*Do not do this on a New 3DS you have downgraded to 2.1* - You will hardbrick. *Do not reset system settings if you have a 2DS downgraded to 2.1* - You will get stuck on the "Activate 3D" screen. Either one of those two scenarios will result in you having to reflash your 3DS from a backup via hardmod.

7 Years later and you're still helping people, thank you so much!💖

Recovery mode opens up for me and installs the updater to some extent , then it says there's an error, any help?

Thank you for providing a useful, well displayed, complete guide to solving a soft brick. I watched ~50 videos and was getting ready to dismantle the hardware and test fuses with a micrometer and updating the software worked perfectly.

I need some help here, my 3ds doesnt turn on without my file on the sd and when i do it boots on the OFW saying that there is no sd card inserted Dont know it might be my 3ds is off since last year so i dont know what to do, and im afraid to do anything and get it bricked

Question: My "NEW" 3ds xl Does turn on but the 2 screen are black and there is no sound what should I do

im having an issue, my new 3ds can get to that screen, but then it freezes immediately. does anyone know how to fix this?

6 years later and it still works thank you my guy

What should be done if recovery mode says the system is up to date but still doesn't boot afterwards?

This didn't do anything to my 3ds I can't turn it on because it blinks blue.

The 3ds gets to Recovery Mode fine however after the update it still did not work. When I power it on I get the startup jingle, however nothing appears on the screen. Is that a software issue or a hardware issue?

I have my n3ds soft bricked and I have been doing the safe mode and I get about 90% and doesn't move from there on. I've retried multiple times. Any idea why I am not able to finish the update?

When I turn my 2ds on, the blue light shows up for a second then disappears. Nothing happens after that. This happened after I formatted my sd card. Any way to fix this issue?

Thank you u helped me 4 years later 🙏

My 3SD speakers has stopped working from nothing (the speakers are fine, i think some file has brocken and the sound isn't working) because i can hear a little noise of the speaker working, so.. you think that if i downgrade it's version, the sound will work again? this problem has appeared some days after install arm9loaderhax.

I know this was posted over 3 years ago, but here goes nothing. I can successfully access the system update menu, however I cannot select "OK". neither the touchscreen or the A button respond when pressed. Does this count as a hard brick?

THANK. YOU. SO. MUCH. (edit: wow thanks for the heart. I bought an used classic 3ds and I updated it so I could enter into the eshop. What's my surprise the other owner of the system had installed Luma so I ran into a lot of problems trying to uninstall it and install the official firmware. AND YOUR METHOD WORKED so thanks again and cheers!)

my 3ds isnt even bricked WHY AM I WATCHING THIS

Question Mr. Mario, I have a new 3ds xl and went to add homebrew on it. I sadly didn't find your channel first explaining how to do this.But instead some other fools which put me in a bit of a problem. His way I needed to download a free game and when I went to do it the system needed a update. Now the gentleman never once said not to update the firmware past 11.5, so I accepted it. Now I sit at 11.6, is there anything I can do to downgrade back to 11.5 or is there anyway to add homebrew to a new 3ds with 11.6?

this didnt work for mine even though my blue led light does the exact same thing as his. what do it do???? please help

It worked a time, but after 30min my 2ds xl crashed, saying that the memory is damaged. I unbricked it again with the same method, it worked 2min before it crashed again with the same error. I tried it one last time, it crashed after less 10sec... I don't know what to do, do you think the 2ds is hardbricked ?

Wait a second, I did this tutorial and updated my system and everything. But when I turn it on it still has a solid black screen. Any advice?

I did this, the recovery mode screen popped up but it does not return to normal. After I turn it back on again it’s a completely black screen. No blue screen before at all.

