Hacking Fixing a broken NAND with no backup (a9lh only?)

[Hayato213]

I think everyone here is confused.

@astronautlevel, it seems to me that you think this post is about simply transferring a CTRNAND to a new system. Er, no. If system A's CTRNand is bricked, transferring it to system B wouldn't change a thing.

Mission not complete.

I would be using Decrypt9's tool to transfer the broken CTRNand to a working system with working files. Then, I'll use the files to fix the bricked files on the NAND while still keeping encryption good, then transfer it back to the original system, fixing the brick.

@Tenshi_Okami, the main point of this is to avoid as much data loss as possible.

@vb_encryption_vb, you don't need xorpads to ctrtransfer. That was the point of mentioning CTRtransfers in the first place.

I think u r the one confuse to be honest, CTR transfer file arent unit locked, u can use it on the same region. NAND File backup you made is unit specific, that is why the xorpad is needed

 

[Halvorsen]

I think u r the one confuse to be honest, CTR transfer file arent unit locked, u can use it on the same region. NAND File backup you made is unit specific, that is why the xorpad is needed

Uh, no. They're not. That's kinda why I brought them into my conversation. CTR transfer files can be used on any 3DS of the same region and model. (new or old 3DS)

How are NAND file backups relevant to this thread? I never mentioned anything about a NAND backup.

 

[Tenshi_Okami]

the main point of this is to avoid as much data loss as possible. Using one of Plailect's would be the equivalent of having a freshly formatted console.

im pretty sure you wont start in a formatted console tho

 

[Halvorsen]

im pretty sure you wont start in a formatted console tho

Uhhhhh......

Using one of Plailect's would be the equivalent of having a freshly formatted console.

 

[Hayato213]

Uh, no. They're not. That's kinda why I brought them into my conversation.

How are NAND file backups relevant to this thread?

Depending on what type of brick you got soft brick or a hard brick. If you can still access decrypt9 on the brick unit then it isnt bricked. It is hard brick when you cant access decrypt9, or recovery mode.

Each Nand from each unit is specific. CTR transfer Nand are universal for same for console in the same region and same model. U cant just restore a Nand from another unit and hope it to work.

 

[Halvorsen]

Depending on what type of brick you got soft brick or a hard brick. If you can still access decrypt9 on the brick unit then it isnt bricked. It is hard brick when you can access decrypt9, or recovery mode.

Each Nand from each unit is specific. CTR transfer Nand are universal for same for console in the same region and same model. U cant just restore a Nand from another unit and hope it to work.

Again. Who said anything about a nand backup?

And accessing Decrypt9 means nothing when you have no NAND backups, so it is a brick.

If you make a CTRtransfer from the bricked nand, transfer it to a working system and replace the offending files causing the brick, then CTRtransfer it back, the brick will be fixed.


You said it yourself. A CTRtransfer NAND is universal.

I don't get what's so hard to understand...

 

[gamesquest1]

if you have a9lh installed, then ctrtransfer would probably work to unbrick the system unless there is extremely severe damaged caused to the CTR partition i.e wiped completely, and worst case you could dump the movable.sed, secureinfo_a etc (ok you couldn't do this in the "worst case" as they would be wiped, but 99% of bricks would leave these files intact and decrypt9 would be able to dump them), use CTRtransfer to unbrick, then re-import all your original personal crap, the movable.sed is the one that would allow you to recover your saves and stuff

but personally i think if your silly enough to be dicking about with your system and not have a nand backup.....well i wouldn't rate your chances of following any other guide to unbrick as making a nandbackup is pretty much always the step 1 of any guide (or the first step once it becomes an option)

 

[Halvorsen]

if you have a9lh installed, then ctrtransfer would probably work to unbrick the system unless there is extremely severe damaged caused to the CTR partition i.e wiped completely, and worst case you could dump the movable.sed, secureinfo_a etc, use CTRtransfer to unbrick, then re-import all your original personal crap, the movable.sed is the one that would allow you to recover your saves and stuff

First person to get what I was trying to say. Thank you.

 

[dudemo]

What of people in my situation? I have several NAND backups on my various external drives at home. However, due to SSD size constraints, I opted to leave a copy off of my laptop.

