Hardware Is this possible? New 3ds xl

[Solarwave55561]

A a couple years ago my headphone jack port stopped working. But wait, let me tell you how it happened. I got Minecraft for the 3ds (wasn't worth it lol) and in order to play it, I needed a system update. After that update finished, I booted up Minecraft and plugged in my headphones... silence. I have tried many headphones and other troubleshooting methods up to this point and nothing has worked.

So, is it possible for an update to put my headphone jack input out of commission? And did I seriously just lose the ability to use headphones because of Minecraft?

 

[Kwyjor]

Please make the topic title you are creating descriptive, clearly reflecting the topic you are addressing. Do not make generic titles such as "Question", "I need help"

https://gbatemp.net/help/terms/

So, it it possible for an update to put my headphone jack input out of commission?

"Everything is theoretically impossible until it is done." -Robert A. Heinlein.

But in this case I suspect your hardware happened to fail by some coincidence, as it seems very unlikely that updating one piece of software should affect your entire system.

 

[Solarwave55561]

https://gbatemp.net/help/terms/

"Everything is theoretically impossible until it is done." -Robert A. Heinlein.

But in this case I suspect your hardware happened to fail by some coincidence, as it seems very unlikely that updating one piece of software should affect your entire system.

I wasn't updating Minecraft, I was updating the 3ds itself.

 

[Kwyjor]

Thank you for clarifying. Perhaps you could go into some detail regarding the "other troubleshooting methods" you have tried so far?

What is the current system version of your 3DS? Have you installed CFW?

 

[Solarwave55561]

Thank you for clarifying. Perhaps you could go into some detail regarding the "other troubleshooting methods" you have tried so far?

What is the current system version of your 3DS? Have you installed CFW

Sure thing! I tried a factory rest since it happened after I updated, I thought a factory reset could undo what the update did. I tried cleaning the port with alcohol and q-tip, blowing air in it, trying other headphone, and tried rotating the jack it to see if it could magically register audio.

The version I have is 17.50?

I did mod my 3ds last year with CFW. I was hoping that would fix my issue, but it didn't. Not surprising really.

 

[Kwyjor]

Apparently 3dsident can identify whether the system thinks you have headphones plugged in; what does that do?
https://github.com/joel16/3DSident/releases

 

[Solarwave55561]

Sure thing! I tried a factory rest since it happened after I updated, I thought a factory reset could undo what the update did. I tried cleaning the port with alcohol and q-tip, blowing air in it, trying other headphone, and tried rotating the jack it to see if it could magically register audio.

I did mod my 3ds last year with CFW. I was hoping that would fix my issue, but it didn't. Not surprising really.

Apparently 3dsident can identify whether the system thinks you have headphones plugged in; what does that do?
https://github.com/joel16/3DSident/releases

I know it can do that. I checked it and it doesn't say any is inserted when there is

 

[Kwyjor]

I know it can do that.

Well, if you tried that before, that would be useful information, wouldn't it..?

Apparently new versions of Luma have an option to force output through the headphone jack; have you looked at that?

 

[Solarwave55561]

Well, if you tried that before, that would be useful information, wouldn't it..?

Apparently new versions of Luma have an option to force output through the headphone jack; have you looked at that

Post automatically merged: Jun 26, 2025

Well, if you tried that before, that would be useful information, wouldn't it..?

Apparently new versions of Luma have an option to force output through the headphone jack; have you looked at th

I did it and it worked! Unfortunately, this trick doesn't apply to DS games as I play more of those. Do you know a work around? In the meantime, does this mean that update really is what caused my audio issue? Its like it inadvertently redirected all audio to my speakers at all times.

 

[Kwyjor]

In the meantime, does this mean that update really is what cause my issue?

At this point many people have updated their units over the years without problems, so this is very mysterious.

Have you tried fixing your NVRAM?
https://wiki.hacks.guide/wiki/3DS:Troubleshooting/Fix_NVRAM

 

[retrospect]

It's not unreasonable to consider that the 3DS firmware you have and the version of Luma you have could manifest this issue when paired together.

I haven't messed with my 3DS for a while, but I'm pretty sure I use an older version of Luma cos of issues with the newer versions. I'd suggest trying some older versions. I think there was a point where it just got worse, but I don't recall what that point was. I probably mentioned it on here though (and some other people here probably disagreed).

 

[Solarwave55561]

It's not unreasonable to consider that the 3DS firmware you have and the version of Luma you have could manifest this issue when paired together.

I haven't messed with my 3DS for a while, but I'm pretty sure I use an older version of Luma cos of issues with the newer versions. I'd suggest trying some older versions. I think there was a point where it just got worse, but I don't recall what that point was. I probably mentioned it on here though (and some other people here probably disagreed).

Could be, but this happened before I modded my 3ds. The audio issue happened in 2017 and I modded my 3ds last year. I don't think it has gotten worse as it's still the same as when it began in 2017.

Post automatically merged: Jun 29, 2025

At this point many people have updated their units over the years without problems, so this is very mysterious.

Have you tried fixing your NVRAM?
https://wiki.hacks.guide/wiki/3DS:Troubleshooting/Fix_NVRAM

Forgive me, but this won't delete any data will it? I looked at the guide and am a bit intimidated lol.

 

[Kwyjor]

It's not unreasonable to consider that the 3DS firmware you have and the version of Luma you have could manifest this issue when paired together.

There is nothing in Luma that would affect DS mode, however.

More to the point, if it was just a matter of Luma and a certain version of the firmware, then the problem would almost certainly be well-known at this point.

Forgive me, but this won't delete any data will it? I looked at the guide and am a bit intimidated lol.

It's not something that comes up very often. You know about as much as I do.

 

[Solarwave55561]

There is nothing in Luma that would affect DS mode, however.

More to the point, if it was just a matter of Luma and a certain version of the firmware, then the problem would almost certainly be well-known at this point.

It's not something that comes up very often. You know about as much as I do.

Yeah, you're probably right.

 

[Solarwave55561]

There is nothing in Luma that would affect DS mode, however.

More to the point, if it was just a matter of Luma and a certain version of the firmware, then the problem would almost certainly be well-known at this point.

It's not something that comes up very often. You know about as much as I do.

Hey, so I forgot to give an update.

So, I was able to temporarily fix it by going in to the Luma settings file(forgot the name) and forced override the audio from the speakers to headphone Jack. I can use headphones now, yay! Therefore, it really was the update that caused my audio to only play through speakers. Cause if my headphone port was damaged this method would not have worked. Unfortunately, this method doesn't work for TWL firmware (DS firmware), so am stuck playing DS games with the speakers. I made a request for this feature a couple months ago I the Twilight menu GitHub page, hopefully they're able to implement this feature. I also was able to do this method for AGB firmware(Gameboy firmware) too. One of the cons is this though is that I need to turn off the 3ds and load into a separate operating system through Godmod 9, so my GBA games on my homemenu are practically useless now if I want to use headphones.

 

[Kwyjor]

So, I was able to temporarily fix it by going in to the Luma settings file(forgot the name) and forced override the audio from the speakers to headphone Jack. I can use headphones now, yay!

You already wrote in your previous post that you could do that.

Therefore, it really was the update that caused my audio to only play through speakers.

This was also addressed above.

One of the cons is this though is that I need to turn off the 3ds and load into a separate operating system through Godmod 9

I presume you are referring to open_agb_firm. That's not really a "separate operating system".

open_agb_firm is in some ways preferable to virtual console injections as, instead of writing saveram data to the NAND (where it can only be accessed via Godmode9), it writes saveram data to the SD card.

 

[Solarwave55561]

You already wrote in your previous post that you could do that.

This was also addressed above.

I presume you are referring to open_agb_firm. That's not really a "separate operating system".

open_agb_firm is in some ways preferable to virtual console injections as, instead of writing saveram data to the NAND (where it can only be accessed via Godmode9), it writes saveram data to the SD card.

Oh wow, you are absolutely right! My brain completely wiped the memory of solving this the first time around.

Thats interesting, I didn't know that about open_agb_firm.