Homebrew A9LH can now boot without SD card

[N7Kopper]

Even without the whole "SD Card/Reader is busted or lost" protection thing, the ability to boot without an SD Card has enough niche uses to be worth developing as long as it doesn't cripple features.
There's probably at least one jabroni out there who uses/wants to use one card in multiple devices, after all.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Even without the whole "SD Card/Reader is busted or lost" protection thing, the ability to boot without an SD Card has enough niche uses to be worth developing as long as it doesn't cripple features.
There's probably at least one jabroni out there who uses/wants to use one card in multiple devices, after all.

It also prevent me doing something stupid like a did a week ago. I used a file manager to move around files and change the arm9loaderhax.bin, but I forgot to rename luma.bin to arm9loaderhax.bin before restarting the 3ds. And I was going to be away from a computer for several hours, essentially having a brick until I could rename the files from another device. With this latest version, I could still boot into a sig-patched sysNAND and run the file manager again to fix the problem without needing another device

 

[fikatr]

guys this is for DEVZ not for normal 3ds users wait for offical relase

 

[TheGreek Boy]

guys my 3ds now won't open with the sd card inserted but boots to sysNAND if i remove the sd

 

[TheCyberQuake]

guys this is for DEVZ not for normal 3ds users wait for offical relase

Well devs and those who know what they are doing and know how to recover if something goes wrong. Hence why I recommend in my original post to just wait till official release, which will probably be soon, and not Soontm

guys my 3ds now won't open with the sd card inserted but boots to sysNAND if i remove the sd

Weird. What firmware is your sysNAND?

 

[mutinize]

guys my 3ds now won't open with the sd card inserted but boots to sysNAND if i remove the sd

This is exactly why most people shouldn't update without an official release or the help of plailects guide.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

This is exactly why most people shouldn't update without an official release or the help of plailects guide.

While this does currently work, I recommend waiting until its official release, which will probably have a few bugfixes.

Maybe I should make that text big and bold so people read it.

Edit: Maybe now people will read it

While this does currently work, I recommend waiting until its official release, which will probably have a few bugfixes and will be fully tested.

I made this post more to show that it is something that is possible and being worked on. People should probably not actually do it unless they know exactly what they are doing and can recover if something goes wrong.

 

[uyjulian]

I don't think boot without SD card is a good idea since it's possible to update your sysnand and loose all your a9lh. Also it's a great way to see if you SD card is inserted correctly before you boot.

Also it's very easy to replace SD card, but very HARD to replace eMMC/flash/NAND!!!

 

[Zero-Cool]

How useful is this?

 

[TheCyberQuake]

I don't think boot without SD card is a good idea since it's possible to update your sysnand and loose all your a9lh. Also it's a great way to see if you SD card is inserted correctly before you boot.

Also it's very easy to replace SD card, but very HARD to replace eMMC/flash/NAND!!!

No, the mini-CFW also include FIRM write protection, meaning you can't overwrite a9lh with a system update, even without SD card.
And yes replacing an SD card is easy, but if your SD card slot on your 3ds dies without the no-SD version the console is essentially a brick, being completely unusable. At least with this version if your sd slot dies you can still have some functionality.

How useful is this?

The only real changes are the ability to have no SD card and the combination of the screen-init and no-screen-init versions. If you don't need those right now then it isn't really useful. I just recommend waiting until it is officially released.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

It isn't requested because people don't want to use SD cards, but rather as a "just in case" if their SD dies and they can't replace it immediately, or if their SD card slot dies the console won't essentially be a brick

Well then the industry should stop using sd cards then, I hate them cause they break and malfunction easily, i had Memroy sticks for psp last longer than those cards, maybe sd cards are generally more common for wide variety of products while psp were more limited to sony products but least they were reliable.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not putting blame on people who pay for this stuff like you and me, i am saying that sd cards are not really a reliable storage device for long term use, and everyone should know, even nintendo and all those mobile devices.

 

[uyjulian]

No, the mini-CFW also include FIRM write protection, meaning you can't overwrite a9lh with a system update, even without SD card.
And yes replacing an SD card is easy, but if your SD card slot on your 3ds dies without the no-SD version the console is essentially a brick, being completely unusable. At least with this version if your sd slot dies you can still have some functionality.


The only real changes are the ability to have no SD card and the combination of the screen-init and no-screen-init versions. If you don't need those right now then it isn't really useful. I just recommend waiting until it is officially released.

Your 3DS isn't brick if your SD slot dies, you can replace the SD card easily (just unscrew the back, disconnect the sd card connector, pull sd card out, put in your sd card, then place back cover). It's also a great way to see if your SD card connector is connected correctly, if it's connected incorrectly it will just turn off.
Of course... if your SD card connector breaks... what else are you going to do with your 3DS? You can't run arm9 payloads from SD (so no Decrypt9/GodMode9 to recover your くそ), you can't run games or homebrew from SD, no SpotPass or StreetPass, no extdata, no themes, no video... if you are lucky enough to have a Sky3DS you can put legit games on there (no homebrew)... that's it! It's pretty much close to a brick

 

[The Catboy]

OK, so no one has mentioned this, but there's more than just "booting without SD card." you can actually boot your CFW without the "arm9loaderhax.bin" in the SD card. This also includes signature patching, FIRM0/1 protection, ect. without the need for a CFW to be triggered through the arm9loaderhax.bin. I accidentally stumbled on this myself when I was doing some tests for Corbenik and I forgot to add my arm9loaderhax.bin back to my SD card. It actually booted into my sysNAND like normal, with my custom theme and everything.

 

[zoogie]

I don't think boot without SD card is a good idea since it's possible to update your sysnand and loose all your a9lh. Also it's a great way to see if you SD card is inserted correctly before you boot.

Also it's very easy to replace SD card, but very HARD to replace eMMC/flash/NAND!!!

Boot without sd has the firm protect patches too.
When you boot without sd on a9lh, your sd apps don't show and your theme doesn't show, just like a stock firmware.
Kind of obvious the sd isn't seated/inserted whatever.

"Your 3DS isn't brick if your SD slot dies" <- yes it does if you have sd turn-off a9lh -.-
christ, you have a knack for misinformation.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Your 3DS isn't brick if your SD slot dies, you can replace the SD card easily (just unscrew the back, disconnect the sd card connector, pull sd card out, put in your sd card, then place back cover). It's also a great way to see if your SD card connector is connected correctly, if it's connected incorrectly it will just turn off.
Of course... if your SD card connector breaks... what else are you going to do with your 3DS? You can't run arm9 payloads from SD (so no Decrypt9/GodMode9 to recover your くそ), you can't run games or homebrew from SD, no SpotPass or StreetPass, no extdata, no themes, no video... if you are lucky enough to have a Sky3DS you can put legit games on there (no homebrew)... that's it! It's pretty much close to a brick

What you are calling an SD connector is technically (in US english) an SD card slot. I was mentioning the slot the card goes in, not the card itself.

 

[uyjulian]

Boot without sd has the firm protect patches too.
When you boot without sd on a9lh, your sd apps don't show and your theme doesn't show, just like a stock firmware.
Kind of obvious the sd isn't seated/inserted whatever.

"Your 3DS isn't brick if your SD slot dies" <- yes it does if you have sd turn-off a9lh -.-
christ, you have a knack for misinformation.

When I turn a9lh 3ds on without SD, it turns off in less than a quarter of a second to let me know something is wrong with SD card.
When I turn 3ds on without SD, it turns on and it takes about 20sec to alert an error message 『an SD card is not inserted.』
What I meant by the 3rd line of your quote is you can take out the SD card slot and put into another one. (I mean the metalish thing your put the chip in)

What you are calling an SD connector is technically (in US english) an SD card slot. I was mentioning the slot the card goes in, not the card itself.

I was talking about metalish thing your put the chip in.

 

[The Catboy]

Mentions the actual cool feature, everyone is too busy bickering over SD card details. GG, Temp, GG.

OK, so no one has mentioned this, but there's more than just "booting without SD card." you can actually boot your CFW without the "arm9loaderhax.bin" in the SD card. This also includes signature patching, FIRM0/1 protection, ect. without the need for a CFW to be triggered through the arm9loaderhax.bin. I accidentally stumbled on this myself when I was doing some tests for Corbenik and I forgot to add my arm9loaderhax.bin back to my SD card. It actually booted into my sysNAND like normal, with my custom theme and everything.

 

[uyjulian]

Mentions the actual cool feature, everyone is too busy bickering over SD card details. GG, Temp, GG.

You can't replace your arm9loaderhax.bin without SD card so you can't run decrypt9 to recover your くそ if your SD card connector is broken.

 

[Link_of_Hyrule]

So just to be clear if I'm using Luma and that's on my sd card it boots that instead of the internal one of that's detected?

 

[uyjulian]

So just to be clear if I'm using Luma and that's on my sd card it boots that instead of the internal one of that's detected?

yes