Hacking 3ds keeps freezing during games

[qtendo]

Hi everyone,

I have had my 3ds XL for quite a while, I think i bought it somewhere in 2014. At the time i bought Pokemon Y and got a free download of Super Mario 3D Land with it.

When i started playing Mario some days later, I enjoyed the game until i got to world 2-2. The game froze, I didn't think much of it and restarted. The game froze again, and so on. I tried googling but did not really find an answer. I reinstalled, tried to put my 3DS back to factory settings, but it didn't work. I just went back to playing Pokemon, and after that I also bought Alpha Sapphire and just played that without problems. I have those 2 games on cartridge.

Now, when because of quarantine I have some time on my hands, I thought it would be nice to get custom firmware on my 3ds. I followed the guide and got it working. I downloaded Mario kart 7, and i got freezes again, this time on Mario circuit every time. I got curious, started searching again, and downloaded a new CIA of Mario 3D Land. It freezes again, at exactly the same world. What is going wrong here? I am going to try some more games, but I really am at a loss here. Only things I can think of is a hardware error or a faulty SD card.

Hope someone can help!

 

[Vorde]

I would run diagnostics on the SD card itself to see if there's a problem with it. If there is, just try another or replace it.
If that doesn't work, I would be restoring it back to factory defaults, and playing a game on card for a while and see if it freezes. See if anything happens differently.
Those games shouldn't be freezing, if it's on stock and using a gamecard and it's still freezing, I would be having someone take a look at it as it could be hardware problems

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Check if your SD card is fake, faulty, or dying.

1. Copy everything off the SD card to a computer.
2. Quadruple reformat.
3. Full Write + Verify the empty card in H2testw. Do not skip.

 

[qtendo]

Thanks for replying! I did all of the above, H2testw gave verified everything. Does this cancel out a faulty sd?

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Thanks for replying! I did all of the above, H2testw gave verified everything. Does this cancel out a faulty sd?

If no error was reported in H2testw, that means your SD card has intact nand cells.
However, SD cards can also experience another form of hardware failure where the controller is faulty. This can't be easily check or detected with H2testw.

• MicroSD data corrupts on the 3DS, but h2testw comes out fine [post #8]

***

4. Delete the *.h2w test files.
5. Copy everything back to the SD card.
6. Continue onto Path (A) in how to determine which SD title(s) in the Nintendo 3DS folder have data corruption.

• Ultra sun game crashing "an Error Occured". [post #24]
• You may also choose to check individual titles like just the Mario 3D Land when they're listed in Search for titles.

7. If Mario 3D Land still crashes at World 2-2, see if stability improves by changing out with the older Luma3DS v9.1 or latest experimental Luma Hourlies.

• sdmc:/boot.firm

 

[qtendo]

I did everything as you said, but with no result. The game is still crashing in 2-2. Everytime i pass a certain point the game starts to generate some dodgy lines and starts to flicker a little. Then after some time it just freezes the screen while the music is still playing. I have done a format now, after i have gotten my cfw working again I will check if it has helped. Otherwise i guess it must be something wrong with my 3DS XL...

 

[TurdPooCharger]

I did everything as you said, but with no result. The game is still crashing in 2-2. Everytime i pass a certain point the game starts to generate some dodgy lines and starts to flicker a little. Then after some time it just freezes the screen while the music is still playing. I have done a format now, after i have gotten my cfw working again I will check if it has helped. Otherwise i guess it must be something wrong with my 3DS XL...

On your main SD card, backup your Super Mario 3D Land save data with Checkpoint or JKSM.

If you have [ another / spare / different ] (preferably small sized) SD card, repeat post #3 for that one, and test install Super Mario 3D Land with a clean CIA copy. Don't dump and reuse the CIA from the game installed on the main card. Except for the save, don't add anything else from your main setup to the test setup. Only add the bare essentials like Luma3DS, GodMode9, FBI, new-hbmenu (Homebrew Launcher), and [ Checkpoint / JKSM ]. Restore the save and see if your o3DSXL still crashes at World 2-2 on that second card.

This is to determine whether your main SD card has the rarer hardware failure where the controller is going bad, or perhaps (indirectly) deduce there's something wrong with the 3DS firmware.

