Hacking Gateway's Diagnostics might be one of the bricking causes

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Runehasa

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This is all thanks to the awesome work gamesquest1 and capturing his own system bricking using legit gateway hardware and software. It seems to have been narrowed down to running DIAGs under the gateway menu so he advises everyone to stay away from this completely. That is if you are brave enough to be running 2.0b2 to begin with

I am only creating this thread so the warning is a little more visable to the scene. For more information please visit the original thread

http://gbatemp.net/threads/gateway-brick-on-b2-caught-on-camera-finally-d.362305/
 

crazyace2011

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so what it narrows down to that using the diag will brick the system but using it normally is safe to do?
 

Foxi4

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Please do not spread misinformation. The video confirms that the diagnostics tool is likely to be one of the causes, but it doesn't conclusively show that Gateway firmware 2.0B2 is safe to use in any other circumstances. It may or may not brick your system and still isn't recommended to use, period. Not running the diagnostics tool might help, but it definitely isn't the go-to 100% surefire method of avoiding bricking.

I'm not entirely sure if this thread has any discussion value as a separate entity - the issue is being discussed in the thread you linked to in the OP and I honestly think that it might as well stay there so that the readers get the full extent of the information gathered.
 

crazyace2011

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there has been plenty of people that have been using it since it was released. but no one has said whether they have used the diag part of the card and if they did maybe once or twice its safe but dont abuse it. but to use it normally might be ok. cause using the diag part of the launcher.dat that detects the card and i bet that could be a part of the reason. just my opinion
 

Foxi4

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there has been plenty of people that have been using it since it was released. but no one has said whether they have used the diag part of the card and if they did maybe once or twice its safe but dont abuse it. but to use it normally might be ok. cause using the diag part of the launcher.dat that detects the card and i bet that could be a part of the reason. just my opinion
This is the equivalent of saying that eating posionous fish is alright if you cook them properly. It is alright, sure... until one day you just have poor luck and something goes terribly wrong. My honest opinion is that 2.0B2 should be avoided as a whole. Do not use software that can brick your system due to some not fully understood code or glitch, revert to safe firmwares, failing to do so is a risk you willingly take. The consequences are well-known, anyone using 2.0B2 does so at his or her own peril.
 

gamesquest1

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well i know there is never a 100% definite case, and i would suggest people use b1 if they want to be 100% sure, but statistically, with booting normally over 150 times over the past 2 weeks i had 0 bricks. when i started testing with diagnostics mode i bricked 4 times over about 15 boots
 
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Foxi4

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well i know there is never a 100% definite case, and i would suggest people use b1 if they want to be 100% sure, but statistically, with booting normally over 150 times over the past 2 weeks i had 0 bricks. when i started testing with diagnostics mode i bricked 4 times over about 15 boots
In that case the diagnostics tool is likely culprit, but we don't know if there are any others. There have been concerns about the system date, the creation/modification dates of the files, emuNAND - the diagnostics tool is just another problem among many. B2 is not safe, that's the point I'm trying to get across. Why risk it at all, y'know? I fully agree with what you're saying, moving back to B1 or even pre-beta firmwares is probably the best course of action here.
 

gamesquest1

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i did actually try modifying dates etc, ran the diagnostics on 25/12/13 system date and it still bricks, tried with no emunand and it still bricks, with all of these the gateway launcher date was still the original timestamp (23/12/2013), so it wasn't the time stamp causing the bug, also the MD5 as that still check out fine after the brick, as i said im 99% sure its down to diagnostics, one user who reported their brick also came in and confirmed they had indeed just ran the diagnostics mode before going into emunand...so its all pretty much tying in with my theory.....but as i said its impossible for me to "prove" it doesn't happen, no matter how many times i boot successfully
 

