Homebrew New 3DS XL with CFW doesn't want to boot with SD cards anymore

[BrotherBumps]

Hi I'm typing this because I need help with this and I'm trying a lot of things so here it goes

My New 3DS XL with all the recent updates like Luma V.12 and everything from the 3ds.hacks guide is working fine one of these days playing games normally and whatnot but here's the weird part. One of these days when I turned it off normally and I came back to it after a while (In a while like 2 hours) I turned it on and my 3DS is a black screen with the blue light for a very long time. So I followed the troubleshooting guide and nothing seems to work to get it fixed but it boots up normally when the SD card is out.

I don't think it's the SD card port on the 3ds being messed up too also When I tried to boot it up without the SD card in GOD MODE v.9 and Remount the SD Card it freezes GODMODE which is very weird

The SD card works fine but the only thing that I haven't tried yet is this

1. Rename the Nintendo 3DS folder on your SD card to Nintendo 3DS_BACKUP, then attempt to boot. If your device successfully boots, there is some issue within your Nintendo 3DS folder. Try clearing HOME Menu extdata:
   • Navigate to /Nintendo 3DS/<ID0>/<ID1>/extdata/00000000/ + Delete the corresponding folder for your 3DS region:
     • EUR Region: 00000098
     • JPN Region: 00000082
     • USA Region: 0000008f
     • CHN Region: 000000A1
     • KOR Region: 000000A9
     • TWN Region: 000000B1

Which I kinda don't want to mess up anything related to that tbh because that website doesn't explain what does it even do in the first place
There's also the boot it up in recovery mode but I can't really do that if my 3ds doesn't boot up in the first place
I have a backup of my games and saves and the files on my pc when I did it but I need to figure out why is it not booting up normally even though it was fine before.
It's bothering me heavily so I made an account on GBAtemp because you guys seem knowledgeable on these things.
No rush on the replies but I'll respond to anything if I'm able to
and apologies if this sounds all rushed this is pretty much as specific as possible.
I'm just tired of trying pretty much everything and I just want to game on my 3DS.

EDIT: I'm new here so I'm going to browse the other threads to see if I can get more info and stuff

 

[CoolMe]

Can you boot into the home menu when the sd card isn't inserted?
Are you getting errors like Arm11, Arm9 or "unable to mount ctrnand firm.."?

black screen with the blue light for a very long time

Blue power light (fading after a few seconds) or a blue screen?

I don't think it's the SD card port on the 3ds being messed up too also When I tried to boot it up without the SD card in GOD MODE v.9 and Remount the SD Card it freezes GODMODE which is very weird

Does GodMode9 freeze when the sdcard isn't inserted?

 

[BrotherBumps]

Can you boot into the home menu when the sd card isn't inserted?
Are you getting errors like Arm11, Arm9 or "unable to mount ctrnand firm.."?

Blue power light (fading after a few seconds) or a blue screen?

Does GodMode9 freeze when the sdcard isn't inserted?

Yeah I can boot up into the home menu without the sd card but when I have my sd card plugged in i get nothing just a black screen with solid blue light
On the error part I haven't gotten any errors like you said
and God mode doesn't freeze it's only when i try to mount the sd card

 

[Kwyjor]

Copy everything off the card (preferably with Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier since the card might be defective), format the card, test the empty card with h2testw, and if the test is OK, copy everything back.

This is the standard procedure. It's not really worth bothering with anything else.

 

[CoolMe]

Yeah I can boot up into the home menu without the sd card but when I have my sd card plugged in i get nothing just a black screen with solid blue light
On the error part I haven't gotten any errors like you said
and God mode doesn't freeze it's only when i try to mount the sd card

Yep, sounds the problem is coming from your sdcard. Check it with h2testw (as Kwyjor described). Make sure to run it with the "read & verify" setting.

 

[BrotherBumps]

Sorry for late reply but here's what i did. the SD card was thankfully not defective so I copied my data separately, formatted the card, did the test, it came out ok and copied everything back but my 3DS is still black screens with solid blue light.
Also tried to mount the sd card while in Godmode as well but sadly it froze Godmode.
Imma try to leave the card in and turn it on later but very thankful regardless on how fast you guys responded

 

[CoolMe]

but my 3DS is still black screens with solid blue light.

The blue light doesn't fade? You mean it stays until you turn it off?

Also tried to mount the sd card while in Godmode as well but sadly it froze Godmode.
Imma try to leave the card in and turn it on later but very thankful regardless on how fast

Copy just the Luma3DS and GodMode9 files on the sd card, and see if you can access Luma3DS menu (holding "select" on boot).
Do you know what firmware your 3ds is on?

 

[BrotherBumps]

Yeah the blue light stays on solid until i hold the power button to turn it off
and yeah the firmware is on the recent one 11.16.0-49U
Also i can access Luma and Godmode normally through my system not the sd card i don't know what it's exactly called

 

[CoolMe]

and yeah the firmware is on the recent one 11.16.0-49U

Was the 3ds working before on that firmware?

Also i can access Luma and Godmode normally through my system not the sd card

Have you tried holding "select" on boot to access Luma3DS Menu?

 

[BrotherBumps]

The 3DS was working fine before the firmware update and even after I did everything. It's just outta of nowhere it just doesn't want to boot up normally with the SD card anymore

Ye it boots up Luma when I press select but without the SD card because it has "Booted from CTRNAND Via B9S" i think that's what it's called. I tired booting up Luma with the SD card inserted on Boot but nothing shows up just Black Screen with Solid Blue Light

 

[CoolMe]

I tired booting up Luma with the SD card inserted on Boot but nothing shows up just Black Screen with Solid Blue Light

Hmm.. Sounds like your sd card reader is dying. You need to replace it.

 

[Kwyjor]

I tired booting up Luma with the SD card inserted on Boot but nothing shows up just Black Screen with Solid Blue Light

Does that mean the SD card was empty aside from boot.firm?

Even though the SD card was tested and found to not have errors, I don't think it's safe to say the SD card reader is dying until you can try another empty SD card.

 

[BrotherBumps]

Yeah at this point it probably is dying because even my back up one before the brew is giving me black screen blue light which didn't happen before. Hey man honestly I appreciate the help so imma check if the sd card reader on my 3ds is actually dying If that's the case

Post automatically merged: Mar 6, 2023

Oh i didn't see your message Kwylor but ill try an empty sd card too