Hacking [A9LH + Luma] How to rectify frakenfirm situation without a clean/valid/working 9.0 sysNAND dump

[Deleted member 333767]

Hi everyone, welcome to the next chapter in my never ending story trying to fix my 3DS

My 3DS specs:
New3DS
9.0 base firmware from factory
A9LH + Luma/Gateway
Updated sysNAND mode
Updated to 11.0 via cart
NAND access mod
Startech USB card reader (proved to work with N3DS NAND)

I updated via cartridge to 11.0 to play pokemon and this has left me with frakenfirm. Eventually i discovered i couldn't update sysNAND via the settings menu to play online, or even run the homebrew launcher to use ctr-httpwn. This has caused me weeks and weeks of headaches and hours slaved away behind a computer

I tried to restore via the NAND access mod, a 1.6 GB sysNAND dump created by the Gateway menu when they first started to support the New3DS (sysNAND 9.0) this ended up bricking my unit with the bootrom 8046 blue screen.

Again with the NAND access mod, I restored a 1.2 GB sysNANDmin.bin made by hourglass9 prior to me messing around with the NAND and this unbricked my console (it's a dump of frakenfirm 11.0) but now i am back to square one

Im confused as to the reason why the gateway NAND dump is 1.6 GB and bricked my unit yet the 1.2 GB NAND dump is valid and unbricked it

Basically the only working NAND dump i have of this N3DS is the frakenfirm 11.0.

My question is: Is there a way to rectify my frakenfirm situation without a clean/valid/working dump of my 9.0 sysNAND?

Thanks for reading

TL;DR My New3DS has frakenfirm. How do i fix this without a dump of my 9.0 sysNAND?

 

[Cuphat]

Grab the latest release of 3DNUS here: https://github.com/zoltx23/3DNUS/releases

Extract it to some folder and run "3DNUS Material Edition.exe". Make sure "New 3DS" is selected (it defaults to "Old 3DS"). In the "Title/Firmware" box, input "11.2.0-35E" (without the quotation marks, assuming you are using European firmware). It will download all of the N3DS titles that have received updates at the latest version.

Copy the "11.2.0-35E" folder that 3DNUS created to your SD card root and rename it "updates".

Download the latest release of sysUpdater and install the .cia version. Run it and let it upgrade.

 

[Deleted member 333767]

Grab the latest release of 3DNUS here: https://github.com/zoltx23/3DNUS/releases

Extract it to some folder and run "3DNUS Material Edition.exe". Make sure "New 3DS" is selected (it defaults to "Old 3DS"). In the "Title/Firmware" box, input "11.2.0-35E" (without the quotation marks, assuming you are using European firmware). It will download all of the N3DS titles that have received updates at the latest version.

Copy the "11.2.0-35E" folder that 3DNUS created to your SD card root and rename it "updates".

Download the latest release of sysUpdater and install the .cia version. Run it and let it upgrade.

Thanks a lot for the reply

By undertaking this method, will it allow me to keep my installed CIA's and save data?

 

[Cuphat]

Yes.

 

[Deleted member 333767]

Yes.

Thanks a lot for the reply mate, i'll give it a try now

 

[Cuphat]

As always before performing a major operation on your NAND, I'd still suggest backing up your NAND.

Also, as a note, your 1.6GB Gateway NAND backup represents the size of your NAND chip, but the N3DS only uses 1.2GB of it, so Hourglass9 and Decrypt9 now default to "min size" which are 1.2GB dumps. It's the same thing but without 400MB of binary 0s at the end.

 

[Deleted member 333767]

As always before performing a major operation on your NAND, I'd still suggest backing up your NAND.

Also, as a note, your 1.6GB Gateway NAND backup represents the size of your NAND chip, but the N3DS only uses 1.2GB of it, so Hourglass9 and Decrypt9 now default to "min size" which are 1.2GB dumps. It's the same thing but without 400MB of binary 0s at the end.

I'm still confused as to why restoring the 1.6 GB dump caused the bootrom 8046 blue screen though?

The gateway NAND dumps of my two O3DS's work like a charm. Strange it doesn't for the New3DS. Im kicking myself i didn't get a 9.0 dump with hourglass9

 

[Cuphat]

Taking a check at https://3ds.guide/nand-size there actually isn't a 1.6GB NAND chip used by the 3DS, it's either 1.2GB or 1.8GB for N3DS. Are you sure your Gateway dump is 1.6GB?