My old 3ds will work every now and then for a few days. It's been blackscreening on boot up for a few days now and I'm not convinced it's hardbricked but this method didn't work.. Should I keep trying with this or just bury it already.

hey, i brick my old 3ds, if i turn he on without press any buttons the blue light turn on 1 sec and it goes away. no homemenu works. only i press select or start to beginn i come into lumia and synand. what should i do? :(

Hello I Know im late but I can get it to power on but it doesnt give me the accept update it just gives me a blank bottom screen and idk what to do after that

So this wont work on my old model 3ds XL. When i do the button combination the blue light blinks once but without the combination the light stays with both black screens. When i boot it without the SD card it says an exception occured. Any help?

I have the same problem on my N3DS but i changed the mobo due to a malfunction... after the swap the console was working pretty fine so i decided to do a system format with the option from the configuration menu from nintendo to get it totally clean but after the process finished the console got soft bricked... i did everything without sd card or any game card... the console was totally clean after the swap but now doesnt works... dont know if the new mobo was modified before but didnt seem to have any programmation and i wasnt trying to do any programmation i just was trying to get it totally clean... I dont understand what happened or why... hope you can help me

if i do that i get "An error has occured: SAFE_MODE is not supported on 1.x/2.x FIRM. Press any button to shutdown.

My screens only come on in safe mode. After it updates or says I'm up to date it powers down and when I turn it back on no screens. Lights come on and I hear sounds, but no screens. Any ideas?

So I was able to load the menu and update my 3ds but my screen stays black after updating

Oh my god you saved my 2ds’s life. I’ve been googling how to fix it for an hour and finally this worked. Thank you!!!!!

MrMario2011, I couldn't update my 2DS, an error ocurred and it was unable to update, then just restart, do you have another way to do it? i have the problem that after formating the console and start the cofiguration, it ask to move the 3D button up to the top, but the 2DS doesn't have this button.

So, I tried this, it booted to safe mode and updated, but still black screen. Does anyone have some tips or suggestions?

mine goes into recovery mode I press update and than it gets stuck like the update bar just doesn't move on tried powering off and that doesn't work plzz help me

So it won't let me update my system, is this considered a soft brick? I downgraded to 2.1 and then updated it to 10.7 using a game cartridge. Please help me out!

My update kept failing, then I tried to launch a game, it updated, and then when it rebooted the screen never turned on. Is it hard bricked? (I'm guessing the anwser is yes)

My 3ds wasn't modded at all, nor have I installed any custom firmware to it pr anything like that. When I pressed the home button, it essentially froze and when I hard reset it and turned it back on, the background music was playing was the screens were black. I have tried recovery mode several times and every time, it yielded the same results, or rather lack there of since the problem persists. Does anyone know what I could do to solve the problem? If you do, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.

Mine shows an error on mine while it updates. I didn't even see a blue line going through it just showed an error! Do you know a way to fix it?

Thank you so much! I modded my ds then realised I didn't have a full backup and it got bricked. It came up with an error first time but then I took out the microsd, did it and it worked then i put my microsd back and it was fine :)

Hey i have a question. My 2ds has homebrew running on the latest update. I havent played it in a few months and so i decided to pick it up again. I can only boot it up when my sd card is not in the slot. If i turn it off, put my sd card back in, and then turn it on, it just wont boot up. I cant tell of its running or not because the led lights dont work. Any help?

does it works on new 3ds xl too?, why if i press those buttons nothing happens?

I try to recovery my j-o3ds but it stuck at about 95%, I keep it all night still 95%. bcoz new fw 10.0.7 or not?

What is it says “An error has occurred. Unable to update. The system will now be restarted.”- I have another 2ds SD card it in the 2ds Im trying to fix

When i try ti turn my 3ds (old) on it shows the blue light, then the light goes away, does that mean its bricked?

I have a problem, I can enter the recovery mode but it only stays stuck on the same screen and does not progress the update, please help me

I haven't used any sort of hacking software on my New 3DS XL. I turn my DS on and it plays the menu music, but still shows a black screen. I turned it on using the button combination, and after it said that it was up to date, it turned off. I turned it back on and it just showed a black screen again... Any fixes?

