Hacking PermaRCM until Atmosphere

[Lacius]

I thought I powered off (12 sec press) but I guess my finger press was wrong and it rebooted in rcm mode.

It's a bad idea to rely on the power button with AutoRCM installed. It's almost impossible to be able to tell if a Switch is off or in RCM. It's best to power off your Switch from Horizon or from a payload with a power off function.

 

[cracker]

Might be somewhat OT, but it might help someone in case their battery goes way low and refuses to charge. I had tis happen to me with an older phone that was sitting in a drawer for a long time. The only way it would start to charge was by plugging it in to a car charger. I'm not quite sure why (as I had tried higher current wall chargers with no joy), but it did the trick.

 

[CTCaer]

What was disproved (false alarm) is that the Switch can be bricked if the system runs out of bettery with autorcm.

Of course, no electronic device can be bricked with complete battery drainage. This must never be a thought.

But the battery can still be disabled though.
Then a user can think that the switch is "bricked", which of course it isn't. But I can understand why there was such a thought.

 

[Zumoly]

Of course, no electronic device can be bricked with complete battery drainage. This must never be a thought.

But the battery can still be disabled though.
Then a user can think that the switch is "bricked", which of course it isn't. But I can understand why there was such a thought.

How did your experiment go?

 

[CTCaer]

How did your experiment go?

Still draining the battery to 90% by gaming (the drain seems normal btw).

After that I'll do this:
2x Reboot -> Check %
Hekate -> Power off -> Boot -> check %
Hekate -> Reboot -> check %
Reboot -> Check %

(Mind you, I'll skip the "disconnect battery" step. I don't want to disassemble it now. I'm a freak with the full cleaning/rubbing thermal paste/cleaning with microfiber cloth/reapplying thermal paste and it will take a lot of time for me.)

Then I'll start the real test in hekate with PC and check the USB controller drainage.
Then load hekate -> power off -> enter RCM to check with the wall adapter meter.


EDIT:
BTW, the results are ready.
I'm eating now, and then I'll write a proper post of my findings.
I now know why there's so confusion on this matter

 

[CTCaer]

So, Switch charges and does not charges in RCM. xD

The results (battery was 89%):


The switch can charge normally the battery, if the BCT is intact!
In RCM AND in hekate menu.
*BCT is the boot configuration table that autoRCM corrupts.

Tests showed that it was charging with the same current, as in Horison OS.
The current it was drawing with 89% battery, was 800mA - 1000mA, using Switch wall adapter. On PC, it was the max the hub could give.


------------------------------------


The switch cannot charge normally with a corrupt BCT (AutoRCM).
In hekate, it shows similar behavior (read below).
Extra emphasis on the "normally".

With autoRCM, basically a corrupt BCT, the switch behaves differently.
There are 2 behaviors that I saw when connecting to the switch wall charger:

• Common - It was draining 140-250mA.
• Common (in hekate) - 200mA - 400mA
  
• Rare (normally if you connect charger after powering off from HOS) - Drain of alternating 250mA and 1000mA, with surges of 2.5A.

------------------------------------

Summary - facts:

1. Switch can charge completely normally in RCM or Hekate with a BCT intact
   • The percent % in Horizon OS, after a RCM charge, is not fake.
2. Switch does not charge normally with AutoRCM, a.k.a corrupt BCT.
   1. Either it charges very slowly or sometimes with a broken slow/fast/slow/fast charge pattern:
   2. Or this behavior is current taken from the USB controller or the BPMP (Nvidia's Boot and Power management processor)
   • In AutoRCM, the Charge IC probably can't update the battery calibration file and could make the percent fake.

I don't know for behavior .3 what really happens and what Switch does. This can be easily examined, by connecting a current multimeter between battery and switch and check the readings.

 

[Draxzelex]

-snip-

Expect this post to be quoted a lot (unless we get another thread dedicated to making sure everyone's on the same page)

 

[Deleted-442439]

So, Switch charges and does not charges in RCM. xD

The results (battery was 89%):


The switch can charge normally the battery, if the BCT is intact!
In RCM AND in hekate menu.
*BCT is the boot configuration table that autoRCM corrupts.

