I have a xaw0000000000 on 15.0.0 AMS 1.4.0 can i update it to a higher custom firmware and how sorry nobie here and dont want to brick my sons fav playtoy
Of course.
Since you're probably new to the Switch hacking scene, I'd suggest that you go through these two guides:
NH Switch guide and
Rentry.org Switch guide. Getting familiar with the terms used will make using and updating your son's Switch a much easier task for you.
If you have a custom theme installed, make sure to uninstall it (via
NXThemesInstaller) before you proceed to update.
Whenever you're about to update your firmware and before you do so, make sure that both
Hekate and
Atmosphere support the latest firmware or the firmware you're currently updating to. If they do, check if the
sigpatches are updated to support the latest firmware and Atmosphere version. Sigpatches also work retroactively, meaning that if you're on a lower versions of firmware and Atmosphere, it should still work properly.
While sigpatches should be enough for game backups to work, you can install
sys-patch module as well. Optionally, you can install
Tesla +
nx-ovlloader as that will allow you to see whether sys-patch is working properly.
Atmosphere 1.7.0 no longer supports ips kip patches (
check the release notes here) which are usually used for piracy reasons. Therefore sigpatches won't work unless you:
1) Load Atmosphere's package3 via Hekate's FSS0 - You'll need to reboot to Hekate, go to Launch and select emuNAND CFW or sysNAND CFW (depending on which one you use). If you've downloaded the sigpatches from
here. your
bootloader/hekate_ipl.bin
will already have everything you need to have configured.
2) Use modified Atmosphere's
fusee.bin payload with ips kip patches support.
3) Use
sys-patch instead of sigpatches.
Having both sigpatches and sys-patch at the same time should cause no conflict at all, but it's recommended to stick to one that works for you in order to reduce the clutter on your SD card since they are doing the same thing.
If everything seems okay, update Hekate and Atmosphere first, followed by sigpatches.
While it's easier to turn off your console, eject the SD card and update the files while on PC, you can also use Hekate's USB Tools, if you reboot to Hekate and go to Tools - USB Tools - SD Card and connect your Switch via USB cable to your PC. Take your pick and remember to reboot once you copy over the new files.
Once you do that, update firmware via Daybreak as well. Daybreak comes bundled with Atmosphere. You can find firmware files on that certain site we aren't allowed to link to (that's what I usually do) or you can dump the latest firmware after you update your OFW. I personally like to keep my OFW firmware version the lowest possible just in case a future exploit is found and supports the firmware I have (unlikely to happen, but one can never know). Once you download the files, just extract them to the folder (e.g. firmware) on the root of your SD card, just to make it easier to be found once in Daybreak.
If you used either Haku33, TegraExplorer, EmmcHaccGen or ChoiDujour in the past, you might run into a
save issue after updating to 17.0.0 or newer. To fix it, make sure to boot at least once into sysNAND CFW with Atmosphere 1.6.1 or newer.
If you've ever used Incognito_RCM or similar in the past in order to blank your prodinfo (which you probably did since your serial number is XAW0000000000), Atmosphere will crash as soon as your console connects to the Internet and tries to connect to the Nintendo servers due to your console not having valid prod keys. You won't run into this issue if you are always in airplane mode or if you're using
90DNS or
DNS MITM. Blanking your prodinfo via Exosphere is possible, but it's usefulness is questionable.
DBI, for example, can guess your serial number through "creative coding". You can see for yourself whether it's true or not by going into its system info option. There's also
this patch which fixes the prodinfo blanking issue.
If you plan on connecting your console to the Internet, 90DNS or DNS MITM at the very least must be set up prior to connecting to the Internet.