New 3DS XL: Turns On, Theme Music Plays, Screens Remain Off

[NGamerCole]

As title says, I turn it on and the music plays, but the screens remain off. The wireless light also turns on.

I've removed the battery, MicroSD, and game from the system multiple times. Same results.

The system isn't hacked, has been sent in for repairs before 2 or 3 times for same issue.

It's turned on from this state before when I've let it completely die and recharge it completely. Tried that again to no avail this time.

Wanted to know if anyone had any solutions or if I'd have to send it in again for repairs

 

[NGamerCole]

Bump

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Please try if the screens turn on in Recovery Mode.

 

[DracoMan671]

Try shining a bright flashlight on the screens. It might be the backlight.

 

[CoolMe]

Both screens do this? Try plugging the charger cable to it and go to a dim room, if you still don't see anything and the screen is completely black, then it's hardware problem either the backlight or the ribbon cable.. Etc
You can check in the recovery mode (you can access it when turning on the 3DS while holding A+R+L+Up(DPad)) if it stays the same or not.

 

[NGamerCole]

Please try if the screens turn on in Recovery Mode.

Omg it does, but now what do I do

 

[NGamerCole]

Recovery mode works but what do I do from here?

Both screens do this? Try plugging the charger cable to it and go to a dim room, if you still don't see anything and the screen is completely black, then it's hardware problem either the backlight or the ribbon cable.. Etc
You can check in the recovery mode (you can access it when turning on the 3DS while holding A+R+L+Up(DPad)) if it stays the same or not.

 

[NGamerCole]

Recovery mode makes the screens work normally, ran the update, it finished and turned off. Screens however have not turned back on after powering the system again

 

[CoolMe]

Are you sure this system wasn't hacked (or is still hacked) before? This is a weird issue to have for a stock system.

 

[CoolMe]

Can you exit to the home menu from the recovery mode there, without manually rebooting it.

 

[jeffyTheHomebrewer]

Can you exit to the home menu from the recovery mode there, without manually rebooting it.

It isn't possible to exist recovery mode without rebooting, similar to system settings.

 

[CoolMe]

It isn't possible to exist recovery mode without rebooting, similar to system settings.

I wanted him to try anyway.. But it seems this might be a hardware problem as discussed in another dup thread.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

I wanted him to try anyway.. But it seems this might be a hardware problem as discussed in another dup thread.

My bad. I didn't even notice at first… and replied in both threads (the first reply in the other thread was a few weeks ago). Getting old and forgetful…
N3DSXL broken camera is a known problem.

This is a weird issue to have for a stock system.

Everybody thought exactly this ↑↑↑ until the solution with the camera came out of nowhere. Black screens of death with music playing made people try CTRTransfer and all sort of software troubleshooting. "Why do the screens work in Recovery Mode? And in Luma3DS settings? And in GodMode9? But not when booting Home Menu normally?!" It does sound like some software corruption.
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I have no idea, and probably nobody but the Nintendo designers has any idea, why DS systems (and others) behave strange when some non-essential hardware doesn't respond properly. Can't it just give a message like: "Camera inoperable. Head tracking not available. Camera related functions in games not available. Please contact Nintendo." No! It goes black screens… and plays the music normally.

Spoiler: Other "funny" examples

• Touchscreen registers permanent input. → Almost all buttons seemingly stop working – (A) still works and (ZL), (ZR). (Same problem on Wii U Gamepad)
• 3D slider broken (while 3D is off)? → Never use "Format System Memory" – you can't complete the initial setup (without CFW).
• Sometimes (not always) when the SD cannot be mounted, 2|3DS will not boot and hang with blue LED only. If a game doesn't make food contact this can happen as well (also on older DS)
• Wii U doesn't find the optical drive (board)? → Well… Error message and fullbrick. You may not play games you bought from eShop!
• Wii doesn't find WiFi module? → Black screen instead Home Menu showing a meaningful error (while Priiloader, BootMii and Homebrew Channel continue to work).

It seems there is no error handling and fault tolerance whatsoever. It makes no sense.

 

[Kwyjor]

has been sent in for repairs before 2 or 3 times for same issue.

You sent it to Nintendo's official repair center? That reflects rather poorly on their quality of service.

 

[CoolMe]

Yea, it would've been a lot easier for users (even for repair men) if it showed an error code that you can easily look up online and figure out what it means. I once have dealt with a faulty micro sd card slot reader issue , and i've dealt with everything from inconsistent Arm11/Arm9 error codes, ctrtransfer to setting up emunand, with the issue still persisting, it drove me crazy for months,until i noticed if i applied some pressure on the back (where sd card slot is), it would boot and work without issues..
Never heard about this particular issue, things like this makes people throw away their stuff all the time..