Hardware Switch V1 - Failed to init eMMC (known good eMMC also fails)

[mvmiranda]

Hello,
I recently bought a Switch V1 with a failed to init eMMC error on Hekate.
The consoles instantaneously enters RCM mode once turned on and the eMMC benchmark only says it cannot be initialized.

I bought it since this could mean a lose eMMC module (never happened to me but could be the case) or, usually, a dead one, which a simply Swap and NAND recreation could make it work again.
But even after changing the eMMC to a known good one (two actually) the issue persists.

I checked the eMMC connector on the motherboard and, as far as I could see, there's no bent, missing or unsoldered pin:


The Switch was not opened previously and I could not see any scratches on the board or damage.
I was wondering if there is any CI, fuse or something like this that could go bad and cause this behavior.

Any tips are welcome!

Thanks!

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

Could you try pressing the Tegra or the emmc connector with the module connected to it?
There are some reports where people had to resolder the connector or reball the Tegra.

 

[mvmiranda]

Could you try pressing the Tegra or the emmc connector with the module connected to it?
There are some reports where people had to resolder the connector or reball the Tegra.

It didn't work...
I Tried applying pressure on multiple parts of the APU with no success. I tried applying pressure on multiple parts, as well, like RAM, eMMC itself but all I get when I try to access the eMMC is the "failed to init" error...

 

[ppzikos]

if your switch can not read all your nand, it's nand connector or soc (apu)
thesjaakspoiler says it , if you press the soc (not the ram) when re-read nand with hekate maybe see your nand appear. (Try several times on all 4 angles) strong but not too.

if the Switch never opened the connector must be ok, on 50 switch repair 2 have the same problem ( nand read) and repair is : reball soc.
and 7 needed a reball ( 4 blue screen , 2 heratic on payload ,1 nand not read user partition ,other partition good it's fun!!)
verifie by launching hekate without the sd card that you have no artifact on the hekate logo at the bottom right, if this is the case > soc reball.
and if the chassis of your Switch is twisted > reball the soc 100%!

verify if lockpick memloader and other payload is good work, because when the soc need reball , payload maybe heratic and sometime is not working proprely or just no start.

and try hekate old version 4.1 or less for read nand, my switch "not read user partion" read nothing with hekate 5+ only 4.1 read first partion.
by.

 

[mvmiranda]

if your switch can not read all your nand, it's nand connector or soc (apu)
mvmiranda says it , if you press the soc (not the ram) when re-read nand with hekate maybe see your nand appear. (Try several times on all 4 angles) strong but not too.

if the Switch never opened the connector must be ok, on 50 switch repair 2 have the same problem ( nand read) and repair is : reball soc.
and 7 needed a reball ( 4 blue screen , 2 heratic on payload ,1 nand not read user partition ,other partition good it's fun!!)
verifie by launching hekate without the sd card that you have no artifact on the hekate logo at the bottom right, if this is the case > soc reball.
and if the chassis of your Switch is twisted > reball the soc 100%!

verify if lockpick memloader and other payload is good work, because when the soc need reball , payload maybe heratic and sometime is not working proprely or just no start.

and try hekate old version 4.1 or less for read nand, my switch "not read user partion" read nothing with hekate 5+ only 4.1 read first partion.
by.

Thanks for the good info!
I'll test and report back!

 

[mvmiranda]

Thanks for the good info!
I'll test and report back!

Hey!
After some long time I finally had time to get back to this console and retest it.
It turned out to be a burned EMMC module. I didn't notice it back then because the one I also tried was defective as well.

So, yesterday I tried a third one and it read the EMMC module fine, but since I don't have the NAND backup I'll have to create one from scratch and this is where I am now.
No matter what I try I cannot dump the prod.keys from this console!
I tried Lockpick several times after:
1) writing a "donor" (I know it doesn't work this way but I just want the NAND content to be "correct")
2) writing several donor BOOT0/1 from various versions 10.2.0, 11.0.1, 12.0.1, 12.1.0 created with EmmcHaccGen
3) tried TegraExplorer (systemRestore/SystemWipe) using a "donor" SYSTEM folder from a "donor prod.keys" (I know it will not work, again, I just want the NAND content to be "correct").

Every time I get the same result:
master_key_00 cannot be derived and keyblok 0 to 5 is corrupt. The prod.keys I get only has 63 keys in it.

Also, I cannot derive the biskeys from fuse_cached.bin and tsec_keys.bin and I get this error message: SystemSecurityCryptographyAlgorithms_PlatformNotSupported

I'm out of ideas! :/

 

[Oriordan]

Hello
I have a switch that does not charge, it launches hekate but when i try to launch the cfw it says failed to init emmc

 

[mvmiranda]

Hello
I have a switch that does not charge, it launches hekate but when i try to launch the cfw it says failed to init emmc

Boot into Hekate, go to Console Info and try to check the eMMC.
If it reports the same you most likely has a dead eMMC module.
You can replace it and recreate your NAND from scratch (if you don't have any backup) but the console will never connect to Nintendo again.
Good luck!

 

[Oriordan]

Boot into Hekate, go to Console Info and try to check the eMMC.
If it reports the same you most likely has a dead eMMC module.
You can replace it and recreate your NAND from scratch (if you don't have any backup) but the console will never connect to Nintendo again.
Good luck!

Yes i replaced the emmc chip but i stuck at hackdiskmount, i got an error reading file

 

[Oriordan]

Errors

 

[Captain_Tid]

Boot into Hekate, go to Console Info and try to check the eMMC.
If it reports the same you most likely has a dead eMMC module.
You can replace it and recreate your NAND from scratch (if you don't have any backup) but the console will never connect to Nintendo again.
Good luck!

Hey, could you go into a bit more detail about this?
I'm having a similar emmc issue, described in detail in my own recently posted thread.
And I'm not really sure what steps to take, but it sounds like you know what you're talking about! When you say replace my emmc, is that a physical hardware component I need to replace? Is this necessary if I can restore a backup from when I first modded my switch?

 

[mvmiranda]

Hey, could you go into a bit more detail about this?
I'm having a similar emmc issue, described in detail in my own recently posted thread.
And I'm not really sure what steps to take, but it sounds like you know what you're talking about! When you say replace my emmc, is that a physical hardware component I need to replace? Is this necessary if I can restore a backup from when I first modded my switch?

Hello!
Just do as I mentioned in your quote and check whether your eMMC is responding or not.
Basically the eMMC is the internal memory module, the 32gb one. It's detachable and you could swap it if it's defective, though you'd have to reflash it with your own console's software, but since you have a backup that would be seamless or eased out.

To restore your backup that will depend. If you're running the same version of your backup it will be straight forward. If not, than you'll have to get your PRODINFO (your console certificate) from the backup and recreate your NAND.

I know it's too much information but it is what it is. Take a step back to learn all these stuff.
Sthetix has good tutorials explaining how to perform everything I mentioned here.

Good luck!

 

[mvmiranda]

@Captain_Tid
Taking a second read after your "like" I noticed I might have sounded rough
That was not my intent at all!
I should have phrased this line in a better way:
"Take a step back to learn all these stuff."

What I meant was you need o take a step back and study these topics, like what's an eMMC (in the Switch context), what's a NAND (software that is stored inside your eMMC), how to recreate a NAND from the scratch (in case your NAND backup is some versions behind - and why you'd need to do such a thing even if you have a backup in the first place - quick tip on this subject, it's because of eFuses).

Shoot me a PM in case you need specific tips or wanna chat about your findings!

Good luck!

 

[Captain_Tid]

@Captain_Tid
Taking a second read after your "like" I noticed I might have sounded rough
That was not my intent at all!
I should have phrased this line in a better way:
"Take a step back to learn all these stuff."

What I meant was you need o take a step back and study these topics, like what's an eMMC (in the Switch context), what's a NAND (software that is stored inside your eMMC), how to recreate a NAND from the scratch (in case your NAND backup is some versions behind - and why you'd need to do such a thing even if you have a backup in the first place - quick tip on this subject, it's because of eFuses).

Shoot me a PM in case you need specific tips or wanna chat about your findings!

Good luck!

Hey don't worry it didn't come across as harsh at all! I'm a software developer and I have a good understanding of why it's important to develop your knowledge about subjects like this rather than just follow tutorials step by step, I'm definitely not a Switch hacking or hardware expert so I do have a lot of learning to do. I really appreciate your help.
I'll definitely have my PM page bookmarked so I can ask you questions if I get stuck, thanks a lot!
For clarity, my emmc is almost definitely dead, as using the Console Info tab on Hekate gives me a similar 'failed to init' error, so it isn't responding at all unfortunately.
After some advice in the other thread I posted, I think my solution is going to be to get myself a larger SD card so that I can run an emuMMC solution, and recreate my NAND from my backup files, which I'm lucky enough to have kept:

I'm 90% sure my Switch hasn't updated since creating these backups... Given that I can't boot official firmware at all right now, is there a good way to check if that's the case?

 

[mvmiranda]

Hey don't worry it didn't come across as harsh at all! I'm a software developer and I have a good understanding of why it's important to develop your knowledge about subjects like this rather than just follow tutorials step by step, I'm definitely not a Switch hacking or hardware expert so I do have a lot of learning to do. I really appreciate your help.
I'll definitely have my PM page bookmarked so I can ask you questions if I get stuck, thanks a lot!
For clarity, my emmc is almost definitely dead, as using the Console Info tab on Hekate gives me a similar 'failed to init' error, so it isn't responding at all unfortunately.
After some advice in the other thread I posted, I think my solution is going to be to get myself a larger SD card so that I can run an emuMMC solution, and recreate my NAND from my backup files, which I'm lucky enough to have kept:
View attachment 297331

I'm 90% sure my Switch hasn't updated since creating these backups... Given that I can't boot official firmware at all right now, is there a good way to check if that's the case?

Nice to hear you didn't take it harsh!
So, yeah! Lucky you have a NAND backup!

As for checking whether your console updated or not there's a way of "roughly checking" it: counting the burnt fuses.
If you go to the Console Info then click on the "HW & Fuses" button you can see the count of "Burnt Fuses" (it should be in orange, 3 from top to bottom on the left). Then you can refer to the table in this URL (go to the very bottom of the page):
https://switchbrew.org/wiki/Fuses

Now, to see your NAND backup version you first must dump your console keys (it doesn't matter whether your eMMC is dead or not) using a payload called "Lockpick_RCM" (https://github.com/shchmue/Lockpick_RCM/releases/) through Hekate (just put the .bin file in the "bootloader\payloads" folder then run it from the Hekate "Payloads" button).
After that open your NAND with NXNANDManager (https://github.com/eliboa/NxNandManager/releases/), CTRL+K for loading your prod.keys and you'll see the version in the top right corner of the application.

A bit more of explanation on how the eFuses work on Switch.
For instance, if you have 13 burnt fuses you "COULD" be anywhere between 10.0.0 and 10.2.0, and it will not matter whether your console was on 10.2.0 and your NAND backup on 10.0.0 since they "share" the same number of burnt fuses needed.
But if you have 14 burnt fuses, which would mean you'd be between 11.0.0 and 12.0.1 and you tried to use your 10.0.0 backup your console would not work. Think of eFuses as a downgrade prevention.
If that's your case then you'll have to create a NAND from scratch using your own PRODINFO, but first things first...

If you have any other specific questions, let's move it to a PM.

Cheers!

 

[Donnie-Burger]

Hello,
I recently bought a Switch V1 with a failed to init eMMC error on Hekate.
The consoles instantaneously enters RCM mode once turned on and the eMMC benchmark only says it cannot be initialized.

I bought it since this could mean a lose eMMC module (never happened to me but could be the case) or, usually, a dead one, which a simply Swap and NAND recreation could make it work again.
But even after changing the eMMC to a known good one (two actually) the issue persists.

I checked the eMMC connector on the motherboard and, as far as I could see, there's no bent, missing or unsoldered pin:
View attachment 262875 View attachment 262876 View attachment 262877 View attachment 262878 View attachment 262879 View attachment 262880 View attachment 262881

The Switch was not opened previously and I could not see any scratches on the board or damage.
I was wondering if there is any CI, fuse or something like this that could go bad and cause this behavior.

Any tips are welcome!

Thanks!

Reflow and or reball then test.

 

[mvmiranda]

Reflow and or reball then test.

Yup!
It's the X1 for sure!
Since this was my console I left it aside for all this time and last week I tried Lakka and it black screened on me.
Since Lakka relies solely on the MicroSD and the APU and Hekate was booting (hence my MicroSD was OK), X1 is the culprit.

I'll have it reballed

 

[anarchym]

With regards to "failed to init eMMC" message on hekate...I had some luck lately by popping the EMMC off the memory board and place it in a bga169 reader and then using a flash programmer I was able to read the EMMC in 1 or 4 bit mode depending on the severity of the failure, obviously taking a backup in a lower bit mode takes ages but at least I have a way how to restore a brand new EMMC with the backup I have just taken from the faulty one. I have also had luck with reading faulty EMMC with a SD card adapter and manually soldering the lines between the EMMC IC and the pins of the SD card adapter, at a minimum you will need VCC, VSS, CMD, CLK, DAT0, this will guarantee 1 bit mode read/write.