Hacking R4 Identification and not playing in a 3DS

[frosDfurret]

Hello GBATemp! I'm new here, so please excuse the lack of formatting. I have an R4i 3DS that my dad bought for me back in 2013, and I never got it to work on my 3DS. I'm not even sure it is an R4i 3DS. Everything I've tried, everywhere I look, there's no fix for getting this to work on my younger brother's original 3DS running 11.13 or my own New 3DS XL, also running 11.13. Anything I try to get it working ends up with a black screen with some text (shown below) It works just fine on my old DS Lite, though. I've since been using some cheap flashcart that I got at a fleamarket, which for some reason does work on 11.13. Can anyone lend some info or help? Thanks!

Here are some images that may help.

 

[RaptorDMG]

Try updating the R4 with the files and instructions from http://www.r4i-sdhc.com/downloade.asp

 

[frosDfurret]

Try updating the R4 with the files and instructions from http://www.r4i-sdhc.com/downloade.asp

I did that, and it still doesn't work in my 3DS.

 

[RaptorDMG]

I did that, and it still doesn't work in my 3DS.

Did you follow the part where it says to use the card on a regular ds to upgrade the card?

 

[frosDfurret]

Did you follow the part where it says to use the card on a regular ds to upgrade the card?

Yes. I went to the upgrade screen on my DS Lite, but there was no button saying "upgrade" anywhere.

 

[JuanMena]

View attachment 211644
Yes. I went to the upgrade screen on my DS Lite, but there was no button saying "upgrade" anywhere.

Ok, definitely the pictures you uploaded on your OP sure are helpful.

What it seems to be happening is that your 3DS is blocking your Flashcard.
I own two flashcards: a TTDS and an R4 with the Metroid Prime Hunters Demo label.

If I'm not mistaken, the R4 with the Metroid Prime Hunters Demo needs a special 3DS "patch" only accesible with Custom Firmware.
The only problem is that I can't remember if the patch is the one Apache Thunder released or if it was from someone else.
If I'm not mistaken, the R4 should change the label from Metroid Demo to a Golf game or something like that (which is sign that the Flashcard is readable by the 3DS)

Please, look it up, I honestly can't remember where to find the patch.
Also, Apache Thunder is a GBATemp user, so look for his posts about this.

 

[NightScript]

Ok, definitely the pictures you uploaded on your OP sure are helpful.

What it seems to be happening is that your 3DS is blocking your Flashcard.
I own two flashcards: a TTDS and an R4 with the Metroid Prime Hunters Demo label.

If I'm not mistaken, the R4 with the Metroid Prime Hunters Demo needs a special 3DS "patch" only accesible with Custom Firmware.
The only problem is that I can't remember if the patch is the one Apache Thunder released or if it was from someone else.
If I'm not mistaken, the R4 should change the label from Metroid Demo to a Golf game or something like that (which is sign that the Flashcard is readable by the 3DS)

Please, look it up, I honestly can't remember where to find the patch.
Also, Apache Thunder is a GBATemp user, so look for his posts about this.

Actually, if it can get to that screen, the 3DS isn't the issue. It's the kernel itself. He'll need to update it to the latest one and use a proper SD card formatted to Fat32 with 32kb of cluster size

 

[frosDfurret]

Actually, if it can get to that screen, the 3DS isn't the issue. It's the kernel itself. He'll need to update it to the latest one and use a proper SD card formatted to Fat32 with 32kb of cluster size

The kernel is already upgraded to the latest version. It's possible that it's the R4 hardware that's incompatible with the 3DS, but I have some doubts about that.

 

[NightScript]

How do I upgrade the kernel? Again, sorry for the newbieness.

There is a website on the card. Visit it, then visit the downloads section, then select your card, download the kernel and then drag and drop onto your flashcart SD card.
Personally though? I'd switch to YSMenu instead: https://gbatemp.net/threads/retrogamefan-updates-releases.267243/

 

[frosDfurret]

There is a website on the card. Visit it, then visit the downloads section, then select your card, download the kernel and then drag and drop onto your flashcart SD card.
Personally though? I'd switch to YSMenu instead:

I don't think it has to do with the menu, rather the firmware like JuanMena said. Something of interest is that the R4 that does work on my 3DS is almost identical to the one that doesn't work, other than the fact that it has a bomberman land icon instead of a metroid prime hunters icon. Another thing worth noting is that the working R4 card, under upgrade, says "Current version, 3DS 7.2", while the non-working one says "Current version, 3DS 4.4". Would there be some way to upgrade the non working one to the same version as the working one?

 

[NightScript]

I don't think it has to do with the menu, rather the firmware like JuanMena said. Something of interest is that the R4 that does work on my 3DS is almost identical to the one that doesn't work, other than the fact that it has a bomberman land icon instead of a metroid prime hunters icon. Another thing worth noting is that the working R4 card, under upgrade, says "Current version, 3DS 7.2", while the non-working one says "Current version, 3DS 4.4". Would there be some way to upgrade the non working one to the same version as the working one?

Ah, I didn't look at the thread closely. The 3DS doesn't work while the DS Lite one does. My bad. Sorry.
I thought the image was of a New 3DS non XL so I got confused. I hadn't seen a White regular DS in forever

The kernel is already upgraded to the latest version. It's possible that it's the R4 hardware that's incompatible with the 3DS, but I have some doubts about that.

Nintendo implemented a whitelist system to block flashcarts and it seems like you've been hit. You'd have to work around it by either updating the firmware in the cart or installing CFW.

My recommendation is installing CFW on your 3DS: https://3ds.hacks.guide

Luma3DS removes the whitelist meaning you can boot these ROMs

 

[frosDfurret]

Ah, I didn't look at the thread closely. The 3DS doesn't work while the DS Lite one does. My bad. Sorry.
I thought the image was of a New 3DS non XL so I got confused. I hadn't seen a White regular DS in forever


Nintendo implemented a whitelist system to block flashcarts and it seems like you've been hit. You'd have to work around it by either updating the firmware in the cart or installing CFW.

My recommendation is installing CFW on your 3DS:

Luma3DS removes the whitelist meaning you can boot these ROMs

Thanks for your help, but, even though I want to, I have no interest in homebrewing my 3DS until Nintendo completely drops support for the 3DS. I am aware of the whitelist, but it still confuses me how the working flashcart (which is nearly identical) is able to boot on my 3ds, but not the problematic one? It seems like there is some way to get the flashcart working on the 3DS, but I have no idea how. I've been looking into these 3DS patches that JuanMena was talking about, but again nothing I'm trying is working.

 

[frosDfurret]

Ok, definitely the pictures you uploaded on your OP sure are helpful.

What it seems to be happening is that your 3DS is blocking your Flashcard.
I own two flashcards: a TTDS and an R4 with the Metroid Prime Hunters Demo label.

If I'm not mistaken, the R4 with the Metroid Prime Hunters Demo needs a special 3DS "patch" only accesible with Custom Firmware.
The only problem is that I can't remember if the patch is the one Apache Thunder released or if it was from someone else.
If I'm not mistaken, the R4 should change the label from Metroid Demo to a Golf game or something like that (which is sign that the Flashcard is readable by the 3DS)

Please, look it up, I honestly can't remember where to find the patch.
Also, Apache Thunder is a GBATemp user, so look for his posts about this.

Ok, so new update. I've gotten the problematic R4 to upgrade to 3DS 5.0 using a thread from GBATemp, and the cart now looks like "Touch! Bomberman Land", just like the working R4. The problem is it still throws the same black screen error as before on the 3DS running 11.13. I've seen some posts saying that some old R4 flashcarts only support 3DS 5.0, and can't go further, and that seems to be the case for me. I would somehow need to get the problematic flashcart to upgrade to 3DS 7.2 compatibility like the working flashcart, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon. Again, as previously stated, I have no current interest in homebrewing my 3DS at the moment, and have noted this fix. If there is any further help you can provide, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The Problematic Flashcart (again):


The 3DS 11.13 working flashcart:


New Touch! Bomberman Land Icon, like the working flashcart:


3DS 5.0 upgrade succeeded, yet still fails to boot on 3DS.


Again, the same screen on the working flash cart on my N3DS XL running 11.13: