Hardware n3ds sporadic issues

[Myvesdin]

Hello guys

I got a strange issue with my newly acquired dual-ips new 3ds XL.

Often it wont start at all, but when it does start it crashes after 5-10min with a frozen picture and then shuts down.
When it doesnt want to turn on, the blue LED lights up shortly when then goes off again after 1s and nothing happens.
No popping sound is heard

The problem exists with or without the SD card installed, which is a 128Gb Samsung and I also already tested it fully with h2testw.
I also tried a different battery and it also doesnt change anything if the 3ds is on the charger or not.

What else could I try to fix it?

Thanks for everything in forward

 

[Myvesdin]

small update
It ran for 1hr without any issues but as soon as I picked it up / the hinge started moving it crashed again.

Is there a known problem regarding the ribbons in the hinge?

 

[IC_]

By "crash" you mean it just shuts off instantly, or the image freezes and then you have to hold the power button to forcefully shut it down? If there was a problem with the ribbons connecting the top part it would probably just shut off instantly
If the image and the entire system just freeze or something else happens then I'm not sure what the problem is but it could be internal damage on the motherboard that causes it to stop functioning properly when there's movement/vibrations

 

[Myvesdin]

By "crash" you mean it just shuts off instantly, or the image freezes and then you have to hold the power button to forcefully shut it down? If there was a problem with the ribbons connecting the top part it would probably just shut off instantly
If the image and the entire system just freeze or something else happens then I'm not sure what the problem is but it could be internal damage on the motherboard that causes it to stop functioning properly when there's movement/vibrations

Yep, the image freezes and you have to hold the power button

 

[IC_]

Yep, the image freezes and you have to hold the power button

Then it is probably some problem with the motherboard like I said in my previous post, you could try things like reconnecting all cables and components but if that doesn't do anything then I don't think there's anything you can do except replacing the motherboard

 

[Myvesdin]

Ok, so lets say I changed the motherboard.

If I recall correctly I would need a correct HWCAL file to tell the motherboard that it is using 2 IPS panels?
How would I do that, especially if the original MoBo isnt working anymore?

 

[IC_]

You can try to boot into godmode9 and extract those files before it freezes/crashes
I don't know much about the HWCAL files but @TurdPooCharger does and probably has a solution

 

[TurdPooCharger]

@Myvesdin, do you have a spare microSD card? Preferably small sized like 4 GB?

 

[Myvesdin]

@Myvesdin, do you have a spare microSD card? Preferably small sized like 4 GB?

currently I only got a 64GB or 128GB one, both empty with FAT32 as a filesystem

But I saved the "essential.exefs" and sysnand from the old system if thats helpful for this?

 

[TurdPooCharger]

currently I only got a 64GB or 128GB one, both empty with FAT32 as a filesystem

But I saved the "essential.exefs" and sysnand from the old system if thats helpful for this?

I suggest creating an EmuNAND on a spare microSD, CTRTransfer on that EmuNAND, and then check if the n3DS runs stable on it with that test setup.

Read about fatsocat and his n3DS that was found to have a bad eMMC (NAND chip).

• Am exeption occurred for N3DS CFW (conversation from posts #9–25)

It's recommended you own a ntrboot compatible DS flashcart if you decide to try the eMMC Status Checker.

 

[Myvesdin]

I suggest creating an EmuNAND on a spare microSD, CTRTransfer on that EmuNAND, and then check if the n3DS runs stable on it with that test setup.

Read about fatsocat and his n3DS that was found to have a bad eMMC (NAND chip).

• Am exeption occurred for N3DS CFW (conversation from posts #9–25)

It's recommended you own a ntrboot compatible DS flashcart if you decide to try the eMMC Status Checker.

I hope you dont mean on the current setup because that still gets the short blue light regardless of wether a sd card is installed or not?

 

[TurdPooCharger]

I hope you dont mean on the current setup because that still gets the short blue light regardless of wether a sd card is installed or not?

I'm not sure if your n3DS has a bad motherboard. It could be the flex cables are what needs to be replaced since you mentioned it crashes the moment the hinges are moved.

If the cables are bad, you would have lost in your gamble buying a replacement n3DS motherboard. Those boards are very rare and expensive.

***

Not having a ntrboot flashcart makes it risky to test the motherboard for a faulty eMMC. To get around the risk, you can indirectly test or check the SysNAND by comparing this against an EmuNAND.

Creating an EmuNAND and running CTRTransfer on that EmuNAND could give some insight whether or not your n3DS has a semi-bricked 3DS firmware, or that the n3DS is salvageable by migrating to EmuNAND. I was hoping that by providing the example of fatsocat's n3DS, it would be easier for you to follow and try the things he's done.

If you're not sure what an EmuNAND is, it's like cloning a computer setup from one hard drive onto another hard drive.

For the 3DS, that main hard drive (eMMC) is found on the motherboard; the second hard drive is the SD card.

***

Does the n3DS crashes in other firmware modes like while using GodMode9, playing DS or DSiWare games, or playing Game Boy Advance Virtual Console (CIA injections made in NSUI)?