Hacking Unable to Unbrick 2.1 on a Specific n3ds

[invaderyoyo]

Hey guys, I've been having a lot of trouble downgrading a hardmodded EUR n3ds I recently got. It was region swapped, but I flashed a nand backup from its original region. Maybe this has something to do with it? I'm using the plailect guide and the one click setup keeps bricking it.

It doesn't fail a validation or anything it just says failed at the end of the process and sure enough when I try turning it on it's bricked. I just get a black screen with or without the SD card.

I've tried redoing the whole process a bunch of times and it's the same thing. It's worked fine on all my other 3ds's, but I can't get this one to work.

I've tried replacing the twl_firm and agb_firm with the ones from 3dnus and I've also tried injecting the FIRM0 and FIRM1 like it says in the troubleshooting guide. I know that the secureinfo_A for the emunand and sysnand are the same. It still won't work.

The downgraded emunand passes the validation tests so Idk what's wrong. I even tried downgrading, unbricking and dumping the 2.1 emunand and then flashed it with the hardmod, but no dice. I used an older otp helper for those attempts, but the latest one for all the rest. Any advice would be great. Here are some pics.

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[NinjaSushi]

try manually downgrading emunand and then manually unbrick it rather than doing the one click setup

 

[invaderyoyo]

try manually downgrading emunand and then manually unbrick it rather than doing the one click setup

Yeah, I tried that. No dice. I tried flashing the unbricked 2.1 emunand through otp helper and through the hardmod. I got a brick both times.

 

[Halvorsen]

You're using outdated tools. The latest OTPHelper doesn't include the 2.1 unbrick as a standalone option. With emunand_formatted, redownload all files from Plai's guide and restart the guide from that point.

 

[invaderyoyo]

You're using outdated tools. The latest OTPHelper doesn't include the 2.1 unbrick as a standalone option. With emunand_formatted, redownload all files from Plai's guide and restart the guide from that point.

I tried the "manually unbrick 2.1 emunand" method a few times when the one click setup wasn't working. I used an older otp helper for those attempts, but the latest one for all the rest.

 

[punderino]

Uh, excuse me if I missed anything, have you ran TinyFormat on the NAND you're downgrading?

 

[invaderyoyo]

Uh, excuse me if I missed anything, have you ran TinyFormat on the NAND you're downgrading?

Yeah, two times. Just like it asks.

 

[cooroxd]

If it was region swapped, try flashing that 2.1 nand instead.

 

[invaderyoyo]

If it was region swapped, try flashing that 2.1 nand instead.

I tried both. It bricks either way.

 

[MadMageKefka]

Silly, obvious thing but figured I'd ask just in case:
Are you making sure your emuNAND and sysNAND are unlinked before starting the "One Click Setup"?

 

[invaderyoyo]

Silly, obvious thing but figured I'd ask just in case:
Are you making sure your emuNAND and sysNAND are unlinked before starting the "One Click Setup"?

Yup. I've made sure to format the sysnand each time after creating an emunand.

I'm gonna go ahead and try this method since I can't get it to work using the plailect guide. (yeah, it's in spanish)

 

[MadMageKefka]

Best of luck. This is a really strange problem, wish I could help more.

 

[invaderyoyo]

Best of luck. This is a really strange problem, wish I could help more.

Yeah, I'm sure there's a modification that's been done to it I'm not aware of. I've used the guide with other 3ds's tons of times.

 

[CrispyYoshi]

If it passes validation on the 2.1 downgrade and still doesn't boot without the SD card, then either:

- Something is physically wrong with the 3DS
- OTPHelper has a software bug

It is possible you are one of the unlucky few who have a defective system, and it could have been the case even before the hardmod was done... Perhaps some photos of the internals of that 3DS might help us find the answer, but that might be something to post here: http://gbatemp.net/forums/3ds-console-accessories-and-hardware.200/

 

[invaderyoyo]

If it passes validation on the 2.1 downgrade and still doesn't boot without the SD card, then either:

- Something is physically wrong with the 3DS
- OTPHelper has a software bug

It is possible you are one of the unlucky few who have a defective system, and it could have been the case even before the hardmod was done... Perhaps some photos of the internals of that 3DS might help us find the answer, but that might be something to post here: http://gbatemp.net/forums/3ds-console-accessories-and-hardware.200/

I'll post the results of the the hardmod method that doesn't use otphelper when I finish.

 

[invaderyoyo]

Alright, so I tried following the video mentioned above and it ended in another brick.

I went ahead and upgraded to 11.0, since that was the starting point of the video. I used the tool in the video to modify the 11.0 nand backup. This was supposed to make it so I could downgrade to 9.2.

When I flashed the modified nand backup to my 3ds, it bricked.

So what I ended up doing was using another tool from the video to unbrick a 2.1 backup using my computer. This one bricked it as well.

I have now removed the hardmod. I took the 3ds apart and desoldered the wires and removed the glue and the plug.

I'm gonna go ahead and give the plailect guide another shot to see if a faulty hardmod was the cause or if I really have a defective 3ds.