 

[qtendo]

Hi again! I basically did this, installed the game with a new cia on another sd card. But I also downloaded the game out of the e-shop 5 years prior, and it crashed at the same level...

Now i was trying some other games. New super mario bros 2 works fine from what i can see, but now I started The legend of Zelda: A link between worlds. I get the same graphical issue, but luckily without the freezing. I uploaded a video of what is happening, maybe someone knows what is causing it? My guess it is something faulty on the 3ds itself. I will play the game some more and see if it will freeze, hopefully not!

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Hi again! I basically did this, installed the game with a new cia on another sd card. But I also downloaded the game out of the e-shop 5 years prior, and it crashed at the same level...

Now i was trying some other games. New super mario bros 2 works fine from what i can see, but now I started The legend of Zelda: A link between worlds. I get the same graphical issue, but luckily without the freezing. I uploaded a video of what is happening, maybe someone knows what is causing it? My guess it is something faulty on the 3ds itself. I will play the game some more and see if it will freeze, hopefully not!

Uh.. yah, that's not supposed to happen. I think your o3DSXL's PICA200 gpu is going bad.

To rule out a software related issue with the 3DS firmware (ie, frankenfirm from bad system update), you can try repairing your 3DS firmware + custom firmware with CTRTransfer (Type D9) - CTRTransfer.

If LoZ:ALBW still glitches like that after running CTRTransfer (Type D9), that means it's definitely dying GPU. It might be possible to revive that GPU by reflowing the motherboard.


Edit - There's a very tiny off chance your GPU is fine. See if resetting the RAM with the battery trick fixes this.

 

[qtendo]

Okay, I am gonna follow those steps now to be sure. It's a shame that I've had this problem since the moment i bought the 3DS and didn't contact Nintendo or the shop I bought it. I guess I was just too happy playing those Pokemon games lol.

So I will keep you updated, am I supposed to do the reflowing myself? Or is that something better left off to an expert. I am not a complete tech nitwit and am not afraid to try things, but it is looking like something pretty advanced to me.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Okay, I am gonna follow those steps now to be sure. It's a shame that I've had this problem since the moment i bought the 3DS and didn't contact Nintendo or the shop I bought it. I guess I was just too happy playing those Pokemon games lol.

If your motherboard can't be salvaged, you can buy a replacement. You might have to start over with a new user profile and NNID if no spare [ o3DS / o2DS / o3DSXL ] is available to receive the system transfer.

• [ifixit] Nintendo 3DS XL
• [aliexpress] 100% original USA version Motherboard for 3dsxl replacement PCB board for 3dsll
• [eBay] Original Main Board Motherboard For New Nintendo 3DS XL 3DSXL USA Version Parts
• [eBay] Original Main Board Motherboard For Nintendo 3DS XL 3DSXL USA Version Parts

So I will keep you updated, am I supposed to do the reflowing myself? Or is that something better left off to an expert. I am not a complete tech nitwit and am not afraid to try things, but it is looking like something pretty advanced to me.

It's possible to DIY reflow the GPU by blocking everything else off with Kapton tape + makeshaft heat shielding, flux (preferably Amtech brand), and a rework station (it must have a stand and holder tray that points the heat gun downwards) if one carefully preheats and increases temperature by incremental steps.

• [eBay] 862D+ 2in1 SMD Soldering Iron Hot Air Rework Station Desoldering Repair 110V
  • This is a hobby grade rework station, but it should do fine reflowing most SMD/SMT components.
• [amazon] Heat Resistant Tape No Residue High Temperature Tape Heat Transfer Tape Sublimation Tape Polyimide Tape Sublimation Heat Tape PI Tape 2 Rolls 10mm X 33m 100ft
• Amtech VS-213-A-TF flux
• [banggood.com] Electrical Soldering Tools

If there are professional electronics repair shops around you, it might be cheaper and safer that they reflow the motherboard. Some have specialized electronic ovens with very precise control heating the boards.

• DO NOT USE YOUR KITCHEN OVEN. THE FUMES FROM ELECTRONICS WILL CONTAMINATE THE OVEN AND YOUR FUTURE BAKED FOODS.