Corrupted boot.firm, possible brick?

[maddjohn]

Hello,

I have had a series of issues with boot related issues on my imported N3dsXL over the past few weeks. Currently, charging the device shows the orange charge light for around 3-5 seconds before turning off. I am occasionally able to get it to turn on with the following results

• SD card inserted: Flashing red light
• SD card not inserted: Flashing purple light

Reading through the troubleshooting guide this leads me to believe I have some issues with my boot.firm being corrupted on my device. Unfortunately I am not able to launch into safe mode, GM9, nor Luma since I am unable to get the device to turn on in the first place.

I have tried several methods at addressing this including

• Downloading the newest Luma several times to use a new boot.firm
• Reformatting a new SD card with the boot.firm and boot.3dsx files only
• Trying a new battery

I posted my question a few times in the homebrew discord but was unable to get any responses, so I wanted to try a different method to see if I could get any feedback. Are there any other troubleshooting steps I can try, or am I looking at a hardware issue or a bricked device? I still have the original backups from this device when I was originally installing CFW. If there is any additional information I can provide let me know

 

[Doux91]

Did you change the region of your console? it sounds like a brick

 

[maddjohn]

It was a JPN console I got off of ebay. I did region change it to US about 15 days ago, and had no issues moving forward until I started getting crashes. When i went to do a CTRtransfer, and used the JP region since i assumed since that was the console region thats what I needed. I was able to make a new profile and use FBI for a bit following that but now am I stuck with a console that wont turn on

 

[CoolMe]

Did you change the region of your console? it sounds like a brick

Not necessarily..

It was a JPN console I got off of ebay. I did region change it to US about 15 days ago, and had no issues moving forward until I started getting crashes. When i went to do a CTRtransfer, and used the JP region since i assumed since that was the console region thats what I needed. I was able to make a new profile and use FBI for a bit following that but now am I stuck with a console that wont turn on

Why did you do ctrtransfer with the Japanese region nand image instead of the US one? since it was changed to it?

 

[CoolMe]

So you can't access Luma3DS or GodMode9 when the sdcard is inserted or not?
Do you get a fading blue light like after 1~2 seconds?
When you plug the 3ds to charge, do you see the orange led flickering, like not steady color?

 

[maddjohn]

Ill do my best to address all your points
1) I did the ctrtransfer with the JP region since I thought since it was a JPN console thats what it needed to get reset. In hindsight i should have specified which file I should have used for the transfer on the homebrew discord when I got that advice originally, so I have myself to blame for that.
2) No, anytime I hit start or select when I try to boot up either with or without the sd card I receive a red/purple flash and an immediate power off
3) Yes, the power light does go on for about the time you specified
4) When I put in the cable to charge Ill get the orange light for around 5-10 seconds before it goes away normally, but when I just checked now its been on permanently as of typing this up. Update: after about 90 seconds it turned off again

 

[CoolMe]

No, anytime I hit start or select when I try to boot up either with or without the sd card I receive a red/purple flash and an immediate power off

Have you checked your sd card for errors with h2testw before? If not, i'd highly recommend doing so now.
As for your battery, open the back cover see if you have any bent or misaligned pins on the 3ds itself, also clean the contacts on the battery if they're dirty or corroded..

 

[maddjohn]

I have tried the h2testw before, but I ran it again just in case, and there was no errors reported. Installed a fresh unzip of Luma using 7zip
As for the battery and pins, I made sure they were clean and the water damage sticker is still inactivated. Still no change, the red LED activates for a second or two and then shuts off the console

Update: Just tried again and got the "Unable to mount CTRNAND or load the CTRNAND FIRM message
Update 2: Tried to boot into safe mode and got to the main menu, but immediately froze

 

[CoolMe]

Update: Just tried again and got the "Unable to mount CTRNAND or load the CTRNAND FIRM message

Try if you can get to GodMode9, if it did, do the section VI step here CTRNand Luma3DS (i doubt it'll do anything but whatever)..

Update 2: Tried to boot into safe mode and got to the main menu, but immediately froze

Freezing most of the time happens when there's some hardware issue that's causing it. I think you too have a faulty sd card reader (which explains the erratic behavior).. You need to get a new replacement (there's no way around it).
It's fairly straightforward to replace it, just a ribbon cable to unplug and insert.. Be careful not to rip the ribbon cables of the shoulder buttons when you first remove the back lid..

 

[maddjohn]

I was able to get into the GM9 and Luma menus on rare occasions during my resets, managed to execute the script to install luma on the CTRNand but that didnt seem to make a difference

Freezing has only happened a few times compared to the normal boot up and shut down, but i can order the part and give it a shot before I give up on it entirely since its just a few bucks. Surprised that its worked fine for the better part of the month since I got it but at this point I am willing to try anything. My biggest concern is that the boot.firm on the system seems to be corrupted so that would need to be addressed for a work around

 

[CoolMe]

My biggest concern is that the boot.firm on the system seems to be corrupted

When you change it, your system will boot to the home menu if you have Luma3DS (boot.firm) on the sd card. The one on the ctrnand is only needed if you want boot the console to the home menu without the sd card..

 

[maddjohn]

Oh i see, that makes sense. Thank you for the help and input, the explanations for things have also been very helpful.