3DS:DS mode unbrick

The DS mode firmware used for backwards compatibility in a 3DS console can be made unusuable by several different things. This page lists the full usual set of troubleshooting steps to fix this issue.

The troubleshooting below should always be started at the first section. The troubleshooting will direct you to other sections as necessary.

CFW Check

First, we will make sure your console has working CFW. This will help as it allows access to several useful homebrew tools, including GodMode9.

1. Power on your console while holding the SELECT button
   • If your console boots to the Luma3DS configuration menu, press START to save, then continue
   • If your console doesn't boot to the Luma3DS configuration menu, do the same without the SD card inserted
     • If your console does boot to the Luma3DS configuration menu, your SD card wasn't inserted correctly, re-insert it and try again
     • If your console doesn't boot to the Luma3DS configuration menu, you likely do not have Luma installed, and should install CFW before continuing as all but one of the fixes on this page require it
       • To make sure of this, hold SELECT+START+X+POWER for seven seconds while the console is powered off, then power off again, hold HOME, and then press POWER - if the notification LED lit up a color or the fastboot3DS menu appears, then you have working CFW but something is interfering with Luma. Join the Nintendo Homebrew Discord for more advanced help
       • If you do not have CFW and do not want to install it, then this guide cannot help you. You should still install CFW through a method on the guide.

Troubleshooting

Section I - Prep Work

1. Follow Restoring / Updating CFW, then the "Updating GodMode9" and "Creating a NAND backup" sections on 3DS:GodMode9/Usage
   • Keep the NAND backup in your gm9/out folder if you have room, as it will be used if you need to do Section V

Section II - TWLFix Triad

Section II, Part I - Regular TWLFix

1. Download TWLFix-CFW.3dsx (direct download)
2. Power off your console and insert your SD card into your computer
3. Copy TWLFix-CFW.3dsx into sd:/3ds/
4. Reinsert your SD card into your console
5. Power on your console
6. Launch the Homebrew Launcher
7. Launch TWLFix CFW Edition from the list of homebrew
8. Press A to begin
9. When the process is completed, press START to reboot
10. REQUIRED: Update your console by opening System Settings -> Other Settings, then going to the last page and selecting System Update
    • This step MUST be completed even if your console is already on the latest version
    • Updates while using B9S + Luma3DS (what you have) are safe
    • If the update gives you an error, go through Unable to update console
11. After the System Update, attempt to open something that uses DS mode
    • If DS mode still crashes, continue to Part II of this section

Section II, Part II - Semi-Manual TWLFix

If you have installed any DSiWare games/apps, be aware that these will also be removed by CompleteDSiWareUninstaller. If you do not want to have to reinstall them afterward,use a tool such as GodMode9 or FBI to make individual .cia backups of the apps before starting the below instructions.

1. Download CompleteDSIWareUninstaller.3dsx (direct download)
2. Power off your console and insert your SD card into your computer
3. Copy CompleteDSiWareUninstaller.3dsx into sd:/3ds/
4. Reinsert your SD card into your console
5. Power on your console
6. Launch the Homebrew Launcher
7. Launch Complete DSiWare Uninstaller from the list of homebrew
8. Press A to begin
9. When the process is completed, press START to reboot
10. REQUIRED: Update your console by opening System Settings -> Other Settings, then going to the last page and selecting System Update
    • This step MUST be completed even if your console is already on the latest version
    • Updates while using B9S + Luma3DS (what you have) are safe
    • If the update gives you an error, go through Unable to update console
11. After the System Update, attempt to open something that uses DS mode
    • If DS mode still crashes, continue to Part III of this section
    • If it does not crash and the issue is fixed, you may reinstall any .cia backups of user apps you made earlier now
      • If reinstalling these backups causes DS mode to start crashing again, the apps in question are corrupt. Redo this section and delete the .cias

