hardware, hacking
Hello everybody.
I don't know where to start but I'll tell you my misadventure...So excuse me if I go on long but I would like to give you more details on the matter. And above all sorry for my bad english :/ .
I have a Switch Mariko with SX Core chip updated on 1.3 .
A few months I flashed the SX chip with the hwfly 0.6.2 firmware because I wanted to take advantage of the training phase and speed up the boot times since the basic firmware of the SX is often slow (slow especially after updating the FW 12.0 0 of the console with the classic flashing blue LED), but without success, managing however to make a revert to the SX firmware and bootloader and restoring the functions offered by the chip.
Apparently many have an infinite loop in the training phase, which didn't complete it after hours, and I also tried with the various variants:
* Spacecraft NX
*Spacecraft MOD version (as suggested by some users on this forum)
But I got no results, until I tried again to flash with hwfly 0.7.0 (June 2022) but without success, loop in the training phase.
On github someone suggested to do a chip reset via USB by pressing "R" after connecting via USB, and once that was done the result didn't change and so I did a revert to the SX FW
But something unusual happens: while the SX was flashing the blue led a red solid led (see attached pic)
Excluding, I tried plugging the console's EMMC into the mobo (without using the SX chip) and the console wouldn't boot. From this I concluded that the EMMC is somehow damaged and therefore I proceeded to purchase a non-original on Alie****ss.
Once EMMC arrived purchased and connected to the SX chip I proceeded to reflash the console with a backup of the NAND (ver 11.0.0) via hekate and seeing that from the fuses the version was 13.2.1 I flashed boot0 to this version (using the sthetix guide with universal keys) and in this way I was able to use the Switch again.
However I noticed a big problem, namely that once the console was turned off it didn't start like the previous times (SX flashes blue for too long even after hours of no boot) and by dint of attempts I found a solution:
1. Remove the SX chip from the mobo by the EMMC cable
2. Connect EMMC to mobo
3. Turn on the console. It booted vanilla without problems
4. Rebind the SX to the mobo
5. Insert the EMMC to the chip
In this way I was able to start the switch in a few seconds (blue flash and gree led)...don't ask me how but these steps worked (maybe some free cache memory).
A month ago I then updated the console to 15.0.0.
Not having found anything on the web and tired of this remove-put-open I wanted to try resetting the console via haku33, maybe by resetting I could get some improvements..but I don't know why the reset blocked one of the partitions (I think USER) , but after hours remaining frozen I decided to turn off the console and restart it, so I have a backup of the nand and in any case I would have reset it in case of problems.
The console seems to be starting up, appearing the classic red writing BOOT.dat? on the screen (I had forgotten to insert the micro SD). But then the console didn't start anymore so the problem wasn't solved, to do that remove-put of the EMMC again and the console started in vanilla. However, I was not satisfied with the reset with haku33 and therefore I wanted to do a factory reset via the official recovery of the console (power+vol)....yes I know, I was stupid
So I do the first configuration, turn off the console and reconnect the EMMC to the SX but the problem of the infinite blue LED hasn't disappeared anymore and so I ended up with an EMMC, probably corrupted but which only starts in vanilla without SX.
The boring part of the post ends... a month ago I bought an EMMC usb reader and I was able to write/read on EMMCs without problems using the various tools between windows and the dd command on linux.
Without having to depend on the Switch in hopes of being able to write something about the EMMC. Here's what I did and the various effects
EMMC1 -> first stock EMMC - corrupted after Reset with "R"
EMMC2 -> second bought - infinite loop and submitted to haku33
*EMMC2 rawnand backup and boot
*Write rawnand+boot 11.0.0 on EMMC1 -> black screen vanilla & loop blu led on sx core
*Write rawnand 11.0.0 and boot0 15.0.0 on EMMC1 -> blue screen vanilla (kernel panic) and loop blu led on sx core
*Write rawnand 11.0.0 and boot0 from variuous FW -> black screen vanilla & loop blu led on sx core
*Write rawnand 15.0.0 and boot0 from EMMC2 on EMMC1 -> normal boot vanilla & loop blu led on sx core
I did the same things in reverse between EMMC1 and EMMC2 obtaining the same results, so I can say that thanks to the usb tool I "repaired" the EMMC1.
So EMMC1 and EMMC2 boot in vanilla if they are at 15.0.0 with boot 15.0.0
So currently I don't have any way to use hekate or anything..whatever combination of boot and rawnand, the chip goes in loop with the blue led, and so if I want to write on EMMC I have to use EMMC Reader via USB
I came to a conclusion, the fuses burt when I did the vanilla reset and this prevents me from using old versions and the only original NAND that worked that I have is 11.0.0 and this prevents me from resetting it with the only one good NAND I have.
Also probably the NAND 15.0.0 I have is the result of a reset with haku33 which corrupted something and this prevents the correct boot from SX.
I haven't verified these conclusions but let me know if I'm wrong.
After having told you about this huge novel (excuse me xD) I ask you a final question:
Is there any hope of getting a working console back somehow while maintaining mod via the SX chip?
The only solution I found was to rebuild a NAND, using a donor NAND + prod.key (I have a friend with a Mariko at 15.0.0 also with SX+hekate+atmosphere) and my prod.key.
Thank you all for your patience but I wanted to give you as much information as possible.
PS. All console FW updates I've done via Daybreak since I switched to Atmosphere, but my first update was with ChoiDujourNX (if I'm not mistaken up to 11.0.0)
Moving to 12.0.0 forced me to depend on hekate and atmosphere using another boot.dat file.
If I start the console with SX connected but without EMMC after 10 seconds a steady red LED appears and I don't know why but a few days ago a steady white LED appeared after 3 seconds.
