Complete noob here, could you explain what cfw and twloader are? I'll check out the thread as well.

So far what I've done is downloaded newest kernel, formatted my sd card and placed the files into the formatted sd card. I've also created a new folder for a rom I have. After booting the console I see a new icon for 2k sports after pressing it I get the error that asks me to turn off the console.

 

Ok so far I have gotten to the point of https://3ds.guide/installing-boot9strap-(homebrew-launcher) for Section II

I inputed the directional symbols needed and pressed A . However it doesnt reboot the device, instead it goes to what I guess is the next part and it has a list of options for Luma3DS v8.1 configuration. Press A to select, START to save

Autoboot EmuNAND
Use EmuNAND FIRM if botting with R
Enable loading external FIRMs and modules
Enable game patching
Show NAND or user string in System Settings
Show GBA boot screen in patched AGB_FIRM
Patch ARM9 access
Set developer UNITINFO
Disable ARM11 exception handlers

What should I do here? I tried to hold the power button to turn off so I can redo this specific step again, but it just comes right back to this screen with the list of choices I just showed.

Edit: Oh wait a minute. Im reading Section III right now and its listing the same options as what I just typed. Maybe the pressing of the A button rebooted into this configuration menu? I guess I was doing everything okay after all?

 

Ok something bad has happened and I dont know what. In my edit of the quoted post, I figured the configuration menu with all the options mean I was in Section III right then. And preceded to continue. I think I was correct at that time but not sure. Anyways I completed Section III but I noticed it gave me what I think was an error message that told me to push any button to shutdown, it said something like "An exception has occured". So I did thinking I messed up, but I noticed at the very bottom of Section III it states "Just continue to next page" So I did so and continued from https://3ds.guide/finalizing-setup and completed Section I by powering up the device.

So I powered up the device and noticed I still had that same "An exception occurred" error message on the top screen with a bunch of numbers and letters under "Stack dump" at the bottom screen.

Now I have 2 things going in my head right now. Number 1. I messed up somewhere. Number 2. I notice that right after the "Power on your device" of Section I of https://3ds.guide/finalizing-setup it says "If, before following this guide, you already had an EmuNAND setup and would like to move the contents of your previous EmuNAND to your new SysNAND CFW, now is the time to follow Move EmuNAND before doing this section."

Now I want to know if I end up doing that section, will this error message go away? Or was this error message supposed to already have gone away at this point? Because I dont want to continue doing more steps if I already messed up somehow thereby making it even more messed up.

Can somebody clarify this please? I am not able to turn on my 3ds and get past this message screen.

Edit: Now Im even more scared. If I take the SD card out and try to turn it on, I dont even get the error message anymore, just a black screen. The blue power button comes on for like 1-2 seconds then goes off. Please tell me this is somehow salvageable.

2nd Edit: Not sure if this matters. But after clicking and following https://3ds.guide/troubleshooting#ts_sys_b9s and scrolling down to the "Black Screen on SysNAND boot after installing boot9strap" I notice that I could delete the config.bin file under the luma folder to try and go back into the luma3ds configuration menu. So I deleted it, put back the SD in my 3ds, and booted it up and successfully got back into the configuration menu for luma. I made sure to press A on the "Show NAND or user string in System Settings" and then press START to save and reboot. It goes right back to the "An exception has occurred" error message. So I believe this portion was right here is where the problem is. Should I be Pressing A on some of the other options as well maybe?

Please help

 

It's normal that when booting without sd card it just blinks the blue light. That means it can't find boot.firm, which is usually Luma cfw in your sd card or nand and that's because there's no sd card and you haven't reached the part of the guide where you put it into the nand.
TL;DR: It's normal

About the error you're getting when booting with sd: Can you get to Luma config by holding select on boot? If yes do you have only "Show nand or user string install system settings" (or something like that) selected? If yes can you boot to GodMode9 by holding start on boot?

 

Yes

 

Follow the move emunand.