Tests showed that it was charging with the same current, as in Horison OS.
The current it was drawing with 89% battery, was 800mA - 1000mA with its adapter. On PC, it was the max the hub could give.


------------------------------------


The switch cannot charge normally with a corrupt BCT (AutoRCM).
In hekate, it shows similar behavior (read below).
Extra emphasis on the normally.

With autoRCM, basically a corrupt BCT, the switch behaves differently.
There are 2 behaviors that I saw when connecting to the switch wall charger:

• Common - It was draining 140-250mA
• Rare (normally if you connect charger after powering off from HOS) - Drain of alternating 250mA and 1000mA, with surges of 2.5A.
• Common after booting to hekate - 200mA - 400mA

------------------------------------

Summary - facts:

1. Switch can charge completely normally in RCM or Hekate with a BCT intact
2. The percent % in Horizon OS is not plasmatic (fake).
3. Switch does not charge normally with AutoRCM, a.k.a corrupt BCT.
   1. Either it charges very slowly
   2. Or this behavior is current taken from the USB controller or the BPMP (Nvidia's Boot and Power management processor)

I don't know for behavior .3 what really happens and what Switch does. This can be easily examined, by connecting a current multimeter between battery and switch and check the readings.

Great work, nice to get some hard numbers on this!

 

[Plague1s]

So, Switch charges and does not charges in RCM. xD

The results (battery was 89%):


The switch can charge normally the battery, if the BCT is intact!
In RCM AND in hekate menu.
*BCT is the boot configuration table that autoRCM corrupts.

Tests showed that it was charging with the same current, as in Horison OS.
The current it was drawing with 89% battery, was 800mA - 1000mA with its adapter. On PC, it was the max the hub could give.


------------------------------------


The switch cannot charge normally with a corrupt BCT (AutoRCM).
In hekate, it shows similar behavior (read below).
Extra emphasis on the "normally".

With autoRCM, basically a corrupt BCT, the switch behaves differently.
There are 2 behaviors that I saw when connecting to the switch wall charger:

• Common - It was draining 140-250mA
• Rare (normally if you connect charger after powering off from HOS) - Drain of alternating 250mA and 1000mA, with surges of 2.5A.
• Common after booting to hekate - 200mA - 400mA

------------------------------------

Summary - facts:

1. Switch can charge completely normally in RCM or Hekate with a BCT intact
2. The percent % in Horizon OS is not plasmatic (fake).
3. Switch does not charge normally with AutoRCM, a.k.a corrupt BCT.
   1. Either it charges very slowly
   2. Or this behavior is current taken from the USB controller or the BPMP (Nvidia's Boot and Power management processor)

I don't know for behavior .3 what really happens and what Switch does. This can be easily examined, by connecting a current multimeter between battery and switch and check the readings.

Finally someone with clout has posted proof that it'll charge albeit slowly. My switch went dead multiple times playing with homebrew etc. Never had a problem getting it to turn back on with autorcm that's why I was calling horseshit on the whole "autorcm will brick your switch if it dies" claims

 

[Zumoly]

Finally someone with clout has posted proof that it'll charge albeit slowly. My switch went dead multiple times playing with homebrew etc. Never had a problem getting it to turn back on with autorcm that's why I was calling horseshit on the whole "autorcm will brick your switch if it dies" claims

Actually there is a chance that autorcm will do just that! As per the explanations corrupting your boot files is where lies the issue.

 

[Hking0036]

So, Switch charges and does not charges in RCM. xD

The results (battery was 89%):


The switch can charge normally the battery, if the BCT is intact!
In RCM AND in hekate menu.
*BCT is the boot configuration table that autoRCM corrupts.

Tests showed that it was charging with the same current, as in Horison OS.
The current it was drawing with 89% battery, was 800mA - 1000mA, using Switch wall adapter. On PC, it was the max the hub could give.


