Reliable Modchip for Switch Oled? I really need your advice guys!

[nashismo]

First, it is been a long time, I haven't posted here for almost 5 years! I used to post all the time!! And it was always a great experience.

Here is the thing, I was thinking of maybe buying the Switch. I live in Chile, so I watched the news, it seemed good enough, the prices were higher but still purchasable for me. Then the news hit, and we found out that the Switch 2 was going to arrive to the country at $700. Madness...

So, as I am not insane in the head, I decided not to get it, instead I checked if there was anything Switch related, and sure enough I found that the Switch Oled was selling around 309 thousand pesos (around 320 dollars converted) wow, very good price the Switch Oled brand new! Cause in here it used to be around 450-500.

To make the story short, I bought the white version Oled, and bought a Picofly Chip from Aliexpress, I am very good at soldering. The thing finally arrived, I did all the soldering points correctly, but one of the chinese picofly ribbon cables broke! (One of the traces came off) Here is a pic where the contact came off:

And the Modchip is this:

The thing is, I have been BANGING MY HEAD UPPON THE WALL with this piece of crap chip! Because all my connections (apart from the broken contact) are fine but the chip won't start. I am starting to believe the FLEX cable never actually worked, that's why the copper trace came off (because it came that way from factory).

I have no problem WIRING all contacts needed, so, what do you guys recommend? What chip or Modchip is better then that crap I bought from Aliexpress?

Thank you guys for reading, and if anyone knows what I can do with what I already have, even better, but I honestly do not expect much from this lousy piece of crap.

Thanks

 

[Hayato213]

The better options would be Original HWFLY like v4 or Instinct nx but those are like out of stock.

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

Just take a multimeter and measure if there is continuity between the connection and the end of the flex.
You never know what the delivery guy did with the flex cables.

Maybe also check what brand emmc you have as some need some extra resistance.
That has been mentioned in the picofly sticky thread several times as a solution.

In a very rare case, the resistor values on the modchip board were incorrect.
But that has been a while ago since someone mentioned that.

You could opt for a Waveshare RP2040 and some resistors as a replacement and use the flex cables (if they are fine).
That is the way we used to do it in the beginning.
Doesn't your LED show anything by the way?
Usually the modchip will complain if something is wrong.
If the LED doesn't show anything maybe it is the board.

 

[nashismo]

Just take a multimeter and measure if there is continuity between the connection and the end of the flex.
You never know what the delivery guy did with the flex cables.

Maybe also check what brand emmc you have as some need some extra resistance.
That has been mentioned in the picofly sticky thread several times as a solution.

In a very rare case, the resistor values on the modchip board were incorrect.
But that has been a while ago since someone mentioned that.

You could opt for a Waveshare RP2040 and some resistors as a replacement and use the flex cables (if they are fine).
That is the way we used to do it in the beginning.
Doesn't your LED show anything by the way?
Usually the modchip will complain if something is wrong.
If the LED doesn't show anything maybe it is the board.

Thank you very much for your feedback. The problem is that that copper (in that part, below D) is totally missing from the flex, maybe I never noticed, the small resistor/capacitor on the Switch there, is alive thankfully. The connector that I use on the nand gave me a reading of .700 in dial mode, which seems to be fine. And yes, I do have an error code "*= CMD is not connected".

Short yellow then long yellow. The weird thing is, that yes, at first I was getting "D0 is not connected" error and checked, everything was fine, but CMD or in this case A point was not correctly soldered! I fixed that and made sure it worked, and THEN I got CMD is not connected! And for the life of me, it is connected!

All I know is this, the flex that goes into the Nvidia chip is perfectly connected, the same with the Nand chip. The only problem here is that damn flex that carries ground, 3.3, A and the NAND.

I have seen there is a way to do this with wires, but I have not seen it done with this board, only custom pico boards. If you can lead me in the right direction I will be glad.

I will check the EMMC brand now, thank you Jaakspoiler, here:

By the way, YES, all the connectors on the flex have continuity until the end of the flex, where they meet the board! Is just that damn point under D that simply does not exist on the flex... And I don't know where it goes, and that is all I need to know, to finish this work! Thanks again.

 

[jkyoho]

Is just that damn point under D that simply does not exist on the flex... And I don't know where it goes, and that is all I need to know, to finish this work! Thanks again.

diagram for A,B,C,D point for

 

[l7777]

diagram for A,B,C,D point for

This, just run wires from the points to the pads on the chip and see if that does it. Or just run one from point D to the chip if you think the rest of the flex is working. You're going to need smaller wire than what I see on the dat0 adapter though.

