Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

Doodka

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I got the flex fine. just binned the rest :rofl: oh well still got my day 1
As i said, you can restore pin or try to find where it goes, maybe you can solder there
Or you can drop it to ebay and somebody like this guy will buy it
 

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Tafty

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you need good eyes or a microscope, a thin soldering iron and thin solid wire
Yes, this type of work is not for the novice, but the reason most people fail is because they are not prepared properly for this.

Get the right tools for the job(they don't have to be expensive)
Good liquid flux makes this a whole lot easier and proper technique but I would also reccomend a scope of sort sort, even a super cheap digital one will do from amazon/ali, the points you have to solder too are smaller then a grain of rice..and there also really easy to bridge against other points around them. You will want at least kynar wire(single strand).

But if you have never soldered before I highly recommend you don't even attempt to do this without practicing first, go watch some YouTube tuts on soldering and use a dead board to remove and the replace parts on.
 

nerirififi

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Yes, this type of work is not for the novice, but the reason most people fail is because they are not prepared properly for this.

Get the right tools for the job(they don't have to be expensive)
Good liquid flux makes this a whole lot easier and proper technique but I would also reccomend a scope of sort sort, even a super cheap digital one will do from amazon/ali, the points you have to solder too are smaller then a grain of rice..and there also really easy to bridge against other points around them. You will want at least kynar wire(single strand).

But if you have never soldered before I highly recommend you don't even attempt to do this without practicing first, go watch some YouTube tuts on soldering and use a dead board to remove and the replace parts on.


Not expansive if you buy poor quality of material.
My iron solder station cost 600 USD and If I add my trinocular, air work station, I am over 1000 usd.
If I add my bga rework semi automatic machine, price become indecent
But I am professional.
 
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Tafty

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Not expansive if you buy poor quality of material.
My iron solder station cost 600 USD and If I add my trinocular, air work station, I am over 1000 usd.
If I add my bga rework semi automatic machine, price become indecent
But I am professional.
yes so am I.

I could install one of these with a 10 dollar soldering iron no problem....but my point was that if you haven't soldered before this isn't really the first job you should be attempting.
 

TheSynthax

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I think you can revive it, but you should practice, there are videos on youtube with restoring bga pins
installing in the Lite doesn't involve any BGA soldering.

Currently wiring up an Adafruit SD breakout board with only DAT0 to try to write the flashing script.

After that, soldering to the Switch and writing the eMMC sniffer is the next step.
Is it a Lite/OLED?
 

Adran_Marit

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you need good eyes or a microscope, a thin soldering iron and thin solid wire
ILS t12 tip, and kynar wire. As I said managed flex sp1 and 2 fine but not the rest *shrug*

Yes, this type of work is not for the novice, but the reason most people fail is because they are not prepared properly for this.

Get the right tools for the job(they don't have to be expensive)
Good liquid flux makes this a whole lot easier and proper technique but I would also reccomend a scope of sort sort, even a super cheap digital one will do from amazon/ali, the points you have to solder too are smaller then a grain of rice..and there also really easy to bridge against other points around them. You will want at least kynar wire(single strand).

But if you have never soldered before I highly recommend you don't even attempt to do this without practicing first, go watch some YouTube tuts on soldering and use a dead board to remove and the replace parts on.

Yep, but there is a reason I won't touch others peoples consoles until after I have done my own first, to see if it is in my skillset, and as such since I have failed this I won't do anyone elses until I pass. Might get another lite to attempt on if I can find one cheap enough.

Wait, what? You blew up your Lite?

somehow fried it when removing what I had done. If it is fixable it isn't by me
 
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nerirififi

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yes so am I.

I could install one of these with a 10 dollar soldering iron no problem....but my point was that if you haven't soldered before this isn't really the first job you should be attempting.

I agree , but it s because you have experience.
But High quality material give better result in less time.
And for a noob, it s a better chance to arrive at the result.

I repair some damaged board oled, and when I see the result, I ask how can people do this.
Generally they put to much temp on the iron and they burn component.
Or use a bigger wire and break the point.
 
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TheSynthax

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I agree , but it s because you have experience.
But High quality material give better result in less time.
And for a noob, it s a better chance to arrive at the result.

I repair some damaged board oled, and when I see the result, I ask how can people do this.
Generally they put to much temp on the iron and they burn component.
Or use a bigger wire and break the point.
Let's not forget the tried and true "way too large tip, zero flux, using lead-free solder"
 
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I always suggest beginners to find any cellphone repair shop to mess with the switch. They can do no problem as the components they are used to deal with are as small as the ones on the switch. Also there are many of those shops in every city every where in this planet, so they will not charge absurd amounts because competition is everywhere.

If you want to get better in soldering, start with retro consoles, lots of cool mods there and way bigger components (but still small enough to challenge you).

(from my experience cell phone repair people are more skilled with the iron than video game repair people, and usually charge less, but if you trust your local game repair shop, go for it, they will do no problem too)
 

AnimeGame

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Hello everyone, I'm reading the forum and I see that the topic with pikofly is not standing still, and now I'm wondering if it makes sense to buy a hwfly chip now, if this topic is growing so fast. But as I understand, picofly cannot launch the official firmware now, and it is not known how long it will take to get all this in order and make it clear to people. because if now not everyone understands how to install a normal chip, then with pikofly, which still needs to be flashed and soldered more... The shorter question is, does it make sense right now to buy pikofly instead of hwfly?
 

Tafty

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Hello everyone, I'm reading the forum and I see that the topic with pikofly is not standing still, and now I'm wondering if it makes sense to buy a hwfly chip now, if this topic is growing so fast. But as I understand, picofly cannot launch the official firmware now, and it is not known how long it will take to get all this in order and make it clear to people. because if now not everyone understands how to install a normal chip, then with pikofly, which still needs to be flashed and soldered more... The shorter question is, does it make sense right now to buy pikofly instead of hwfly?
If you want a modded console now buy a hwfly... If you don't mind waiting then get a pico... But obviously none of us know how long this is going to take, could be today could be tomorrow... But it could also be in 6 months
 

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