I don't know where to start but I'll tell you my misadventure...So excuse me if I go on long but I would like to give you more details on the matter. And above all sorry for my bad english :/ .
I have a Switch Mariko with SX Core chip updated on 1.3 .
A few months I flashed the SX chip with the hwfly 0.6.2 firmware because I wanted to take advantage of the training phase and speed up the boot times since the basic firmware of the SX is often slow (slow especially after updating the FW 12.0 0 of the console with the classic flashing blue LED), but without success, managing however to make a revert to the SX firmware and bootloader and restoring the functions offered by the chip.
Apparently many have an infinite loop in the training phase, which didn't complete it after hours, and I also tried with the various variants:
* Spacecraft NX
*Spacecraft MOD version (as suggested by some users on this forum)
But I got no results, until I tried again to flash with hwfly 0.7.0 (June 2022) but without success, loop in the training phase.
On github someone suggested to do a chip reset via USB by pressing "R" after connecting via USB, and once that was done the result didn't change and so I did a revert to the SX FW
But something unusual happens: while the SX was flashing the blue led a red solid led (see attached pic)
Excluding, I tried plugging the console's EMMC into the mobo (without using the SX chip) and the console wouldn't boot. From this I concluded that the EMMC is somehow damaged and therefore I proceeded to purchase a non-original on Alie****ss.
Once EMMC arrived purchased and connected to the SX chip I proceeded to reflash the console with a backup of the NAND (ver 11.0.0) via hekate and seeing that from the fuses the version was 13.2.1 I flashed boot0 to this version (using the sthetix guide with universal keys) and in this way I was able to use the Switch again.
However I noticed a big problem, namely that once the console was turned off it didn't start like the previous times (SX flashes blue for too long even after hours of no boot) and by dint of attempts I found a solution:
1. Remove the SX chip from the mobo by the EMMC cable
2. Connect EMMC to mobo
3. Turn on the console. It booted vanilla without problems
4. Rebind the SX to the mobo
5. Insert the EMMC to the chip
In this way I was able to start the switch in a few seconds (blue flash and gree led)...don't ask me how but these steps worked (maybe some free cache memory).
A month ago I then updated the console to 15.0.0.
Not having found anything on the web and tired of this remove-put-open I wanted to try resetting the console via haku33, maybe by resetting I could get some improvements..but I don't know why the reset blocked one of the partitions (I think USER) , but after hours remaining frozen I decided to turn off the console and restart it, so I have a backup of the nand and in any case I would have reset it in case of problems.
The console seems to be starting up, appearing the classic red writing BOOT.dat? on the screen (I had forgotten to insert the micro SD). But then the console didn't start anymore so the problem wasn't solved, to do that remove-put of the EMMC again and the console started in vanilla. However, I was not satisfied with the reset with haku33 and therefore I wanted to do a factory reset via the official recovery of the console (power+vol)....yes I know, I was stupid
So I do the first configuration, turn off the console and reconnect the EMMC to the SX but the problem of the infinite blue LED hasn't disappeared anymore and so I ended up with an EMMC, probably corrupted but which only starts in vanilla without SX.
The boring part of the post ends... a month ago I bought an EMMC usb reader and I was able to write/read on EMMCs without problems using the various tools between windows and the dd command on linux.
Without having to depend on the Switch in hopes of being able to write something about the EMMC. Here's what I did and the various effects
EMMC1 -> first stock EMMC - corrupted after Reset with "R"
EMMC2 -> second bought - infinite loop and submitted to haku33
*EMMC2 rawnand backup and boot
*Write rawnand+boot 11.0.0 on EMMC1 -> black screen vanilla & loop blu led on sx core
*Write rawnand 11.0.0 and boot0 15.0.0 on EMMC1 -> blue screen vanilla (kernel panic) and loop blu led on sx core
*Write rawnand 11.0.0 and boot0 from variuous FW -> black screen vanilla & loop blu led on sx core
*Write rawnand 15.0.0 and boot0 from EMMC2 on EMMC1 -> normal boot vanilla & loop blu led on sx core
I did the same things in reverse between EMMC1 and EMMC2 obtaining the same results, so I can say that thanks to the usb tool I "repaired" the EMMC1.
So EMMC1 and EMMC2 boot in vanilla if they are at 15.0.0 with boot 15.0.0
So currently I don't have any way to use hekate or anything..whatever combination of boot and rawnand, the chip goes in loop with the blue led, and so if I want to write on EMMC I have to use EMMC Reader via USB
I came to a conclusion, the fuses burt when I did the vanilla reset and this prevents me from using old versions and the only original NAND that worked that I have is 11.0.0 and this prevents me from resetting it with the only one good NAND I have.
Also probably the NAND 15.0.0 I have is the result of a reset with haku33 which corrupted something and this prevents the correct boot from SX.
I haven't verified these conclusions but let me know if I'm wrong.
After having told you about this huge novel (excuse me xD) I ask you a final question:
Is there any hope of getting a working console back somehow while maintaining mod via the SX chip?
The only solution I found was to rebuild a NAND, using a donor NAND + prod.key (I have a friend with a Mariko at 15.0.0 also with SX+hekate+atmosphere) and my prod.key.
Thank you all for your patience but I wanted to give you as much information as possible.
PS. All console FW updates I've done via Daybreak since I switched to Atmosphere, but my first update was with ChoiDujourNX (if I'm not mistaken up to 11.0.0)
Moving to 12.0.0 forced me to depend on hekate and atmosphere using another boot.dat file.
If I start the console with SX connected but without EMMC after 10 seconds a steady red LED appears and I don't know why but a few days ago a steady white LED appeared after 3 seconds.
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Last edited by DragonCrash,
just ask Uremum.