Hacking A9LH - N3DS on v 9.0

[Maximilious]

Hey all,

I think I'm going to take the plunge this weekend with A9LH, but Plailect's guide mentions downgrading to 9.2.0. I'm currently on 9.0 - Do I need to upgrade my sysNAND to 9.2.0 or can I follow along without issue on 9.0? Could I even go as far as starting at step 4 with the downgrade after backing up (I'm on GW emuNAND currently btw)?

 

[Hayleia]

9.0 is ok. My O3DS and 2DS were on 9.2 but my N3DS was on 9.0 and everything worked fine.

 

[ShadowOne333]

According to @ihaveamac, if you're on 9.0 and you already have an emunand setup, you are good to start from Part 3 of the tutorial, which is RedNAND.
I am also on 9.0U on a N3DS, and I will give the guide a try starting from there this weekend also! So good luck to both of us!

 

[Maximilious]

Good deal - I don't have menuhax setup yet either, but I'll go through the motions. I may try this on my O3DS first just because I've read the process is a lot more stable on that platform, but yeah good luck to you as well!

 

[Temptress Cerise]

Just be sure to take it slow, read all the steps and do everything it tells you.

I know some people claim it takes them 20-30mins tops, but don't listen to those people. I still take close to 2 hours, even after having done it 12 times.

 

[Ricken]

I know some people claim it takes them 20-30mins tops

They clearly do NAND Backups

 

[hundshamer]

I managed to get them done in about an hour. I also have everything setup in folders according to the prep stage they belong to. This way I just click and drag. My issue is the stability of the hacks needed before A9LH is installed.

 

[astronautlevel]

I know some people claim it takes them 20-30mins tops

I've been able to get it to about 30 minutes by ignoring all safety measures and downgrading SysNAND directly on o3ds, but I highly advise against it and really only did it because I was bored.

 

[Temptress Cerise]

I've been able to get it to about 30 minutes by ignoring all safety measures and downgrading SysNAND directly on o3ds, but I highly advise against it and really only did it because I was bored.

Kind of figured that's what those people do I just don't like it when those people post their times and say noobs should be taking that same amount of time as well.

 

[memomo]

it takes 4hrs for me to do it lol
but it's worth it

 

[Maximilious]

Alright - On my O3DS I did install an older TWL_FIRM at one time for GBA CIA's. I see I need to remove it before doing the downgrade to 2.x. Do I need to replace it with the proper version, or can I just remove it with FBI and not worry about replacing it for the downgrade?

I do know leaving it there can cause a brick, so I want to be sure I don't mess up that part!

 

[astrangeone]

First time took me about half the day (6 hours, as I was unsure of what to do), and by the time I installed it on my final o3DS, it took me about eight hours (because the emunand portion kept on tripping up OTPHelper, and I had to reformat everything a total of 10 times before the emunand wanted to work).

On my first n3DS, it too me about 5 hours, and that was just trying to get the unstable hacks woring. (Annoying but what can you do?)

 

[Dhaze]

2 weeks ago i do it for 5 days ( 1 part / day for safety measure) while i'm working.
downgrade didn't take much times, but the backup process took time alot.

 

[Akira]

Just be sure to take it slow, read all the steps and do everything it tells you.

I know some people claim it takes them 20-30mins tops, but don't listen to those people. I still take close to 2 hours, even after having done it 12 times.

on O3DS'es 2 hours. N3DS'es might take a little more time because of the unbricking. I say 3 hours or so

 

[TheCyberQuake]

on O3DS'es 2 hours. N3DS'es might take a little more time because of the unbricking. I say 3 hours or so

That can greatly depend for o3ds. It took me about 4 hours on mine, mostly for transfer time between 3d-PC and vice versa, along with the time it takes to do the numerous backups you perform while doing this. Though I also took time to read each step in a guide to make sure I did everything exactly, so that may have added a little time.
I mean there are many ways to easily shave tons of time off of it, but if you want to take the safest route it will end up costing you a couple hours.
Those who do it in 20-30 minutes bypass almost all safety and simply downgrade their sysNAND directly to 2.1. Which is doable, but I highly recommend against doing this unless you want the risk of making it take much longer than just doing it safely by needing to hardmod in order to unbrick the device and get it back to a firmware that can downgrade.

 

[MelonGx]

USB 3.0 Reader + UHS-II (m)SD can reduce the time cost.

 

[Maximilious]

Alright - On my O3DS I did install an older TWL_FIRM at one time for GBA CIA's. I see I need to remove it before doing the downgrade to 2.x. Do I need to replace it with the proper version, or can I just remove it with FBI and not worry about replacing it for the downgrade?

I do know leaving it there can cause a brick, so I want to be sure I don't mess up that part!

So back on topic please

 

[TheCyberQuake]

USB 3.0 Reader + UHS-II (m)SD can reduce the time cost.

That's assuming everyone has a usb 3.0 port on their computer, which not all do (including myself)

So back on topic please

Your OP has already been answered. Yes you can just go from 9.0, and yes you can simply downgrade but it is not recommended especially for new 3ds. As for the TWL_FIRM I would assume you would need to replace it and not just delete it, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong as I don't know a whole lot about the 3ds file system.

 

[Temptress Cerise]

Part 4, Section I, Step 34 says the following:
"Remove any TWL modifications done to the device or PlaiSysUpdater will throw an error (if you have no idea what this is, don't worry about it; most users will not need to do this)"

I would just replace it and be done with it. Anyways, if PlaiSysUpdater doesn't throw errors at you, OTPHelper might as it'll verify your 2.1 downgrade.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Part 4, Section I, Step 34 says the following:
"Remove any TWL modifications done to the device or PlaiSysUpdater will throw an error (if you have no idea what this is, don't worry about it; most users will not need to do this)"

I would just replace it and be done with it. Anyways, if PlaiSysUpdater doesn't throw errors at you, OTPHelper might as it'll very you 2.1.

OTP Helper verifies the 2.1 downgraded emuNAND or the 2.1 flashed emunand turned sysnand?