It appears that users are being banned from 3DS online services, en masse. There's no direct cause right now, and seemingly no linking factor. This post is meant as an announcement for users, to be wary, and that GBAtemp will keep you updated as soon as more info rolls in. If you have been banned, please post in the thread below, and we will try to keep tabs on the situation. To be extra sure, it can't hurt to turn off your 3DS's wireless capabilities, so you might as well do that for now.

Edit 1: it appears that e-Shop access isn't restricted if you are banned.

Edit 2: A caller to Nintendo reported that the company said this ban is due to "unauthorized software usage".

Edit 3: @LinkSoraZelda is collecting info. Contact him if you are banned.

Edit 4: Click and fill this out if you were BANNED.

Edit 5:

[11:28:19 PM] Clector: Curiously the page of that error in Nintendo Support website used to have this:Error Code: 002-0102 Situation: You receive the error code 002-0102 when attempting to connect online. What to Do: If you continue to experience this issue, please contact Nintendo by calling 1-800-255-3700. Representatives are available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Pacific Time, 7 days a week.
[11:28:44 PM] Clector: Now it says this: What to Do: If you are experiencing this error code, your Nintendo 3DS family system has been banned due to unauthorized system modifications, play of unauthorized versions of one or more games, and/or connecting to the official game servers in violation of our terms of service. This ban is effective immediately and requests to remove the ban will not be processed.

Thanks to @Joom

Edit 6: Aurora Wright is taking another poll here

Edit 7: Not a lot is known but

There are bans happening, they are happening in all regions.
All models in the 3ds family seem to be candidates for banning.
There is no indication they will be anything other than permanent.
A game or DLC may end up being a cause but there is no one game or DLC that ties banned users together.
The cause or causes are as yet unknown, though it does seem to be related to modifications. Reports of unmodified consoles being banned are as yet unproven.
The banning is tied to something you can modify, thus you can unban. Doing it while the causes are unknown is likely only going to burn a working token though.
There are semi public tokens out there, Nintendo knows how to browse a forum as well as you so don't be surprised if they also get banned.
It does not seem to be limited to a given base firmware version, it does not seem to be limited to any one custom firmware type. There is some speculation that older hacking methods are not being hit as hard but nothing to confirm this yet.
The data collection could have happened this morning, or it could have been months in the making.
A simple check to see is checking your friends list, by itself it will not ban you.
Some are turning their wifi off. It is doubtful this will be of much use and being banned does not seem to come with any downsides that wifi being off will not also mimic.
You may have escaped a ban thus far but it could happen at any point. It could be that they stop in the future, it has happened on other consoles, but you would be living in hope rather than any particularly well founded logic.
The bans are done on the side of Nintendo's servers rather than your 3ds so there is also that.

If you hack your devices/games then their online functionality may be troubled. This has been known for decades, Nintendo seems to have finally caught up with that.

Please continue to share information with the thread or the links in previous edits.

Update 5/30

HOW TO HELP AVOID BANS (we think)​

If I was to guess from the information we have gathered since the ban wave, it seems likely that they are looking for TitleIDs that don't exist. Homebrew shows up in the activity log as the Download Play app, and fake CIA's show up as just ??????. That last one is what I'm guessing they are looking for.

If you are not banned yet or before you unban yourself, go into your friends list, choose settings, and turn off the option to "show friends what game you are playing." This will prevent you from playing games online with friends, so turn it back on when you wanna game with someone, but ALWAYS keep it off when running custom CIAs. Next, go into system settings -> internet settings -> spotpass, and turn off BOTH options. One is auto download software, the other sends system information to Nintendo. Also, make sure you don't have your favorite title set to something stupid like FBI or any other non-Nintendo CIA.

Its VERY likely that these options are what tipped off Nintendo, but we aren't 100% certain yet. The amount of banned people that had one of these options turned on was over 80% for each. If I was to assume that some of those people overlap, its very possible (but not confirmed) that 100% of banned people in the survey had at least one of those options turned on. I personally had all of them off and I have TONS of reasons for Nintendo to ban me.... yet I am not banned (yet).