The blue light turns on and off again using this, does that mean it's "hard bricked"? I'm so confused, I haven't used this damn thing in years and haven't tried to homebrew or w/e

The problem with mine is that the 3ds will boot BUT won't have any picture, just sound... I booted it up in recovery mode and the screens work. i was able to update it but still the same problem. It boots with sound but no picture... please help...

the first step worked but the screen is still black, should i just give up or let the 3ds die and recharge it?

i think mine is a softbrick... it turns on but it says save crash dump or shutdown... no disable mods becaus i dont think they have that feature yet... Edit: i didnt get the software update screen... it still turns on so no hardbrick just an "unidentified instruction"

When I press down L + R + Up + A, I get the same menu but... when I press OK, It doesn't tell me to accept or anything - it's just stuck with "OK" being highlighted

I am able to update but my screen is black, top and bottom, I can hear it playing in the background. What do I do!

Please help me even after rebooting my 3ds system and a successful update the screen is black with blue lights and sound

Hi! Early today my New 3DS XL gave me the error 8040 boot rom, could this fix my 3DS? I do not have warrantly with Nintendo

I'm softbricked on the latest firmware, is there a solution that's available without sending my New 3ds to Nintendo?

When I get to the Update screen the screens are tinted weird colours what should I do I'm on a New 3DS

My 3ds did brick while doing a downgrade but I can't tell if it was a Soft Brick or Hard Brick, I have a black screen but doing this doesn't work but I don't have any blue screens with text on it.

Mine wont even go into recovery. Blue led switches on and then off straight away. I was trying to softmod it with soundhax. Anyone able to help? Thanks.

Help I get: An error has occurred. Unable to update. The system will now turn off. When I try to update in safe mode

Your ds has no games and stuff on it. Does doing this factory reset your ds?

So my 3ds boots into soft recovery mode but then after I update it I still can't get past the black screen when I turn it on again. It's confusing me. It's also not auto-booting either after I finish the update.

My 2DS turns on but my top screen just shows the background and no applications. Also no applications can start when tapped on touch screen/a is pressed. I then tried this method but about 3/4 into the download, I get "unable to update". Anyone have any suggestions?

Everytime I start the Recovery Mode it says I need the partenal password. But I never had one. I tried everything but I just cant bypass this whatever I do...

I tried this on a new3ds, but when im updating, and the loading bar looks like 90% full it wont move no more, now i have waiting like 3 hours ;c

on my n3ds it opens the system update thing but when i try to update it it gives me an error. please help

After updating it says its up to date but when it turns off after I turn it back on it just stays black

My son has a 2DS XL and it has this problem, I'm not able to boot in safe mode and we haven't done anything to it to hard brick. Can someone help?

can it update without internet connection and what happen after that with current firmware ?

still not working, i can't get to my menu, i can do anything else but looks like the launcher is broken or something, and the thing is i never moded my 3ds

now at the end is where mine won't turn on like it makes a blue light than just doesn't turn on please help

how do I fix if I have downgraded to 2.1 and it stuck on black screen when it was loading the 2.1 (was trying to get luma)

dont know if anyone can help me i just was given a Nintendo 3ds XL . it turns on and it works but i cant access the main menu on boot up , it stays stuck on the 3d Screen Check now the problem is the 3d slider is completely BROKEN so i cant get past the setup, anyone know of a way to bypass the 3d screen check . i can force boot the console to play whatever game is inserted into the slot and the game plays fine but it still wont let me enter the main menu if i hit the home button during gameplay the console will shut off, i dont know what firmware is on the console since i cant access the main menu BUT on boot when i hold certain buttons together i can access the update screen to update the firmware i just have not updated the firmware . i also cant open the thing because it looks like my brother stripped the screws any other way to maybe homebrew this thing to skip setup 3d screen check ?

Hi thank you so much, my Nintendo 3DS says that is unable to update, what should I do? I still have the problem with the 3D activation screen

I did it but it's gave me an error message and i have to shutdown my 3ds xl over and over and over trys to get this erro's message.