Section II, Part III - Manual TWLFix

1. Power off your console and insert your SD card into your computer
2. Install a torrent client such as qBitTorrent or Deluge if you do not already have one
3. Using your torrent client, download the four following .cia files from their magnet links:
   • TWL Version Data
   • DS Internet
   • DS Download Play
   • Nintendo DS Cart Whitelist
4. Depending on whether your 3DS is a new model or an old, download one of these two .cia files from its magnet link:
   • New 3DS TWL_FIRM
   • Old 3DS TWL_FIRM
   • If you are not sure of your console's model, check how many shoulder buttons it has - a new model has four of them (L+ZL+ZR+R), and an old model only has two L+R
5. Move any files currently inside the folder sd:/cias onto your PC (make it if it doesn't exist), then copy the five downloaded .cias into that folder
6. Reinsert your SD card into your console
7. Power on your console
8. Open FBI and go into the Titles section
9. Wait for all titles to load, and then go to the bottom where titles colored in purple text appear
10. Press A and select Delete title and ticket on the following titles:
    • 0004800F484E4C41 (TWL Version Data)
    • 0004800F484E4841 (Nintendo DS Cart Whitelist)
    • DS Download Play
    • Nintendo DSi™
    • New 3DS only: 0004013820000102 (New3DS TWL_FIRM)
    • Old 3DS only: 0004013800000102 (TWL_FIRM)
11. Go back out of Titles, go into SDCARD, and navigate into the cias folder
12. Choose the <current directory> option and then Install all cias (do not select Install and delete all cias)
    • If any of the titles give an error during installation, skip them and attempt to install them individually. If they still give an error, ask for help and state the error code
13. Go back out of SDCARD and go into Titles again
14. Wait for all titles to load, and then go to the bottom. Ensure all of the titles you deleted in Step 10 are now present. If they are not, restart again from Step 10
15. Exit FBI, then power off your console and power on again
16. Attempt to open something that uses DS mode
17. If DS mode still crashes, continue to Section III

Section III - Bizarre Edge Cases

1. Power off your console and insert the SD card into your computer
2. Open the file sd:/luma/config.ini in a text editor
3. Scroll down until you find the variables disable_arm11_exception_handlers and enable_dsi_external_filter
   • These variables should both be set to 0; if either of them are not, set them to 0 now
4. Exit the text editor, remove the SD card, and reinsert the SD card into your console
5. Power on your console
6. Open FBI, then go into Remote Install -> Scan QR code
7. Check whether the camera works, then press X and similarly check the other camera
   • If either camera causes an error or does not produce any output, your camera is likely bricked - this is known to cause DS mode issues. Disconnect the camera's cable ribbon and/or replace the camera entirely to fix this
8. Power off the console, then power on again while holding SELECT to access the Luma3DS configuration menu
9. If either of the following settings are enabled, disable them:
   • Enable loading external FIRMs and modules
   • Enable game patching
10. Either press START or select Save and exit, then attempt to open something that uses DS mode
    • If this works, look for and delete faulty patches in sd:/luma/sysmodules, sd:/luma/titles, and sd:/luma/twl_upscaling_filter.bin before turning any of their respective settings back on
11. If DS mode still crashes and the camera works, continue to Section IV
    • If the camera does not work, then this is a hardware issue, and this guide will not fix broken hardware.
      Instead, try disconnecting the camera from the motherboard, then obtain a replacement camera if that does not help

Section IV - NVRAM Analysis

Section IV, Part I - Corruption Check

1. Open System Settings -> Other Settings -> Profile -> Nintendo DS Profile
   • If this crashes, continue to Part II of this section
   • If this does not crash, skip to Section V

Section IV, Part II - ctrcheck

1. Follow the instructions on the ctrcheck page
2. If you did not get Critical: NVRAM is inaccessible, then reboot after trying all other applicable fixes and continue to Part III of this section

Section III, Part III - Restoration

1. Follow the instructions on the Fix NVRAM page
   • If the DS Profile does not crash after this, attempt to open something that uses DS mode (the DS Profile only uses NVRAM, not DS mode)
     • If DS mode still crashes, continue to Section V

Section V - TinyFormat

1. Power off your console and insert the SD card into your computer
2. If your NAND backup from Section I is not already on your SD card, copy it to gm9/out now
3. Download TinyFormat (the .zip that is not the source code) and extract it
4. Copy TinyFormat.3dsx from 3ds/TinyFormat inside the zip, and paste it into sd:/3ds
5. Reinsert the SD card into your console
6. Power on your console
7. Go into the Homebrew Launcher, then open TinyFormat.3dsx
8. Press Y to start the format
9. Your console will eventually load to initial setup - this is intended, and does not mean data has been lost
10. Go through initial setup until you reach the HOME Menu
    • If you cannot complete initial setup for some reason, you may be able to bypass it using 2DSaver
11. Attempt to open something that uses DS mode
    • If this still crashes, restore your NAND backup and then continue to Section VI

Section VI - 3ds_hw_test

1. Power off your console and insert the SD card into your computer
2. Download 3ds_hw_test (the 3ds_hw_test.firm file)
3. Place this file in sd:/luma/payloads on the SD card
4. Reinsert the SD card into your console
5. Hold START, and while holding START power on the console
6. Select 3ds_hw_test
7. Press any button to start the test
8. The test will take up to 45 minutes - when it's done, press any button to turn it off
9. The file HWTEST.LOG will have been created on the SD root - open this file in a text editor
   • GodMode9 will work for this, if you do not have a PC with an SD slot available
10. Scroll down to the end and look at the number of errors
    • If this number is more than 0, your console's RAM is dying and you need to replace the motherboard

If the above number of errors is zero, you have now exhausted all of the conventional fixes. Go to the Nintendo Homebrew Discord, ask for help, and mention that you've tried this page already.