 

[nashismo]

diagram for A,B,C,D point for

I thank you so much!! I am going to run wires, cause I think is the best option! Problem is, I cannot find any small enough wires for this endevour.

Do you know were to find or what name of wires, I mean I need copper, and a very small thread of wire with some isolated coating because it has to be VERY small, so not to destroy the small contact points.

Thanks man, and and thanks everyone!

I have this wire, even though it is VERY small, the plastic surrounding it, makes it a tiny bit thicker than I would like, and for the DAMN D/CLK point I need an even smaller wire! I just cannot find one that isn't coated with crappy plastic:

Now I found these ones on Aliexpress, would these be good?: 4Core Wire

Forget about it, I found in my country an "Enameled Copper cable of 0.1mm" wich should be around 38awg wire. Thank you all.

 

[l7777]

Search for ~36 gauge teflon wire. I believe that is what I used. Can probably do 30 but not any heavier (smaller number). The enameled wire can work but can be difficult to get a good connection as well if you don't manage to melt off the enamel when soldering.

 

[nashismo]

Search for ~36 gauge teflon wire. I believe that is what I used. Can probably do 30 but not any heavier (smaller number). The enameled wire can work but can be difficult to get a good connection as well if you don't manage to melt off the enamel when soldering.

Ok, thank you for the tip. Still that 0.1mm Enamel copper wire is the smallest I could find, it is suppossed to be as thick as a stray of hair according to the seller. I will scrap off some of the "enamel" on the tip of the wire first then. Only 3 days for the wire to get here. I have been like 1 month doing this!

But I have taken my time, because this is a very delicate work. Do you recommend some type of "glue" to place on the points after soldering? I do not have "conformal coating" where I live.

Ok, thanks again for everything

 

[l7777]

Ok, thank you for the tip. Still that 0.1mm Enamel copper wire is the smallest I could find, it is suppossed to be as thick as a stray of hair according to the seller. I will scrap off some of the "enamel" on the tip of the wire first then. Only 3 days for the wire to get here. I have been like 1 month doing this!

But I have taken my time, because this is a very delicate work. Do you recommend some type of "glue" to place on the points after soldering? I do not have "conformal coating" where I live.

Ok, thanks again for everything

Most recommend some solder mask to keep the wires from moving and straining the components or trace in the case of the cmd point. Personally I did my OELD in 2022 with the single corner style dat0 adapter and no solder mask. So far I haven't had an issue but if I ever open it up again for some reason I will likely drop a little on the cmd wire as it is the most delicate connection.

 

[Gbasam64]

Do you have a photo of the ripped pad? I don’t think that part is necessary for the chip to function, it’s mostly for extra anchoring

 

[nashismo]

Do you have a photo of the ripped pad? I don’t think that part is necessary for the chip to function, it’s mostly for extra anchoring

It is OK, it was for extra anchoring. Thanks, I still don't have time, but I will be wiring everything now, no flex crappy cables for me!

 

[Fede12]

It is OK, it was for extra anchoring. Thanks, I still don't have time, but I will be wiring everything now, no flex crappy cables for me!

from my experience the connector you bought really sucks, pads come off easily also by staying under 350 degree celsius, i find myself very comfortable with the new flex of instinct v6s, really good d anchor!! (photo for reference)

 

[Shadow_The_Hedgehog82]

First, it is been a long time, I haven't posted here for almost 5 years! I used to post all the time!! And it was always a great experience.

Here is the thing, I was thinking of maybe buying the Switch. I live in Chile, so I watched the news, it seemed good enough, the prices were higher but still purchasable for me. Then the news hit, and we found out that the Switch 2 was going to arrive to the country at $700. Madness...

So, as I am not insane in the head, I decided not to get it, instead I checked if there was anything Switch related, and sure enough I found that the Switch Oled was selling around 309 thousand pesos (around 320 dollars converted) wow, very good price the Switch Oled brand new! Cause in here it used to be around 450-500.