Doesn't work on my New 2ds XL. The blue light comes on like usual, but the screen just stays black. Which is the problem. The power light will come on, but the screens stay black, no sound, nothing

I have a new 2ds Xl and your thing helped once, then it got an error because it couldn’t connect to the internet and bricked again. I turned it off by holding down the power button and turned it back with l,r,a and up pressed, but as normal the blue light just comes on and nothing more happens. This has been happening for the last year and sometimes in turns on but for only around 10 seconds and then just bricks again.

my update was finished and i had to restart. i did, but i ended up with the blackscreen again, and now the button combination to acess recovery mode does also no longer work. why?

I can update, but it won't boot into os. Never installed CFW

When I do this procedure it always gives an error when I put it to update. Gives error and turns off

It's not working;( I do the same thing I get in where is it says 'This system is up to date' and then it turn off And when I turn on it its just black screen again help plz:( (Sorry for my bad English hope you understand what I wrote)

My 2DS is telling me to move the 3D slider up, but it's a 2DS lol. Any way to get past this? I was trying to install the homebrew and a part of it froze, so I formatted my 2DS but now I can't get past this part.

i literally just transferred all my old data to my new one and the old one wont turn on i don't have any mods on it i did the l r up and start while turning it on doesn't work either

I brought a black screen n3ds. When tried to use ntrboot it worked during the first fase, but them whem I gone to the second fase (when you change the boot luma file on the sd card) whem booting up it got stuck on something about ctrnand. It boots in gm9 but because it did not came with an sd card when I brought it (stupid, I know) I cannot do the ctr recovery since I have no system backup. Anyone have any ideas?

With my N3ds it said there's no SD card and there is one in there and and pressed OK and 5 seconds later it frozed OK what do internet.

Hello i have the error failed to get ctrnand firm. Can helpme please? Thanks

I did it and the recovery screen came up. But it immediately froze once that screen came up. I've tried again multiple times, without and without the SD card in, taking the battery out for a while in between attempts, and I can't even get the recovery screen to come back. PLEASE RESPOND. I don't know what to do ;-;

I keep getting a message saying "An error has occurred Failed to apply 1 FIRM patch(es). Press any button to shutdown" Could anyone help? The 3ds can't even get past the screen.

I have my emunand on 10.3 through rxtools using the menuhax method of booting into rxtools so I only updated it once from the stock emunand it came with through the settings on my old 3ds.My question is would it be safe to upgrade my emunand from 10.3 to 10.5 again and what could go wrong if it doesn't update the emunand properly? Would it currupt the emunand but have the sysnand work just fine on regular 9.2 to the point where i could just replace all the files with a backup of my sd card along with the nand backup or would it also brick the sysnand aswell meaning I need some sort of hard mod.This is why I'm not upgrading anything for a long while lol

So, the update system from recovery mode is same that the update system from settings?

I did this and it says the system is already on the latest update. Turns off , turn it back on and nothing.

So I tried this with my 2ds xl that has no moded anything no cfw nothing and it’s still black screened

7 years later and saved me from losing my 2ds 😭😭 i love you man

ny friend sold me his 3ds it had his games and he then did a system transfer then after the start up i connected it to my wifi when i got home then went to the friends aplication when it went all black and shutdown i tried this and nothing happened does anyone know what happened and can help me?

4 weeks ago i tried this method. Tried it again. Nothing. When i press the on button again after it shuts off the crash screen reappears again.

I cannot get a successful update? Tried so many times. Can you help me?

when i turn my 2ds on when i do this it just turns off, what should i do?

Whenever i try to turn on my 3dsxl the blue led shows up and nothing happens help

So i tried injecting a gba game in my 3ds and when i try to open it it crashes my 3ds. And i cant even uninstall it coz if i go to uninstall software the 3ds crashes.

help mine just simply won't update the bar doesn't go anything I'm able to boot into recovery