Problem with my Gateway 3DS XL

I bought a 3DS XL almost a year ago, with 9.0 firmware. I successfully installed the Cubic Ninja exploit and everything was working fine, and great.

I stopped playing my 3DS for over 6 months now, and just yesterday when I tried to start it up again, I would get to the menu with the red dragon, and when I click on Gateway Menu/Mode, the screen turns black and would basically freeze. The only way out would be to hold the power button down to do a hard reset.

Now, what could possibly have gone wrong? I didn't touch the 3DS for 6 months, it was sitting around with the battery drained, so theres no way it could've done some update. I am still on the 9.0 firmware. I used the diagnostic to check if the red card was fine and it passed.

I don't know why it would stop working all of a sudden if nothing has changed?

What should I do to solve this? I'm thinking I should start over and "resetup" my system as if it were new? Or is there a simpler option or something easier?

Thanks