 

[Deleted member 333767]

Taking a check at https://3ds.guide/nand-size there actually isn't a 1.6GB NAND chip used by the 3DS, it's either 1.2GB or 1.8GB for N3DS. Are you sure your Gateway dump is 1.6GB?

Yup, 100% sure. This is definitely the new3DS NAND dump that gateway created.

Also, if i update to 11.2 with sysUpdater, will it allow me to keep A9LH? Or will i have to reinstall it (i've got my OTP.bin handy)

 

[Cuphat]

Yup, 100% sure. This is definitely the new3DS NAND dump that gateway created.

View attachment 73727

Also, if i update to 11.2 with sysUpdater, will it allow me to keep A9LH? Or will i have to reinstall it (i've got my OTP.bin handy)

You'll be fine assuming you are using Luma (and not Gateway, never use Gateway in SysNAND mode on A9LH).

 

[Deleted member 333767]

You'll be fine assuming you are using Luma (and not Gateway, never use Gateway in SysNAND mode on A9LH).

Yes, of course, always in Luma mode when toying around with the NAND

 

[Deleted member 333767]

OK here we go again. I got this error in sysUpdater. Any thoughts? The complete 11.2 files are actually in the updates folder.

 

[Cuphat]

Maybe that one got corrupted when you copied it? Copy them again but use TeraCopy to verify that they are all copied cleanly.

 

[el_gonz87]

I know this isn't the answer you wanna hear (I posted in your previous thread), but CTR transfer at this point, and move all necessary files as to not lose your saves.

Do the following:
1) Backup SD card and NAND keep files on PC for safe keeping to restore if anything goes wrong
2) Do section A of this guide and stop: https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-manual-system-transfer-for-saves-content.388033/
3) Do this web page only for CTR transfer to 9.2: Follow this for CTR transfer: https://3ds.guide/9.2.0-ctrtransfer.html
4) Continue with Section B of guide from step #2 with the new CTR transferred sysnand as the source system

Again this process will probably be time consuming and I know it's not what you want to hear, but there is no miracle "press a button fix" for frankenfirm without a valid pre-Fup NAND backup.

Good luck mate!

 

[Deleted member 333767]

I know this isn't the answer you wanna hear (I posted in your previous thread), but CTR transfer at this point, and move all necessary files as to not lose your saves.

Do the following:
1) Backup SD card and NAND keep files on PC for safe keeping to restore if anything goes wrong
2) Do section A of this guide and stop: https://gbatemp.net/threads/tutorial-manual-system-transfer-for-saves-content.388033/
3) Do this web page only for CTR transfer to 9.2: Follow this for CTR transfer: https://3ds.guide/9.2.0-ctrtransfer.html
4) Continue with Section B of guide from step #2 with the new CTR transferred sysnand as the source system

Again this process will probably be time consuming and I know it's not what you want to hear, but there is no miracle "press a button fix" for frankenfirm without a valid pre-Fup NAND backup.

Good luck mate!

Hello again! You must be getting tired of reading my threads by now

I wasn't purposely avoiding your suggestion, it just seems like a lot of effort. I really was looking for that one-click solution But it seems as though I have no choice now since my sysNAND 9.0 dump bricks my console

 

[Deleted member 333767]

EDIT: Nevermind

 

[massijay]

I suggest you to start again from scratch:
1)Backup your NAND (Decrypt9)
2)Backup your save files (JKSM)
3)Boot your 3DS in recovery mode (turn on the Nintendo 3DS while holding A+R+L+Up(DPad)). Doing so you'll format your 3ds and redownload the latest firmware from Nintendo.
4)A9LH + Luma following 3ds.guide

 

[Deleted member 333767]

I suggest you to start again from scratch:
1)Backup your NAND (Decrypt9)
2)Backup your save files (JKSM)
3)Boot your 3DS in recovery mode (turn on the Nintendo 3DS while holding A+R+L+Up(DPad)). Doing so you'll format your 3ds and redownload the latest firmware from Nintendo.
4)A9LH + Luma following 3ds.guide

Thanks for donating your second post ever to my thread after being a member for 5 years but I am already halfway through @el_gonz87 suggestion... Seems to be going well so far, but we'll see, still plenty of time for it go wrong!!

 

[Deleted member 333767]

So, after slaving away behind my computer and 3DS for over 10 hours, i carried out the steps suggested above and i no longer have frankenfirm.

But none of my CIA's and homebrews showed up on the home menu. I backed up all my savedata manually, i think at this stage its just better reinstall all my CIA's and homebrews one-by-one and just reimport the save data manually. A fresh start and hope to god this never happens again. It's consumed many days of my life.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions all.