Another bit of advice: Only run custom CIAs when offline, and after you close them, run a "legit" game like Smash Bros. or something before shutting down or going back online. This way your most recent title won't show up as a fake CIA

Current Theories as to what causes a ban
​

* SpotPass Settings: 8 users out of 46 users that were banned have SpotPass completely shut off, or SpotPass only (no friends list visibility)
* Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): Literally all reports ranged from 10.2+, I can get exact numbers for this if you'd like, but all firmwares were affected.
* Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): 44 of the 126 B9S users that answered were banned, pattern was mirrored for A9LH users as well.
* Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and freeShop: Literally about 98% of users both banned and unbanned had some combination of these applications installed. However the common ones were: FBI, HBL, LumaUpdater and NTR.
* Save Modification: Equal amounts of users on both sides have reported save modification in some form, either with PKSM or another save editor
* System Transfers: 188 users said that they had not previously system transfered, 61 of those users were banned; 16 users said they transferred from a hacked console, only three of them received a ban; 13 said they transferred from a stock system and likewise were banned. The rest of our sample did not answer this question.
* Activity Log Information: A majority of those who have not been banned have said they had NOT cleaned their activity logs. I can get exact numbers for this too on request.

This information is just what I've found. Like I said, there could be variables or things we haven't even checked for yet. But these are things that I feel should be disproven, at least with the current dataset we have.

• From the information that we've gathered from some people that have used a packet sniffer such as WireShark, the following data is sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers as soon as the 3DS connects to the internet:
  • Amount of time spent online (timer stops when either the system is disconnected from the internet, or connection drops out, then starts the timer again in a new session when it reconnects to the internet).
  • The game being played and amount of time spent on it during that session.
  • The console's unique hexadecimal ID used in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB, along with it's RSA-signed signature.
  • The console's serial number in which is broadcasted from the SoC and is hard coded in the SoC.
  • Friend Code generated on the Nintendo 3DS system, if one has been generated.
  • Internet connection status (either online or offline).
  • The Nintendo Network ID, if there is one linked to it.
  • Even if the sending of SpotPass Information is switched off, or even hiding your currently playing games. It does not prevent the system from sending currently playing information to Nintendo's online gaming servers, it only hides it from your friends in your friend list (like being invisible on the forum, while mods and admins can still see you). Why? Because even people without a Friend Code on their system have been getting banned too!

• The following data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers:
  • The data from the Nintendo 3DS's Activity Log. Oddly enough, while Nintendo does explicitly state that they collect Activity Log data, they're actually referring to their own server's Activity Log, which always tracks every console's online activity, and keeps a record of them that is stored forever. And is only collected in increments of data through a timer and a currently playing list.
    
  • Games or apps that have not been played, regardless if they're legitimate or not. You only get tracked when you're online and using that game or app.
  • Using games or apps while offline. Even though it is stored on the 3DS console's Activity Log, that data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers.
  • Custom Firmware. Though we can't rule out the possibility of them releasing a 3DS update in the future that adds such function to collect MD5 hashes of files and FIRM data and send them to Nintendo online gaming servers (which would also be updated in a maintenance).

• Things that people think what happens with consoles, but really doesn't:
  • "LocalFriendCodeSeedB is transferred to the system upon doing a system transfer". This is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB remains on the system and does not move to another system.
  • "The console generates a LocalFriendCodeSeedB upon first startup". Again, this is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is made during the manufacturing process at Foxconn. It is generated at the factory, flashed to the NAND flash memory storage, then created as an account on Nintendo's online gaming server and Nintendo eShop server immediately when being manufactured. It is absolutely impossible to generate a LocalFriendCodeSeedB and be able to connect to Nintendo's online gaming server and/or Nintendo eShop server, even if you knew the RSA generation key for it. You'd end up with Error Code 002-0102 "This console's online services have been restricted by Nintendo" if you even tried (the error can either mean two things: The hexadecimal ID doesn't exist on the server, or the request to access the hexadecimal ID has been denied which in other words... banned). So a LocalFriendCodeSeedB generator will NEVER happen! Because it's not worth doing, if it can't connect.
  • Switching off "Currently Playing" information. Once again, this does not hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only hides it from your friends.
  • Switching off SpotPass. Nope, this too doesn't hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only opts-out of receiving SpotPass data, sorry.

So pretty much the bottom line is, if anyone has been using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop while online in the past, guess what? You're screwed! And it is only a matter of time before your console's unique hexadecimal ID in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is banned from Nintendo's online gaming server. This will mean, your console can't access the Friend List or play any online functions in games.

If you have been online while using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop and haven't been banned yet, that's because Nintendo hasn't caught up to you yet. They're still going through each unique hexadecimal ID's Activity Log on their server, and by Activity Log, I mean the Activity Log on their server, not the 3DS console's activity log. And it will be only a matter of time before you're banned too.

Thanks to @Platinum Lucario @MadMageKefka and @ShadowEO !

