Hacking Is OTPless A9LH Safe?

[nechigawara]

It doesn't matter where it comes from, anyone who can do basic math should be able to see that it is incorrect. 0.0065% is 13/200,000. I don't know if there are 13 confirmed bricks (though 14 people have indicated on the poll that they were bricked by it) but there's no bloody way that 200,000 people have used the OTPless installation. It hasn't been around all that long.

May be coming from OTPless Test Run? Since @Aurora Wright ask people to do simulating run not long ago.
It's not actual OTPless install but simulation, runing on the loop.

 

[Angell]

then reading all this theard, its safe use the safea9lhinstaller or downgrade to 2.1 and install the arm9loaderhax like a old3ds?

 

[astrangeone]

Just did another successful OTPless downgrade today. Pretty smooth, except for the fact that system transfer did not want to work the first time.

Tried out the newest SafeA9LHInstaller today, and it doesn't show anything on screen before. Just press select and install it.

 

[linuxares]

Just did another successful OTPless downgrade today. Pretty smooth, except for the fact that system transfer did not want to work the first time.

Tried out the newest SafeA9LHInstaller today, and it doesn't show anything on screen before. Just press select and install it.

I would suggest rerun SafeA9LHInstaller until you can see the screen. Also had blackscreen at first and then retried and I got an image.

 

[astrangeone]

I would suggest rerun SafeA9LHInstaller until you can see the screen. Also had blackscreen at first and then retried and I got an image.

It worked the first time, just injected H&S with FBI and now I have the perfect system.

 

[WillWire]

It worked for me also.
New3ds Metalic.
Downgrade from 9.8 and then full process. I had a couple of issues. First was a downgrade finished only partially.
However there were some issues for me with Guide. There is information that i need to delete Home Screen Data. After this step i had a problem with homebrew channel not starting on exploit. So i skip this part. And luckily now i`m on Luma.
Thank You!! Now i`m planning to get a r4i for a full feature list. So now i have New3ds + 64gb card formatted into FAT using a Gui and soon i will have R4i to transfer all of my roms from my old NDS Lite.

 

[KytuzuEX]

So... I kinda prefer be with the Plailect's guide instead; CTR Transfer

 

[Quantumcat]

My sysnand and emunand home screens look completely different, and I also double check the firmware version displayed in settings even if I launch it from emunand, there's no way I'm going to update it.

There's several ways to be on sysNAND in System Settings without seeing a different home screen. Many options in Settings reboot the console and you may not realise.

 

[upfromtheskies]

There's several ways to be on sysNAND in System Settings without seeing a different home screen. Many options in Settings reboot the console and you may not realise.

I know, I've had it happen, which is why I always double check the firmware version even if I've loaded it from emunand, and if it appears to reboot while I'm in system settings I shut down and start over. I'm OCD about making sure I don't update my sysnand

 

[The Catboy]

sorry but it just irks me when people arbirltrarily pick a cause to support their beliefs, I too have fixed a few of the otpless bricks and all of them were using legit, decent branded cards, formatted properly with proper copies of safea9lhinstaller and running the same installer a second time worked fine do the files weren't corrupted, how many did you confirm were using dodgy or fake SD cards for you to assert that they definitely the issue? because of all the people who have came forward I haven't seen any suggest they were using a crap SD card

see its fine to clarify the risks are minimal, but the same thing happened with the old gateway 2.0b2 bricks with most of gbatemp saying "urgh its crap SD cards" "the user is probably lying" or "it was probably a completely unrelated brick because your console is rubbish you big noob!" just because the bricks don't happen to everyone instantly doesn't mean they aren't real or that they are caused by the users specifically

there is no point painting the process as 100% safe because it's not and it never will be it's better for people to understand the risks so they take appropriate precaution's and make nand backups etc, as we seen the other day people start to skip them when they are led to believe it's 100% safe and that can backfire worse than a simple brick

The thing is, I am going by what I've been observing on the threads. The vast majority of bricks related to this method are either human error, SD issues, or really just unknown.
But it's still safe to say that the method really shouldn't be considered "unsafe" as the brick rates are extremely low. A lot lower than the 2.1 Downgrade method.
I think what's really worrying people is how sensationalized the threads become when a brick happens with the OTPLess method.
For example, look at this thread's title
https://gbatemp.net/threads/new3ds-safea9lhinstaller-brick-yes-need-help-about-hardmod.450380/
It's over dramatic and over the top. There's no reason to make such an excited title.

 

[nechigawara]

then reading all this theard, its safe use the safea9lhinstaller or downgrade to 2.1 and install the arm9loaderhax like a old3ds?

If you want 100% safe, no, both of them have a chance of bricking your system.
OTPless can brick by installing, while 2.1 downgrade can brick when something unexpect happend while downgrade.
Messing with NAND always has a chance of bricking your system, include official update one.

 

[yashar13]

I did it once OTPless with success


Sent from my iPhone 7 using Tapatalk

 

[gamesquest1]

The thing is, I am going by what I've been observing on the threads. The vast majority of bricks related to this method are either human error, SD issues, or really just unknown.
But it's still safe to say that the method really shouldn't be considered "unsafe" as the brick rates are extremely low. A lot lower than the 2.1 Downgrade method.
I think what's really worrying people is how sensationalized the threads become when a brick happens with the OTPLess method.
For example, look at this thread's title
https://gbatemp.net/threads/new3ds-safea9lhinstaller-brick-yes-need-help-about-hardmod.450380/
It's over dramatic and over the top. There's no reason to make such an excited title.

well it's probably to differentiate from the usual "a9lh bricked! !!!!"......."nevermind I didn't have arm9loaderhax.bin on root"

those threads actually do serve a purpose to remind everyone that it's not 100% safe so not to skip making nand backups, no matter how small the risk it's important people are still aware that the risk is real and not just some 1:100000000000 disclaimer warning that never actually happens ever

 

[animex2k9]

OTPless from ReiNand CFW successfully. You just have to tell your N3DS/3DS that everything will be okay and keep it calm, so that it will not have any problem after the operation which can cause its death. Trust me, I just did that and everything went buttery smooth.

 

[The Catboy]

well it's probably to differentiate from the usual "a9lh bricked! !!!!"......."nevermind I didn't have arm9loaderhax.bin on root"

those threads actually do serve a purpose to remind everyone that it's not 100% safe so not to skip making nand backups, no matter how small the risk it's important people are still aware that the risk is real and not just some 1:100000000000 disclaimer warning that never actually happens ever

Those kinds of innocent threads are my favorite ones.
Well of course you should always backup your NAND. Backup everything! This could easily be a 100% success with no bricks recorded and I would still recommend doing a backup first.

 

[gamesquest1]

Those kinds of innocent threads are my favorite ones.
Well of course you should always backup your NAND. Backup everything! This could easily be a 100% success with no bricks recorded and I would still recommend doing a backup first.

yeah but those threads are sensationalized more than someone who has actually genuinely bricked rather than just been stupid and not read the guide properly, if anything it's the cry wolf guys blowing the situation up as people see brick this brick that every day from people who simply cannot read, while your criticize someone for using it in the correct context because you want to hide all the real bricks so nobody is scared of otpless

 

[The Catboy]

yeah but those threads are sensationalized more than someone who has actually genuinely bricked rather than just been stupid and not read the guide properly, if anything it's the cry wolf guys blowing the situation up as people see brick this brick that every day from people who simply cannot read, while your criticize someone for using it in the correct context because you want to hide all the real bricks so nobody is scared of otpless

I don't want to hide the bricks, but point out that it's extremely unlikely and thus far most bricks seem to have a reason. There are still the unknowns that should be taken seriously. But that doesn't mean the OTPLess method is unsafe, it has risks, but that doesn't make it unsafe.
I am trying to discourage calling a method "unsafe," when it's already been shown to be safer than the previous method.

 

[gamesquest1]

I don't want to hide the bricks, but point out that it's extremely unlikely and thus far most bricks seem to have a reason. There are still the unknowns that should be taken seriously. But that doesn't mean the OTPLess method is unsafe, it has risks, but that doesn't make it unsafe.
I am trying to discourage calling a method "unsafe," when it's already been shown to be safer than the previous method.

as I mentioned , feel free to point out that it's very very very very unlikely to brick, but it can and does fail sometimes and even if your follow every single step to the letter

though with any luck the new latest version may avoid the issue, but we will have to wait and see as so far the brick rate has been about 1-2 every few weeks, but I imagine new installs are slowing down at this point anyway

 

[The Catboy]

as I mentioned , feel free to point out that it's very very very very unlikely to brick, but it can and does fail sometimes and even if your follow every single step to the letter

though with any luck the new latest version may avoid the issue, but we will have to wait and see as so far the brick rate has been about 1-2 every few weeks, but I imagine new installs are slowing down at this point anyway

I will be setting up my new3DS with the OTPLess method this weekend.

 

[KytuzuEX]

Does this OTPless method is in the Plailect's guide?