Hacking HELP - Bricked New 3Ds XL? :(

[PatiB87]

Hey,

HELP plz!
I cannot boot my New 3DS XL anymore! I had luma3ds on there (on NAND, afair...?) and now I came back to the device, tried to turn it on and what happens is:
- blue light turns on
- after 3-4 seconds, the speakers make a pop-noise, the screen seems to flicker a tiny bit and thats it....

I also tried with the AC plugged in, no difference.

What is also weird is: when I hold start while i turn the system on, the blue light just turns on for 1/2 - 1s and turns off again without a pop from the speakers...

Now what? This is hitting me hard...

Patrick

 

[PatiB87]

Not getting anything when holding "start" while turning on means Godmode9 is broken, right?

 

[Deleted User]

Probably a fuse broke. Or may be that it can't boot up without an SD card.

 

[PatiB87]

With or without SD card doesn't matter.

Is this issue with the popping noise not a known issue? Maybe someone knows where it comes from?

 

[Deleted User]

I found this online, not sure if it will help.
https://en-americas-support.nintend...a-crackling-or-popping-sound,-then-powers-off

 

[PatiB87]

:/ This basically says the 3Ds is broken, right?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Popping noise comes when a hardware component cannot be found. This can happen after dropping (physical damage), water damage or by wear and tear – mostly the ribbon cables that go to the upper screen assembly.

I have this on one of my O3DSXL: Fully opening the 3DS makes the upper screen go maximum brightness regardless of the settings and/or results in random shutoff with popping noise. There is something wrong with some ribbon cable and it only works when opened up to slightly more than 90°.

Open the N3DSXL and check the connectors: Is any cable is lose and/or obviously damaged/torn? Sadly not every problem can be seen by just looking at this. If the problem comes from the upper screen assembly: Repair is a lot of work and tricky.

Be careful:

• Use the correct screwdriver because the screws are quite tight and easy to strip which can make opening harder or next to impossible.
• Some connectors have retaining flaps to open – other not. Trying to open the latter ones will break the connectors. Refer to [ifixit.com] for instructions and pictures.

 

[CMDreamer]

Not a rule, but that cracking noise is a symptom of an unseated flex cable on the board.

 

[teamlocust]

Replace boot.firm as your memory card is corrupted.

 

[PatiB87]

Replacing boot.firm didnt help..

I fear its a cable-connector-issue! F***...

 

[SCOTT0852]

Replacing boot.firm won't help in any way, this is a hardware issue. Nothing you can do but try sending it in to Nintendo.

 

[PatiB87]

I had boot9strap on my 3Ds installed.
Is there maybe a way to use it to find out what is going on?
Maybe it gives me some debug info or something? Logs a file to the sd card the moment the boot fails? Anything like that?

Fact is: "thanks" to boot9strap, the booting aborts differently when I hold start while turning it on.

 

[SCOTT0852]

Maybe it gives me some debug info or something? Logs a file to the sd card the moment the boot fails? Anything like that?

Nope, it's a little hard to do that when the hardware is too dead to do that anyway.

"thanks" to boot9strap, the booting aborts differently when I hold start while turning it on.

Boot9Strap has nothing to do with that, it's likely just Luma loading a payload and that payload failing since again, your console's hardware isn't in great shape.

 

[PatiB87]

Well but from what I read, the 3Ds already shows this behavior when only the SPEAKER module cable is faulty... I don't assume the speakers (or many other things which already provoke this reaction) would be needed for a self-test / hw-diagnosis?

Boot9Strap has nothing to do with that, it's likely just Luma loading a payload and that payload failing since again, your console's hardware isn't in great shape.

Well then let it be Luma3ds, which ever it is, some of the homebrew/custom-firmware code could have the possibility to check the hw as well and write the result of this to the SD before the "original" hw check runs and fails without any feedback.

Or in other words: I cannot believe that ripping an audio cable will ALWAYS result in the console not booting without ANY indication of what is wrong with it?!

 

[antiNT]

What if you hold SELECT ?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Well but from what I read, the 3Ds already shows this behavior when only the SPEAKER module cable is faulty... I don't assume the speakers (or many other things which already provoke this reaction) would be needed for a self-test / hw-diagnosis?


Well then let it be Luma3ds, which ever it is, some of the homebrew/custom-firmware code could have the possibility to check the hw as well and write the result of this to the SD before the "original" hw check runs and fails without any feedback.

Or in other words: I cannot believe that ripping an audio cable will ALWAYS result in the console not booting without ANY indication of what is wrong with it?!

Believe it or not: The 3DS systems have a very poor fault tolerance. If any component is not found, the console might shut off on hardware level with popping noise or show other kind of weird behavior – even if the missing component is not needed to boot – in theory. I fully agree with you: The behavior of damaged 3DS systems is ridiculous and not meaningful.

Spoiler: Example

N3DSXL is known to boot into double black screen (often Home Menu background music can be heard) in case of faulty camera module. In this case recovery mode (and GodMode9) work normally. Disconnecting the camera altogether allows normal usage for anything that does not need the camera.

The lack of fault tolerance and debug messages makes troubleshooting a lot harder – in the worst case if nothing looks damaged – changing one component after another until the faulty part is identified. This is a risk of course… you might damage a second (donor) system or spare parts or the flimsy connectors on the motherboard. Replacing anything in the upper screen assembly– camera module, speaker/slider flex cable, LCD – is a pain. If you attempt this: Take your time, read the repair guides on ifixit and watch some videos. Never use much force and treat everything with utmost care.

If you cannot or do not want to attempt a repair yourself, I recommend contacting an independent repair shop and not sending it in to Nintendo as they tend to not react very friendly when getting consoles with signs of CFW. This example is about Nintendo of America but I doubt Nintendo of Europe is much more customer friendly on this topic (they are stubborn as a mule even if asking questions not involving CFW).

 

[PatiB87]

Is there a list of connectors on the New 3Ds XL Mainboard? So then maybe I can tell which ones are broken?

And might there also be a list which connectors are needed to boot? Maybe someone figured this out by careful trial and error with a working unit?

EDIT:
Ok, major breakthrough: I found a faulty connector and if I push down on it, the unit WORKS!!!
Now, I would like to know which connector this is (see previous post) and maybe how to fix it (anything from glue to soldering a new one?).

Trying to describe it: its the small, seemingly two-pin-one which goes over a wider one and is close to the analog-stick-connector.

EDIT2:
According to images from replacement guides on iFixit it is a connector of the lower screen. I assume its the backlight, since it only has two pins!

 

[KleinesSinchen]

It would be better if you upload a picture of your device and mark the faulty thing. This way somebody might be able to help you. When it comes to hardware repair like micro-soldering I'm the wrong contact person.

From your description you might mean the small connector where the cable is disconnected in this photo from the ifixit guide (small ribbon cable in the air above a big one)

Spoiler: picture from ifixit

I cannot really see if this goes behind the mainboard or to/through the hinge to the upper screen assembly. My guess would be behind the mainboard. Cables that go behind are:

• touch data
  
• lower LCD video
• lower LCD backlight

LCD Video is a big one and touch has four pins as far as I know. I can confirm – at least for an O3DSXL – it does not turn on when lower LCD backlight is disconnected.

Edit:
Sorry, I didn't see you added the idea of lower LCD backlight yourself since prepared my reply in LibreOffice while playing around with my O3DSXL. This is why my reply looks somewhat strange.