 

[nitroBW]

I know there have been many polls now, but I just want to check something:
A user has already been suspecting that later luma releases added some patches or something that could cause a ban, which Luma 6.6 or lower didn't have, but only few are actually telling the Luma version they are using.

http://www.strawpoll.me/13042357

PLEASE BE HONEST, thank you!

EDIT: Here is the post btw: https://gbatemp.net/posts/7335672/

 

[Veranek]

I think I asked you before but you probably didn't notice me @RustInPeace, did you call them back and got told that or something?



@Veranek I'd like you to elaborate a bit more on that, but you can do it via PM if you feel like it, as to not clog the thread. Or please do elaborate here if you feel like it.

I'll elaborate here so more people can understand how unbanning your system this time around works and why you shouldn't do it right away. The primary problem with both methods is that you either need a public file called localfriendcodeseed_b that isn't banned or a CFW unbanned 3DS. Regardless, you need a file obtained from an unbanned console, and you risk the possibility of being banned once again. I personally have a private lfcs_b, but I won't share it because the more people using it, the more likely it is to get banned.

If you do manage to get your hands on a lfcs_b that isn't banned or a CFW 3DS to system transfer to, please, please, don't do so right away, because you might get banned. No one knows exactly what Nintendo is using to detect CFW so the risk is not worth it.

That being said, your NNID isn't banned, so unlike us bastards that got banned last year, are still able to access the Poke Bank after removing the 002 code from your system. So yes, your Pokemon are recoverable, but it's going to be hard to do so and I do not recommend doing it until we know what to do to avoid the bans.

I will link you the tutorial to unban yourself, but once again, proceed with caution. http://gbatemp.net/threads/all-3-methods-to-get-unbanned-from-recent-ban-wave.450679/

Method 1 is what you are going for.

 

[HugaTheFox]

If you ever installed a cia file (FBI), you will be.

I have FBI but I am not banned

 

[LGabriel]

hello guys, i was reading this thread all day, i have a theory: i'm not banned, but i read something about nintendo is "watching us" with activity log, i've never even opened activity log before, maybe is it? Anyone that never opened it too was banned? idk if ninty receive data from activity log even without open it, if no... could be the cause, if yes they did, i'm probably marked too and i'll enter to "banhammer team" too

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

where's the proof?

As of now, it's the only thing we figured being common among all bans. Some said they only finished the 3ds.guide (including FBI install and nothing else yet), and still got banned.
Seemingly not a single ban confirmed yet for people who stopped following the guide before the FBI inject part.

So even if you're not banned now, chances are high you will be later. Nintendo doesn't just flip a switch and everyone is banned. Their databases are likely huge, so it's a process that's still running and will continue running.

 

[IggyJet]

But when you went to go check your 3ds,that was today correct?

Yes, it was today, I haven't touched my 3DS in a while as mentioned before.

 

[JustCallMeGio]

Use ctr-httpwn or update lol

Used ctr-httpwn
New 3ds XL 11.3.0-36u - CFW Luma 6.6 (Need to Update)
Spotpass System Info: Was ON, Now OFF
Can enter Friend List
May I Test with games?

 

[delete12345]

This is going to be the one thread that will continuously alert me with new thread updates in the top right corner until the counter reaches 99...

 

[k1r92]

As of now, it's the only thing we figured being common among all bans. Some said they only finished the 3ds.guide (including FBI install and nothing else yet), and still got banned.
Seemingly not a single ban confirmed yet for people who stopped following the guide at the FBI inject part.

So even if you're not banned now, chances are high you will be later. Nintendo doesn't just flip a switch and everyone is banned. It's a process.

alright cool, so no proof that I will definitely be banned

 

[FAST6191]

aroo12 came on IRC and had the following setup (based in Canada if it matters)

Here: Using Luma3ds on o3ds (2ds). Not banned. I'm using an older nightly build of luma (7.04) with a9lh on firmware 11.4.0-37U. Used freeshop, have installed fbi and installed content using fbi and freeshop before (and quite recently from both). I have not played Fire Emblem, and I only play a physical copy of Pokemon Moon online. I have not downloaded the latest title update for Moon yet because I'm not too sure where the banflags are coming from. Could be hidden in the 11.4 update, in a title update, could be newer luma3ds revisions flagging people, who knows? I had street pass and spot pass on since I purchased the console at the start of the year and my friends were able to see what I was playing the whole time. I haven't had access to eshop since I did the luma setup, so I have freeshop mainly just so I would be able to download pokebank, then updating through eshop works after. I was on 11.2 when I originally did the whole luma/a9lh setup and just recently updated all the way up to 11.4 roughly a couple weeks ago.

