3DS:Black screen unbrick

When a 3DS black-screens instead of booting to the HOME Menu, it is usually a bad sign. This page lists common troubleshooting to fix this issue.

The troubleshooting below should be started at the first section. The troubleshooting will direct you to the next sections if necessary.

CFW Check

First, we will check if the console has CFW. This will help as it provides GodMode9, a helpful tool for troubleshooting of the issue.

1. Power on your console while holding the SELECT button
   • If your console does boot to the Luma3DS configuration menu, press START to save, then continue to the CFW troubleshooting section below
   • 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 turns off right away, you have CFW and can continue to the CFW troubleshooting section below
     • If your console doesn't boot to the Luma3DS configuration menu but black-screens, your console is bricked without CFW, and you should continue to the stock troubleshooting section at the bottom of this page

CFW troubleshooting

Section 1 - Prep Work

1. Follow Restoring / Updating CFW, then "Updating GodMode9" and "Creating a NAND backup" section on 3DS:GodMode9/Usage
2. Take out any inserted game cartridge
3. Continue to the next section

Section 2 - Lumabug

1. Power on your console
2. Press L+↓+SELECTtogether after waiting 10 seconds
   • If the rosalina menu opens, you're experiencing the Lumabug and simply have to wait 15 minutes. If it doesn't work, continue to the next section
   • If the rosalina menu doesn't open, continue to the next section

Section 3 - Luma3DS configuration reset

1. Insert the SD card into your computer
2. Navigate to the luma folder
3. Delete config.ini
4. Insert the SD card back into your console
5. Power on your console
   • If your console doesn't boot to the Luma3DS configuration, follow SD Clean, then return to section 2
6. Do not enable anything, just press START to save the default configuration
   • If your console boots to the HOME Menu, you should look for and delete faulty patches in /luma/sysmodules and /luma/titles on the SD card before re-enabling game patching or loading external FIRMs and modules
   • If your console doesn't boot to the HOME Menu, continue to the next section
   • If your console boots to an error, check 3DS:Error screens/Luma3DS exception screen on how to fix your error

Section 4 - SD extdata

1. Power on your console without the SD card inserted
   • If it boots to the Luma3DS configuration screen, press START to save
   • If it doesn't boot to the HOME menu, continue to the next section
   • If it boots to the HOME Menu, do the following steps
     1. Insert your SD card into your computer
     2. Navigate to Nintendo 3DS -> ID0 -> ID1 -> extdata
        • ID0 and ID1 are 32-character long folders
        • If you have multiple ID0/ID1 folders, do the following for all of them
     3. Delete the corresponding folder for your region:
        • USA: 0000008f
        • EUR: 00000098
        • JPN: 00000082
        • KOR: 000000A9
     4. Reinsert your SD card into your console
     5. Power on your console
        • If it still doesn't boot to the HOME Menu, but does without the SD card, you're experiencing a very weird issue and should ask in the Nintendo Homebrew discord for more advanced help

Section 5 - Safe Mode

1. Power on your console while holding L+R+↑+A
   • If your console boots to the Safe Mode menu, perform the update and see if it boots to the HOME Menu
   • If it doesn't boot to Safe Mode, or doesn't boot to the HOME Menu after a Safe Mode update, continue to the next section

Section 6 - CTRTransfer

1. Follow the CTRTransfer guide on 3DS Hacks Guide
   • If it doesn't boot to the HOME menu at the end of section 2, continue to the next section

Section 7 - New 3DS camera brick

If you troubleshoot an Old/Original model (Old 3DS, Old 3DS XL or Old 2DS), you can skip this section

1. Insert your SD card into your computer
2. Navigate to the /luma/ folder
3. Look for errdisp.txt
   1. If it exists, rename it to _errdisp.txt
   2. If it doesn't exist, continue to the next section
4. Insert your SD card back into your console
5. Power on your console
6. Wait 15 seconds
7. Power off your console
8. Navigate to the /luma/ folder
9. Look for errdisp.txt
   • If it exists, open it in a text editor, and check if the process name is qtm, if it is you need to disconnect your inner camera or replace it. If it's different, you're experiencing a very weird issue and should ask in the Nintendo Homebrew discord for more advanced help
   • If it doesn't exist, continue to the next section

Section 8 - NVRAM check

1. Power on your 3DS while holding START
2. Navigate to M: MEMORY VIRTUAL
3. Press A on nvram.mem, then Copy to 0:/gm9/out
   • If it fails, youre experiencing an NVRAM issue, and should ask Helpers(people with Helpers role) for help on the Nintendo Homebrew discord
   • If it succeeds, continue to the next section

Section 9 - 3ds_hw_test

1. Download https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/441119928334942218/1004168116286271599/3ds_hw_test.firm
2. Place this file in /luma/payloads on the SD card
3. Turn on your 3DS while holding START
4. Select 3ds_hw_test
5. Press A to start the test
6. When it's done, it'll take up to an hour, press any button to turn it off, then open the newly generated HWTEST.LOG file on the SD card in a text editor
7. Scroll down to the end, and look at the number of errors
   • If its 0, continue to the next section
   • If its more than 0, your 3DS RAM is dying and you need to replace your console

Section 10 - Manual CTRTransfer

1. Follow 3DS:CTRTransfer/Manual

This is the end, if your console hasn't booted to the HOME Menu, go to the Nintendo Homebrew discord and mentioned that you've tried this page already.

Stock troubleshooting

Section 1 - Safe Mode

1. Power on your console while holding L+R+↑+A
   • If your console boots to the Safe Mode menu, perform the update and see if it boots to the HOME Menu
   • If it doesn't boot to Safe Mode, or doesn't boot to the HOME Menu after a Safe Mode update, continue to the next section

Section 2 - Shutdown menu

1. Power on your console
2. Wait 30 seconds
3. Press the POWER button
   • If it enters the shutdown menu(grey screen with text), youre experiencing f000000b corruption, and need to install boot9strap with NTRBoot in order to fix the issue
   • If it stays black and only powers off if you hold the button for 15 seconds, read the text below

Fixing this is potentially possible with NTRBoot, if it isn't a hardware issue.