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Nintendo's first 3DS handheld device released February 2011, identified by model number CTR-001.

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Dropped 3ds now it never loads my home menu! No CFW.

Really weird problem I have.

I dropped my new Nintendo 3ds XL (purple galaxy one) one day and when I went to turn it on, it stayed on the black/blue screen that appears when the console it loading. At first, it appeared to be a soft brick which was supposed to be an easy fix: everywhere I went said to put a combo of buttons in and press reset, which i did, but nothing seems to be fixing it??

If I hold down the power button, it’ll send me to the power off screen and the bottom touch screen still works. When I press the home menu, it gets stuck loading the home menu forever. I really have no idea what I managed to do to this thing. I even bought a screwdriver to open it up and see if it was because of the WiFi chip, then found out it’s on the TOP portion of my 3ds and got too scared to take it apart again lol. I have it backed up on my computer, so I won’t lose anything, I’m just like. Completely out of ideas. I genuinely have no idea what’s wrong. My only guess is I managed to corrupt the home menu???? Which is like…how??

Any advice is appreciated, as I have tried all of these things and nothing is fixing it:

-booted into safe mode, reset and nothing happened.

-reset the home menu with a button combo, nothing happened

-waited on the soft brick (nothing lol)

-opened it to see if it was bc the WiFi chip was loose, (found out it was on the top screen, THEN found out the newer model has the WiFi chip on a motherboard so idk how that could’ve gotten loose), I am willing to try it again if someone can show me a guide for the specific 3ds I have (I’m getting a little desperate LMAO)

The only thing I haven’t done is brought it in somewhere, I am trying to find a solution without spending money but I am afraid it’s coming to that. Again, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading this long winded post, I miss my tomodachi life game. It’s just like, it literally works I watch it work then it just gets stuck infinitely loading nothing.

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@darthmango can you check this one out as well?

Or do you think it's hardware related?

Thanks!

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@dan0 A drop would definitely point to hardware damage, but at the same time, I feel like I've heard of this 'missing home menu' symptom before. I'll see if I can find anything, but until then it's probably better to look at the hardware side

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That is true! Hopefully the WiFi chip need to be reseated. Otherwise we need to check further. Thanks :)!

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The WI-FI chip is actually on the lower portion of the 3DS, where the touchscreen sits. You can see in this replacement guide that it is mounted on the motherboard but can be disconnected and swapped.

Nintendo 3DS Wi-Fi Board Replacement

The top half holds the WI-FI antenna, which is basically a wire and wouldn't make the 3DS stuck on the boot screen even if you disconnected it(I tried, the only issue is that WI-FI wouldn't connect).

I'm not certain, but I think that part of the 3DS's system is on the WI-FI card, and if it became damaged or loose, which is common during a fall, the 3DS won't boot. You should probably try to make sure that the WI-FI chip is actually properly seated, and buy a new one if it doesn't work. The top half of the 3DS(including the screen, cameras, and the 3d slider) might also cause it to not boot properly if damaged or disconnected. Can you post some pictures of where the damage is?

Try reseating the WIFI chip first, replace it if the 3DS still fails to boot into home, and if it still won't boot properly then I guess it's software related.

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