While on a business trip several hundred miles away, I was in a vehicle accident that left me a paraplegic from the navel down. My A9LH'd o3DS and laptop survived. I did not bring an external hard drive because it wouldn't have been necessary and just would have gotten in the way. However, while dicking around with my console, I definitely sysNAND bricked. I can boot payloads, but not a home menu.

I quite literally have nobody to send me one of my external hard drives. No family (they live hundreds of miles from my home) or close friends that have a key to my home. This would allow me to fix my console and save my smartphone battery. It would also help stave off the fucking incessant boredom that comes from not even being able to support your own weight while sitting up.

I'm seriously asking if this is just impossible, or just too hard to be worth it. I have a laptop, lots of time, plenty of patience, and no friggin hope of leaving this shithole hospital for at least six months.

Please help me out and say it's possible, or at least break my heart gently.

After looking at my 3DS backup contents on my laptop, I DO have the OTP.bin file as well as a backup of my SD card after blowing away emuNAND. However, I do not have a copy of any NAND, whether it is emu or sys.

Can I do this somehow? I legit made this and a Reddit account with the same name just to ask this question because I was wondering the same thing as OP and I would love to have something else to do than play on my severely underpowered Galaxy S4 and watch the same fucking 12 channels all damn day.

Thanks a million in advance, guys.

 

[Halvorsen]

What of people in my situation? I have several NAND backups on my various external drives at home. However, due to SSD size constraints, I opted to leave a copy off of my laptop.

While on a business trip several hundred miles away, I was in a vehicle accident that left me a paraplegic from the navel down. My A9LH'd o3DS and laptop survived. I did not bring an external hard drive because it wouldn't have been necessary and just would have gotten in the way. However, while dicking around with my console, I definitely sysNAND bricked. I can boot payloads, but not a home menu.

I quite literally have nobody to send me one of my external hard drives. No family (they live hundreds of miles from my home) or close friends that have a key to my home. This would allow me to fix my console and save my smartphone battery. It would also help stave off the fucking incessant boredom that comes from not even being able to support your own weight while sitting up.

I'm seriously asking if this is just impossible, or just too hard to be worth it. I have a laptop, lots of time, plenty of patience, and no friggin hope of leaving this shithole hospital for at least six months.

Please help me out and say it's possible, or at least break my heart gently.

After looking at my 3DS backup contents on my laptop, I DO have the OTP.bin file as well as a backup of my SD card after blowing away emuNAND. However, I do not have a copy of any NAND, whether it is emu or sys.

Can I do this somehow? I legit made this and a Reddit account with the same name just to ask this question because I was wondering the same thing as OP and I would love to have something else to do than play on my severely underpowered Galaxy S4 and watch the same fucking 12 channels all damn day.

Thanks a million in advance, guys.

Damn... I really feel for you.

Anyway, How did you brick sysNAND?

And also, did you store any backups online?

Maybe you can CTRtransfer, but you'll lose data.

This one may be complicated, but do you have access to your laptop? If you know what you bricked, you could try extracting a xorpad, xor-ing your NAND to make it readable, replace the bricked file, and xor it again. It won't work depending on what bricked, though.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

What of people in my situation? I have several NAND backups on my various external drives at home. However, due to SSD size constraints, I opted to leave a copy off of my laptop.

While on a business trip several hundred miles away, I was in a vehicle accident that left me a paraplegic from the navel down. My A9LH'd o3DS and laptop survived. I did not bring an external hard drive because it wouldn't have been necessary and just would have gotten in the way. However, while dicking around with my console, I definitely sysNAND bricked. I can boot payloads, but not a home menu.

I quite literally have nobody to send me one of my external hard drives. No family (they live hundreds of miles from my home) or close friends that have a key to my home. This would allow me to fix my console and save my smartphone battery. It would also help stave off the fucking incessant boredom that comes from not even being able to support your own weight while sitting up.

I'm seriously asking if this is just impossible, or just too hard to be worth it. I have a laptop, lots of time, plenty of patience, and no friggin hope of leaving this shithole hospital for at least six months.

Please help me out and say it's possible, or at least break my heart gently.

After looking at my 3DS backup contents on my laptop, I DO have the OTP.bin file as well as a backup of my SD card after blowing away emuNAND. However, I do not have a copy of any NAND, whether it is emu or sys.

