Hacking Bricked N3DS A9LH

[Lush]

I followed every step and the results were all what i was expecting...

1. New 3DS Only: Select the Unbrick FW 2.1 EmuNAND option and follow instructions
2. Go to "NAND Backup & Restore"
3. Backup EmuNAND to emuNAND.bin
4. Restore SysNAND from emuNAND.bin

That is the correct sequence? Unbrick, backup emunand to emunand.bin, restore sysnand with emunand.bin?

 

[Genestarwind]

I think what Plailect was saying is that there always be a chance for 3DS to brick even if you follow every steps correctly in the guide.

 

[Lush]

Yeah.. I understand the risks... I have the motherboard removed now.. A lot more work than the O3DS. O3DS was just removing plastic covers. To expose N3DS nand pinouts, you have to remove a tons of ribbon connectors and pull the motherboard out to access the back side...

 

[Lush]

OK. I have the N3DS side all soldered up. Time to make some breakfast lol

 

[Plailect]

I think what Plailect was saying is that there always be a chance for 3DS to brick even if you follow every steps correctly in the guide.

It's more that it's very difficult to do everything without making any mistakes, even if you think you did everything right you still could have missed something.

 

[Lush]

OK. Soldering complete and i have the blue error screen on the N3DS Time to find out if my sd card reader is compatible...

 

[wildcat2083]

Being familiar with the process does not prevent doing something wrong. I *wrote* the process and I've still bricked a 3DS doing it (during some testing).

I also bricked after copying the unbrick patched 2.1.0 emuNAND to SysNAND I have a N3DS as well

 

[Lush]

Damn! I don't think my card reader will work. I get the blue error screen when the sd adaptor is in the reader, and only black screen when its not. Blue error screen means all my soldering is good, correct?

 

[LiquidAudacity]

For those of you that want to be extra safe, I would recommend that you do two backups of the sys/emunand whenever the guide instructs you to and compare the md5 checksums on a pc. During the downgrade process I ended up getting one or two bad dumps which probably would have bricked something if I had flashed them.

 

[VinsCool]

For those of you that want to be extra safe, I would recommend that you do two backups of the sys/emunand whenever the guide instructs you to and compare the md5 checksums on a pc. During the downgrade process I ended up getting one or two bad dumps which probably would have bricked something if I had flashed them.

That wouldn't hurt to do an additional step to avoid a brick! I guess this could be added to the guide as a safety tip.

 

[Lush]

I ordered the proper card reader and a nice Wera electronics screwdriver set. My tools were getting old and worn...

 

[ilyIzzy]

Waiting for my SD card reader aswell. The "Unbrick 2.1" step was not present at the time I did mine. Or I might've missed the step.

 

[invaderyoyo]

Hey guys, just reporting another brick on the exact same step as OP.

 

[spkuja]

It's more that it's very difficult to do everything without making any mistakes, even if you think you did everything right you still could have missed something.

I followed the guide Friday night and it went without a hitch. I think an issue is it is a very long guide and people try to rush. I honestly spent around 2 and a half hours making sure I followed every thing step by step. Double checking files and making sure I re-read the steps before doing them.

Patience is the key I think. If you rush, you're gonna get a brick.

And on another note, thank you for such a comprehensive guide!

 

[wildcat2083]

My unit has been sent to get hardmodded, i followed the guide but now thinking back i either missed a step put in the wrong firmware bins or ticked a option i shouldnt have, the guide has been revised and cleaned up while ive been waiting, just glad i made several good backups of SysNAND

 

[Lush]

I'm happy to report that I got my anker card reader this week, and today being my first day off was fixing time. Through a couple tribulations of shortening my wiring, changing SD adaptor, a different usb port, and usb extension, (something fixed it), I was able to read and then restore my original sysnand. Powers up and sounds good, but the top screen isn't working. Back to the work bench. The N3DS motherboard has many ribbon connectors that need to be removed to access back and remove. 3 larger ones that are all tight in the top corner on both sides of the MB for the top screen, sound, etc. I redid all the connections and it still wouldn't work. Took it all apart again and seen that one of the cables that twists the most in the corner can be reversed in the connector, so I think I have it solved because the connectors have logic (white with black locking tab / black with white locking tab / contacts on ribbon up/down) and it matches. Power on, new problem! Seems like some type of short, blue light, pause, speaker crackle, hard shutdown. Thinking this failure is because of reverse ribbon cable when top screen is booting?, I remove MB and try in reverse again. Same problem! Several more attempts at removing MB (and hard mod for elimination and ease of install and removal of MB), then eliminating cables, top screen all cables, and each connector at a time to see how they affected booting. Finally got to a tiny 4 contact ribbon that seemed a little looser than the rest in their connectors. Through a couple boots of applying/releasing pressure on connector, it was solved! No top screen so I go back to the reverse and everything is working! Redo non essential cables (analog might be the worst, so thankfully it wasn't needed during all the troubleshooting) and test unit. All good again, but 4 pin connector needs repair/mod. Install a pretty epoxy repair and test, works better, but prone to shock, so no good. Remove epoxy, and install a rudimentary, but effective foam pad that will apply pressure against plastic backing cover. I am happy now that everything should work great again. I will wait until tomorrow when I receive my new wera screwdrivers to reassemble the N3DS. My flat driver I was using is old and tired, so i'll wait for the proper philips 00. It was most difficult doing all this testing and troubleshooting having to hold the battery by hand on the power contacts, including reading and writing the nand. When I reassemble tomorrow I will attempt the A9LH again. I see that a few things have changed.

Although I feel sure I followed every step, logic points at user error since I know the guide is solid. I had done my O3DS earlier in the day and it worked fine. I then started at my 2DS and it was going great too, when I decided to start my N3DS 45 min into the 2DS job. Since my N3DS was lagging my 2DS install, it is mostly likely that I made a mistake going back and forth between the two jobs. The lesson here and many other times in life is, one job at a time.

O3DS and 2DS turned out great (N3DS will be) and A9LH is the ultimate hack IMO. Reminds of the old PSP days with recovery menu. Although the N3DS needed all that extra work, it was great fun. I miss/love the hard mods and it only feels right for me to see the insides of all my game systems. I have more fun doing all this "work" than I do playing the games....

 

[wildcat2083]

I got ahold of a 2nd 3DS (New XL) Model and followed the guide, their were several revisions through the process as i was super slow and double and triple checked everything, finally got downgraded to 2.1 and obtained the OTP, then the cakes cfw on the sysNAND with the armhax its a beautiful thing once it works good luck to those trying it

 

[Lush]

I received my new drivers today and reassembled my N3DS after the hardmod. Everything was working perfect. Followed the updated guide and used the updated tools with additional safeguards and a9lh is now working great on my n3ds, o3ds, and 2ds. Thank you to everyone who wrote the guide, tools, and all the rest!