Hacking 3ds bricked itself, can't figure out why or how to fix.

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
This is a fun one. Two weeks ago, I finally completed the A9LH to B9S section of the guide, things were working perfectly until last week. Booting with and without the SD card worked perfectly, menu's worked, etc. Sometime last week, I started having an issue where the touchscreen was behaving like it was being pressed to the right, but it wasn't the right bumper. The weird thing about it, was that with the SD card in, it started the instant the the bottom screen turned on. With the SD card removed, it took a few seconds. I cleaned out around and under the bezel like some of the the T/S steps said and it was still doing it.

It was during the test after cleaning when it happened. Booted fine, home screen wasn't scrolling, but it was all the way to the right. I scrolled to the left to fire up Pokemon and I'm pretty sure the weird right press thing came back and hit one of the icons from when I originally installed CFW. It gave me a shutdown notification (I think it was trying to reboot into something), and shut off. I tried to power back up and it's giving me nothing on the screens and a blue light that just shuts off. With the SD card in, it lasts for about a second, with it removed, it lasts for about 6 seconds. I've tried the pull the battery and let it sit for a while, hold the power button, reinstall the battery and try again, didn't work, and (I'm pretty sure) I've got the right files listed under all the other T/S links. Still nothing. I've attached pictures of what the SD card looked like before I did the install and what it looks like as of now with nothing working.
Before upgrading
preboot9strap.png
After upgrading
borked.png

This kinda seems like one of those situations where putting everything to factory and starting with a clean slate looks kind of appealing. I've got the backup of my SysNAND that the guide said to make, so I don't know if that helps any. I'm away from all my soldering equipment for a while so if I need to do a hardmod, it'll be a bit. I'm pretty much out of ideas at this point, but then again, I'm probably missing something obvious. Any ideas?
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2018
Messages
7,292
Trophies
2
XP
5,942
Country
United States
Your folders don't look right. Did you copy everything off your SD root and put it in borkborkbork? for *demonstration.
Where is your boot9strap folder?
Don't think a9lh and files9 folder should be there. files9 might be for decrypt9 app, I can't remember.
Check if arm9loaderhax.binn.bak , boot9.firm.bak , and SafeA9LHInstaller.dat are necessary.
 
Last edited by TurdPooCharger,

remix2k

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
52
Trophies
0
Age
45
XP
134
Country
United States
With the SD card in the system, if you hold down select while powering on, do you get into the Luma3DS config menu?
 

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
Your folders don't look right. Did you copy everything off your SD root and put it in borkborkbork? for *demonstration.
Where is your boot9strap folder?
Don't think a9lh and files9 folder should be there. files9 might be for decrypt9 app, I can't remember.
Check if arm9loaderhax.binn.bak , boot9.firm.bak , and SafeA9LHInstaller.dat are necessary.
I've been trying to figure out what should be there and what shouldn't since I started doing this. boot9strap folder got removed by the clean-up script. I dumped the a9lh folder, files9 had the H&S injectable app, deleted that. Got rid of the 3 files mentioned, still same issue.

Both pictures are 1:1 copies of everything that was on the SD card. The preboot9strap one worked for close to 2 years as it, and the other one is how the card looked after working for about 2 weeks and right after this happened.

It's almost like it's looking for boot.firm, but it's not agreeing with it or something.

With the SD card in the system, if you hold down select while powering on, do you get into the Luma3DS config menu?
Negative. One second blue light.
 
Last edited by extra-titanian,

remix2k

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
52
Trophies
0
Age
45
XP
134
Country
United States
  • Like
Reactions: Quantumcat
Joined
Jan 1, 2018
Messages
7,292
Trophies
2
XP
5,942
Country
United States
This is the bare minimum of how your SD card should look like. Try using a spare SD card to build and test this file list. Do not reuse anything from your current card.
Edit - You don't need the 3ds folder either.

luma3ds.png
 
Last edited by TurdPooCharger,

KunoichiZ

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2012
Messages
8,830
Trophies
0
Age
28
XP
4,597
Country
United States
It's almost like it's looking for boot.firm, but it's not agreeing with it or something.


Negative. One second blue light.
You're right. The one second blue light means your system can't find the boot.firm on your SD card, despite it clearly being there in your picture. Can you try a different SD card?
 

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
What model 3DS is it? New 3DS XL?
As a test, rename your boot.firm to something else and put a copy of Godmode9 on the root of the SD card and try to boot into Godmode9

Can you load into Godmode9?
N3DSXL. I got a 1 second blue light.

This is the bare minimum of how your SD card should look like. Try using a spare SD card to build and test this file list. Do not reuse anything from your current card.
Edit - You don't need the 3ds folder either.

Wipe and recreate from the 3ds.guide upgrade page?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

You're right. The one second blue light means your system can't find the boot.firm on your SD card, despite it clearly being there in your picture. Can you try a different SD card?
The thing I don't get is, the system was booting without an SD card before this happens. Same issue, but the light is there for like 6 seconds instead of 1. I'll see if I can find another one around here that I can use.
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2018
Messages
7,292
Trophies
2
XP
5,942
Country
United States
Wipe and recreate from the 3ds.guide upgrade page?
Do you have any games and saves important to you in backing up? Don't delete anything from your current/main SD card.

See if you can borrow a spare card or get a cheap 4 GB card for troubleshooting.


* Actually, you could just copy everything from main SD card and set it aside on your computer if there's not that much stuff or you got the hard drive storage to do it.
 
Last edited by TurdPooCharger,

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
Do you have any games and saves important to you in backing up? Don't delete anything from your current/main SD card.

See if you can borrow a spare card or get a cheap 4 GB card for troubleshooting.


* Actually, you could just copy everything from main SD card and set it aside on your computer if there's not that much stuff or you got the hard drive storage to do it.

I found an extra 8gb card. I'm putting it together now. Which files should I use for the boot.firm and boot.3dsx? Pretty much set it up using the 3ds.guide updating-b9s page?
 
Last edited by extra-titanian,

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
You should use the boot.firm from Luma v9.0 and the latest version of the boot.3dsx.
Got everything set. Ignore the "Nintendo 3DS" folder for now because it should be autocreated?



Just gave it a shot. 1 second blue light. Here's the file tree of everything that's on the card.
Volume in drive E has no label.
Volume Serial Number is F74D-4CDA

Directory of E:\

01/25/2018 08:58 AM <DIR> boot9strap
01/25/2018 09:00 AM <DIR> luma
01/02/2018 04:31 AM <DIR> gm9
12/07/2017 04:42 AM 452,380 boot.3dsx
12/20/2017 09:03 PM 181,248 boot.firm
2 File(s) 633,628 bytes

Directory of E:\boot9strap

01/25/2018 08:58 AM <DIR> .
01/25/2018 08:58 AM <DIR> ..
09/06/2017 08:01 AM 30,720 boot9strap.firm
09/06/2017 08:01 AM 32 boot9strap.firm.sha
2 File(s) 30,752 bytes

Directory of E:\luma

01/25/2018 09:00 AM <DIR> .
01/25/2018 09:00 AM <DIR> ..
01/25/2018 09:00 AM <DIR> payloads
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of E:\luma\payloads

01/25/2018 09:00 AM <DIR> .
01/25/2018 09:00 AM <DIR> ..
06/05/2017 03:29 PM 94,208 SafeB9SInstaller.firm
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 373,760 GodMode9.firm
2 File(s) 467,968 bytes

Directory of E:\gm9

01/25/2018 09:02 AM <DIR> .
01/25/2018 09:02 AM <DIR> ..
01/02/2018 04:31 AM <DIR> scripts
01/02/2018 04:31 AM <DIR> support
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of E:\gm9\scripts

01/25/2018 09:02 AM <DIR> .
01/25/2018 09:02 AM <DIR> ..
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 400 Backup EmuNAND.gm9
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 400 Backup SysNAND.gm9
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 780 Restore EmuNAND.gm9
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 796 Restore SysNAND (Full).gm9
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 1,236 Restore SysNAND (Safe).gm9
12/07/2017 05:09 AM 484 setup_ctrnand_luma3ds.gm9
12/07/2017 05:09 AM 1,325 cleanup_sd_card.gm9
7 File(s) 5,421 bytes

Directory of E:\gm9\support

01/25/2018 09:02 AM <DIR> .
01/25/2018 09:02 AM <DIR> ..
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 0 aeskeydb.bin.here
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 0 encTitleKeys.bin.here
01/02/2018 04:31 AM 0 seeddb.bin.here
3 File(s) 0 bytes

Total Files Listed:
17 File(s) 1,137,769 bytes
18 Dir(s) 7,938,113,536 bytes free
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2018
Messages
7,292
Trophies
2
XP
5,942
Country
United States
I found an extra 8gb card. I'm putting it together now. Which files should I use for the boot.firm and boot.3dsx? Pretty much set it up using the 3ds.guide updating-b9s page?

Is your SD card formatted FAT32 and 32 KB allocation size?

Try dropping into the root of SD card this: https://1fichier.com/?215ytq7cqq
I collected the needed files that should make it work. I want to make sure the files are not the problem.
 

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
Is your SD card formatted FAT32 and 32 KB allocation size?

Try dropping into the root of SD card this: https://1fichier.com/?215ytq7cqq
I collected the needed files that should make it work. I want to make sure the files are not the problem.
Nice, thanks. SD card is formatted properly. I'm running h2testw on it now, then I'll unzip that file onto root and fire it up.