Can I do this somehow? I legit made this and a Reddit account with the same name just to ask this question because I was wondering the same thing as OP and I would love to have something else to do than play on my severely underpowered Galaxy S4 and watch the same fucking 12 channels all damn day.

Thanks a million in advance, guys.

Depending on what is bricked, it may be fixed with a simple ctrnand transfer. Someone will have to link to the guide for me though

Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk

 

[dudemo]

-Maybe you can try emulators on your s4 while you wait for a solution?

Way ahead of you. However, as the device is from 2013 and on the original battery, I'm very limited in what I can play and I'm basically tethered to a power source. Being tethered isn't such a big deal when it takes two people to lift you from your bed, but I'm very limited in what my phone will do.

-Anyway, How did you brick sysNAND?
-Do you have an emuNAND?

Yes, I had an emuNAND at one time. My console was setup before the massive guide overhaul, so I never used CTRansfer. I have an emuNAND backup for 10.7 stock, 9.2 stock, and one for A9LH. I have none active, and no backups online or with me.

I don't exactly know how I bricked. When it bricked, I was configuring NTR for 11.0. I powered down my console, removed the SD card and placed it into my computer to transfer NTR plugins. At this point I still had an emuNAND still setup from the guide, so I copied the important stuff that I had changed and not my emuNAND, as it was pre-A9LH (I somehow lost the H&S app, and was recovering it from 10.7 stock). Sadly, I did all of this on my main backup drive which is a locally configured NAS that does not get online for security reasons, and automatically mirrors to another drive. Neither are available online.

-Maybe you can CTRtransfer, but you'll lose data

I do not care at this point. Make my console usable pretty please! Even if I have to buy cartridges and stop using my backups! I'll gladly repurchase my games and re-beat them because... Simply, its something to do.

I do have access to my laptop, however I do not have access to any Wifi or data on my laptop. The hospital I'm in does not have public wireless access and Verizon does not allow me to tether. (Per my plan description.) So anything I need will have to be downloaded on my GS4's SD card and then transferred to my laptop. Again, I got nothing but time, patience, and a 2Gb data cap that rolls over on the 15th.

Appreciate the help guys. I'm seriously grateful.

Edit: Yes, I copied the contents of the SD card back. I know that A9LH works because I can boot into the payloads, but when I boot to the home menu all I get is a black screen. No errors at all, no music, no 3D light and no Wifi light. Removing the SD card before a boot results in the power light coming on for a brief second, followed by the console shutting off. Removing the SD card while sitting at the black screen does absolutely nothing.

 

[Halvorsen]

-Maybe you can try emulators on your s4 while you wait for a solution?

Way ahead of you. However, as the device is from 2013 and on the original battery, I'm very limited in what I can play and I'm basically tethered to a power source. Being tethered isn't such a big deal when it takes two people to lift you from your bed, but I'm very limited in what my phone will do.

-Anyway, How did you brick sysNAND?
-Do you have an emuNAND?

Yes, I had an emuNAND at one time. My console was setup before the massive guide overhaul, so I never used CTRansfer. I have an emuNAND backup for 10.7 stock, 9.2 stock, and one for A9LH. I have none active, and no backups online or with me.

I don't exactly know how I bricked. When it bricked, I was configuring NTR for 11.0. I powered down my console, removed the SD card and placed it into my computer to transfer NTR plugins. At this point I still had an emuNAND still setup from the guide, so I copied the important stuff that I had changed and not my emuNAND, as it was pre-A9LH (I somehow lost the H&S app, and was recovering it from 10.7 stock). Sadly, I did all of this on my main backup drive which is a locally configured NAS that does not get online for security reasons, and automatically mirrors to another drive. Neither are available online.

-Maybe you can CTRtransfer, but you'll lose data

I do not care at this point. Make my console usable pretty please! Even if I have to buy cartridges and stop using my backups! I'll gladly repurchase my games and re-beat them because... Simply, its something to do.

I do have access to my laptop, however I do not have access to any Wifi or data on my laptop. The hospital I'm in does not have public wireless access and Verizon does not allow me to tether. (Per my plan description.) So anything I need will have to be downloaded on my GS4's SD card and then transferred to my laptop. Again, I got nothing but time, patience, and a 2Gb data cap that rolls over on the 15th.

Appreciate the help guys. I'm seriously grateful.