 

[HugaTheFox]

As of now, it's the only thing we figured being common among all bans. Some said they only finished the 3ds.guide (including FBI install and nothing else yet), and still got banned.
Seemingly not a single ban confirmed yet for people who stopped following the guide before the FBI inject part.

So even if you're not banned now, chances are high you will be later. Nintendo doesn't just flip a switch and everyone is banned. It's a process.

So if non hackers been banned, were is your proof. And of course, because if you have CFW, you have FBI.

 

[lone_wolf323]

This is going to be the one thread that will continuously alert me with new thread updates in the top right corner until the counter reaches 99...

The alerts!!! They are over 9000!!!!!!!

also. been able to spec on smash bros online games. hopefully it will remain that way.who knows.

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

alright cool, so no proof that I will definitely be banned

Of course there is no way there can be proof for anything unless someone leaks Nintendo's internal strategy documents.

 

[TinchoX]

alright cool, so no proof that I will definitely be banned

You know your chances of getting banned if you messed with homebrew, CFW or CIAs...

 

[Deleted member 350372]

yup I have a9lh though

oh okay. So it's not just sighax I see... The only games I have hacked/hacked online with are MK7 & SSB3DS. Mainly MK7 tho. I have 2 O3DSXL 1 O3DS Flame Red, & 1 N3DSXL Red. Those are my old/somewhat breaking down consoles. All of them are banned! B9S Luma3ds 11.4 sysNAND for everything. Same configuration. However, the main console I use and have hacked MK7 with is my N3DSXL Galaxy Purple. THAT one isn't banned! (yet at least) FFS I even pirated a few tickets to try out FE Fates, but didn't like it. Deleted the tmp CTRNAND ticket & the game and it's ticket installation in FBI for obvious reasons... Ik I say too much stuff, but still. I'm kinda concerned on why they would ban my other consoles and not that...

 

[Deleted User]

Yes, it was today, I haven't touched my 3DS in a while as mentioned before.

Hmmm interesting.That means two things

A.They are banning people offline since a majority of people got banned yesterday.

B.The banwave is still going and banning people randomly for whoever connects to the Internet.

 

[nitroBW]

I know there have been many polls now, but I just want to check something:
A user has already been suspecting that later luma releases added some patches that could cause a ban, which Luma 6.6 or lower didn't have, but only few are actually telling the Luma version they are using.

http://www.strawpoll.me/13042357

PLEASE BE HONEST, thank you!

EDIT: Here is the post btw: https://gbatemp.net/posts/7335672/

Someone has voted for "I'm using Luma3DS 6.6 or lower and DID get banned.", was that a mistake? If not, please tell us whether you have cheated online and/ or played games/ dlc before their release, thanks!

 

[k1r92]

Of course there is no way there can be proof for anything unless someone leaks Nintendo's internal strategy documents.

then don't spread misinformation such as "If you ever installed a cia file (FBI), you will be."

You know your chances of getting banned if you messed with homebrew, CFW or CIAs...

yeah, and?

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

then don't spread misinformation such as "If you ever installed a cia file (FBI), you will be."



yeah, and?

From what we understand, Nintendo can see your tickets and installed titles. If something mismatches with the official stuff, it's over, sooner or later.
There are people who haven't been banned at first, but did receive a ban just a couple hours later. They have been collecting data for a while (and likely continue to do so), and they are now issuing bans.

There's no proof, but there's presumptive evidence by all the data we collected in the past 100+ pages. I have been following this thread from page 1, so I was just providing a brief summary.

Also, there was no 100% confirmed case of a ofw ban, and no confirmed case of a ban of those who just have A9LH without FBI.

 

[EmulatorLover]

oh okay. So it's not just sighax I see... The only games I have hacked/hacked online with are MK7 & SSB3DS. Mainly MK7 tho. I have 2 O3DSXL 1 O3DS Flame Red, & 1 N3DSXL Red. Those are my old/somewhat breaking down consoles. All of them are banned! B9S Luma3ds 11.4 sysNAND for everything. Same configuration. However, the main console I use and have hacked MK7 with is my N3DSXL Galaxy Purple. THAT one isn't banned! (yet at least) FFS I even pirated a few tickets to try out FE Fates, but didn't like it. Deleted the tmp CTRNAND ticket & the game and it's ticket installation in FBI for obvious reasons... Ik I say too much stuff, but still. I'm kinda concerned on why they would ban my other consoles and not that...

I haven't played online in months but funny my brother just played mk7 the other day and he hasn't been banned, also I dont own any fire emblem games and I uninstalled sun and moon months ago because of space