What happened here??
Updating a 2.1 downgraded device does not work, especially if it is from the "new" series (it is the firmware for old devices and will not update correctly). You should have mentioned the downgrade before – I would have told you not to try online update.
A9LH installation worked this way (hope I got this right, I came later to 3DS modding):
- Using exploit chain for getting access
- Backup NAND
- Downgrade to 2.1 with CTRTransfer in Decrypt9
- Use exploit for getting A9LH installed (requiring the OTP that was accessible by a bug in 2.1)
- Safe NAND restore preserving A9LH bootloader but restoring the firmware
The last step is important as a normal update doesn't work. Any A9LH guide should have mentioned the importance of the personal backup which must not be skipped under any circumstances.
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Please clarify:
Was the upgrade to B9S successful? Could you access GodMode9 at some point?
Do Luma3DS settings still come up by holding (Select) on power on – hopefully latest version?
If B9S is installed it should boot into latest Luma and GodMode9 (which needs to be in
SD:/luma/payloads) no matter how damaged the official firmware is.
Well the 3ds actually had a hardware issue, it powers to home menu but the screen is black on both screens. I've had someone else help me out with it and it determined the 3ds was most likely on its last leg as the backlight seemed to be working fine but another issue with the screen in general is present.
Whatever you do, don't try to run the uninstall CFW script. That would be the worst at this point.
A normal 11.5 CTRTransfer with GodMode9 will most likely not fix the issue. CTRTransfer Type D9 should do. The script expects the (in your case non-existent) NAND image from before the A9LH installation for easy recovery but should be able to fix the brick anyway (if treated like 8046 bootrom error).