Hacking Since there is still a lot of confusion. Here is how to properly turn off Switch if you use AutoRCM

[Chrushev]

I already posted this in the battery issue thread, but its kind of lost in there. So here it is again.

If you turn off the switch via the standard:

Hold Power -> Power Options Menu -> Power Off

option, you will put it into RCM mode. At this point the Switch is still on (albeit with things like screen off it consumes much less power). If you now put your switch away it will drain its battery completely within 48 hours. You are basically leaving it on until it dies.

What you need to do to actually power the switch off is this:

Put in the dongle or get ready to inject -> Hold Power -> Power Options Menu -> Restart while holding Volume Up (+) -> SX OS Startup Menu -> Options (3rd icon as of SX OS 1.3) -> Power Off

This means that you need to inject a payload (or use dongle) every time you want to coldboot and every time you want to completely power off.

You can verify if the switch is in AutoRCM mode or not (in other words you can verify that its still on when using traditional power off) by plugging in the TX dongle without pressing any buttons and watching the LED on it. It will flash blue then green (aka there is power). If you turn it off properly (via SX OS Startup Menu) the LED will stay dark (no power).

I dont know if this is a bug in SX OS (this type of thing is easily overlooked), if it is then they should be able to fix it in the future. But until then either do an extra reboot before turning off the Switch to properly turn it off. Takes extra few seconds if you have the dongle.

Alternatively you can do what Switch was meant to do, and leave it in sleep mode and only turn it off if you dont plan to use it for more than a week.

I would also recommend not docking (or charging) an AutoRCM switch when its in powered off state. Applying power to the USB port turns on the Switch. If it was in powered off state this will take it into RCM mode and it will sit there until you inject the payload (or use a dongle). This means many hours or possibly even days of Switch being on in RCM mode constantly draining and charging the battery, this will destroy your battery. I would ONLY put it on the dock/charge when the Switch is either On (you are playing a game), or its in sleep mode.

Hope this clears up the confusion. If you are paranoid you can use the dongle LED trick to verify for sure that the Switch is Off and not in RCM.

 

[subcon959]

I don't have a dongle myself but about your led trick. After doing it once and seeing the leds change, try removing and re-inserting it. Did the leds change again or was there no activity?

 

[M7L7NK7]

Isn't just an SX problem, been happening since briccmii was released

 

[TamarindoJuice]

You don't need to turn it on again to power off from the SX menu... After your switch got off from pressing power and selecting the proper menu, just hold the power button again for 12 seconds.

 

[chr0m]

You don't need to turn it on again to power off from the SX menu... After your switch got off from pressing power and selecting the proper menu, just hold the power button again for 12 seconds.

What if you don't even turn it off from the Switch menu and just hold the power button to turn it off?

 

[TamarindoJuice]

What if you don't even turn it off from the Switch menu and just hold the power button to turn it off?

It will enter the RCM same way. The point of power off from menu and so hold the power button again is to asure that after it turned off and got into RCM the long button press will turn it off properly.
I do it every day here. It works.

 

[ehnoah]

My switch actually turn off, if I use the Menu "Power Off" think, never happen to me that it stay in RCM tbh.

 

[Chrushev]

My switch actually turn off, if I use the Menu "Power Off" think, never happen to me that it stay in RCM tbh.

So if you do not touch it overnight, it loses 0% battery? Because in off mode it will take months to lose even 1% of the battery. I had my switch on the shelf untouched for 6+ months, and after powering it on after more than half a year after putting it in the case it had 98% battery.

You probably think its off, but its actually in RCM mode. The only way to check is to plug a light into the USB-C slot and see if it lights up, or letting it sit for a day and seeing if you lost any battery. No other way to know.

To be clear, its a different RCM mode than when you power it on. Injection wont work but the switch is still on. Its more like a Zombie mode.

 

[Waip]

Do you have any sources or references ? This "different zombie RCM mode" sounds like a lot of bull to me
I've been powering off through long press + power off forever in auto RCM and never had any issues

 

[lolboy]

Do you have any sources or references ? This "different zombie RCM mode" sounds like a lot of bull to me
I've been powering off through long press + power off forever in auto RCM and never had any issues

The issue with long press is that I am not always sure of it worked. So instead I also restart and power off from SX os Menu.

 

[DocAmes1980]

Do you have any sources or references ? This "different zombie RCM mode" sounds like a lot of bull to me
I've been powering off through long press + power off forever in auto RCM and never had any issues

Source: Me. Happens to me everytime i power off from Horizon. Switch loses about 5 percent per hour.

Also, there is another way to fully power the Switch down. Just leave the dongle connected after a turning off from Horizon. After 12 seconds it will go zombie and the dongle will try to push a payload which will actually fully power it down. You can insert the dongle after it has enter zombie state and that will work as well.

 

[Chrushev]

Do you have any sources or references ? This "different zombie RCM mode" sounds like a lot of bull to me
I've been powering off through long press + power off forever in auto RCM and never had any issues

I already explained it in the very first post, use the SX OS Pro dongle and look at the light. If you do a standard power off the dongle will get power (switch is still on), but it wont boot (dongle tries to inject but cant) because its not a standard RCM mode its a Zombie.

 

[mattytrog]

This has been known for a long time.

It needs fusee to complete the power off.

It's not really zombie RCM, it is RCM and you send payload, it turns the console off.

This is for autoRCM users btw.

 

[Chrushev]

This has been known for a long time.

It needs fusee to complete the power off.

It's not really zombie RCM, it is RCM and you send payload, it turns the console off.

This is for autoRCM users btw.

yup, just made the post because I saw a ton of people complaining about battery issues and how they kept losing battery even with switch off. So hopefully more people will be aware of this now.

 

[mattytrog]

yup, just made the post because I saw a ton of people complaining about battery issues and how they kept losing battery even with switch off. So hopefully more people will be aware of this now.

Top banana! More awareness wil never hurt

 

[Zumoly]

You don't need to turn it on again to power off from the SX menu... After your switch got off from pressing power and selecting the proper menu, just hold the power button again for 12 seconds.

According to @CTCaer, using the hekate payload to turn off the Switch will effectively prevent further power drain.
Now what you are saying intrigues me: will rebooting into rcm and holding power button for 12 seconds (count to 15 to be sure) have the same effect as the hekate method? That I would love to find out.

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Source: Me. Happens to me everytime i power off from Horizon. Switch loses about 5 percent per hour.

Also, there is another way to fully power the Switch down. Just leave the dongle connected after a turning off from Horizon. After 12 seconds it will go zombie and the dongle will try to push a payload which will actually fully power it down. You can insert the dongle after it has enter zombie state and that will work as well.

I'm thinking maybe the dongle is the issue?
Isn't it like the OTG method with your phone?
It either draws or supply power to your Switch which effectively turn if on (I might be wrong though).

 

[BoomDivX]

Might not be good for your microsd, but you can remove the microsd when you're in the main menu and then press the button on the screen. Your switch is now off, even with autorcm.

 

[mattytrog]

According to @CTCaer, using the hekate payload to turn off the Switch will effectively prevent further power drain.
Now what you are saying intrigues me: will rebooting into rcm and holding power button for 12 seconds (count to 15 to be sure) have the same effect as the hekate method? That I would love to find out.

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I'm thinking maybe the dongle is the issue?
Isn't it like the OTG method with your phone?
It either draws or supply power to your Switch which effectively turn if on (I might be wrong though).

Yes. Power off from Hekate menu does power completely off.

 

[CTCaer]

According to @CTCaer, using the hekate payload to turn off the Switch will effectively prevent further power drain.
Now what you are saying intrigues me: will rebooting into rcm and holding power button for 12 seconds (count to 15 to be sure) have the same effect as the hekate method? That I would love to find out.

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



I'm thinking maybe the dongle is the issue?
Isn't it like the OTG method with your phone?
It either draws or supply power to your Switch which effectively turn if on (I might be wrong though).

Powering off from hekate or pressing PWR for 12s is effectively the same thing. The same pmic register is written.

Also with hekate you don't need to remove sdcard because I made it to unmount and cutoff power when you are in a menu or selecting something that gets you out of hekate.

 

[Zumoly]

Powering off from hekate or pressing PWR for 12s is effectively the same thing. The same pmic register is written.

Also with hekate you don't need to remove sdcard because I made it to unmount and cutoff power when you are in a menu or selecting something that gets you out of hekate.

This is a relief to hear! My first method will always be to power off via hekate but in case i have no payload injection method available it's nice to know that holding power for 12 seconds achieves the same result

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Edit: I'm even wishing for a more advanced AutoRCM mode where the Switch will let you know it's on and you can power it off via a simple button press.