Hacking Question How many Efuses does the Switch have to Blow?

[Tonydaexpert]

It blows fuses on some updates but how many is the Max?

 

[Astoria]

Probably hundreds. A lot more than needed


Remember they are only used for major updates.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Because of how small they are I would say at least hundreds, if not thousands or more.

 

[jefffisher]

the xbox 360 had 192 the switch being much newer i imagine has far more but even with just 192 they could update once a month and blow a fuse every month for 16 years the switch will be dusty in peoples attics long before that happens.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

Can someone explain to me what these Switches do? I know they're a form of protection against hacking, but how exactly do they work?

 

[jefffisher]

Can someone explain to me what these Switches do? I know they're a form of protection against hacking, but how exactly do they work?

the firmware checks for fuses if it has less than it expects it wont boot firmware 1.0 would expect all fuses to be there if any are blown it wont boot. so youd need a higher firmware.
each new firmware cam boot with less fuses.

 

[ihaveahax]

Can someone explain to me what these Switches do? I know they're a form of protection against hacking, but how exactly do they work?

http://switchbrew.org/index.php?title=Fuses#Anti-downgrade

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

the firmware checks for fuses if it has less than it expects it wont boot firmware 1.0 would expect all fuses to be there if any are blown it wont boot. so youd need a higher firmware.
each new firmware cam boot with less fuses.

Ah, got it, so it protects from people rolling back firmware versions.

 

[duffmmann]

Ah, got it, so it protects from people rolling back firmware versions.

Yup, if a fuse is switched, there is no way to downgrade to an earlier firmware before that, else you'll brick. If the 3DS had such fuses, we wouldn't have been capable of installing A9LH considering rolling back to an earlier FW was required.

 

[KazoWAR]

Yup, if a fuse is switched, there is no way to downgrade to an earlier firmware before that, else you'll brick. If the 3DS had such fuses, we wouldn't have been capable of installing A9LH considering rolling back to an earlier FW was required.

same would probably be true with emunand aswell. update emuand, sysnand would no longer boot.

 

[senas8]

Is it impossible to bypass tho?

 

[nero99]

Is it impossible to bypass tho?

It may not seem like it. But there is always a way around security measures like this. Someone just has to find out what is needed.

 

[leerpsp]

Is it impossible to bypass tho?

I think it would be but not in the way you would like to... they would have to hack it and have a full cfw made kinda like back when they hacked the psp you would update when the fw come out but with modded file but the only thing you would not be able to do is downgrade on the switch but when you update to the cfw you would be good to go because it would blow the same amount of efuses.

 

[tech3475]

Is it impossible to bypass tho?

Depends, if someone found a flaw in the bootloader and/or a flaw in the CPU (such as with the RGH for the Xbox 360), then it could be possible to bypass if we can alter the expected value or skip the check altogether.

 

[ihaveahax]

when a fuse is burnt, it's permanently burnt. so the only way around it is to patch the check out of whatever checks it in the boot process.

 

[Urbanshadow]

It may seem like efuses matter, but really don't.

You can still sit on a low firm and wait.
You may be able to softblock the update code to blow more efuses in a cfw.

Gbatemp: b-but muh free (as in free beer) online gaming!
Ninty is looking forward to pay to play online. Pick your side.

 

[Byokugen]

Yes, there is a way to bypass them, injecting a code that mimics the burnt fuse, but they need to.find it,.bypass it.
So staying on low fw is an option, but remember that some updates DO improve system stability (ah 3ds update logs)and make the console better. We will see were wipp switch lead us

 

[Enryx25]

It may seem like efuses matter, but really don't.

You can still sit on a low firm and wait.
You may be able to softblock the update code to blow more efuses in a cfw.

Gbatemp: b-but muh free (as in free beer) online gaming!
Ninty is looking forward to pay to play online. Pick your side.

b-but muh paid online gaming!

 

[pre10c]

xbox360 had fuses, yet was hacked like crazy. it just takes more effort into bypassing the fuses

 

[sarkwalvein]

xbox360 had fuses, yet was hacked like crazy. it just takes more effort into bypassing the fuses

I don't think "just" would be the right word. Perhaps "unfortunately".