Edit: Yes, I copied the contents of the SD card back. I know that A9LH works because I can boot into the payloads, but when I boot to the home menu all I get is a black screen. No errors at all, no music, no 3D light and no Wifi light. Removing the SD card before a boot results in the power light coming on for a brief second, followed by the console shutting off. Removing the SD card while sitting at the black screen does absolutely nothing.

Haha, sorry for reading over the parts where you mentioned mentioned your phone and no emunand, I merely skim over posts before I reply.
A CTRtransfer should be completely possible. Make sure to update to the latest Decrypt9 (If you use Luma, replace the file in /Luma/payloads)

Then take a 9.2.0 CTRtransfer from Plailect's guide from your REGION and MODEL of 3DS (old 3DS vs New 3DS) and place it inside a /files9 folder along with the .sha file.


Follow the instructions here.

https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/9.2.0-ctrtransfer

 

[Aletron9000]

#1 rule when you have arm9 access and are messing with the system

ALWAYS have a working NAND backup.

 

[Halvorsen]

#1 rule when you have arm9 access and are messing with the system

ALWAYS have a working NAND backup.

I'd try to keep one on the SD Card at all times, and one in Cloud storage in case I have no access to my computer.

 

[dudemo]

#1 rule when you have arm9 access and are messing with the system

ALWAYS have a working NAND backup.

I didn't think formatting the card and applying NTR firmware and plugins would kill the unit. I now know better.

I'd try to keep one on the SD Card at all times, and one in Cloud storage in case I have no access to my computer.

I will do exactly this from now on. I have a 64Gb card and plenty of room. I'm sure kicking myself in the ass right now, that's for sure.

Haha, sorry for reading over the parts where you mentioned mentioned your phone and no emunand, I merely skim over posts before I reply.
A CTRtransfer should be completely possible. Make sure to update to the latest Decrypt9 (If you use Luma, replace the file in /Luma/payloads)

Then take a 9.2.0 CTRtransfer from Plailect's guide from your REGION and MODEL of 3DS (old 3DS vs New 3DS) and place it inside a /files9 folder along with the .sha file.


Follow the instructions here.

https://github.com/Plailect/Guide/wiki/9.2.0-ctrtransfer

I will absolutely give this a shot tomorrow morning. I'm tired, its late, and I need to process your instructions. I don't want to go ramrodding into this and screw something up even worse.

 

[Quantumcat]

What of people in my situation? I have several NAND backups on my various external drives at home. However, due to SSD size constraints, I opted to leave a copy off of my laptop.

While on a business trip several hundred miles away, I was in a vehicle accident that left me a paraplegic from the navel down. My A9LH'd o3DS and laptop survived. I did not bring an external hard drive because it wouldn't have been necessary and just would have gotten in the way. However, while dicking around with my console, I definitely sysNAND bricked. I can boot payloads, but not a home menu.

I quite literally have nobody to send me one of my external hard drives. No family (they live hundreds of miles from my home) or close friends that have a key to my home. This would allow me to fix my console and save my smartphone battery. It would also help stave off the fucking incessant boredom that comes from not even being able to support your own weight while sitting up.

I'm seriously asking if this is just impossible, or just too hard to be worth it. I have a laptop, lots of time, plenty of patience, and no friggin hope of leaving this shithole hospital for at least six months.

Please help me out and say it's possible, or at least break my heart gently.

After looking at my 3DS backup contents on my laptop, I DO have the OTP.bin file as well as a backup of my SD card after blowing away emuNAND. However, I do not have a copy of any NAND, whether it is emu or sys.

Can I do this somehow? I legit made this and a Reddit account with the same name just to ask this question because I was wondering the same thing as OP and I would love to have something else to do than play on my severely underpowered Galaxy S4 and watch the same fucking 12 channels all damn day.

Thanks a million in advance, guys.

Completely off topic and I'm sorry, but, have you considered learning to play bridge? I know someone who is a quadriplegic paralysed from the neck down caused by a mountain biking accident, he was a builder and very athletic and when it happened he thought he was going to go batshit crazy since he couldn't work anymore or do ANY of his previous hobbies but then he discovered bridge. He can play online whenever he wants and when he plays in tournaments either his wife holds the cards for him or the tournament organisers pay a caddy if his wife isn't available. You wouldn't need that of course since you have use of your upper body. The game provides infinite puzzles and mental stimulation, and in every hand there is an appropriate challenge for your skill level, the better you get, the deeper you can see into it. And also the people are really cool. They are not the typical Star Trek nerds with bad BO and no social skills, they are intelligent nerds with excellent senses of humour, they like board games and video games, and are incredibly welcoming (we all like it when someone shows an interest in learning to play and we don't let them go lol). You might think of bridge as an old person's game, and it's true that most people that play are old. But it's the younger people that actually win. (The old people are like the ten year olds playing Pokemon - there's loads of them but it's the people in their teens, 20s and 30s who compete in tournaments). And did I mention that if you turn out to have a talent and get really good, you can play professionally? You play as a team of two, and everyone wants to play with someone better than them so they can do well and learn a lot, so if you have money you can make that happen by paying the pros to play with you. I know a guy on a regular six figure income because his rich partner wants him to always be available for any tournament, it gives him first dibs.
If you want to learn, there's a good little introductory program at bridgebase.com, there's a link near the bottom left that says "learn to play program" or something like that.
BTW if I was told I had to quit bridge or video games, I would definitely quit video games ... playing bridge is like having infinite video games plus awesome friends

 

[dudemo]

I both know how, and enjoy Bridge, so thanks for that! I've been playing a lot of Euchre and Spades online, but I never considered bridge! Guess it's time to practice up!

Also, don't feel bad about me guys. The accident was exactly that... An accident. I could be dead, or worse... I could have killed someone! As it was, I got lucky that nothing like that happened. I simply fell asleep at the wheel on the interstate and rolled my 2006 Chevy Colorado in the ditch and destroyed my spine in the process. Nobody to blame but myself.

 

[dudemo]

Ok, so I took my time reading and rereading the guide that @LinkSoraZelda posted and downloaded all the necessary files. I was pretty sure that I understood what needed to be done, and @Plailect outlined it very coherently, concisely, and accurately. I felt ready to do this!

Then, just as I was about to get started, my least favorite person in the whole entire world showed up. The physical therapy masochist lady. Or as I've dubbed her (to general laughter on her part, she really is pretty cool), the "One More Time Liar". (For her unwavering repetitive mantra of "One more time, Wadude" even though we both know she is lying and I'll end up doing it ten more times). So that put me off the project for a few, as usually I'm so friggin mad and exhausted that all I want to do is stew in hatred, self loathing, pity, and sleep.

Woke up around noon and was in a better mood. So I decided to give it a go. Sure enough, the CTRansfer went off without a hitch! Proceeded to back up NANDmin and verified it against the proper NAND sized and came up short by a few hundred megabytes. Unsure why, I trashed it and made another one. Again, about 220MB shy of the proper size. Trashed that one and did it again. Third time's the charm, I guess, because it matched the Samsung NAND! So I finished the rest of the guide out and put my SD card back in and pushed Start in Decrypt9 to reboot. It wasn't until I SAW THE HOME SCREEN SETUP WIZARD that I realized I was holding my breath and needed oxygen lol. Went through that and actually got to my home screen, and I'll admit... I nearly peed myself I was so happy! (This isn't possible due to the catheter I have, but you get the point.)

So, I now have my o3DS booted and sitting at the home screen. I still have A9LH because when I remove the SD card, the console will not boot. And everything is gone that I had. I'm ok with this. I'm going to be stuck on 9.2 for a while though, because I have no wireless access point to connect to to update it to 11. This doesn't bother me, as I cannot play online anyway. All of my save files are still there. They're still in the proper folder, which leads me to believe that if I reinstalled those games from some crappy ISO site, I could even pick up where I left off!

Thank you all so very very much for helping me restore my 3DS to a usable state when I had all but given up hope until I get back home. If I could buy you guys cookies, I totally would as long as they aren't the horrid oatmeal ones this hospital serves. They don't even have raisins...

@Quantumcat I hope to see you around some Bridge sites, if you play. If not, thank you for the super suggestion for helping me stave off boredom!

 

[Quantumcat]

@Quantumcat I hope to see you around some Bridge sites, if you play. If not, thank you for the super suggestion for helping me stave off boredom!

No problem, unsurprisingly I am Quantumcat on BBO also :-) Glad you got your console working!!!! How long will you be in hospital for? If it's a long time maybe we can all send you SD cards with a couple of .cia files on them.