Troubleshooting

If you are unable to boot your 3DS, please look for the section relevant to you, and follow the instructions. Once a solution works for you, you can proceed on with the main guide.

(The section is fairly long, try using Ctrl+F to search for your issue.)

If you still cannot solve your issue and need to reach out for help, please paste the contents of all relevant .log files from the root of your SD card into a Gist, then come for help prepared with a detailed description of your problem and what you've tried.

A browser based exploit is not working

Browser based exploits (such as browserhax or 2xrsa) are often unstable and crash frequently, but they can sometimes be fixed by doing the following steps.

1. Open the browser, then open the browser settings
   1. Scroll to the bottom and Initialize Savedata (it also may be called Clear All Save Data)
   2. Try the exploit again

System boots directly SafeA9LHInstaller

You copied the wrong arm9loaderhax.bin file to your SD card (you were only supposed to copy the 3ds folder and SafeA9LHInstaller.dat file from the SafeA9LHInstaller zip).

1. Use the correct arm9loaderhax.bin
   1. Copy arm9loaderhax.bin from the Luma3DS zip to the root of your SD card
   2. Reboot holding select and continue

SafeA9LHInstaller shows a glitched screen

This happens occasionally, but the reason is unknown. The buttons will still work, but the screen will be glitched looking.

1. Follow instructions as normal
   1. Press (Select) and arm9loaderhax will be installed
   2. The console will reboot
      • If the console does not reboot, wait 10 seconds, then power off your 3DS by holding down the power button.

After doing the DSiWare Downgrade, my hacked save is gone

1. If you don't have the game at all, link the NNID you bought the game with to 3DS #2 and download it on 3DS #2
2. On 3DS #1, do DSiWare Downgrade - Section III - Installing the save
3. On 3DS #1, go to System Settings, "Data Management", "DSiWare", then copy your DSiWare game to your SD card
4. Either put 3DS #1's SD card in 3DS #2, or rename the Nintendo 3DS on 3DS #2's SD card and copy the Nintendo 3DS folder from 3DS #1's SD card to 3DS #2's SD card
5. On 3DS #2, go to System Settings, "Data Management", "DSiWare", then copy your DSiWare game to the system
6. Return your SD cards to normal, then continue with the DSiWare Downgrade

Decrypt9 or Hourglass9 won't restore / can't find my NAND backup

1. Make sure you do not have any folder named "Decrypt9" on the root of your SD card
2. Try redownloading and recopying the OTPHelper files
3. Try checking your SD card file system with something like fsck.vfat <sd partition path> (on *nix) or CHKDSK <sd drive letter> /F (on Windows)
4. Try backing up your SD card files, then formatting it and copying them back
5. Try a different SD card

Black screen on SysNAND boot

1. Try booting with your SD card out, and then reinserting it after booting.
   1. Power off your 3DS by holding down the power button.
   2. Take out the SD card.
   3. Power on the 3DS.
   4. When the home menu appears, reinsert your SD card.
2. If you have a hardmod and a NAND backup, flash the backup back to SysNAND.
3. Try booting into recovery mode and updating your system.
   This probably will not work for an Old 3DS downgraded to 2.1.0
   This will BRICK a New 3DS downgraded to 2.1.0
   1. Power off your 3DS by holding down the power button.
   2. Hold L+R+A+Up.
   3. Power on the 3DS.
   4. If you enter safe mode, update your 3DS only if you have an entrypoint for the latest FW version and it is possible to downgrade from it and attempt the downgrade again.
4. Your 3DS may be bricked. For support, ask for help at #3dshacks on Rizon IRC.

Black screen on SysNAND boot after installing arm9loaderhax

1. Ensure you have a working payload.
   1. Check for the existence of arm9loaderhax.bin in the root of your SD card.
2. Try resetting Luma's config and fix options
   1. Delete /luma/config.bin from your SD card
   2. Set your options when it boots
3. Test booting Hourglass9
   1. On Luma3DS, hold Start on boot
4. Try deleting home menu's extdata
   1. Navigate to /Nintendo 3DS/(32 Character ID)/(32 Character ID)/extdata/00000000/ on your SD card
      • EUR Region: Delete 00000098
      • JPN Region: Delete 00000082
      • USA Region: Delete 0000008f
      • CHN Region: Delete 000000A1
      • KOR Region: Delete 000000A9
      • TWN Region: Delete 000000B1
5. If you did not start Part 1 with a NAND between 4.0.0 and 4.5.0, make sure you do not have a firmware.bin file in /luma/
6. If you started Part 1 with a NAND between 4.0.0 and 4.5.0, make sure you have copied the following firmware.bin file to /luma/
   • New 3DS: firmware.bin (mirror) (mirror)
   • Old 3DS: firmware.bin (mirror) (mirror)
7. Try this test payload (mirror).
   1. Rename /arm9loaderhax.bin, if it exists, to something else.
   2. Place the arm9loaderhax.bin from the archive linked above in your SD root.
   3. Insert your SD card into your 3DS and power on.
   4. Press (A). Your 3DS should power off; this means arm9loaderhax is working and something else is broken; your device is not bricked.
8. If you previously downgraded with Gateway, read this
9. Try following 9.2.0 ctrtransfer starting on Step 4.
10. Ask for help at #3dshacks on Rizon IRC.

Blue screen on boot (bootrom error)

1. Your 3DS is bricked.
2. You will need to get a hardmod or repair / replace the device.