It's been randomly freezing since yesterday and I don't know whats been causing it. Sometimes it'll crash and throw up a Arm11 exception error. I have already checked my SD card (SanDisk Ultra PLUS 64GB) for errors with h2testw and everything checks out ok. If it helps in any way, I tried using cheat codes on Nintendo Badge Arcade (but failed).

Please help.
 

lone_wolf323

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Hello again everyone. I'm having another problem with my 2DS XL. It's been randomly freezing since yesterday and I don't know whats been causing it. Sometimes it'll crash and throw up a Arm11 exception error. I have already checked my SD card (SanDisk Ultra PLUS 64GB) for errors with h2testw and everything checks out ok. If it helps in any way, I tried using cheat codes on Nintendo Badge Arcade (but failed).

Please help.
First off. what cheats on badge arcade? That right there is a prime way to get your NNID fully banned.
 

lone_wolf323

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Eh. Just thought it would work, but didn't. Older version.
Cheats will work. But by the time you realize and see them working. Your console is already going to be screwed. It dont matter how old that title gets. Its the number one power house for nintendo to ban people outright for cheating.
 

fyredragon

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Cheats will work. But by the time you realize and see them working. Your console is already going to be screwed. It dont matter how old that title gets. Its the number one power house for nintendo to ban people outright for cheating.
Right. Message received. Anyways, about the random crashing. Do you know what might be causing it?
 

fyredragon

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Ok. You will want to use 9.1 when using cheats as they do crash a lot now with 10+ as the cheat format for the .plg cheats and any besides loading thru luma have went out of support.
Right. So, if I want to use cheats I use v9.1. Got it. Now, what about the random crashing? It happens anywhere on the 2DS. Home screen, System Settings and eShop. Any fix around that? Or just use v9.1 until the issues are fixed?
 

fyredragon

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Does replacing the sdmc:/boot.firm with Luma3DS v9.1 still has the n2DSXL randomly crashing? Try using these exact luma configuration settings.
The system is completely stable when using Luma V9.1 and using the exact luma configuration works aswell. Now it's just proccess of elimination to see which feature is causing the crashing. I originally had "Loading external FIRMs and modules" for widescreen DS games and "game patching" for widescreen aswell and "GBA boot screen" just because I like the boot animation but I don't think the AGB_FIRM would be causing whole system crashes, could it?
 
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I'm gonna be in and out with the replies due Autumn house cleaning for Thanksgiving.

External AGB_FIRM and TWL_FIRM would not affect crashes that happen in NATIVE_FIRM or 3DS mode. You'll have to look elsewhere.

Figure out which or any of your games use or need (x) Enable game patching. Keep in mind what's stable in Luma3DS v9.1 may not apply for Luma3DS v10.0.1 as can be seen in this list.
If your mods do not require it, do not use the Disable ARM11 exception handlers. That setting in not what most people think it's for, (ie, it does not fix ARM11 errors).
 
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fyredragon

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I'm gonna be in and out with the replies due Autumn house cleaning for Thanksgiving.

External AGB_FIRM and TWL_FIRM would not affect crashes that happen in NATIVE_FIRM or 3DS mode. You'll have to look elsewhere.

Figure out which or any of your games use or need (x) Enable game patching. Keep in mind what's stable in Luma3DS v9.1 may not apply for Luma3DS v10.0.1 as can be seen in this list.
If your mods do not require it, do not use the Disable ARM11 exception handlers. That setting in not what most people think it's for, (ie, it does not fix ARM11 errors).

Lots of things are happening right now.
1st, the 2DS won't even boot to the HOME menu, v9.1 or v10.0.1 (right as I wrote this, it boots. fml)
2nd, GodMode9 will sometimes (not all the time) corrupt text and or show a crash screen and hang on the bootup screen.
3rd, I can't figure out what is causing the random crashing in v9.1 or 10.0.1.
Should I just restore from a NAND backup and see what happens?
 
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Lots of things are happening right now.
1st, the 2DS won't even boot to the HOME menu, v9.1 or v10.0.1 (right as I wrote this, it boots. fml)
2nd, GodMode9 will sometimes (not all the time) corrupt text and or show a crash screen and hang on the bootup screen.
3rd, I can't figure out what is causing the random crashing in v9.1 or 10.0.1.
Should I just restore from a NAND backup and see what happens?
Post a picture of the corrupt text in GodMode9. Does it look like this? Other than weird symbols, there's also misspelled words where letters are swapped. Something like extdata could be incorrectly written as ex4da4a.
 

fyredragon

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Post a picture of the corrupt text in GodMode9. Does it look like this? Other than weird symbols, there's also misspelled words where letters are swapped. Something like extdata could be incorrectly written as ex4da4a.
I somehow can't reproduce it anymore. Might be because I charged it. Anyways, It was mispelled words where the letters were randomly swapped. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the release of GodMode9 that i'm using is GodMode9 v1.9.0-1-gc5342d8f which has a fix for the notification LED.
 
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I somehow can't reproduce it anymore. Might be because I charged it. Anyways, It was mispelled words where the letters were randomly swapped. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the release of GodMode9 that i'm using is GodMode9 v1.9.0-1-gc5342d8f which has a fix for the notification LED.
Try the current latest, publicly available, experimental build GM9 v1.9.0-9-g499e301. Seeing randomly swapped letters in GodMode9, especially in the [1:] SYSNAND CTRNAND drive that houses your 3DS firmware, may indicate:
  • (A) The nand image was badly restored or flashed / frankenfirm system update.
  • (B) The physical nand chip itself is dying possibly from broken solder ball joint.
Although awful to encounter, scenario (A) can be fixed with a (good) SysNAND restore or CTRTransfer (Type D9).

Scenario (B), however...
  • N3DS XL refuses to work correctly with CFW
  • Do you carry your n2DSXL in pants pocket or backpack without a hardcase? The n2DSXL is a much more fragile system compared to the other models in terms of torsion, impact, and bending stresses.
***

Other possibilities that can corrupt data to the SD card with the funny misspellings and letter swapping.
  • (C) Your SD card has a bad controller despite passing H2testw (entire capacity is real).
Use a different (H2testw checked) SD card and/or card reader.
 

fyredragon

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Try the current latest, publicly available, experimental build GM9 v1.9.0-9-g499e301. Seeing randomly swapped letters in GodMode9, especially in the [1:] SYSNAND CTRNAND drive that houses your 3DS firmware, may indicate:
  • (A) The nand image was badly restored or flashed / frankenfirm system update.
  • (B) The physical nand chip itself is dying possibly from broken solder ball joint.
Although awful to encounter, scenario (A) can be fixed with a (good) SysNAND restore or CTRTransfer (Type D9).

Scenario (B), however...
  • N3DS XL refuses to work correctly with CFW
  • Do you carry your n2DSXL in pants pocket or backpack without a hardcase? The n2DSXL is a much more fragile system compared to the other models in terms of torsion, impact, and bending stresses.
***

Other possibilities that can corrupt data to the SD card with the funny misspellings and letter swapping.
  • (C) Your SD card has a bad controller despite passing H2testw (entire capacity is real).
Use a different (H2testw checked) SD card and/or card reader.
Try the current latest, publicly available, experimental build GM9 v1.9.0-9-g499e301. Seeing randomly swapped letters in GodMode9, especially in the [1:] SYSNAND CTRNAND drive that houses your 3DS firmware, may indicate:
  • (A) The nand image was badly restored or flashed / frankenfirm system update.
  • (B) The physical nand chip itself is dying possibly from broken solder ball joint.
Although awful to encounter, scenario (A) can be fixed with a (good) SysNAND restore or CTRTransfer (Type D9).

Scenario (B), however...
  • N3DS XL refuses to work correctly with CFW
  • Do you carry your n2DSXL in pants pocket or backpack without a hardcase? The n2DSXL is a much more fragile system compared to the other models in terms of torsion, impact, and bending stresses.
***

Other possibilities that can corrupt data to the SD card with the funny misspellings and letter swapping.
  • (C) Your SD card has a bad controller despite passing H2testw (entire capacity is real).
Use a different (H2testw checked) SD card and/or card reader.
I have had a few incidents with the 2DS in which it had fallen onto a hard tile floor, but survived. And actually, I think it was a key that rubbed up against the back of the top screen and now theres an imprint of it in the screen. I don't really care, but just thought i'd mention it. Also, I tried h2testw on a 128GB Sandisk MicroSD card and came back the same. All green. Should I transfer all my content over to that one or run more diagnostics on the OG one? And yes, most of the time I keep my 2DS in either my pocket or my backpack.
 
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I have had a few incidents with the 2DS in which it had fallen onto a hard tile floor, but survived. And actually, I think it was a key that rubbed up against the back of the top screen and now theres an imprint of it in the screen. I don't really care, but just thought i'd mention it. Also, I tried h2testw on a 128GB Sandisk MicroSD card and came back the same. All green. Should I transfer all my content over to that one or run more diagnostics on the OG one? And yes, most of the time I keep my 2DS in either my pocket or my backpack.
An SD card that passes H2testw only confirms whether or not its storage capacity is real or has any dead memory cells. The program doesn't account for SD cards with defective or dying controllers that don't reliably handles data I/O. From the example seen in NoSnake221's Kingston microSD card, his card passed H2testw but acted really derpy when running the CTRTransfer (Type D9) - Fix movable.sed KeyY while he was in the process of relisting his Nintendo 3DS database.

***

Basically, what you should do is create a temporary test setup using another SD card (quad reformat & make sure to verify in H2testw it's real). It does not have to be a 128 GB card. When moving files between card and computer, use a different SD card reader like one of these:
Avoid using FTP and SMB wireless transfer during testing. Play plain (no game mod or patching), vanilla in-region games during the testing period.

***

After let's say a week of using the n2DSXL, you should notice whether or not it still randomly crashes.
  • If the n2DSXL no longer crashes, we can only assume there's something wrong with your main SD card or its files setup.
-or-
  • If the n2DSXL still crashes despite the good test setup, we move onto troubleshooting the 3DS firmware.

***

If the test setup failed and troubleshooting the 3DS firmware is required,
  1. Backup the currently (borked) SysNAND *.bin image.
  2. Restore the SysNAND with the image you made when you first hacked the n2DSXL.
  3. Continue using the test setup to determine if the system still experiences random crashes.
  4. If random crashes goes away, restore the (borked) SysNAND *.bin image to retain your user settings.
  5. Fix the 3DS firmware with CTRTransfer (Type D9) - CTRTransfer (use the latest v1.4 script).

***

If the SysNAND restore and/or CTRTransfer (Type D9) fails, your n2DSXL is semi-hardbricked like in scenario (B).

This would be a horrible 1st hand lesson learning not to carry the n2DSXL in the pocket or without a hard case. :(
 
Last edited by TurdPooCharger,

fyredragon

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An SD card that passes H2testw only confirms whether or not its storage capacity is real or has any dead memory cells. The program doesn't account for SD cards with defective or dying controllers that don't reliably handles data I/O. From the example seen in NoSnake221's Kingston microSD card, his card passed H2testw but acted really derpy when running the CTRTransfer (Type D9) - Fix movable.sed KeyY while he was in the process of relisting his Nintendo 3DS database.

***

Basically, what you should do is create a temporary test setup using another SD card (quad reformat & make sure to verify in H2testw it's real). It does not have to be a 128 GB card. When moving files between card and computer, use a different SD card reader like one of these:
Avoid using FTP and SMB wireless transfer during testing. Play plain (no game mod or patching), vanilla in-region games during the testing period.

***

After let's say a week of using the n2DSXL, you should notice whether or not it still randomly crashes.
  • If the n2DSXL no longer crashes, we can only assume there's something wrong with your main SD card or its files setup.
-or-
  • If the n2DSXL still crashes despite the good test setup, we move onto troubleshooting the 3DS firmware.

***

If the test setup failed and troubleshooting the 3DS firmware is required,
  1. Backup the currently (borked) SysNAND *.bin image.
  2. Restore the SysNAND with the image you made when you first hacked the n2DSXL.
  3. Continue using the test setup to determine if the system still experiences random crashes.
  4. If random crashes goes away, restore the (borked) SysNAND *.bin image to retain your user settings.
  5. Fix the 3DS firmware with CTRTransfer (Type D9) - CTRTransfer (use the latest v1.4 script).

***

If the SysNAND restore and/or CTRTransfer (Type D9) fails, your n2DSXL is semi-hardbricked like in scenario (B).

This would be a horrible 1st hand lesson learning not to carry the n2DSXL in the pocket or without a hard case. :(
Heh.. Not even half way through the week and I already got 3 crashes listed. So onto firmware troubleshooting, I guess?
Can't download the new CTRtransfer (Type D9) on GitHub. Is there somewhere obvious that I should be looking?
 
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Heh.. Not even half way through the week and I already got 3 crashes listed. So onto firmware troubleshooting, I guess?
Yup, I'm afraid so.

Can't download the new CTRtransfer (Type D9) on GitHub. Is there somewhere obvious that I should be looking?
Yah, about that. It's not on my GitHub page at this time. I haven't gotten around to doing a write-up talking about this updated script. You can find v1.4 at the way bottom in the release post.
 

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