My 3DS got bricked in a *VERY* weird way and I can't find a way to fix it. Please help...

[retrospect]

If the issue is to do with the onboard storage, you should still be able to use emuNAND, which uses a portion of your SD card for the firmware files. This should work even if the onboard storage chip is damaged. GM9 can restore your sysNAND backup to emuNAND on a new SD card, then you'd just copy your files to the card as normal (ideally from a known good back-up).

 

[CoolMe]

Taking a screenshot on the 3DS main menu says "an error has occurred with an operation with the SD card". This happens with all the SD cards I have.

Does the camera work at all? And does it display the surroundings, and it just freezes when you click take a pic?

GodMode9 and the Luma3DS settings menu work correctly for some reason. GodMode9 even shows me the remaining battery and hour of the console correctly.

Can you perform a CTRTransfer? Just to eliminate the issue is not software related problem, if you get an error doing that in GodMode9, i suggest using a free sd card, formatting fat32 32kb and testing with h2testw if you haven't done already, if you did, skip this step.
If you've encountered an error on GodMode9 starts to act weirdly, take a picture with your phone and post it here.
If that didn't work, you can also try CTRTransfer type D9 by @TurdPooCharger .

Other things you can check, if it's hardware problem, do this only after you've done the above, open up your 3DS re-seat the WiFi chip by taking it off and placing it snuggly again.

Doing the same to the sd card reader.

The only other thing left is the cameras, and if they're malfunctioning (confirmed if they crash the system when you take a pic, the issue described above), it's a painful process to to fix/replace, i hope it's not the case for you.

 

[RaitoADV]

Does the camera work at all? And does it display the surroundings, and it just freezes when you click take a pic?

Can you perform a CTRTransfer? Just to eliminate the issue is not software related problem, if you get an error doing that in GodMode9, i suggest using a free sd card, formatting fat32 32kb and testing with h2testw if you haven't done already, if you did, skip this step.
If you've encountered an error on GodMode9 starts to act weirdly, take a picture with your phone and post it here.
If that didn't work, you can also try CTRTransfer type D9 by @TurdPooCharger .

Other things you can check, if it's hardware problem, do this only after you've done the above, open up your 3DS re-seat the WiFi chip by taking it off and placing it snuggly again.

Doing the same to the sd card reader.

The only other thing left is the cameras, and if they're malfunctioning (confirmed if they crash the system when you take a pic, the issue described above), it's a painful process to to fix/replace, i hope it's not the case for you.

I've tried the CTRTransfer tutorial, but I'm stuck on step 24 because I can't access the System Settings. Everything before worked fine.

I'll probably check the hardware problem with someone I know (I've never opened a 3DS and I had bad experiences trying to fix hardware myself e_e). I'll update later when I get the time to do it.

 

[CoolMe]

I've tried the CTRTransfer tutorial, but I'm stuck on step 24 because I can't access the System Settings.

So the result is the same as it was before, and highlighting the system settings icon on the home menu causes it to crash the 3DS, right?

Everything before worked fine.

Good.

I'll probably check the hardware problem with someone I know (I've never opened a 3DS and I had bad experiences trying to fix hardware myself e_e). I'll update later when I get the time to do it.

Hey it shouldn't be that difficult, just open up the system with a standard Philips screw driver, (look up online disassembly videos, if you're not sure), the WiFi chip should be easy to spot as well as the sd card reader. Depending on the model, this IFIXIT guide is for the old 3DS on how to replace (in this case how to re-seat) the WiFi chip, and this is for the sd card reader.

Also this :>

Does the camera work at all? And does it display the surroundings, and it just freezes when you click take a pic?

 

[megahog2012]

Hey I have the same issue, I checked all if the camera is working and it doesn't, I checked if the connections for the SD and Wifi adapter and they are both snugged in their (and I did reseat them) But still nothing worked. Has anyone found the solution to this problem yet?

 

[godreborn]

Hey I have the same issue, I checked all if the camera is working and it doesn't, I checked if the connections for the SD and Wifi adapter and they are both snugged in their (and I did reseat them) But still nothing worked. Has anyone found the solution to this problem yet?

the camera could be your problem. I don't think the vita will boot up either if something is wrong with the camera.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hey I have the same issue, I checked all if the camera is working and it doesn't, I checked if the connections for the SD and Wifi adapter and they are both snugged in their (and I did reseat them) But still nothing worked. Has anyone found the solution to this problem yet?

Do you have a New 3DS/2DS XL by any chance? The "super-stable 3D" feature of the n3DS/2DS XL relies on the camera, and prevents the console from working correctly if the camera is not working, on the old 3DS/2DS this is not an issue AFAIK.
What I've read some people do is uninstall the system module that does the face tracking and it restores their console to fully working minus super-stable 3D and camera. As many people don't use 3D and the camera is hardly used in games that isn't a great loss for many people, the other way to fix it is to replace the hardware.

 

[megahog2012]

Okay what module do I remove?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Okay what module do I remove?

Can't find the post I was thinking of but apparently you can unplug the ribbon cable and that works too:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/new-3ds-xl-screens-only-display-recovery-mode.515760/page-2#post-8233350

Edit: It's this one:
https://www.3dbrew.org/wiki/QTM_Services
Title ID 0004013020004202 name "qtm"
Can be uninstalled with FBI.
But the common symptom for this is a black screen on the home menu (with sound) or a crash with "qtm" clearly mentioned in the Luma3DS error message. Is that what you experience?
https://gbatemp.net/threads/3ds-errordisp-luma.494511/
Have a look at this thread, which relates to the issue I'm talking about.

 

[megahog2012]

I can't access anything but GodMode9 and Luma chainloader

 

[megahog2012]

Also I use Old 3DS

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Also I use Old 3DS

Then that isn't the issue.
You'll have to post screenshots of the errors you get or if you get a black screen mention that so people can help you better.

 

[CoolMe]

Hey I have the same issue, I checked all if the camera is working and it doesn't, I checked if the connections for the SD and Wifi adapter and they are both snugged in their (and I did reseat them) But still nothing worked. Has anyone found the solution to this problem yet?

What led to the issue exactly? Were you encountering Arm11 errors? When and where? if so..
Have you tried doing ctrtransfer? If you did, did it complete successfully?
And i assume your sd card is checked with h2testw, because if not, you have to make sure before any serious troubleshooting.

 

[megahog2012]

So far I did not see any Arm11 error screen. I have done the CTRtransfer instructions up until the point I have to go to the system settings, the system freezes if I select any Icon besides the grid resizer Icon.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

So far I did not see any Arm11 error screen. I have done the CTRtransfer instructions up until the point I have to go to the system settings, the system freezes if I select any Icon besides the grid resizer Icon.

Make sure "Disable ARM11 exception handler" is NOT turned on in Luma3DS by holding Select on boot. It's likely you have it turned on and that's why you're not seeing the error screen.

 

[megahog2012]

ok I checked to see if "Disable ARM11 exception handler" is disabled and it was

 

[megahog2012]

still don't see any Arm11 error screen

 

[RaitoADV]

New update on this: It has been fixed!

Aparently the Wi-Fi card got damaged and that was causing the issue. Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Kwyjor]

Thank you for following up.

Aparently the Wi-Fi card got damaged and that was causing the issue.

So you got a replacement wifi card?

 

[BaamAlex]

Thank you for following up.


So you got a replacement wifi card?

It has been fixed!

Obviously yes