To make the story short, I bought the white version Oled, and bought a Picofly Chip from Aliexpress, I am very good at soldering. The thing finally arrived, I did all the soldering points correctly, but one of the chinese picofly ribbon cables broke! (One of the traces came off) Here is a pic where the contact came off:

View attachment 506053


And the Modchip is this:

View attachment 506054

The thing is, I have been BANGING MY HEAD UPPON THE WALL with this piece of crap chip! Because all my connections (apart from the broken contact) are fine but the chip won't start. I am starting to believe the FLEX cable never actually worked, that's why the copper trace came off (because it came that way from factory).

I have no problem WIRING all contacts needed, so, what do you guys recommend? What chip or Modchip is better then that crap I bought from Aliexpress?

Thank you guys for reading, and if anyone knows what I can do with what I already have, even better, but I honestly do not expect much from this lousy piece of crap.

Thanks

these flex cables always suck when i did my oled i ended up manually wiring to the points on the modchip board i did the same for my lites

 

[Inaki]

Hi, I just noticed this thread today. I have installed 5 OLED chips myself, including initial Ming style chip ( QSB similar to the one in the OP post pics ) HWFlys and recently a picofly. I'd say HWFly v3..v* are the best ones, but picofly is fine.

My advice is you never use the QSB way of doing point D ( the CLK signal ). I advice you do it as in this guide:

https://imgur.com/gallery/switch-oled-hw-fly-v3-modchip-install-uSkdNRr

110 pics with detailed info. This is a guide I did some years ago in one of my installations. Use very thin wire ( AWG36 ) and PCB mask paste for securing it and you will not have to worry about mechanical stress of any kind.

By the way, none of my installs had any issues with the DAT0 signal. I still have an unmoded OLED for which I will do a kamikaze DAT0, but just because I am curious.

 

[Shadow_The_Hedgehog82]

Hi, I just noticed this thread today. I have installed 5 OLED chips myself, including initial Ming style chip ( QSB similar to the one in the OP post pics ) HWFlys and recently a picofly. I'd say HWFly v3..v* are the best ones, but picofly is fine.

My advice is you never use the QSB way of doing point D ( the CLK signal ). I advice you do it as in this guide:

https://imgur.com/gallery/switch-oled-hw-fly-v3-modchip-install-uSkdNRr

110 pics with detailed info. This is a guide I did some years ago in one of my installations. Use very thin wire ( AWG36 ) and PCB mask paste for securing it and you will not have to worry about mechanical stress of any kind.

By the way, none of my installs had any issues with the DAT0 signal. I still have an unmoded OLED for which I will do a kamikaze DAT0, but just because I am curious.

damn really i had mine mess up 3 times in the space of a year on my oled then tried reflowing the nand and killed it lol made me not want to mod another id like to try kamikaze but dont have space for a microscope i did try it by eye on my dead oled board and its impossible lol

 

[Inaki]

damn really i had mine mess up 3 times in the space of a year on my oled then tried reflowing the nand and killed it lol made me not want to mod another id like to try kamikaze but dont have space for a microscope i did try it by eye on my dead oled board and its impossible lol

you don't need a big or expensive microscope, a 200eur/usd one should do just fine and doesn't take much space. Doing things like point D/CLK without this is like doing it eyes closed...

 

[Fede12]

you don't need a big or expensive microscope, a 200eur/usd one should do just fine and doesn't take much space. Doing things like point D/CLK without this is like doing it eyes closed...

200 dollars are crazy amount of money tho

 

[Shadow_The_Hedgehog82]

you don't need a big or expensive microscope, a 200eur/usd one should do just fine and doesn't take much space. Doing things like point D/CLK without this is like doing it eyes closed...

i can do small soldering without lol im used to it but for the grinding needed on the kamiaze mod that is jsut far too small i literally have zero space i have seen there are little ones that i could fit but they probably suck, money isnt really a problem do you know of any that are super small?

 

[Inaki]

i can do small soldering without lol im used to it but for the grinding needed on the kamiaze mod that is jsut far too small i literally have zero space i have seen there are little ones that i could fit but they probably suck, money isnt really a problem do you know of any that are super small?View attachment 511988

No, those don't suck that much, in the pics in that guide I posted you can see I am using one of those small ones. Andonstar <some number, 407 rings a bell...>. Yes, professional ones with stereoscopic view and so on are cool but I have managed to do some crazy small and complex soldering with it. Again, have a look at those 110 pics and see. The one in your pic may actually be enough, but some freedom of movement in that metallic foot, inclination, etc. is needed, so the one in your pic is a bit less than enough.