Hacking HELP! Hard broken 3ds problem

[Seydou]

So about a year and a half ago I decided to put a custom firmware on my 3ds, but it was already on a latter version, so the only thing I could put was the homebrew channel, which is what I did. But some months later, it became possible to downgrade your 3ds to older versions in order to put a cfw on it! And after doing so, I was back on version 2.xx.
However, as I decided to finally put a cfw on it, my little brother UPDATED my 3ds (because he thought I just wasn't up to date, he's a nice guy no worries there) and surprise: My 3ds turns on now, but only with a black screen and the battery light. Forever. AND my 3ds sd card is erased now, and I have no backups of course..
Is it over? Isn't there really anything I can do to get my 3ds back? Thank you!m..

 

[Uumas]

So about a year and a half ago I decided to put a custom firmware on my 3ds, but it was already on a latter version, so the only thing I could put was the homebrew channel, which is what I did. But some months later, it became possible to downgrade your 3ds to older versions in order to put a cfw on it! And after doing so, I was back on version 2.xx.
However, as I decided to finally put a cfw on it, my little brother UPDATED my 3ds (because he thought I just wasn't up to date, he's a nice guy no worries there) and surprise: My 3ds turns on now, but only with a black screen and the battery light. Forever. AND my 3ds sd card is erased now, and I have no backups of course..
Is it over? Isn't there really anything I can do to get my 3ds back? Thank you!m..

What guide did you follow and when? How far did you get in the guide?

 

[Seydou]

What guide did you follow and when? How far did you get in the guide?

Oh well it was a looong time ago, i don't know if I quite remember.. it was a youtube video though, and I remember using the homebrew launcher and a cmd-like screen. I also remember that the guy clearly said NOT to update the console back afterwards. Is there anything that I can do?

 

[Uumas]

Try getting arm9loaderhax.bin from the Luma 7.0.5 archive here and put it in the root of your SD card: https://github.com/AuroraWright/Luma3DS/releases/ Does it boot?

 

[Seydou]

Try getting arm9loaderhax.bin from the Luma 7.0.5 archive here and put it in the root of your SD card:

Okay I'm going to try that now.. Just so you know my sd card is completely erased, so i just took a new one with nothing in it. May it still work?

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No, it's not working.. As i said, I have nothing on my sd card I think my 3ds is dead right?

 

[Uumas]

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No, it's not working.. As i said, I have nothing on my sd card I think my 3ds is dead right?

So you tried downloading it and putting in your SD card? Then try boot.firm from Luma 7.1 and 9.0. If that doesn't help please answer the following:
1. Is it a new or old 3ds?
2. When it turns on it shows the blue light and it stays on right?
3. Do you remember running any of the following: Hourglass9, GodMode9, FBI
4. Does anything happen if you hold select while booting?
5. Does this guide look familiar: https://3ds.hacks.guide

 

[Seydou]

So you tried downloading it and putting in your SD card? Then try boot.firm from Luma 7.1 and 9.0. If that doesn't help please answer the following:
1. Is it a new or old 3ds?
2. When it turns on it shows the blue light and it stays on right?
3. Do you remember running any of the following: Hourglass9, GodMode9, FBI
4. Does anything happen if you hold select while booting?
5. Does this guide look familiar:

Do I only put these files you said on my root (boot.firm) or some other things from the download folder? Thanks alot by the way, I'm really glad to have some help here Going to try it now

 

[Lacius]

@Seydou
We don't know what you have installed, so we're having you check by putting different iterations of Luma3DS onto your SD card and seeing if the 3DS boots. Follow these steps in order:

1. Download this.
2. Put arm9loaderhax.bin onto the root of your SD card.
3. Put the SD card back into your 3DS.
4. Turn on your 3DS while holding Select.

What happens?

 

[Seydou]

So you tried downloading it and putting in your SD card? Then try boot.firm from Luma 7.1 and 9.0. If that doesn't help please answer the following:
1. Is it a new or old 3ds?
2. When it turns on it shows the blue light and it stays on right?
3. Do you remember running any of the following: Hourglass9, GodMode9, FBI
4. Does anything happen if you hold select while booting?
5. Does this guide look familiar:

Okay so it didn't work, so i'm going to tell you what I know:

- I have nothing on my sd card, which means no 3ds Folder, no serial number folder, no themes, nothing. It's just empty, besides the occasional boot.firm i put in
- It is a new 3ds system.
-When it turns on, it does show the blue light and it stays on until i power it down by holding the power button. The screen is completely black though
-Nothing seems to work while I hold select while booting. I only tried it with the boot.firm from Luma 7.1 though.
-I don't think this guide was used while downgrading.

Thank you!

 

[Lacius]

Okay so it didn't work, so i'm going to tell you what I know:

- I have nothing on my sd card, which means no 3ds Folder, no serial number folder, no themes, nothing. It's just empty, besides the occasional boot.firm i put in
- It is a new 3ds system.
-When it turns on, it does show the blue light and it stays on until i power it down by holding the power button. The screen is completely black though
-Nothing seems to work while I hold select while booting. I only tried it with the boot.firm from Luma 7.1 though.
-I don't think this guide was used while downgrading.

