Hacking New 3Ds not turning on

Ace_Tony

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I have a problem with my New 3Ds when I try to turn it on it only has a black screen no sound or nothing but the blue led is on I charged it and doesn’t want to turn on I tried taking out the SD card and turn it on but doesn’t work I used the recovery mode but doesn’t work either any solution?
I did have Cfw a long time ago like 2 months but I uninstalled it and it has been working fine for 3 months but it suddenly didn’t want to work
 

Ace_Tony

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It still charges but the screen is still black completely black there’s no light on the screen the blue led turns on and I tried to remove the sd card and replace it with a new one also no sound
 

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No why because I did some research and found that another cause was the wifi chip or something but only found how to fix it on the old 3Ds consoles not the new ones (I have the new 3Ds ver.)
 
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No why because I did some research and found that another cause was the wifi chip or something but only found how to fix it on the old 3Ds consoles not the new ones (I have the new 3Ds ver.)
Is that a 'no', as in you carried the n3DS around in a protective hardcase?

Or 'no', you like to travel with the n3DS as-is in pants pocket or bare in bags?

Why this question matters is that you might have hardbricked the n3DS. Applying enough pressure or bending can flex the motherboard and break solder joints for the SMD components (ie, CPU/GPU/SoC, FCRAM, NAND, PMIC).

***

The WiFi module reseat trick only applies for [o2DS / o3DS / o3DSXL]. Nintendo wised up in the later models. The [ n3DS / n3DSXL / n2DSXL] have theirs baked on the motherboard.
 

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Oh yeah I did have it around with out the case and I’ll definitely try that later without pressuring the motherboard too much though
 
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Oh yeah I did have it around with out the case and I’ll definitely try that later without pressuring the motherboard too much though
I'm not sure if you understood what was meant in my last post. Your message seems like you interpreted the "pressuring the motherboard" part as DIY fix instructions.

Reiterating the explanation.

You might have physically killed your New 3DS the last time you put it in your backpack. Walking about with the backpack on your back could have smooshed the New 3DS against the backpack's fabric walls and others things that are inside the bag alongside the n3DS. The pressure from this smooshing bent the motherboard until those component chips cracked or their solder balls connecting them to the motherboard broke off.

Here's a picture of the n3DS motherboard.
Y1ygnxQWA54oCPbd.huge

Here's a picture of what solder balls look like.
Solder-Ball5-400x267.jpg

***

Here's an example of an New 3DS damaged by pressure from tight fitting pants.

***

To truly rule out if your n3DS is dead hardware-wise or if its firmware somehow softbricked itself during sleep mode, you can try eliciting a response by rehacking using the ntrboot method.

No response from ntrboot most likely means the SoC (ARM CPU) is brain dead.
 
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The Real Jdbye

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I'm not sure if you understood what was meant in my last post. Your message seems like you interpreted the "pressuring the motherboard" part as DIY fix instructions.

Reiterating the explanation.

You might have physically killed your New 3DS the last time you put it in your backpack. Walking about with the backpack on your back could have smooshed the New 3DS against the backpack's fabric walls and others things that are inside the bag alongside the n3DS. The pressure from this smooshing bent the motherboard until those component chips cracked or their solder balls connecting them to the motherboard broke off.

Here's a picture of the n3DS motherboard.
Y1ygnxQWA54oCPbd.huge

Here's a picture of what solder balls look like.
Solder-Ball5-400x267.jpg

***

Here's an example of an New 3DS damaged by pressure from tight fitting pants.

***

To truly rule out if your n3DS is dead hardware-wise or if its firmware somehow softbricked itself during sleep mode, you can try eliciting a response by rehacking using the ntrboot method.

No response from ntrboot most likely means the SoC (ARM CPU) is brain dead.
I think it's unlikely that you would be able to bend a 3DS that way, unless you shoved it in your bag in the opened position. It's solid like a brick (it probably helps that it's shaped like one) so...
 

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I think it's unlikely that you would be able to bend a 3DS that way, unless you shoved it in your bag in the opened position. It's solid like a brick (it probably helps that it's shaped like one) so...
Having a brick form factor is great at resisting damage from drops and sudden impacts, but a compact footprint can only go so far. Just because something is shaped like a brick when clammed up doesn't mean that device is impervious to what most of would consider minor stressors. For example, a common avenue for cracking the top LCDs of New 2DS XL systems is to walk around with them in your pants pockets. It may look brick-like when it's closed, but the n2DSXL has the design flaw of poor back support for the top LCD.


In materials science, there are two failure modes that are often overlooked because damages caused by these are not instantly noticeable.
  • (1) creep - slow deformation of an object from constantly applied pressure.
  • (2) cyclic stress - repetitive (usually evenly timed) directional changes to applied pressure.
Placing a naked n3DS in a backpack while walking about provides the perfect environment for those two.
  • Creep caused by wearing the backpack where the n3DS is pressed against the sidewalls.
  • Cyclic stress from the up and down motion from the walking that jostles the backpack.

this is what my motherboard looks
The exterior of your motherboard looks perfectly intact when seen by the human eye. However, the type of board damage that was explained earlier (ie, broken solder ball joints) are underneath those black square chips. One would need an x-ray inspect to spot those defects.

Here's an example comparison between visible light and x-ray imaging of a circuit board.
X-ray_printed_circuit_board_assembly.jpg

***

Again, I mentioned there is a small chance your n3DS softbricked itself during sleep mode. Softbricking in open or stock firmware isn't common but not unheard of, especially in sleep mode.

If you want to know for sure the motherboard is still 100% functional, try ntrboot hacking the n3DS for signs of life or boot response that isn't black screens of death.


Here's an example of an New 3DS LL that turns on with black screens but doesn't react with ntrboot due to a dead SoC (ARM CPU).
 
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The Real Jdbye

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Having a brick form factor is great at resisting damage from drops and sudden impacts, but a compact footprint can only go so far. Just because something is shaped like a brick when clammed up doesn't mean that device is impervious to what most of would consider minor stressors. For example, a common avenue for cracking the top LCDs of New 2DS XL systems is to walk around with them in your pants pockets. It may look brick-like when it's closed, but the n2DSXL has the design flaw of poor back support for the top LCD.


In materials science, there are two failure modes that are often overlooked because damages caused by these are not instantly noticeable.
  • (1) creep - slow deformation of an object from constantly applied pressure.
  • (2) cyclic stress - repetitive (usually evenly timed) directional changes to applied pressure.
Placing a naked n3DS in a backpack while walking about provides the perfect environment for those two.
  • Creep caused by wearing the backpack where the n3DS is pressed against the sidewalls.
  • Cyclic stress from the up and down motion from the walking that jostles the backpack.


The exterior of your motherboard looks perfectly intact when seen by the human eye. However, the type of board damage that was explained earlier (ie, broken solder ball joints) are underneath those black square chips. One would need an x-ray inspect to spot those defects.

Here's an example comparison between visible light and x-ray imaging of a circuit board.
X-ray_printed_circuit_board_assembly.jpg

***

Again, I mentioned there is a small chance your n3DS softbricked itself during sleep mode. Softbricking in open or stock firmware isn't common but not unheard of, especially in sleep mode.

If you want to know for sure the motherboard is still 100% functional, try ntrboot hacking the n3DS for signs of life or boot response that isn't black screens of death.


Here's an example of an New 3DS LL that turns on with black screens but doesn't react with ntrboot due to a dead SoC (ARM CPU).
The top screen shell is pretty thin, so that's understandable, but for the thick bottom to be bent, you would pretty much have to be doing it on purpose. I mean, I've seen people applying unreasonable force to the touchscreen and they weren't even able to break that... I just find it unlikely. It's possible sure, but it's probably not what happened.
 
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The top screen shell is pretty thin, so that's understandable, but for the thick bottom to be bent, you would pretty much have to be doing it on purpose. I mean, I've seen people applying unreasonable force to the touchscreen and they weren't even able to break that... I just find it unlikely. It's possible sure, but it's probably not what happened.
Those are different scenarios. The extensive force applied to the touchscreen one time can't be directly compared to the overall pressure the motherboard experiences over a accumulated time scale. This is if @Ace_Tony has been carrying the n3DS in the backpack for however long he has owned the handheld.

Probably not the best analogy.
This would be kinda like going one or two full days of no sleep where you're tired as shit until you can catch a full night's rest versus prolong inconsistent sleep schedule (4 hours one day, 6 hours another, go to sleep at different times like 8pm on a good night and then 2 am on another).
 

The Real Jdbye

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Those are different scenarios. The extensive force applied to the touchscreen one time can't be directly compared to the overall pressure the motherboard experiences over a accumulated time scale. This is if @Ace_Tony has been carrying the n3DS in the backpack for however long he has owned the handheld.

Probably not the best analogy.
This would be kinda like going one or two full days of no sleep where you're tired as shit until you can catch a full night's rest versus prolong inconsistent sleep schedule (4 hours one day, 6 hours another, go to sleep at different times like 8pm on a good night and then 2 am on another).
Well, let me come up with a better one.
Say you were to put it in your back pocket and sit on it. That might do it because it would get sandwiched at an angle and following the curve of your butt. But you could literally stack books on a DS and leave it like that for a year and it'd probably still be fine, it'd have to get sandwiched inbetween two objects at an awkward angle with a very heavy one on top (back to the butt analogy) and I don't think anything that's in a backpack is heavy enough to bend all those layers of plastic and displays that it would have to bend in order to stress the PCB, not with the brick design (which is time tested Nintendium proven to be near unbreakable :P)
Anyway, that guy held the console with both hands and applied both thumbs to the touchscreen with unreasonable force, which, by your logic should be enough to at least bend the casing a little, and it didn't show any signs of bending. That's what I was trying to get at before.

But yes. Repetitive stress is a known killer of electronics, solder traces can crack and pads/pins can lift and all sorts of bad things can happen. I'm aware of that. That might happen with a thin flimsy phone or tablet or even the Switch. It's known to kill such devices on occasion. Never heard of a DS suffering from that problem, so that guy would be the first. That alone is enough to make it seem unlikely to me. The plastic in the DS shell is not exactly a very bendable type either. Unlike the Switch :P
 
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