------------------------------------


The switch cannot charge normally with a corrupt BCT (AutoRCM).
In hekate, it shows similar behavior (read below).
Extra emphasis on the "normally".

With autoRCM, basically a corrupt BCT, the switch behaves differently.
There are 2 behaviors that I saw when connecting to the switch wall charger:

• Common - It was draining 140-250mA.
• Common (in hekate) - 200mA - 400mA
  
• Rare (normally if you connect charger after powering off from HOS) - Drain of alternating 250mA and 1000mA, with surges of 2.5A.

------------------------------------

Summary - facts:

1. Switch can charge completely normally in RCM or Hekate with a BCT intact
   • The percent % in Horizon OS, after a RCM charge, is not fake.
2. Switch does not charge normally with AutoRCM, a.k.a corrupt BCT.
   1. Either it charges very slowly or sometimes with a broken slow/fast/slow/fast charge pattern:
   2. Or this behavior is current taken from the USB controller or the BPMP (Nvidia's Boot and Power management processor)
   • In AutoRCM, the Charge IC probably can't update the battery calibration file and could make the percent fake.

I don't know for behavior .3 what really happens and what Switch does. This can be easily examined, by connecting a current multimeter between battery and switch and check the readings.

Does this affect the amperage to switch in horizon as well or only in RCM? You note common (in hekate), so it's hard to tell.

 

[Draxzelex]

Does this affect the switch in horizon as well or only in RCM? You note common (in hekate), so it's hard to tell.

Horizon will charge the same no regardless of AutoRCM or not. The Switch will charge differently in RCM if the BCT is corrupt aka if AutoRCM is installed.

 

[Shadow LAG]

If I were you I would do the joycon hack (have it and pretty handy tbh as a separate device is no go). Corrupting your main os files is bound to be problematic. From what I read in AutoRCM battery does not charge (but it's argued not be true) although I never tested it myself.
I sure hope that down the line a mod can be done to the SD card to auto inject payloads!

This is misinformation your battery charges in RCM mode albeit slower, but you can always recover from a drained battery. Others, including myself, have said this multiple times and I've confirmed it myself.

 

[the_randomizer]

Horizon will charge the same no regardless of AutoRCM or not. The Switch will charge differently in RCM if the BCT is corrupt aka if AutoRCM is installed.

Doesn't seem quite worth the risk, no? Why can't there be RCM that doesn't screw with the BCT?

 

[Draxzelex]

Doesn't seem quite worth the risk, no? Why can't there be RCM that doesn't screw with the BCT?

I'm no expert but it has to do with how the Switch handles charge as well as automatically turning on when it tries to charge. Arguably, keeping the Switch in sleep mode is far safer than any method of inducing RCM.

 

[the_randomizer]

I'm no expert but it has to do with how the Switch handles charge as well as automatically turning on when it tries to charge. Arguably, keeping the Switch in sleep mode is far safer than any method of inducing RCM.

Ugh, too bad there's no other way for 5.x.x, oh well. I'd best hold off.

 

[Zumoly]

This is misinformation your battery charges in RCM mode albeit slower, but you can always recover from a drained battery. Others, including myself, have said this multiple times and I've confirmed it myself.

I know your battery charges in normal RCM but I was referring to AutoRCM whereupon you corrupt part of your BOOT file.

 

[CTCaer]

Just wait for new hekate and all your question will be answered.

 

[nero99]

If I were you I would do the joycon hack (have it and pretty handy tbh as a separate device is no go). Corrupting your main os files is bound to be problematic. From what I read in AutoRCM battery does not charge (but it's argued not be true) although I never tested it myself.
I sure hope that down the line a mod can be done to the SD card to auto inject payloads!

Auto RCM allows charging. I do this all the time if I don’t feel like connecting my system when the battery is low

 

[Zumoly]

Auto RCM allows charging. I do this all the time if I don’t feel like connecting my system when the battery is low

I don't understand. Do you leave your Switch in AutoRCM to charge?