Thank you!

If you are using a N3DS, which I suspect you are, then you bricked your console when you updated from 2.1. If you have A9LH installed, which I have a feeling you do, then you should be able to use that to recover from the brick. Please see my above post and follow the steps for me.

 

[Seydou]

If you are using a N3DS, which I suspect you are, then you bricked your console when you updated from 2.1. If you have A9LH installed, which I have a feeling you do, then you should be able to use that to recover from the brick. Please see my above post and follow the steps for me.

Yes I might have A9LH, but unfortunately it was so long ago that i don't remember the names at all.. I didn't have any custom firmware yet, only watched a guide on how to downgrade the 3ds, which worked! Before everything didn't.. No, booting while holding select is not working The light stays on, so it is bricked but I have a feeling that it can be recovered..

 

[Lacius]

Yes I might have A9LH, but unfortunately it was so long ago that i don't remember the names at all.. I didn't have any custom firmware yet, only watched a guide on how to downgrade the 3ds, which worked! Before everything didn't.. No, booting while holding select is not working The light stays on, so it is bricked but I have a feeling that it can be recovered..

Please follow my steps above. Did you put arm9loaderhax.bin onto your SD card first? If you are not going to do that, I cannot help you.

 

[Seydou]

Please follow my steps above. Did you put arm9loaderhax.bin onto your SD card first? If you are not going to do that, I cannot help you.

Yes I did! I put the arm9loaderhax.bin file on my sd card root, then tried powering the console while holding select. The black screen stays on.. Don't I need any other files? like my 3ds number file or so? because it is completly empty..

 

[Lacius]

Yes I did! I put the arm9loaderhax.bin file on my sd card root, then tried powering the console while holding select. The black screen stays on.. Don't I need any other files? like my 3ds number file or so? because it is completly empty..

It sounds like you downgraded to 2.1, but you stopped after that and didn't install A9LH. After that, you apparently updated and bricked the N3DS. If that's the case, then you need to install B9S to be able to fix the brick. Do you have a DS flashcart?

 

[Seydou]

It sounds like you downgraded to 2.1, but you stopped after that and didn't install A9LH. After that, you apparently updated and bricked the N3DS. If that's the case, then you need to install B9S to be able to fix the brick. Do you have a DS flashcart?

Yes I did nothing after downgrading before the incident! Mm well yes I have a R4 somewhere, though I'm not sure where. What would I need to do? Thanks again!

 

[Lacius]

Yes I did nothing after downgrading before the incident! Mm well yes I have a R4 somewhere, though I'm not sure where. What would I need to do? Thanks again!

Aside from performing a hardmod, the only way for you to unbrick your 3DS is to follow this guide to install B9S using a compatible DS flashcart. You should probably buy one that's pre-flashed, since your 3DS is unusable.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

If you are using a N3DS, which I suspect you are, then you bricked your console when you updated from 2.1. If you have A9LH installed, which I have a feeling you do, then you should be able to use that to recover from the brick. Please see my above post and follow the steps for me.

It's likely he updated from 2.1 without CFW active (Luma could not boot 2.1 at the time, not sure it can even now), so A9LH would have been overwritten.

Yes I did nothing after downgrading before the incident! Mm well yes I have a R4 somewhere, though I'm not sure where. What would I need to do? Thanks again!

That R4 might not work for ntrboot, it depends on what model R4 as there are hundreds and only a handful will work, you would also need a working DS(i) or 3DS to install ntrboot onto the cart which can then be used to boot a special recovery mode someone discovered by accident, and along with an exploit allowing us to sign our own .firm payloads, you can run any ARM9 kernel homebrew from there.
This one will definitely work though and has a switch to switch between regular usage and ntrboot, so it doesn't need to be flashed: https://www.nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=575

Your 3DS is definitely fixable with this method, since it's still a software brick. Every software brick is fixable at this point. Even a NAND completely overwritten with garbage data is fixable, though I don't think there are easy to use tools for partitioning the NAND and creating new file systems.

 

[Lacius]

It's likely he updated from 2.1 without CFW active (Luma could not boot 2.1 at the time, not sure it can even now), so A9LH would have been overwritten.

It's near impossible for A9LH to be overwritten during a system update, since it's nearly impossible to boot OFW using public tools after installing A9LH or B9S. In other words, he either wasn't able to boot the system after installing A9LH, or he didn't have A9LH installed when he updated.

Regardless, we figured out that A9LH is not installed by attempting to boot the configuration settings for the A9LH version of Luma3DS.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It's near impossible for A9LH to be overwritten during a system update, since it's nearly impossible to boot OFW using public tools after installing A9LH or B9S. In other words, he either wasn't able to boot the system after installing A9LH, or he didn't have A9LH installed when he updated.

Regardless, we figured out that A9LH is not installed by attempting to boot the configuration settings for the A9LH version of Luma3DS.

Sounded from OP's post like it was updated in the middle of the CFW install process, likely before even installing A9LH. The timing couldn't possibly have been any worse.

 

[Lacius]

Sounded from OP's post like it was updated in the middle of the CFW install process, likely before even installing A9LH. The timing couldn't possibly have been any worse.

That appears to be what happened, yes.