Same. 1 second blue light. h2testw showed no problems with the card. I don't know if it's the SD slot on the 3ds, it should be booting without the card in it, but it's not. If I didn't know any better, I'd guess that it's stuck in some weird resume/power up state and it want's something special. But I don't know too many details of the inner workings.
 
Last edited by extra-titanian,
Joined
Jan 1, 2018
Messages
7,292
Trophies
2
XP
5,942
Country
United States
I would say try the battery and SD card combo removal and reinsertion trick one more time but with a longer wait time (like 15 minutes).

If that doesn't work, do you have a NTRboot compatible flashcart? If you do, try the 3ds.guide from all the way from the beginning. If you can get GodMode9 working, do a (Full) sysNAND restore, CTRTransfer, and/or Lazarus3DS .gm9 script.

https://github.com/AnalogMan151/Lazarus3DS

Once you've exhausted those options, I'm afraid you it's hardmod for last ditch effort.
 
Last edited by TurdPooCharger,

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
Sounds like a plan. Pulling everything and letting it sit didn't help. I'm honestly more curious about how it broke at this point than anything else. I've got an R4i Plus, I'll give it a go. Won't be back with my soldering equipment for a few months, so the hardmod might end up being a to be continued thing.
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2018
Messages
7,292
Trophies
2
XP
5,942
Country
United States
Sounds like a plan. Pulling everything and letting it sit didn't help. I'm honestly more curious about how it broke at this point than anything else. I've got an R4i Plus, I'll give it a go. Won't be back with my soldering equipment for a few months, so the hardmod might end up being a to be continued thing.

Hey, when your BSoD happened, do you recalled if you were in emuNAND or sysNAND?

Not that long ago, I was trying to bug test Anemone3DS in my ongoing research into using 128/200/256 GB micro SD cards with 64 KB cluster size. I BSoD bricked my emuNAND with symptoms similar to yours and others like yours. Booting into Home Menu yields blank screens and no sound. Recovery Mode has working LCDs but does not fix it. Battery trick does not work. I had to restart on sysNAND without my SD card to rebuild a new emuNAND.

I'm trying to determine if and when this specific brick occurs, the end result is permanent and devastating because it happens on sysNAND.
 
Last edited by TurdPooCharger,

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
Hey, when your BSoD happened, do you recalled if you were in emuNAND or sysNAND?

Not that long ago, I was trying to bug test Anemone3DS in my ongoing research into using 128/200/256 GB micro SD cards with 64 KB cluster size. I BSoD bricked my emuNAND with symptoms similar to yours and others like yours. Booting into Home Menu yields blank screens and no sound. Recovery Mode has working LCDs but does not fix it. Battery trick does not work. I had to restart on sysNAND without my SD card to rebuild a new emuNAND.

I'm trying to determine if and when this specific brick occurs, the end result is permanent and devastating because it happens on sysNAND.
I'm pretty sure I was on sysNAND. Didn't one of the most recent editions of the guide get rid of the emuNAND setup all together because just using sysNAND is "so easy we don't need emuNAND anymore"? I can't get into recovery mode at all. Just the system looking like it can't figure out what to boot off of.
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2018
Messages
7,292
Trophies
2
XP
5,942
Country
United States
I'm pretty sure I was on sysNAND. Didn't one of the most recent editions of the guide get rid of the emuNAND setup all together because just using sysNAND is "so easy we don't need emuNAND anymore"? I can't get into recovery mode at all. Just the system looking like it can't figure out what to boot off of.
Omg. I'm in contact with @MrVtR , his buddy has a bricked N3DSXL much the same as yours. Check his thread: Big Problem with a possible Brick on New 3ds XL

So far at this point, we have 2 (or 3, depending on this other user) who had this BSoD brick happen while on sysNAND.

***

Post Update
On August 22, 2018, gisel213 solved and provided the solution in fixing this BSoD brick.
 
Last edited by TurdPooCharger,

extra-titanian

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 7, 2016
Messages
10
Trophies
0
Age
36
XP
97
Country
United States
Omg. I'm in contact with @MrVtR , his buddy has a bricked N3DSXL much the same as yours. Check his thread: Big Problem with a possible Brick on New 3ds XL

So far at this point, we have 2 (or 3, depending on this other user) who had this BSoD brick happen while on sysNAND.
From their original post, their first video got way further into the boot up than mine. The second one their blue light went off way faster. I'm at a good 1 second with SD card in and about 6 seconds with no SD card. I'm not sure what else they did that led to their brick though. I'm fairly certain that I had something left over from my initial CFW install that's not meshing well with the switch over. It might be an Argument from Ignorance, but it seems to stand to reason that, since ntrboot works with every firmware so far, one might be well served to restore to the original factory condition before making what seems to be a radical firmware change. I'm just glad I've got sysNAND backups.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    SylverReZ @ SylverReZ: :tpi: