Hacking Unbrick 3ds XL

[zerox521]

Recently a friend brought me his bricked 3ds XL, according to him he had bought it new out of the box last year and bricked it while trying to install something,( he says he doesn't remember what it was so I guess cfw) he also told me that he lost the original sd that his 3ds had when he bricked it. The 3ds turns on, but it doesn't boot, the screen is black while the blue led stays on. Is there any way to fix it?

 

[Lacius]

• If you have B9S installed and a NAND backup, use GodMode9 to restore the backup.
• If you have B9S installed but no NAND backup, which seems likely, use GodMode9 to perform a CTRTransfer.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Recently a friend brought me his bricked 3ds XL, according to him he had bought it new out of the box last year and bricked it while trying to install something,( he says he doesn't remember what it was so I guess cfw) he also told me that he lost the original sd that his 3ds had when he bricked it. The 3ds turns on, but it doesn't boot, the screen is black while the blue led stays on. Is there any way to fix it?

That is not much information. Installed something, SD lost.

Please remove any game or flashcart and SD and check for signs of CFW

• Hold (Start) on power on. Does GodMode9 load? (Or anything else)
  
• Hold (Select) on power on. Do Luma settings appear?

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After that you can try putting various boot files on an otherwise empty SD:

• The latest Luma3DS release (boot.firm)
• The v7.1 of Luma3DS (boot.firm)
• The v7.0.5 of Luma3DS (arm9loaderhax.bin)

→ https://github.com/LumaTeam/Luma3DS/releases

Not much hope, but try Recovery Mode as well.
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In case there is no sign of custom firmware with these symptoms (blue LED+black screens) it could be some weird Frankenfirm state or uninstalled CFW. For any troubleshooting this leaves as last possibility:
https://3ds.hacks.guide/ntrboot

Before any firmware repair attempts please backup the bricked SysNAND to a known good SD (check with h2testw, F3, or F3X).


Good luck!