Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

mathew77

Lovin' life.
OP
Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
1,190
Trophies
0
Age
47
XP
3,697
Country
Kazakhstan
Got this offer on a local craiglist:
27002866.jpg27002868.jpg 27002869.jpg

The seller says it's a new RP2040 Picofly based version modchip for Switch Lite and Oled, only.

What do you think about it, looks like it's a clearly fake, am I right?.. Or not?
 
Last edited by mathew77,

masagrator

The patches guy
Developer
Joined
Oct 14, 2018
Messages
6,297
Trophies
3
XP
12,075
Country
Poland
They named it PicoFly while obviously this is not Pico but Zero.

Was theoretized that it has too slow bus to be a glitching modchip. So I am very sceptical it's legit.
Providing uncutted video would be helpful.

Beside instalation looks like fire hazard on this pic. Curious if they even provide full instructions instead of just "solder here and here" and figure out mounting yourself.
 
Last edited by masagrator,

SylverReZ

The planet is fine. The people are crazy.
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
7,272
Trophies
3
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
22,318
Country
United Kingdom
I've never heard of an RP2040 modchip appearing in the wild, and I can't find any information about it. I'm also kind of skeptical if this thing is going to be safe. I mean, looking at the photo of how it is soldered into place, it looks crudely done to the point that something could shorten. They should've just given you a diagram that tells you how to do it yourself. It also looks like this chip doesn't have any proper circuit protection even, so that can lead even to a potential hazard in many cases.
 

mathew77

Lovin' life.
OP
Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
1,190
Trophies
0
Age
47
XP
3,697
Country
Kazakhstan
Thank you guys, looks very shady. BTW after my request the seller send me this 'pinout scheme', hehe:
7 PIN:
29 - D0
28 - CMD
27 - CLK
26 - RST
15 - SOC shelf
Don't understand any bit about all of it tbh.
 
Last edited by mathew77,
  • Like
Reactions: Hmed and SylverReZ

SylverReZ

The planet is fine. The people are crazy.
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
7,272
Trophies
3
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
22,318
Country
United Kingdom
Thank you guys, looks very shady. BTW after my request the seller send me this 'pinout scheme', hehe:
7 PIN:
29 - D0
28 - CMD
27 - CLK
26 - RST
15 - SOC shelf

on't understand any bit about all of it tbh.
Everything about Craigslist is shady.
 

SylverReZ

The planet is fine. The people are crazy.
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
7,272
Trophies
3
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
22,318
Country
United Kingdom
Haven't seen this anywhere else. Most likely fake. What are the odds that a one-of-a-kind mod chip just so happened to pop up on Craigslist?
It could be just a proof-of-concept, that's what I'm thinking.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hmed
Joined
Sep 9, 2019
Messages
904
Trophies
1
Location
Switch scene
Website
github.com
XP
2,663
Country
Korea, North
It could be just a proof-of-concept, that's what I'm thinking.
Glitching Mariko with a rp2040 is definitely possible, I know several people have done it. Why would someone build a custom board and then sell it on Craigslist instead of mass producing it and selling it on AliExpress though? It makes no sense. If someone just did it for fun, which I know some people have, then why sell it at all? Either they want money or they don't. Selling a single one and no more is stupid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SylverReZ

SylverReZ

The planet is fine. The people are crazy.
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
7,272
Trophies
3
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
22,318
Country
United Kingdom
Glitching Mariko with a rp2040 is definitely possible, I know several people have done it. Why would someone build a custom board and then sell it on Craigslist instead of mass producing it and selling it on AliExpress though? It makes no sense. If someone just did it for fun, which I know some people have, then why sell it at all? Either they want money or they don't. Selling a single one and no more is stupid.
They could've just made the project open-source on GitHub so that it can be mass produced.
Post automatically merged:

EDIT: Warning! The pics have "Avito" on them. That's a Russian Craigslist. So stolen pics?
Haven't heard of Avito being a Russianized version of Craigslist, thought it was some photo editing app.
 
Joined
Sep 9, 2019
Messages
904
Trophies
1
Location
Switch scene
Website
github.com
XP
2,663
Country
Korea, North
They could've just made the project open-source on GitHub so that it can be mass produced.
Yeah exactly. No one goes "Well I spent a month making this custom hardware, I don't really want to sell it, but I don't really want to let it be unknown either. Oh I know, I'll make exactly one and sell it on Craigslist for some lucky guy to pick up"
 
  • Like
Reactions: SylverReZ

SylverReZ

The planet is fine. The people are crazy.
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
7,272
Trophies
3
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
22,318
Country
United Kingdom
Also is that a ribbon cable the red cable is solder to? Which ribbon cable would that be?
No. That red wire is soldered to one of the pins of a ribbon cable.
 
Last edited by SylverReZ,
  • Like
Reactions: binkinator

SylverReZ

The planet is fine. The people are crazy.
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
7,272
Trophies
3
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
22,318
Country
United Kingdom
Ah okey.

The only theory I can have is this is for a v1 switch basically. Just auto-injecting the rcm payload and pressing the buttons.
True. It would be the same as the vast majority of RCM injector chips out there.
 

linuxares

The inadequate, autocratic beast!
Global Moderator
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
13,363
Trophies
2
XP
18,256
Country
Sweden
They could've just made the project open-source on GitHub so that it can be mass produced.
Post automatically merged:


Haven't heard of Avito being a Russianized version of Craigslist, thought it was some photo editing app.
Oh even more suspicious !
 

binkinator

Garfield’s Fitness Coach
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Mar 29, 2021
Messages
6,511
Trophies
2
XP
6,155
Country
United States
Ah okey.

The only theory I can have is this is for a v1 switch basically. Just auto-injecting the rcm payload and pressing the buttons.
I was thinking that as well, but the bend in the heat pipe is straight on a V1 in that location so it’s definitely not installed on a V1.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SylverReZ

eseldiem

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
May 23, 2022
Messages
46
Trophies
0
Age
24
Location
Earth
XP
489
Country
Germany
It seems fake to me. I mean, you need 1v8 logic to Interface with the emmc. And rpi runs at 3v3. I don’t see level shifter on the board.

The wiring of the cpu flex is cringeworthy but could probably work. (If it were legit)

Even if it works, I’d give it 80% probability it can’t flash the emmc with the custom boot code.

Edited: RCM chip doesn’t make sense, as no usb.

Honestly, it’s weird. More info and/or uncut video of this thing booting, or it didn’t happen. ;)
 

kimitoboku101

Active Member
Newcomer
Joined
Oct 7, 2021
Messages
35
Trophies
0
Age
26
XP
694
Country
Vietnam
It seems fake to me. I mean, you need 1v8 logic to Interface with the emmc. And rpi runs at 3v3. I don’t see level shifter on the board.

The wiring of the cpu flex is cringeworthy but could probably work. (If it were legit)

Even if it works, I’d give it 80% probability it can’t flash the emmc with the custom boot code.

Edited: RCM chip doesn’t make sense, as no usb.

Honestly, it’s weird. More info and/or uncut video of this thing booting, or it didn’t happen. ;)
In my opinion rpi can run at 3v3 so maybe we can using analog pin to control the voltage, maybe =))
 
  • Like
Reactions: SylverReZ

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • Materia_tofu @ Materia_tofu:
    im not a very bright individual, but we live and we learn
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @Materia_tofu, We do learn a lot from plenty of talented individuals.
  • Materia_tofu @ Materia_tofu:
    this is true! i learned how to make soundfont remixes from a friend back in 2021
    +1
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    Update on my brother: He's home now, tired and hungry, obviously, but other than that, seems to be doing fine.
    +2
  • Veho @ Veho:
    That's a relief to hear. Do you know what happened?
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @BakerMan, Any idea what happened? I hope that your brother's doing good.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    Well, from what I've heard from my parents, he had a seizure last night, perhaps an epileptic episode, fucking died, had a near death experience, my dad called the paramedics, they showed up, took him to the hospital, and he woke up covered in tubes, and started complaining.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    He couldn't eat until after his MRI, when he had a bomb pop.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    What matters now is that he's doing alright.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    But you still don't know what it was?
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Has he had seizures before?
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    apparently stress can cause seizures, my brother had one during a test once
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    never had one before that, and never had one since
  • Redleviboy123 @ Redleviboy123:
    Question about game texture chanching Do i need an own game id?
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    @Veho for those that want to
    experience being sonic the hedgehog
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Ah, you mean
    furries.
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    well, sonic fans are a whole separate thing from furries
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    like bronys
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    sonic porn is too weird even for me
  • Dumpflam @ Dumpflam:
    bruh
  • Dumpflam @ Dumpflam:
    guys how do i delete a post
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    you don't
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    you can report it and request deletion
    The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye: you can report it and request deletion