Tutorial  Updated

Switch Unbricking Guide - ProdInfo Fix (PikaFix)

This is an advanced tutorial.Follow this guide at your own risk. I am not responsible if you mess up your switch even more. This Tutorial has only been tested on a RCM Switch. This has not been tested on switch lite, oled or redbox mariko units with chips

The idea of this tutorial is to fix PikaBrick ergo PikaFix, however it can be used for any broken Prodinfo bricks.
This fix *** WILL NOT*** allow you to go online.
The provided files have already had Incognito pre-applied to them.
**METHOD 1 IS THE EASIEST**
Methods 2 and 3 will wipe your previous user partition.
Methods 2 and 3 are now deprecated



Requirements

To follow this tutorial you will need a few things:
ALL METHODS

Your bricked consoles biskeys - Obtain with lockpick_rcm
Your bricked RMC vulnerable switch
A computer/laptop
HacDiskMount or NXNandManager
Hekate Nyx
Atmosphere

Method 1
Prodinfo_Gen
Donor Prodinfo File (or use your own donor)

Methods 2 and 3 - DEPRECATED
PikaFix Pack from xbins or the mirror links (Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Mirror 3)
xbins file location - /SWITCH/PC based software/Utilities/pikabricker repair pack
My custom exosphere.bin file
NXNandManager (Method 2)
Etcher
TegraExplorer

This tutorial has three methods. Method 1 is recommended as Methods 2 and 3 are no longer updated.
Please follow your preferred method and following the appropriate booting section of the guide. I have written this guide as I was following the provided steps.

Before You Start


A few things before you start
  • Make a rawnand and boot0/1 backup, just in case, please? It's how you got into this mess in the first place.
  • Please read the guide carefully and if you have any questions ask them in the thread...

Repair Method 1DEPRECATED


  1. Repair Method 1: ProdInfo_Gen + HacDiskMount OR NXNANDMANAGER

    • Place the donor_prodinfo.bin on your microSD card in the switch folder (SD:/switch/donor_prodinfo.bin)
    • Put your switch in RCM
    • Inject prodinfo_gen.bin
    • Choose 'Build PRODINFO file from donor
    • Reboot to RCM
    • Inject the latest hekate (make sure you have all the hekate files on your microSD card)
    • Press Tools
    • Press USB Tools
    • Press SD Card
    • On your pc copy "generated_prodinfo_from_donor.bin" in the switch folder your desktop
    • Eject your microSD Card
    • Turn 'Read Only' to off
    • Press eMMC RAW GPP
    • On your PC open your Nand Manager of choice, either HacDiskMount or NXNandManager, I'll be using the latter
    • Configure your keys from the prod.keys you got from your bricked console
    • Open physical drive and choose your switch's emmc
    • Highlight prodinfo
    • press restore
    • choose the bin you copied to your dekstop
    • resave your keyset
    • Close
    • boot atmosphere

  2. Method 2Method 3


    1. Nand Repair Method 2: NXNandManger + HacDiskMount


      • Extract the contents of the PikaFix Pack archive to your desktop
      • Place the sept folder and hekate bootloader folder and the contents of the "to sd" folder in the PikaFix archive onto the root of your microSD card
      • Inject lockpick_rcm and run it to generate your prod.keys file
      • Place your switch into RCM and inject the hekate bin file
      • Navigate to Tools > USB Tools
      • Select "SD Card"
      • Open your mounted SD card and copy your prod.keys files from your sd card to your desktop
      • Eject your microsd card in windows
      • select "eMMC RAW GPP" (sysNand) - Set read only to off
      • Open NXNand Manager
      • Press Ctrl+D or press File > Open Drive
      • Choose your nand
      • Press Ctrl+K or Click Options > Configure Keyset
      • Choose your prod.keys you copied to your desktop
      • Press Save
      • You will notice it will say Bad Crypto and Keyset Needed, this is normal.
      1. Click Prodinfo then click the following Icon View attachment 235857
      2. Choose Prodinfo.bin from the files you extracted
      3. Press yes on the restore prompt
      4. Close the transfer box
      • Repeat Steps 1 - 4 for the ProdInfoF, Safe and System Partitions
      • Do the same restore process for the BPKG2 partitions
      • Close NXNandManager
      • Run HacDiskMount as an Administrator
      • Open your mounted drive
      • Double click on system, install the driver and mount the partition to a drive letter
      • Navigate to the save folder and delete everything EXCEPT 8000000000000120
      • Unmount the drive
      • Close HacDiskMount and open Etcher
      • Unmount "eMMC RAW GPP" and Mount "BOOT 0" - you may need to unplug the switch from the usb and replug it to continue
        DO NOT CLICK FORMAT - Just close the popup box(s)
      • Choose the boot0.bin file from the Nand files on your desktop
      • Choose your mounted boot0 drive
      • Flash it
      • Repeat for Boot1
      • Reboot to RCM
      • Launch tegra explorer.bin
      • Navigate to the "_FWGEN" folder and run the systemRestore.te script and follow the on screen prompts
      • Reboot back to RCM and relaunch tegra explorer
      • Navigate back to the "_FWGEN" folder and this time run the systemwipe.te script and follow the on screen instructions
      • Reboot back to rcm
      • Proceed to boot section of guide

    2. Nand Repair Method 3: HacDiskMount


      • Extract the contents of the PikaFix Pack archive to your desktop
      • Place the sept folder and hekate bootloader folder and the contents of the "to sd" folder in the PikaFix archive onto the root of your microSD card
      • Inject lockpick_rcm and run it to generate your prod.keys file
      • Place your switch into RCM and inject the hekate bin file
      • Navigate to Tools > USB Tools
      • Select "SD Card"
      • Open your mounted SD card and copy your prod.keys files from your sd card to your desktop
      • Eject your microsd card in windows
      • select "eMMC RAW GPP" (sysNand) - Set read only to off
      • Run HacDiskMount as an Administrator
      • Open your eMMC from physical drives
      • Open your prod.keys
      1. Double click Prodinfo
      2. Enter your biskeys
      3. Test them
      4. Save them
      5. Restore Prodinfo from the Prodinfo.bin file in Nand files on your desktop from the PikaFix files you extracted
      • Repeat steps 1-5 for ProdInfoF, Safe, and System Partitions
      • Double click on each of the BCPKG2 files and restore them from the provided files
      • Double click on system, install the driver and mount the partition to a drive letter
      • Navigate to the save folder and delete everything EXCEPT 8000000000000120
      • Unmount the drive
      • Close HacDiskMount and open Etcher
      • Unmount "eMMC RAW GPP" and Mount "BOOT 0" - you may need to unplug the switch from the usb and replug it to continue
        DO NOT CLICK FORMAT - Just close the popup box(s)
      • Choose the boot0.bin file from the Nand files on your desktop
      • Choose your mounted boot0 drive
      • Flash it
      • Repeat for Boot1
      • Reboot to RCM
      • Launch tegra explorer.bin
      • Navigate to the "_FWGEN" folder and run the systemRestore.te script and follow the on screen prompts
      • Reboot back to RCM and relaunch tegra explorer
      • Navigate back to the "_FWGEN" folder and this time run the systemwipe.te script and follow the on screen instructions
      • Reboot back to rcm
      • Proceed to boot section of guide



Booting Method 1

Download latest atmosphere and launch fusee.bin

Booting method 2 and 3


    • Remount the microSD Card with hekate
    • Copy my modified exosphere.bin to your atmosphere folder on your microSD card
    • For launching with Hekate add the following line to your hekate_ipl.ini
    'secmon=atmosphere/exosphere.bin'​

    [config]​
    autoboot=0​
    autoboot_list=0​
    bootwait=3​
    verification=2​
    backlight=100​
    autohosoff=1​
    autonogc=1​
    {-- Custom Firmwares --}​
    [HekAtmosphere]​
    fss0=atmosphere/package3​
    kip1patch=nosigchk​
    atmosphere=1​
    secmon=atmosphere/exosphere.bin​

    • For launching with Fusee-primary add the following lines to atmosphere/config/BCT.ini (UPDATE FOR NEW RELEASE)

      [stage2]
      exosphere = atmosphere/exosphere.bin
    BCT0​
    [stage1]​
    stage2_path = atmosphere/fusee-secondary.bin​
    stage2_mtc_path = atmosphere/fusee-mtc.bin​
    stage2_addr = 0xF0000000​
    stage2_entrypoint = 0xF0000000​
    [stage2]​
    exosphere = atmosphere/exosphere.bin​


  • Unmount your microSD card, and proceed to launch with your now working switch
Credits
SciresM and the ReSwitched team for Atmosphere
PabloZaiden for their deviceid exosphere builder
Rajkosto for HacDiskMount
Eliboa for NXNandManager
SuchMemeManySkill for eMMC Hacc Gen and TegraExplorer
CTCaer for Hekate
Shchmue for Lockpick_RCM
ScandalUK for Incognito_RCM
Anyone else who helped out on these projects
Linuxares for help with Method 2

Finally I would like to have a massive thanks to
Anonymous who donated their nand to me for experimenting with and saying it can be used publicly for this fix
 
Last edited by Adran_Marit,

de9ed

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The same problem with me when u update my switch, try to use prodinfo_gen.
Try this mini guide to create a new prodinfo scratched, no need device_exophere.bin with this :
  • Make sure you have a /switch/prod.keys file on your microSD card with, at least, valid master keys in it.
  • Launch prodinfo_gen.bin using your favorite payload injector or chainloader.
  • You should find /switch/generated_prodinfo_from_scratch.bin or /switch/generated_prodinfo_from_donor.bin depending on what you selected.
  • You can now write that PRODINFO to your NAND using a tool such as HacDiskMount (it is recommended to make a backup of the current PRODINFO first).

Thanks for the mini guide, from the generated_prodinfo_from_scratch.bin. Do I have to extract it out first and then restore all of the files ( safe,system,prodinfo,prodinfof, etc) to the switch ?

do I need the exosphere.bin anymore or could i just use fuess-primary.bin ?
 

chronoss

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Thanks for the mini guide, from the generated_prodinfo_from_scratch.bin. Do I have to extract it out first and then restore all of the files ( safe,system,prodinfo,prodinfof, etc) to the switch ?
No, just whrite this new prodinfo on your Nand with HacDiskMount or NxNandManager.

do I need the exosphere.bin anymore or could i just use fuess-primary.bin ?
No need this file, just launch fuses-primary.bin or Hetake to boot atmosphere
 

de9ed

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No, just whrite this new prodinfo on your Nand with HacDiskMount or NxNandManager.


No need this file, just launch fuses-primary.bin or Hetake to boot atmosphere

did you do system restore / system wipe from tegra exploerer ?
 

Adran_Marit

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I have followed from a-z on the unbricking progress, I have placed atmosphere 0.17.1 and hekate 5.5.3 with the modified exosphere.bin and hekate_ipl.ini. I am still getting black screen after trying to boot hekAtmosphere.

I had to use Tegraexplorer 2.0.2 instead of the latest one for the system cleanup and restore. I will try the guide again tonight to see if it makes any difference.

Do i need to create EmuMMC or can i use SysMMC ?

You should be able to use either, also paste your config for hekate
 

de9ed

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I have use the hekate that you have posted before, but in the end i have fix the switch by downgrading all the way to 4.0.1.

I have attempted twice with your method, even though it did not work for me, I learned a lot of tricks as to how to get it to mount all the partition prodinfo/system/safe/etc. and flash boot0/1. Thanks for all the help
 

Adran_Marit

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I have use the hekate that you have posted before, but in the end i have fix the switch by downgrading all the way to 4.0.1.

I have attempted twice with your method, even though it did not work for me, I learned a lot of tricks as to how to get it to mount all the partition prodinfo/system/safe/etc. and flash boot0/1. Thanks for all the help

Huh that peculiar, the scripts from tegra exporer didn't work for you?
 

de9ed

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Huh that peculiar, the scripts from tegra exporer didn't work for you?

I had to use tegra explorer 2.0.0 for it to even run the script since new tegra explorer did not work. After running and setting exosphere.bin I was still stuck in black screen
 

Adran_Marit

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I had to use tegra explorer 2.0.0 for it to even run the script since new tegra explorer did not work. After running and setting exosphere.bin I was still stuck in black screen

Odd I have no idea why the newest version didn't work, did it give you any errors?
 

shivoooooo

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Yes it did have me error something about boot0 or boot1 but if I used lower version. It worked

Odd. Maybe it mismatched the boot files

I buy a broken switch xD and I got the same error. Same version 2.0.0 worked, but I still have a black screen =/

I guess this is the error
 

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dytri

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You can try following THESE steps to getting your biskeys, and they may work, not sure entirely though. Depending on the section it's failing, it may work it may not.

I spend a month or 2 trying to find a solution... its pretty save to say, but my NAND got corrupted somewhere along the lines. Theres no solid way to restore it either without restoring a NAND back up or have another "donor switch" to transfer nand to my homwbrew switch (which I dont have).
I pretty much given up.
 
Last edited by dytri,

dlh

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Thanks for the tools and Guide!
I'm trying to unbrick an original switch i bought that had been used with SXOS, boots to logo flash screen then black screen. Have tried a number of other guides, and even replaced the EMMC hardware, all with same result.

Found your Guide yesterday, everything worked as described until i got to the Tegra Explorer scripts. When i go to the _FWGEN folder with Tegra Explorer 3.0.1 and launch the restore script i get an immediate error:
Error Found! No var
Near: setString<"BOOT0.bin",BBOOT0Path>

What should i look at or for now? I did try the wipe script (different error) and tried a launch - same result.
Thanks in advance!
dlh (Dave)
 

Adran_Marit

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Thanks for the tools and Guide!
I'm trying to unbrick an original switch i bought that had been used with SXOS, boots to logo flash screen then black screen. Have tried a number of other guides, and even replaced the EMMC hardware, all with same result.

Found your Guide yesterday, everything worked as described until i got to the Tegra Explorer scripts. When i go to the _FWGEN folder with Tegra Explorer 3.0.1 and launch the restore script i get an immediate error:
Error Found! No var
Near: setString<"BOOT0.bin",BBOOT0Path>

What should i look at or for now? I did try the wipe script (different error) and tried a launch - same result.
Thanks in advance!
dlh (Dave)

do you have the boot files in them? are they labelled as boot0 or boot0.bin? If it's one way, try the other

will reply again in morning.
 

dlh

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do you have the boot files in them? are they labelled as boot0 or boot0.bin? If it's one way, try the other

will reply again in morning.
I used method 2, the Pika folder i downloaded has the two boot files named .bin
Not sure what you mean by try the other - other boot files (no extension)? Or change something on the EMMC or flash step?
thanks!
Dave
 

dlh

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Thanks for the tools and Guide!
I'm trying to unbrick an original switch i bought that had been used with SXOS, boots to logo flash screen then black screen. Have tried a number of other guides, and even replaced the EMMC hardware, all with same result.

Found your Guide yesterday, everything worked as described until i got to the Tegra Explorer scripts. When i go to the _FWGEN folder with Tegra Explorer 3.0.1 and launch the restore script i get an immediate error:
Error Found! No var
Near: setString<"BOOT0.bin",BBOOT0Path>

What should i look at or for now? I did try the wipe script (different error) and tried a launch - same result.
Thanks in advance!
dlh (Dave)

EUREKA!
I saw another poster had issues with Tegra Explorer 3.0 so i downloaded both the latest (3.0.5) which failed same error, and also downloaded 2.0.5 and it ran the scripts!!!!

But a new issue - made the changes to ipl.ini and the kips1patch entry causes an error on launch.

What is the kip1patch=nosigchk relying on for its success? I'm guessing i'm missing a file or have another version problem...
Thanks in advance
Dave
 

dlh

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EUREKA!
I saw another poster had issues with Tegra Explorer 3.0 so i downloaded both the latest (3.0.5) which failed same error, and also downloaded 2.0.5 and it ran the scripts!!!!

But a new issue - made the changes to ipl.ini and the kips1patch entry causes an error on launch.

What is the kip1patch=nosigchk relying on for its success? I'm guessing i'm missing a file or have another version problem...
Thanks in advance
Dave


OK, solved the error thrown - with a little google research found a reference to Suchmememanyskill's github and in his guides there found a patches.ini file that covers all the varieties of firmware and atmosphere, put it in bootloader folder and now i get past the error on the kip1patch statement. BUT now no logo flash, just the Hekate screen then black screen on launch.

May be time to go back to step one and do the whole thing over, perhaps all the changing and the repeated failed boots blew something up from the front end of the reloading...

As always, any ideas or suggestions will be much appreciated!
Dave
 

Adran_Marit

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OK, solved the error thrown - with a little google research found a reference to Suchmememanyskill's github and in his guides there found a patches.ini file that covers all the varieties of firmware and atmosphere, put it in bootloader folder and now i get past the error on the kip1patch statement. BUT now no logo flash, just the Hekate screen then black screen on launch.

May be time to go back to step one and do the whole thing over, perhaps all the changing and the repeated failed boots blew something up from the front end of the reloading...

As always, any ideas or suggestions will be much appreciated!
Dave

Give me a bit, or try one of the other methods
 

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