Hacking SysNand update request

[Kibido]

Sometimes when I boot my 3DS or get thrown back to SysNand by quitting a foreign game I get a pop up that tells me "update the system now: Ok / Cancel"; VERY dangerous as I might accidentally press OK. This happens whenever SysNand connects to my WiFi, and even though I keep deleting the connection settings it randomly has them again. Where does it get them? From EmuNand? The only solution for me now is to never turn on WiFi in SysNand, but I'm quite clumsy and I know I'm going to press that OK accidentally sooner or later.
Sorry about this, it's quite hard to explain. Anyway any solutions? SysNand already has everything parental locked.
Thanks!

 

[Ryft]

Fill your sysnand wifi settings with garbage. It will only copy to blank entries from Emunand. Also, the only way to get rid of the nag screen is to reformat sysnand as far as I know.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

There's another way that supposedly works, but it's a bit tricky.
It involves some process of letting the 3DS connect to check for updates, then cutting off the connection at the exact right moment, which is supposed to wipe the update. I don't know if that only works if there's a newer update available than the one already downloaded though.
I saw it on the forum somewhere but I don't have the link saved.

 

[unz]

Tried asking the very same question in the 3DS NOOB PARADISE - Ask questions here thread, but it looks like nobody knows.

Over the last couple of days, I've been trying to research how to stop the update nag on 9.2 systems.

Trying to prepare for the inevitable

So far I've found conflicting info, and all of it's at least 6 months old. Sharing what I've found here in condensed form:

Some users say you can just delete a certain folder from your 3DS SD, and the nag stops. As far as I can tell, it looks like Nintendo changed that sometime during the 7.X days. The update lands in sysNAND now.

I've seen other users say you need to perform a 3DS system memory reformat which resets the console, removes all your settings and the update available flag.

It gets worse though. I've also seen users who say the reformat can no longer start until the update is installed.

And now I see:

There's another way that supposedly works, but it's a bit tricky.
It involves some process of letting the 3DS connect to check for updates, then cutting off the connection at the exact right moment, which is supposed to wipe the update. I don't know if that only works if there's a newer update available than the one already downloaded though.
I saw it on the forum somewhere but I don't have the link saved.

...and I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this.

I think we need 3 things and quick.

1: We need to get an ongoing project started before the board is swamped with lotsa new friends, all complaining about how the Gateway won't work in their nice new 3DS anymore.

2: We need someone with a 4.5 system with a downgrade flash mod to do a bunch of testing for us by installing updates and trying to kill the nag. Would also be good to test several update versions, both previous to, and following 9.2, for future reference.

3: We also need a talented coder to create a little 3DS homebrew tool that can reset the flag discussed here on 3dbrew. The tool will need to run in sysNAND obviously, so it's vital it can do the job without breaking anything important.


...and at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the clock is ticking...

 

[Nirmonculus]

As far as garbage connection can go, I only edited the SSID and typed in anything, the rest I left by default, no password and autoupdate on the ip address etc. Is that okay or will I also see this happening to me?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Tried asking the very same question in the 3DS NOOB PARADISE - Ask questions here thread, but it looks like nobody knows.

Over the last couple of days, I've been trying to research how to stop the update nag on 9.2 systems.

Trying to prepare for the inevitable

So far I've found conflicting info, and all of it's at least 6 months old. Sharing what I've found here in condensed form:

Some users say you can just delete a certain folder from your 3DS SD, and the nag stops. As far as I can tell, it looks like Nintendo changed that sometime during the 7.X days. The update lands in sysNAND now.

I've seen other users say you need to perform a 3DS system memory reformat which resets the console, removes all your settings and the update available flag.

It gets worse though. I've also seen users who say the reformat can no longer start until the update is installed.

And now I see:

...and I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this.

I think we need 3 things and quick.

1: We need to get an ongoing project started before the board is swamped with lotsa new friends, all complaining about how the Gateway won't work in their nice new 3DS anymore.

2: We need someone with a 4.5 system with a downgrade flash mod to do a bunch of testing for us by installing updates and trying to kill the nag. Would also be good to test several update versions, both previous to, and following 9.2, for future reference.

3: We also need a talented coder to create a little 3DS homebrew tool that can reset the flag discussed here on 3dbrew. The tool will need to run in sysNAND obviously, so it's vital it can do the job without breaking anything important.


...and at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the clock is ticking...

Note that I didn't mean actually starting the update process, just enabling wifi so the 3DS attempts to download it on its own.

 

[Kylecito]

I have another solution: always use the circle pad and buttons to navigate the menu on your SysNAND. Why? Because even if you press A and accept the update, you need to then agree the EULA, which can ONLY be done by physically touching the button.

 

[Nurio]

As far as garbage connection can go, I only edited the SSID and typed in anything, the rest I left by default, no password and autoupdate on the ip address etc. Is that okay or will I also see this happening to me?

As long as you've filled a connection slot (doesn't matter with what), you should be fine.

 

[Jayro]

I know nothing about the firmware, but I'm wondering if this is possible for some smart 4.5 OFW/CFW user:

>have 4.5 OFW without nag.
>Do a sysnand dump.
>Let console download update to 4.5 sysnand, and nag you.
>Hit cancel, and do another sysnand dump.
>Decrypt both sysnand dumps, and use software tools to look for changes between the two sets of files.

Now if my theory is correct, then the resulting differences in the files should all point between the update files and the nag trigger(s).

(Someone smarter than me either test this or prove me wrong, I'm dying to know either way.)

 

[unz]

Note that I didn't mean actually starting the update process, just enabling wifi so the 3DS attempts to download it on its own.

Noted Jdbye, absolutely.

The reason I quoted your post is due to the bit where you said "but it's a bit tricky" and "cutting off the connection at the exact right moment".

Imagine explaining stuff with those requirements to somebody who's just started his 3DS adventure.

You know as well as I that there's loads of new 3DS users who didn't disable wifi and spotpass because they would miss out on all the cool online features. When that shiny new 3DS starts nagging them to update all the time, they'll be freaking out because everybody is like OH GOD NO DON'T.

The minute Ninty release the fun killer update, you know this is what's coming...

 

[Jayro]

I can already see it now... floods of threads starting with: "I accidentally updated my 3DS to 9.3, what are my options?"

First of all, you can't "accidentally" hit Okay 3 times in a row, so go enjoy your new "9.3 system" somewhere else.

 

[unz]

I know nothing about the firmware, but I'm wondering if this is possible for some smart 4.5 OFW/CFW user:

>have 4.5 OFW without nag.
>Do a sysnand dump.
>Let console download update to 4.5 sysnand, and nag you.
>Hit cancel, and do another sysnand dump.
>Decrypt both sysnand dumps, and use software tools to look for changes between the two sets of files.

Now if my theory is correct, then the resulting differences in the files should all point between the update files and the nag trigger(s).

(Someone smarter than me either test this or prove me wrong, I'm dying to know either way.)

See the link in point 3 of my first post in this thread. If I'm right, that's the exact change that you're looking for. A flag gets flipped from 0 to 1. The Homebrew tool I suggested would simply flip that flag back to 0.

 

[gamesquest1]

i assume it would be in gateways interest to set it up to wipe the Update if it detects it on sysnand, and also block the update sever in gateway mode unless your in emunand

BTW guys its kinda worse for 9.x users as on 4.x you can format the system to remove the update, but since 7.x you can no longer do that as to format the system you need to update......so on 9.x there will be no way to remove the update unless we get some homebrew that can delete it from sysnand, or gateway just integrate it into their FW so whenever you boot into gateway mode it wipes any pre-downloaded updates....maybe even just write a dummy corrupt update so it cant download any more, not sure if that will work but i think they need to do something for 9.x users

 

[Jayro]

See the link in point 3 of my first post in this thread. If I'm right, that's the exact change that you're looking for. A flag gets flipped from 0 to 1. The Homebrew tool I suggested would simply flip that flag back to 0.

Good to know I'm not the only person that has thought of this flag business.

 

[Jayro]

i assume it would be in gateways interest to set it up to wipe the Update if it detects it on sysnand, and also block the update sever in gateway mode unless your in emunand

BTW guys its kinda worse for 9.x users as on 4.x you can format the system to remove the update, but since 7.x you can no longer do that as to format the system you need to update......so on 9.x there will be no way to remove the update unless we get some homebrew that can delete it from sysnand, or gateway just integrate it into their FW so whenever you boot into gateway mode it wipes any pre-downloaded updates....maybe even just write a dummy corrupt update so it cant download any more, not sure if that will work but i think they need to do something for 9.x users

That would be fucking incredible, to be honest... Like a perma-patch, plugging the drain.

 

[unz]

i assume it would be in gateways interest to set it up to wipe the Update if it detects it on sysnand, and also block the update sever in gateway mode unless your in emunand

While that would be awesome, we can assume nothing. We still don't know for sure if 9.2 users will even be getting emuNAND. I do remain optimistic though. If Gateway could auto-delete updates and flip the nag flag back to 0, our lives would certainly get a lot easier.

BTW guys its kinda worse for 9.x users as on 4.x you can format the system to remove the update, but since 7.x you can no longer do that as to format the system you need to update......so on 9.x there will be no way to remove the update unless we get some homebrew that can delete it from sysnand

Yeah exactly my point, there's no safety net for the 9.2 kids. Double that problem if there's no emuNAND from the beginning. That's precisely why I came out of lurk mode with a tale of impending doom. I'm hoping a Homebrew coder will see the need for a tool that gives us a solution, asap. Smea? Normatt? Anyone here from 3dbrew? Hello?

or gateway just integrate it into their FW so whenever you boot into gateway mode it wipes any pre-downloaded updates....maybe even just write a dummy corrupt update so it cant download any more, not sure if that will work but i think they need to do something for 9.x users

Your ideas sound great, but if Gateway haven't thought of dealing with future updates and the nags they bring right from day 1 of their 9.2 support release, we'd better find our own way out of the in the meantime, and fast.

Anyone know how to code a flag flipper that's stable enough to run in sysNAND? Want to be a scene hero? Here's your chance...

tick tock