Hacking After two successful A9LH installations, I bricked on my third one

[Dust2dust]

I successfully installed A9LH on my two n3DSXL by following Plailect's guide. I guess I got too confident or something, but today I tried to install it on my red o3DS XL, which was still on 4.5 for Gateway use. I updated to 9.2 without problems, and came to part 4 of the guide, downgrading to 2.1. I downgraded successfully, but the problem I encountered was that I couldn't connect to the dukesrg website to get my OTP as I forgot to make sure wi-fi was on before I downgraded. Realizing that, I went to the settings of 2.1 to set up internet connection (might not have been necessary, come to think of it), I switched on wi-fi, and when I came back to the home menu, I got a message on the top screen saying "arm11.bin" (just that, I think). The system froze. I forced shutdown, and rebooted, only to get double black screens. That's with the SD card in. If I remove the SD card, strangely, the blue led will flash a fraction of a second, and turn off immediately, as if I had A9LH installed (but I don't). I'm still on 2.1, and don't have the OTP.bin file, as I checked on the SD card. The contents of the SD card is what it should be after preparing to get the OTP (part 5 of the guide). Any suggestions? I think I'm headed toward a hardmod, right? Good thing I have all those NAND backups to choose from.

 

[DoHxBoY]

You followed Step 14-18 right? And checked the two troubleshooting guides? Truth be told, I didn't think any of these steps required a network connection... All of the files are suppose to be downloaded on your computer and copied over to the SD card... so what was your 3DS suppose to download with a wifi connection?

15. Select "One Click Setup" and confirm (you do not need to do an extra backup if asked, but you should make sure that you have copied the backup you made earlier to your computer as youwill need it later). This can take a while. (If this fails or gives you an error do NOT continue or you may BRICK; you should follow this troubleshooting guide)

18. If you get a black screen, boot with the SD card removed then reinsert when you see the home menu. If this fails, follow this troubleshooting guide

And worst case, if you are already past any of these and did some of your own steps without following them, your best bet is going to #3dshacks on Rizon IRC and asking for assistance there.

 

[Dust2dust]

You followed Step 14-18 right? And checked the two troubleshooting guides? Truth be told, I didn't think any of these steps required a network connection... All of the files are suppose to be downloaded on your computer and copied over to the SD card... so what was your 3DS suppose to download with a wifi connection?

15. Select "One Click Setup" and confirm (you do not need to do an extra backup if asked, but you should make sure that you have copied the backup you made earlier to your computer as youwill need it later). This can take a while. (If this fails or gives you an error do NOT continue or you may BRICK; you should follow this troubleshooting guide)

18. If you get a black screen, boot with the SD card removed then reinsert when you see the home menu. If this fails, follow this troubleshooting guide

And worst case, if you are already past any of these and did some of your own steps without following them, your best bet is going to #3dshacks on Rizon IRC and asking for assistance there.

Thanks for the reply. Fact is, every steps of Part 4 that you mention were followed correctly (except for Section 1 Prep work, item 8: Make sure your WiFi is on. ) That's where I think I goofed up. In fact, once I removed the SD card, firmware 2.1 booted right up. But for the following section of the guide (getting the OTP and installing A9LH, part 5 section 2 step 2), internet connection is required to visit a website that will trigger an exploit. I couldn't do it because my wifi was off. The troubleshooting guide couldn't help me, unfortunately. Trying to boot into recovery mode doesn't work, as the troubleshooting guide warned, because of being in 2.1, I guess. Might have to visit the IRC channel before I decide to hardmod.

 

[bowser]

I heard if you remove and replace the battery then wifi will be on by default instead of having to go into settings. Not sure if this is relevant to you in this situation.

 

[nickthedick]

And I heard
All this talking about WiFi is unessecery
Op is talking about a o3ds
He got a WiFi Slider and can toggle on and off on 2.1
Only n3ds got this WiFi Problem
And yes removing the battery on an n3ds solves this Problem
But back to topic
I have no clue what could have happened

 

[Dust2dust]

Yes, I thought about removing the battery, but only too late. My first reflex on seeing that I couldn't connect, was to go into settings to set up wifi network. From what I saw, the password was not set, so I input it. This could have been the mistake, seeing as firmware 2.1 is so unstable, it's no place to visit all the menus. Just get the OTP and get out. What I should have done is just toggle the wifi slider on, of course (maybe I tried, and it didn't work?? I'm not sure at this point ). Well, I can't go back in time to do it properly, unfortunately.

 

[evandixon]

You downgraded an old 3DS. It should be pretty stable.

You said the power is on briefly as if A9LH installed... Try putting a payload on the SD. Maybe you somehow have it installed?

 

[a9lh-1user]

I'am not sure if you can start you OLD 3DS XL and come into FW 2.1
But i did an OLD 3DS XL and forget to configure WiFi i could manage to put WiFi on and make a connection with the system Settings app.
After that i could get my OTP.
If you can get into the 2.1 FW try to setup WiFi again until it works and get your OTP. (try it with a "clean" SD card or put the SD card in the 3DS AFTER it startup)

Hope it will work for you

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

Try payloads as suggested, if that dont work hardmod will fix it.

 

[Dust2dust]

You downgraded an old 3DS. It should be pretty stable.

You said the power is on briefly as if A9LH installed... Try putting a payload on the SD. Maybe you somehow have it installed?

It doesn't look like it's installed, no. With a payload on the SD card, I get a solid blue LED, but double black screens and a frozen system. The same payload works fine on my other hacked console (A9LH v2). With no SD card, the led just flashes once, and the system turns off immediately. Just as additional information, this is the content of my SD card that I used to attempt to visit the website for the exploit.

 

[gamesquest1]

edit:- sorry misread, I thought you meant powered off with no sd but you meant the other console

actually maybe you do mean this console, if it turns off with no SD you have a9lh installed, you just need to restore a nand backup with hourglass9

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

You need to hardmod than.

 

[Dust2dust]

edit:- sorry misread, I thought you meant powered off with no sd but you meant the other console

actually maybe you do mean this console, if it turns off with no SD you have a9lh installed, you just need to restore a nand backup with hourglass9

Holy Cow!!! You're a life saver, man! I could kiss you! I hadn't tried to boot a payload by pressing a button while booting. It worked! Now I can access Hourglass9. Should I restore the 9.2 NAND and continue from there in the guide? Or just the emuNAND_original.bin (that would put me at firmware 11 right away). Don't want to screw up, now. Thanks again for the suggestion, pal !

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

Holy Cow!!! You're a life saver, man! I could kiss you! I hadn't tried to boot a payload by pressing a button while booting. It worked! Now I can access Hourglass9. Should I restore the 9.2 NAND and continue from there in the guide? Or just the emuNAND_original.bin (that would put me at firmware 11 right away). Don't want to screw up, now. Thanks again for the suggestion, pal !

Emunand

 

[craftsygaming]

Holy Cow!!! You're a life saver, man! I could kiss you! I hadn't tried to boot a payload by pressing a button while booting. It worked! Now I can access Hourglass9. Should I restore the 9.2 NAND and continue from there in the guide? Or just the emuNAND_original.bin (that would put me at firmware 11 right away). Don't want to screw up, now. Thanks again for the suggestion, pal !

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE learn some basic soldering skills. There are many tutorials online, and you can pick up a training kit somewhere

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE learn some basic soldering skills. There are many tutorials online, and you can pick up a training kit somewhere

wait nvm didn't read full post ayy lmao

 

[Dust2dust]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE learn some basic soldering skills. There are many tutorials online, and you can pick up a training kit somewhere

Thanks for the advice, but it looks like I won't have to solder anyway, since Hourglass9 is accessible.

 

[craftsygaming]

Thanks for the advice, but it looks like I won't have to solder anyway, since Hourglass9 is accessible.

above post. Was in a hurry and didn't read full thread

 

[Roomsaver]

Don't take my word for it, but I'm pretty sure you restore your 11.0 EmuNAND.

 

[Dust2dust]

Don't take my word for it, but I'm pretty sure you restore your 11.0 EmuNAND.

I did just that, and it worked fine. Actually, I just continued following the guide from where I thought I had bricked. Even the Luma config worked with the 2.1 brick. The only thing I couldn't do is to backup my OTP.bin file, since it never appeared on my SD card. Maybe the crash deleted it, but anyway A9LH still got installed. No big loss, I guess.

 

[yacepi15]

Yes, I thought about removing the battery, but only too late. My first reflex on seeing that I couldn't connect, was to go into settings to set up wifi network. From what I saw, the password was not set, so I input it. This could have been the mistake, seeing as firmware 2.1 is so unstable, it's no place to visit all the menus. Just get the OTP and get out. What I should have done is just toggle the wifi slider on, of course (maybe I tried, and it didn't work?? I'm not sure at this point ). Well, I can't go back in time to do it properly, unfortunately.

I configured the Wi-Fi in two O3DSes in 2.1 and i didnt have any problem.