Foxi4

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i did actually try modifying dates etc, ran the diagnostics on 25/12/13 system date and it still bricks, tried with no emunand and it still bricks, with all of these the gateway launcher date was still the original timestamp (23/12/2013), so it wasn't the time stamp causing the bug, also the MD5 as that still check out fine after the brick, as i said im 99% sure its down to diagnostics, one user who reported their brick also came in and confirmed they had indeed just ran the diagnostics mode before going into emunand...so its all pretty much tying in with my theory.....but as i said its impossible for me to "prove" it doesn't happen, no matter how many times i boot successfully
Oh, trust me, I too think that the diagnostics tool is a very likely culprit considering your findings, which doesn't change the fact that we don't have access to the actual code, so we don't know if there are any other triggers, glitches of problems that might end up bricking the system. Your research is well-appreciated though and only goes to show that using 2.0B2, especially the diagnostics tool, is not a good idea. ;)
 

Qtis

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Since when running custom code on a closed gaming console is supposed to be 100% safe?

Especially a firmware marked as beta.

It's not 100% safe and can lead to problems as Foxi4 and many others have already mentioned. Adding more threads to the already vast amount of post relating to the subject will not make our easier to spot the problems in existence :/
 
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CraddaPoosta

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To throw my two cents in, and to offer my own personal experience in trying to force my 3DS to brick, I have intentionally powered my console completely off, booted into Gateway Mode, then repeated the process, a bare minimum of 200 times in the past month that I've owned a Gateway card.

I have never once run diagnostics, and I have used three different SD/microSDHC cards, in several different combinations. I've done the factory reset on my 3DS and completely uninstalled all things Gateway, then started all over again, and still never ran into any problems.

Based on gamesquest1's findings, I, personally, am convinced that it has to be the diagnostics mode that is causing the bricks.
 
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F417H

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Especially a firmware marked as beta.

It's not 100% safe and can lead to problems as Foxi4 and many others have already mentioned. Adding more threads to the already vast amount of post relating to the subject will not make our easier to spot the problems in existence :/



I understand you're whole 'Don't double-thread'... But surely this topic merits being stickied all the same? /most brick reports from legit GW users have used the Diag tool shortly before brick. Although none of us can say it's 100% the only thing bricking the devices in the code, surely if it's affecting /most people it deserves to be made known for people they stand a *higher* risk if they use the Diag.

As much as we here at GBATemp know 2.0b2 is not safe... Newcomers may not know of the dangers considering it's still up as the main FW on GW's site stating it's 100% safe to use.


Well done to gamesquest1 for finding this, it had been speculated on previously but no one has really been active on identifying the causes due to the effort of Pi and having to own additional hardware.
 
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cloud1250000

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By reading brick reports, reviewing evidence and using a healthy amount of common sense.
soo wiiubricker, if someday, the police go to your house, and found someone dead killed with a knife, the police will automatically blame you because you had knife in your kitchen?

A lot can happen and unless it's all clear well.. we can't accuse anyone.
 

Runehasa

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Regardless of it being the bricking code or not according to all of his tests he has shown a very high probability of bricking yourself if you run diagnostics even using legit hardware. The point of this thread is to warn people that it could be dangerous to do so. But hey take the advice or not
 

Foxi4

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By reading brick reports, reviewing evidence and using a healthy amount of common sense.
Just one question - is the diagnostic tool specific to the Gateway and unavailable on the clones? Because if that's the case then it doesn't explain clone bricks, which could mean that this is actually an unrelated glitch of the tool itself. Maybe it performes writes into NAND instead of reads for some reason? Who knows, who knows - it's in the realm of possibilities.
 

WiiUBricker

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soo wiiubricker, if someday, the police go to your house, and found someone dead killed with a knife, the police will automatically blame you because you had knife in your kitchen?

A lot can happen and unless it's all clear well.. we can't accuse anyone.
Well, that was a pretty bad analogy, but whatever. I apologize. You are probably right. The diagnostics test of the gateway firmware just happens by chance to reprogram the eMMC controller and set the NAND to 0 bytes. The code for this also just happens to be there by chance.
 
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